 Today we're in a very difficult passage. I'm going to just start out by saying that it's a difficult passage like last week Wasn't this one is too. We're going to be looking at a topic that is That is worthy of much more Time and much more development than I can give on a Sunday morning. We're going to be looking at Matthew 18 21 through 35 a passage that deals with forgiving one another Originally when I gave this study many years ago, I simply called it the parable of the debt collector And you're going to see in this passage what happens when we do not forgive Somebody who is sinned against us and so beginning at verse 21 Jesus gives this parable verse 21 Matthew chapter 18 Peter came to him and said Lord How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him up to seven times? And Jesus said to him I do not say to you up to seven times But up to seventy times seven Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants And when he had begun to settle accounts one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents But as he was not able to pay his master Commended that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and that payment be made The servant therefore fell down before him saying master have patience with me, and I will pay you all Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion Released him and forgave him the debt But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denari And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying pay me what you owe So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying have patience with me, and I will pay you all He would not but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt So when his fellow servants saw what had been done They were very grieved and came and told their master all that had been done Then his master after he had called him said to him you wicked servant I forgave you all that debt because you begged me should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant Just as I had pity on you this master was angry Delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him So my heavenly father also will do to each of you from if each of you from his heart Does not forgive his brother his trespasses one of the things about parables. You need to remember Is there's a germ of truth there that the Lord is wanting us to Capture is there's certain thing that he wants us to know and so when you study parables and Jesus gave a number of parables You don't necessarily take every line in every verse and say this means this this means that what you're looking for is the center And the center of this particular parable that we're going to be looking at relates to forgiveness Because a question has been asked of the Lord Jesus Christ related to that subject when Peter in verse 21 came to him And said how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? So the the germ of this the center of this particular parable that Jesus is giving revolves around the theme of Forgiveness and so that's what we'll be looking at today Forgiving one another now as we've been going through chapter 18 here in Matthew Jesus has been teaching that believers are like children and he had Illustrated that as we saw in verses two and three by taking a toddler and using this toddler as an example And so he's been speaking concerning a variety things that pertain to children and Things about children that help us to understand Relationships with God with the body of Christ with one another if you will and so he's speaking concerning forgiveness in this passage in this portion and So what he would be doing is he would be helping us to see that believers should be forgiven as Easily as we forgive our children when they fail you see as it begins It says here that how often shall my brother sin against me? So that tells us that Peter is speaking about a brother. He's speaking about a fellow believer. So believers Should be forgiven as easily as we forgive our children now Normally if your parent normally You're very quick to forgive a child Especially when you realize that the child can do some things innocently without knowing it They do something that is something that really upsets you, but they did it naively they did it innocently I remember my my sister Rebecca and my sister Madeline I have two sisters younger than I and They were outside playing and My father climbed into his truck the truck was parked on the grass and my dad climbed into his truck And he turned the ignition key on and when he did so he noticed that the fuel gauge was registering full And my dad knew that he had an empty tank as a matter of fact He was on his way to go and fill the tank up, but now that he's turning on the switch and and the fuel tank is Registering full my dad thought something happened here And so come to find out what had happened is Madeline and Rebecca were playing gas station and they had a hose and They had turned the water on and they filled my dad's tank with water and So after they recovered and came out of the hospital my father had a real firm conversation with them My dad Didn't get all uptight like Madeline was around six years old and Becky was around four They didn't understand they were simply playing and and so Jesus is making it very very clear to us that That we are quick to forgive our children It would be wise if we are quick to forgive one another and so when when Peter begins to speak and says if my brother sins against me And how often shall I forgive him up to seven times? Well, he's actually asking a question that pertains to something Jesus had already spoken about Because remember in verse 15 here in chapter 18 how Jesus said if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault So what has happened is Peter obviously is listening to Jesus and he's thinking about what Jesus is speaking about And Jesus spoke concerning a brother sinning against you and now he wants to know how you go about that How do you go about forgiving somebody? You see normally seeking revenge or what we may think is justice Seeking justice or revenge is our normal and natural response. We we remember that old phrase. I don't get mad I get even and that's a natural response There was a king of France by the name of King Lewis the 12th and he said nothing smells so sweet as the dead body of your enemy and so that's a natural kind of mentality that we can have holding grudges and Remembering even nurturing past hurts is actually very natural for us And and we can remember the painful and often forget about the good So what we have here is a lesson on how to learn to forgive and Jesus is giving us insight in this passage So again in verse 21 notice how it says Peter came to him and said Lord How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him and So again Jesus had just said if your brother sins against you would seem that that's that struck a chord in the heart of the Apostle Peter he asked the question how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him So when he says how often shall my brother that gives us insight that he's speaking about a fellow believer How often shall a fellow believer sin against me and I forgive him? And then I want you to notice something that you might not even notice upon first reading He gives it a number up until seven times now What the question is this what if a brother a fellow believer intentionally and Habitually sins against me How many times are they able to be restored to fellowship with me? How much mercy am I supposed to show a brother who sins against me? How often am I supposed to say I forgive you? What if he does it more than once? What if he continues to do it? What if he does it up to seven times? Now when you read seven times you might not understand what he's speaking about But during that time The rabbis said that you didn't have to forgive that often You see the rabbis were teaching at that time that you only needed to forgive up to three times Now where did they get that from they got it from the Old Testament the book of Amos in chapter 1 verse 3? Because in Amos chapter 1 verse 3 it says thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not turn away its punishment because they have Thresh Gilead with implements of iron So the rabbis when they were studying Amos chapter 1 verse 3 reasoned that if God only forgives three times and punishes on the Fourth it would be arrogant for a man to forgive more than God forgives And so during that time they said that if somebody sins against you three times you forgive them if they for if they Sin against you a fourth time you'd be going even beyond God in forgiving them So it may be that That has the Apostle Peter is asking this question that he may even be expecting to be commended a bit for Jesus from Jesus Because he's got a compassionate spirit You know the Bible does teach us that we are to be merciful doesn't it and the Bible does teach us that we are to be forgiving In Zechariah chapter 7 verse 9 it says this is what the Lord Almighty says Administered true justice show mercy and compassion to one another So perhaps he feels that Jesus will commend him for his compassion and spirit and thus he says up till seven times But notice Jesus's response verse 22 Jesus said to him I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven Now Peter is thinking in the manner that our fallen human natures inclined to think You see forgiveness rests on people doing what he thinks that they should be doing He doesn't have an understanding of God's merciful grace yet And he doesn't understand the depth of God's forgiveness towards sinners And so what Jesus will do here in this parable is he will teach disciples what forgiveness actually is Somebody said forgiveness is not a matter of calculations But rather a matter of the heart Forgiveness is an expression of real love and love is the earmark of a Christian When Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 13 in verse 5 he speaks concerning loving this way He says it keeps no record of wrongs and So Jesus is teaching us the essence of love and forgiveness You see genuine forgiveness has no set boundaries So the point he's making is Have a forgiving spirit always in Luke 17. He says it like this in verses 3 and 4 He says watch yourselves if your brother sins Rebuke him if he repents Forgive him if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times comes back to you and says I repent Shoot him. No forgive him Forgive him a Heart that is tender enough to remain in callous is a great example of our God who is merciful Jesus in Luke 6 36 said be merciful just as your father also is merciful So we're gonna see that forgiveness Forgiveness is not condoning and forgiveness is not excusing and forgiveness is not simply forgetting something that's been done to you The word forgive means to release a death that is owed to you The word forgive speaks of sending something away or yielding something up Somebody wrote this means that if my brother offends me and I forgive him I send away the offense from myself and from him so that it is never brought up again If a person keeps bringing the same offense up then they have never really sent it away and they haven't truly Forgiven it's like that saying again. I forgive you, but I won't forget It's that mentality if you're holding on to it. You never released it So a Christians never to allow my ability to forgive to be surpassed By the sin of my brother against me With this in mind Jesus is giving a parable these teaching about forgiveness That parable is found in verses 23 to the end of the chapter to verse 35 and he speaks of it in this way He says the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts So this king is settling his accounts and he's receiving the revenue that is do him from his ranking officials which are tax collectors and It says to us in verse 24 when he had begun to settle accounts one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents But as he was not able to pay his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had And that payment be made the servant therefore fell down before him saying master have patience with me And I will pay you all Then the master that servant was moved with compassion released him and forgave him the debt And so he have here a story about a man who owes a king a considerable amount of money What has happened is they have gone out and they had taken the taxes collected them But now they're supposed to be turning in the revenue that they've collected But this man has an impossible sum to pay back Jesus does that on purpose He he gives an exaggerated some to give us an emphasis. He says this man owed him 10,000 talents Now we don't use the word talent to describe money today So it's hard for us to really understand exactly what he's saying here and the way to discover this or to at least begin To give some preliminary calculations as to why Jesus would say 10,000 talents is to simply remember that when we get to chapter 20 you're going to see in verses 2 and verse 13 that during this time a common day laborer made What was called a denarii they made one denarii a day So a day's labor one denarii a talent When Jesus speaks of this talent a talent is equal to 6,000 denarii So for a worker making six denarii per week it would take 1,000 weeks to earn one talent Now to save one talent would take much longer to save 10,000 talents would take 10 million weeks That would be equivalent to a hundred and ninety two thousand three hundred and seven years So the number is intended to communicate a debt that is impossible to pay That's why Jesus uses that number When he said in verse 24 when he began to settle accounts one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents this is an amount that he cannot pay back So the royal official hasn't turned in the revenue that he's collected It may represent several years of collecting taxes keeping them for himself He's unable to pay because he's embezzled it and consumed it And so as this is taking place in verses 25 through 27 The the the master it says he was not able to pay his master commanded that he be sold with this wife and children And all that he had that payment be made and the servant fell down before him saying master have patience with me I will pay you all and the master of that servant was moved with compassion released him and forgave him the debt And so what we have here is the illustration. Let's look at it together because During this time a person in debt could sell himself as an indentured servant to try and pay off that debt So Jesus is speaking about somebody who is actually being thrown into servitude to work off a debt When we look at it and see what the the heart of this would be one we see that this is a picture of a bankrupt sinner This is somebody who owes God and that God is bringing that person into Accountability now the Bible says it very clearly that each one of us shall give an account of himself to God Romans 14 tells us that each one of us will give an account of himself to God Ecclesiastes 12 14 Says God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing Whether it be good or whether it be evil every secret thing Everything that we think we got away with God brings into judgment and God scrutinizes that because the eyes of the Lord are upon everything So there's nothing hidden from his sight. He sees it all and ultimately one day we're going to stand before him and We have an insurmountable debt that we owe to the Lord You see actually everything that I have belongs to him anyway in first Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 Paul said what makes you better than anyone else and what do you have that God hasn't given you and if all you have is from God Why do you boast as though you have accomplished something on your own in first Chronicles 29 11 it says yours Oh, God is the greatness the power the glory the victory and the majesty Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours. Oh Lord, and this is your kingdom We adore you as the one who is over all things and again Psalm 24 1 The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness the world and those who dwell there and everything belongs to him and I'm Accountable to him for everything in my life and so I am going to be brought into accountability People are brought into accountability. This man was brought into accountability Now there's something else. I want you to see here that may not seem so obvious notice verse 25 He was not able to pay His master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and that payment be made I want to talk to you about that for a second here one I owe God an insurmountable and a Debt that I cannot pay on my own That's what Jesus is emphasizing to my rejection of the Lord My rejection of God my rejection of bowing my knee before him My rejection of the grace and mercy that he offers me Does not simply affect me It affects us it affects us all one of the things that we are failing to remember today in this society that we live in is That we're connected That we all are connected we're interconnected We are so caught up today with this idea that it's my life and don't bother me don't rain on my parade You what bothers you is bothering you. It's your fault if it bothers you. It doesn't bother me We have that mentality it was in my error as part of human nature It's pretty much because I'm into it for myself. I'm all about me anyway I have to die to self in order to gain anything and that's the heart of the Christian message is is Greater love has no man than this that a man laid down his life for his friends Because I am so caught up loving myself when when when Jesus has asked the question What is the the great commandment in the law? He said there are two he says one here Oh Israel the Lord that God is one and you should love him with all your heart soul strength of mind You should love God with everything and to there's a second command like unto the first You shall love your neighbor as yourself now Jesus wasn't giving us three commands He said there are two love God and love your neighbor But what we've done is we've taken the second command he gave as it pertains to relationships And he said love your neighbor as yourself and then there are those who get in a pulpit and we'll say see the Bible Infers that I'm to love myself. That's not what Jesus taught Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself. What are you saying Jesus that it's okay to love myself and put myself Before my neighbor no he's not saying that at all He's saying with the same intensity that you have in preserving yourself You need to turn that around and care about other people because the gospel speaks concerning us loving God So love the world he gave and Christians are those who lay their lives down. That's how you demonstrate Christianity But what we have today is it's all about me. It's about my wishes my wants my desires my plans the things that I have as Gold we put ourselves so far before everybody else that we're willing to just lose our family if I get what I wanted That's what we do Now we'll lose look at I'm not happy in my marriage right now I'm so upset with what's going on. I'll just dump it But I don't think in terms of the child or the children that are being affected by my desire to be free of this So it's about me now, isn't it? It's about me, but the bottom line is I want you to see this in this Jesus would be inferring that not only the man owes and his pain, but his wife and his children did too You cannot sin in a vacuum You can't You will impact the entire nucleus of relationships that you have when you put yourself before others That's what happens. This is not a popular message. You may not come back next week, but it's true It's true You hear what the Lord says and you do it Christianity is dying to self Do you think that it was easy for Jesus to die on the cross if you do you don't understand? It wasn't easy to leave the splendor of heaven knowing that his destiny was a lonely hill called Golgotha Where he laid down his life for me It wasn't easy it was love and sometimes love hurts and Jesus died on a cross to teach me greater love has no man in this Than a man laid down his life for his friends when you sin habitually Consistently it isn't just you who pay the price It's your children. You're married to your wife Everybody is hurt Everybody is penalized Everybody don't forget that Because this is one of those parables When Jesus speaks about it sometimes people just are looking at the man who's throwing in prison They're forgetting the wife and kids went to the wife and the children are always affected when that man Fails they always are and the husband and the children are always affected when that wife fails and what Jesus is teaching us is impossible for us to do without God's help it is impossible to be forgiving without God's help because I may forgive but I don't forget I May forgive but I'm only releasing it for a while until you prove to me a year or two years later that you were not worthy of my Trust and then you do it again, and I say see I never really forgave you because I knew you'd do this again That's a heavy heavy thing to be looking at but that's what we're looking at right now You see this is a picture of a man trying by his own efforts to work off a sin debt and it is not Possible and Romans chapter 4 verse 5 Paul said it like this He said people are declared righteous because of their faith not because of their work And so as this is all going on verse 26 he fell down before him So what does he do? Well, he throws himself upon the mercy of the king Which is exactly what we are to do Psalm 41 verse 4 says I Said oh Lord Have mercy on me heal me For I have sinned against you have mercy on me heal me. I have sinned against you You see we seek the mercy of the Lord Jesus would be illustrating that with this parable We seek the mercy of the Lord and he forgives us Remember in Matthew 5 verse 3 how Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit and and when we went through that passage I pointed out that the word poor is a Greek word that speaks of to shrink or to crouch in a corner It speaks of begging and What he was speaking about was blessed is the one who recognizes their own spiritual poverty that they need Mercy from God Blessed is the one who recognizes his inability and need for the mercy of God Blessed is the one who stands empty before God in total need of his mercy in total need of his grace You see humility is the foundation of other graces and until we understand how unworthy we are We will not understand how worthy he is and so the poor in spirit realize that they have They don't have a right relationship with the Lord So they come to God as humble beggars seeking for mercy and forgiveness and that's what the Lord is teaching us there And that's what he'd have us to understand now And so the man goes before him and he says have patience with me. I will pay you all Well verse 27 the master of that servant was moved with compassion released him and forgave him the debt He released him of the debt He reacted with compassion and released him. He completely forgave him of a an unpayable debt He actually treated it as if it were alone and he forgave it in Micah chapter 7 verse 18 the question is asked who is a God like you? Pardoning iniquity passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in Mercy he delights in mercy God rejoices delights it it gives him great pleasure to extend Mercy to those who ask Well, what happened did he learn his lesson notice verse 28 that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denari Laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying pay me what you owe Fellow servant fell down at his feet begged him saying have have patience with me and I will pay you all He would not but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt and so As he comes and speaks to him notice of the inverse 28 how it speaks concerning that this fellow servant owed a hundred denari Now this gives to us the response to the mercy of the king. What does he do? Well? He goes out and he finds a debtor who owes him So this reveals how he responded to the act of grace that had been bestowed on him He went out he found a fellow servant and he remembered this guy owes me a hundred denari Now this other servant would represent a fellow believer He owed a hundred denari a hundred denari is a considerable sum of money, but it's something you can pay I mean if you buy a house today here, even in Chino You get a house and the flies go along with it when you when you When you buy a house here even in Chino You're looking at four hundred thousand four hundred and fifty thousand dollars There's some housing project going on just up the street from us just just south of us right now some of you see it It's just up the street. Maybe a mile or so It started out if you would drive by that because I drive by there every day The houses that are for sale in that area there started out when they first started building them It said in the low five hundreds But if you go buy it right now and the houses aren't even complete They don't even have the model homes ready to show they're now in the low six hundreds So you've seen a hundred thousand dollars additional In the last two or three months To buy a home even in Chino and some people say Chino. Are you kidding me? Who wants to live there? You know this morning Hawaiians aren't waking up saying listen. I got to get to Chino for vacation They're just not doing that Or maybe they are I have friends in Hawaii say you know you'd be surprised. I would like to come back They got heat stroke because why would you want to come back? But when you I actually love Chino very much I tease it because I love it But the bottom line is even here in our area guys You cannot buy a home a home 350 400 450 it's all going up right my first home cost me forty seven thousand dollars and I told my dad house payments are gonna cost me $500 a month. This is killing. It's gonna kill me and my dad. I still remember my dad saying to me Son, there's gonna be a day when you think $500 a month is cheap I remember responding to my dad by saying I hope that day never comes. Hey, it's here It's here my first house forty seven and a half But it's something you can pay for It's something you can buy you can get a You know 30 year loan you can pay it back what he's dealing with here is a good sum of money a hundred denarii hundred days wages But it's negotiable. It's something that can be paid Versus a debt that's a hundred and ninety two thousand years And so that gives to us the insight into the fact that this other servant there's a other believer Sinned in a slight way against him in comparison to all the sins that this man had sinned against God and So when you start to take into consideration the amount of mercy God has given to me as a Habitual sinner over a lifetime Well when somebody has sinned against me Jesus is comparing it and saying That there is no comparison a man sins against God are always going to be much greater than a man sin against another man But here comes this man and he says pay me what you owe and he treats him brutally grabs him by the throat And the man says exactly by the way the same thing that he had said this other man had said to the to the master Have patience with me and I will pay you all same words Different response He cast him into debtor's prison to make him pay back what he owed instead of being merciful He became vindictive now as this is taking place verse 31 His fellow servants saw what had been done. They were very grieved and came and told their master all that had been done People saw what was happening and notice the sorrow of their heart. They they know this is wrong It's not right that that that two people should be in such conflict It's wrong for what this man did especially in light of the fact that so much mercy had been shown to the first one And so little mercy or no mercy was shown to the other one And so they're upset and they come and report him and say this is what has taken place This man has treated him in this way It affects them and it causes them sorrow of heart the way that people in this church or in churches throughout the World may be aware of two brothers or a brother and sister or whatever in a church having conflict and they're grieved by that They're grieved by it. They see the anger. They see the what's going on and it causes sorrow of heart You know somebody who's having a problem with somebody else and you've encouraged them You said listen the Lord has given to given to us the way to remedy that go and speak to your brother Himself alone in and win him back go and do well. I don't want you. I you don't understand he owes me He owes me you don't understand. You don't know what they've done to me. You don't know how they've spoken to me You don't know how they've treated me He owes me and that's what happens And what happens here is it grieves other people there are people in churches whose hearts are broken Because they know of conflict that takes place amongst members of that congregation And so they're grieved and they go and speak to the master They're grieved and told him so what happens well notice verse 32 his master After he had called him said to him you wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you begged me Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant? Just as I had pity on you His master was angry Delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him and So my heavenly father also will do to each of you If you don't from your heart forgive your brother his trespasses So what happens well he speaks to him you wicked servant. I forgave you everything Now what does this teach us? Let's make this as practical as we can It reveals that this servant didn't appreciate or understanding understand the meaning of forgiveness Here's something for you. It's so basic. We all know this but let me say it anyway. You can't give what you don't have You can't give what you don't have How do I give forgiveness if I haven't accepted it myself? How do I? Understand the depth of it if I haven't humbled myself and received from God his mercy and compassion This is one of those things by the way that you learn over time It's amazing thing, but it's true You can learn this quick or you can learn it slowly, but you will learn it You will learn it if you're a believer in Jesus Christ You will learn how to forgive you will learn that if you have a heart to follow Christ if you don't Then you're going to be handed over to the tormentors to the torturers your life is going to be miserable Because you always have in the back of your mind this person owes me This person owes me and I don't trust him this person owes me. They've hurt me. I'll never forget I'll never forget. Oh, I say I've forgiven, but I've never released you You will always owe me and I will bring it up I will say something to you at that appropriate time I will say something to you about it whenever you have upset me and families We see this happen in fights with a husband and a wife all the time or with a parent and a child Let's say to the kid, you know what? I can't trust you. I let you go and you did this I don't trust you and you pour into that child this sense that that you will never never trust them because they are not Earning your trust and you'll even say that you've got to earn my trust, but how much do they have to do? To earn that trust what do they have to do? How much do they have to do until you let it go? How much some of you will appreciate this and others won't Again, I understand as my children were growing up and they would do something that children do they will do wrong things I Would sit them down and I'd have a conversation with them and I would talk to them and I explained to them And they when they were young I would explain to them This is what you did wrong this if they wanted to argue I had all night long you can argue with me all day if you want doesn't matter You know there were times when I would simply let them say what they're saying and I'd say something to the effect list And this isn't a conversation. This is a correction and Until you see the point that I'm making this conversation is going to continue until the correction occurs So it's up to you How long you want to talk and we would talk and when they finally would say to me which they did Dad, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that This is how I handled it. I would look at them. We would pray and I would say from this point on This will not be brought up again It's in the sea of forgetfulness. It's over. It's done no more and they can tell you I don't bring things up to my kids I Don't remind them of what they've done. I don't Because they asked for forgiveness. I release that debt. It's gone. It's over no more Not everybody does that Some people say oh, I'm in the back of my mind You know, I'm not I'm not going to forget this because you've shown me what you are and they will live up to or down to your expectations If you say that they're going to do it again What good does it do? What good does it do? Here's something for you that you may not appreciate but I'll say it anyway. I Was the kid that if you took my dad or my mom Anybody said I don't I don't like what you did I was the kid that you would have hated because I was the kid who say I don't care Dads of blah blah blah and I'd say dad to be honest with you. I really don't care How can I just don't I? Don't care if you like it fine if you don't like it fine doesn't matter to me. I really don't care And and I could tell you stories. You're not here to hear my stories, but I'll tell you that's where my heart was That's a bottom line. That's a fact. That's a fact hurt me once shame on me hurt me hurt me once shame on you hurt me Twice shame on me Now you're not gonna hurt me twice You know, I don't care. I don't care enough about you to even worry about it And then I get saved and then I start reading the Bible and it says forgive those who have hurt you And I say how can you do that? Because they've hurt me bad How do I do that and Jesus taught me he said how much did I forgive you? Everything and why can't you release that debt that they owe you they asked Did I did it happen overnight? No Did it happen in a year? No Took years for me to actually learn to release debts and I I do that now I release debts I'm not gonna hold on to him. I'm not I don't what why why waste your life being angry at somebody who's already said their son Why waste your life blaming them for things that can't be changed? You cannot go back into time and change it It happened. It's done. They said forgive me I have to release their debts because if I don't I'm tortured. It's in the back of my mind I'm always hurt. I'm always angry and the point is when you forgive someone you let it go Does that mean you don't learn lessons? No, you learn your lessons That doesn't mean you run around all gullible and and all and no it simply means that you're not gonna hold them To a standard that God didn't hold you to When Jesus died on that cross and forgave me of my sins He forgave me for all of them all of them and If I confess my sin, he is faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and to cleanse me from all Unrighteousness he didn't hold it back and didn't say see David. I knew what you do I knew you this way. He didn't do that, you know spiritually I see what God did he covered my sin with the blood of Christ. He forgave me and if he forgave me Who am I? Not to forgive you. Who am I to make you pay me back? Who am I to do that to you? So I've learned over the years Release the debt Because I'm not angry at people anymore. I'm not looking at that person walking up saying. Oh, I remember what you did anymore You know if you said you're sorry I forgive you let's move on But if you stole from me, don't expect me to loan you any money. I learned my lessons But at the same time Jesus taught me release release now some sometimes people wonder about that But I've discovered that unforgiveness produces broken friendships It produces remorse it produces a pained conscience He can even develop into a life of rejection So this kind of life continues because forgiveness of sins is intended to remove those things from a person when When the psalmist said and while the psalmist said in Psalm 32 verse 2 blessed is the man To whom the Lord does not impute iniquity in whose spirit there is no deceit Blessed is that man that God forgives and when God has forgiven you Then we forgive somebody else So what do we learn? Well to summarize one Through this parable we learn that we're all debtors to God and that we cannot pay off our own debt I need it to be forgiven Second I Discover that it is on the basis of his mercy that he forgives me because he has compassion on me and Then third if I have been forgiven then I am to forgive those who have sinned against me when they come We're talking about a brother or a sister in the Lord when they come and say forgive me I am to forgive them and then fourth I discovered that my life will be miserable until I let go and Forgive other people because unforgiveness will always result in bitterness and bitterness will always torture you It always will Judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy, but mercy triumphs over judgment So here's a simple test to evaluate if you have forgiven those who have hurt you one Can you thank God for the lessons that you've learned even when in pain? To can you talk about the event without bitterness resentment hurt anger or desire for revenge? Three if you had any blame at all or you had part of the blame have you accepted that? Four can you revisit the scene without negative feelings? Five can you reward those who hurt you and six? Can you pray for God's best? For them can you? God in Jesus name Bless their life God, I'm not gonna hold this in my heart anymore. I need to release it. I am in torment. I Only I think about it. It's always before me. I need it to be released because I want to move on Your life is short It's too short to be a debt collector It's too short To always remember the pain that people cost you You know when my mama went home to be with Jesus She went through her last years of life in a bed. She had a broken back My mom couldn't walk my mom had fallen down and not only broken her back She broke ribs and she couldn't get out of bed She only was able to get out for basic things and she had to come back and mama went through dementia and At the end of her life Mama was remembering a lot of the painful things that had happened to her. It was a very difficult thing I'll tell you something. I Really want to live a life right now where I've allowed the blood of Christ to cover those things So that in my last days, I'm not thinking of how Somebody hurt me or said something about me or did something, you know just yesterday my wife Marie and I were talking in I said, you know, honey, I said there's something like this I said if I were to sit down from the day this church began to where we're at now To remember the things that have been said and the things that have been done I said it really is an amazing thing that you and I have remained in ministry because so many cruel things and so many bad things Have been said and done to us in our family. I Said it's all the grace of God, isn't it? It's all the love of God Isn't it because what the Lord has done is he's given to us both Marie and me This grace in the Lord to say, you know what if you said, I'm sorry. It's done. It's over Blood of Christ covers it. It's down in the depths of the sea. It's never to be retrieved Let's move on in Jesus and see what God wants to do and I'm able to do that because of the Lord I'm able to do that Because he did that for me and Jesus said he said no If you don't forgive you won't experience what forgiveness is because you don't understand forgiveness Your debt to God is greater than any man will ever owe you and until you understand that You're gonna be a debt collector, but I say to the Lord. No Lord. I don't want to be a debt collector I want to release it into your hands. You forgave me. May I forgive others?