“Forgiveness is only possible through the Gospel” Matthew 18:21–35

This is a reading from Ephesians chapter 5, verses 15 to 21.

Ephesians 5:15–21

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

Addressing one another in psalm and hymns, in spiritual songs,

singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Well, good morning. Let's take a moment and bow our heads in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we give you thanks and praise that now we can gather together to hear you speak directly to our hearts and minds.

Father, we just ask that you would graciously open your word to us, that you would speak to us.

Father, if there's any distractions from the week, from last night, whether good or bad,

that they would just, you would take them away from our minds, and that you would draw us into yourself.

And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now we're going to talk about a topic, as Daniel just read from the Gospel, the topic of forgiveness.

And this topic is one of, that could, some people really enjoy talking about forgiveness,

and a lot of people don't like talking about forgiveness.

So we're going to address that, we're going to look at it.

And the view of forgiveness, this idea that we need to forgive people who have wronged us,

we need to forgive our family, we need to forgive our friends,

is something in our culture right now that is considered, the idea is considered dangerous.

It's considered useless.

Some people are indifferent to it.

Some people think that you must have justice before you can even consider to forgive somebody.

But Jesus, in this Gospel, in the text that we're looking at, speaks directly to it.

And he speaks quite bluntly about it through a parable, and we're going to look at it.

Because the parable of the unforgiving servant, which by today's standards is considered dangerous,

and it's also considered controversial,

has a meaning within it that we need to listen to.

We need to look at it, we need to talk about it, because it's a very actually serious thing.

Now if you haven't already, if you've closed your Bibles already, open them up again.

Turn to Matthew 18, and we're going to look at verses 21 to 35.

There's Bibles in the back if you don't have one.

It's really helpful to have a Bible with you,

to look at what happens before the text, and to look at what happens after the text.

Now this parable has a very serious warning within it.

And we need to pay attention, and we need to heed it.

And we're going to look at it in a couple of ways.

We're going to look at it as God requires more than you think from yourself.

It costs Him more than you think.

It's harder than you think, more serious than you think, and more freeing than you think.

But in order to understand this text properly,

we need to look at the verses right before, and I'll just briefly summarize them.

The verses right before, Jesus is also talking about forgiveness to His disciples.

And what He's doing is He's showing them how to deal with it in a more corporate setting.

First off, you need to work out forgiveness between you and your brother or sister, and come together.

If that doesn't work, you need to bring it before a couple of witnesses.

And if that doesn't work, you need to bring it before the church, and do it that way.

But then after this, after Jesus talking about this to His disciples,

Peter comes up to Him and does a very classic Peter thing.

Because through the Gospels, you see Peter always making, almost like a fool of himself.

Almost, always questioning what Jesus does.

But then he gets greatly redeemed in the end.

I believe it's in the Gospel of Mark that really hones in on that.

But Peter comes up, and he says this.

Then Peter came up and said to Jesus,

Lord, how often will my brothers sin against me, and I forgive them?

As many as seven times?

Jesus said to him,

I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Now, Peter asks something by his cultural standards,

which is actually considered very generous.

Because in the Old Testament, it's only commanded to them

that they only have to forgive somebody three times,

and then they can write them off.

So Peter's actually being generous here.

But then Jesus turns it against him, and uses it,

and almost would have blown everyone's minds when they heard this.

It would have been unheard of, what Jesus says.

Because what Jesus says turns out to be,

if you're counting, 490 times.

It's not just three times, it's not just seven times, it's 490 times.

But what Jesus is honing in on here,

what he's teaching his disciples,

has nothing to do with the number.

It has nothing to do with the number.

Because the thing with the number seven,

forgiveness, number seven means completion within the Bible.

So when Jesus uses this number,

it means forgiveness must be complete.

It must be fully complete.

It can't be half, it can't be a quarter,

it must be complete.

It's like, all of us have objects in our life

that we hold on to dearly, that we really like.

When I was ordained a deacon before becoming a priest,

one of my former high school teachers

came to my ordination.

And he's someone who introduced me

to the outdoors, getting more involved in the outdoors,

a lot of canoe camping.

And he gave me a paddle at my ordination.

And that's very significant in the outdoor communities,

when you get a paddle.

It's like in the music community,

I believe Johnny Cash gave Bob Dylan his guitar,

which signals something of respect.

And he gave me this paddle.

And this paddle's worth a lot.

And I hold it dearly.

But this idea of forgiveness

that Jesus is honing in on is,

say I'm on a canoe trip with this paddle,

and one of my friends breaks it.

I need, what Jesus is talking about here

is I need to forgive him for breaking it.

I need to absorb it.

But then what if I'm on another canoe trip with him

and I've replaced the paddle,

and then it gets broken again by him?

I need to forgive him or absorb the cost again.

But how are we to absorb this?

Because if you're counting forgiveness,

how many times you forgive somebody,

you're actually not forgiving them.

That's what Jesus is talking about here.

But how is this possible?

How do we do this?

Well, Jesus lays it out in a very straightforward illustration.

So let's look at it.

Verses 23 to 27.

This is Jesus talking.

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven

may be compared to a king

who wished to settle accounts with his servants.

When he began to settle,

one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents.

And since he could not pay,

his master ordered him to be sold

with his wife and children and all that he had

and payment to be made.

So the servant fell on his knees,

imploring him,

have patience with me,

and I will pay you everything.

And out of pity for him,

the master of the servant released him

and forgave him the debt.

Now, this number that Jesus uses here,

10,000 talents,

this number is an unheard of number.

It would have been 4 billion plus dollars,

an impossible number to achieve,

to get to.

And the punishment that the king gives here,

the master gives,

is something in that time which was very normal.

If the debt couldn't be paid,

they sell everything that the person owes.

Kind of like debtor's prison in the Victorian era

when Charles Dickens was alive.

It's this idea that they sell everything,

they count their loss,

and they move on and get what they can get.

But the cost,

the cost would have bankrupt the king.

It's that the king forgave him this debt.

And the king does it.

This idea of 4 billion plus dollars,

10,000 talents,

is something that is,

for a king to do this,

would have been unheard of,

like impossible,

can't happen.

Because it would have just bankrupt the entire kingdom.

But the king does it.

Jesus is using an illustration here

to show something beyond this idea

of this number being forgiven.

If you're familiar with the gospel,

you know how Jesus goes to the cross

for you and me.

He goes to the cross.

And he does this

because sin entered the world.

And this debt that happened through this sin

cannot be paid through human means.

It's impossible to pay it.

But God knew this.

And he sends his son

to appease the debt that has to be paid.

Because God is a just God.

He gives the command in Genesis,

do not eat from the tree.

And humanity eats from the tree.

So he has to follow through with it.

But he sends someone.

He sends his son

in order to stand in our place.

C.S. Lewis

has a famous essay called

God in the Dock.

And this thing is,

what the essay is about,

is about that we are standing

within the dock in the courtroom

before the judge,

the just judge.

And we have our sentence

laid out before us.

All the evidence is laid out.

We are found guilty.

But then Jesus comes through the side door

and stands in our place

and we walk free.

But Jesus doesn't.

See, Jesus could have ended

the illustration here

and it would have been

a feel-good story.

A nice illustration.

It's all settled.

The king forgives the servant

and life goes on.

But Jesus doesn't finish here.

He keeps going.

Why is he doing this?

And that's what we need to find out.

Because forgiveness

is so hard to do.

It is harder than you think.

This idea that we must forgive

those who have wronged us

regardless of how severe it's been

is unheard of.

It is so hard to do.

So in the next verses,

let's take a look.

28 to 31.

But when the same servant went out,

he found one of his fellow servants

who owed him a hundred denarii.

And seizing him,

he began to choke him,

saying,

Pay what you owe.

So his fellow servant fell down

and pleaded with him,

Have patience with me

and I will pay you.

He refused

and went and put him in prison

until he should pay the debt.

And when his fellow servants

saw what had taken place,

they were greatly distressed.

And they went

and reported to their master

all that had taken place.

See, what's going on here

is that the servant

owed the other servant,

the one who was just forgiven,

way less.

It would have been

just around $12,000,

which is still a lot,

but it's significantly less

than $4 billion.

But it was also in his right

to do what he did,

to send the servant to prison.

It was in his right at that time.

He didn't have to forgive him.

So this idea of forgiveness,

Jesus is honing in on.

So what is Jesus trying to show here?

What he's showing here

is that the servant,

yes, he was forgiven,

has not changed.

His heart has not changed at all.

Only looking out for himself.

Only those who have been

truly changed

by the forgiveness of God

can forgive freely.

That's what Jesus

is talking about here.

And that is why

Jesus used this illustration

for Peter

as he brings this question to him.

Because Peter,

still in his mind,

had this idea

that he only had to forgive

seven times,

and then he could just walk on

and write that person off.

But Jesus is showing here

is that if you

have been forgiven,

if you are clinging

to that forgiveness

that God has done

through his son,

you must forgive.

And Jesus is bringing that

to home

before he goes to the cross.

So how do I forgive?

How do I do it?

Well, someone who's influenced me

quite dramatically

is Timothy Keller.

He has passed away now.

But one of his last books

he wrote

is called Forgive.

And if you are curious

about forgiveness,

and if you struggle

with forgiveness,

I would highly recommend

this book.

But I'm just going to

take a section from it

because if someone

says it better than you,

you should just quote them.

And it's just a short section.

So how do you forgive?

He lays it out in four ways.

And the ways he lays it out

just gets harder and harder

as he lays it out.

Now, forgiveness,

according to Timothy Keller,

is it's not something

where you just excuse the person

and you don't talk about

what has happened.

There is an offense

that happened

and it needs to be addressed.

It needs to be brought up.

The way Jesus talks about it

in the previous verses,

you need to go to your brother

or sister

and tell them

what has happened,

how they offended you,

because they actually

might not even know.

But it needs to be done

in a way

that is not accusatory.

It just needs to be brought up.

It needs to be talked about.

And then step two

is that you need to identify

with the person

who's offended you

or sinned against you

as a fellow sinner.

You're not to elevate yourself

above that person

because they also

are only saved through grace.

It's nothing else.

They are just as guilty

as you are before God.

And Jesus has come

also to save them.

And then you are to release

and absorb the offense.

And then lastly,

which is, in my opinion,

is probably the hardest one,

you are to aim

for reconciliation

of the person.

You're aimed

to have relationship

with that person.

Now, Daniel,

a couple weeks ago,

talked about

with his father

and the things

he's gone through.

And I also

have dealt with a father

who has not been the greatest.

And I've kind of

written him off.

For over half my life,

I haven't talked to him.

He kind of just disappeared

out of my life

when I was 18.

And going through this text

has really,

it's kind of really

beat me up this week

that I,

most likely,

I need to reach out to him.

And I need to try

to work through

forgiveness with him.

So I'm not up here

just pointing a finger

at you.

You know the classic saying,

you point a finger,

you have three or four

pointing back at you?

I'm up here,

I am someone

who also needs

to forgive deeply.

I have many things

I need to work through.

So the thing is,

for the king,

the king in this parable

to forgive,

he would have to

no longer view

the servant

as an offender,

as one who

owes him money.

He would have to

view him

as a fellow citizen again.

Some commentators

on this text

have commented

that Jesus,

thinking about this servant

who has this immense debt,

it was only possible

that he was within

the king's court

working with him.

So they say that

the king would have

had to restore him

back to that job title

to truly forgive him.

If any of these steps

that Keller lays out,

he says,

aren't followed,

you haven't forgiven.

Now I want to take

a moment here

to acknowledge

that some of us

in this room

have experienced

severe abuse

from people.

And the idea

of forgiving somebody

who's abused you

is quite difficult.

Or if you've experienced

church hurt,

leadership has hurt you

in a sense,

and you have still

struggled with it,

I want to acknowledge that

because it's quite difficult

to do.

or you've experienced

violence or slander

or something else

from somebody

who's committed

towards you.

Or you've seen

church leadership

sweep under the rug

issues within the church

and say you just need

to forgive and move on.

You don't need

to address it.

That is wrong.

That is totally wrong.

And it's also

extremely hard

to work through

forgiveness in that way.

I want to acknowledge it.

Forgiveness isn't something

where you just

snap your finger

and move on.

It is something

that could take

a lifetime to work through.

And also we see

in this section,

before we move on

to the next section,

that unforgiveness

is visible.

The servants see

the other servant

not forgiving

the servant of the debt

or working with him

in the debt.

They just see it.

It's visible.

Unforgiveness

is visible.

It's interesting

because forgiveness

is not visible.

It happens

behind closed doors.

It happens

within your heart.

But unforgiveness

is outward.

It's visible.

You can see it.

That's what we see

from the text here.

And the thing is

Jesus doesn't

just stop here.

He doubles down

on it

and he makes it

even more serious.

It's more serious

than we think.

Verses 32 to 35.

Then his master

summoned him

and said to him,

you wicked servant,

I forgave you

all that debt

because you pleaded

with me

and should not

you have had mercy

on your fellow servant

as I had had mercy

on you?

In anger

his master

delivered him

to the jailers

until he should

pay all his debt.

So also

my heavenly father

will do to

every one of you

if you do not

forgive your brother

from your heart.

So Jesus

doubles down

and what does

the king do?

he gives him

over to the

same punishment

that he approved

for that servant

to go through

that he sent

to jail.

The king just

gives him

what he already

approved.

The thing that we

see from this text

we see in verse 26

that you cannot

earn your salvation.

The servant says

let me just go

and work

and I'll pay

for it.

I'll repay the debt.

See you see here

you cannot repay

your debt

to God.

It's impossible.

And then you also

see here

in verse 32

and also in verse 26

is that you cannot

grovel

for your salvation.

You cannot plead

for it.

It's impossible.

It's not going

to get there.

You cannot repay

your debt

by groveling.

You cannot repay

your debt to God

by trying to earn it.

The only way

that we stand

right before God

within his forgiveness

is through a changed heart

is when we just

come before him

and say

Lord have mercy

on me

a sinner.

See those

who cannot forgive

will not like heaven.

The reason why

is because the only way

to heaven

is through mercy

is through the forgiveness

through Christ.

Then the only songs

within heaven

are going to be

about forgiveness

and divine grace.

See we notice here

how the servant

has already been forgiven

before he has the opportunity

to forgive.

See forgiveness works

when we forgive

out of our hearts

because our hearts

are changed

by the forgiveness

of Christ.

That Christ

on the cross

that we get the free

gift of forgiveness

through that.

It's only when we're

changed through that

that we can forgive.

Forgiveness doesn't work

when you think

I must forgive

and then I'll be forgiven.

That doesn't work

like that.

But forgiveness

here is also

more freeing

than we think

because it's only

possible through

the gospel.

We can't do it

on our own.

See this illustration

that Jesus uses

is one of those

throw it back

in the face

at the person listening.

Nathan the prophet

does it to Daniel

when he sins

with Bathsheba

and he comes

before him

and tells the illustration

to him.

It's one of those.

It gets thrown back

at you.

Jesus is being

very clever here

when he does this.

It's only through

the gospel

when you are

transformed by it

that you can forgive

your brother and sister

because if you don't

forgive,

if you're not

changed by it,

you're trapped

within it.

You're trapped

within a jail

and you let the person

who's offended you

or who's done

something against you

to have power

over you

even when they've

moved on.

All your decisions

are based

on that action

of unforgiveness

all your,

how you view

yourself

are based

on that action

of unforgiveness

but the gospel

frees you from that.

Jesus went to the cross

because he knew

all our struggles.

He knew all the sin

that we do daily

and that is when you get the,

when we look on the cross,

when we gather together

and give praise

to Christ,

to God

about what he did

on the cross.

anything is possible

and it's only possible

when we're on our knees

before Christ

and we say,

Christ,

come into my life

and help me.

Later in the service,

we come to the point,

we say it every week

in the liturgy

and it's on page nine

when we get to say it

and we say it

after communion

and it's all our problems

we send to Christ crucified.

All our fears

we send to Christ crucified.

All assaults to the devil

we send to Christ crucified.

Then we can say

all the things

that have been done to us

that we struggle with constantly

we send to Christ crucified.

This isn't just

slap a band-aid on it saying.

It's something

that is truly life-changing.

The gospel changes our lives

and then we can set

all our hopes.

We can set it

on the risen son

because that's the gospel.

The gospel is that

we have this great hope

that Christ will come again.

Then as we apply it

to our lives daily,

we can become more like him.

That is the great hope.

That is what Jesus

is talking about here

in the illustration.

So if you're like me

and you struggle

with forgiveness,

you struggle with things

in your life,

go to Christ.

Christ,

come before him

and ask him to help you

daily in your walk

with unforgiveness.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father,

we give you thanks

and praise

that you have provided

your son

to make us right before you.

That you give us a way,

Lord,

through all the things

that we struggle with.

That we can just

give them the Christ.

We can give all our problems,

all our fears.

That we can set our hope

on your risen son.

And the hope

that he will return

and we'll stand before him

face to face.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.