 Lord, thank you very much For the opportunity to be rebuked by your word To be edified by your word to see you Lord Jesus in your word. I Pray that we would hear your words Christ and that we would humbly submit to them Would search our hearts For how we can be as forgiving as you are So thank you for the example that you set. Please help us now to worship you in this hour It's been a Longer day Lord and we need help to be able to pay attention to your word and to apply your word So please help us now to worship you with humble pure hearts Amen Anita Epstein Wrote an article for the the Jewish Daily Forward and And The article is entitled why I cannot forgive Germany and she starts her article with a quote From another lady named Ellie Weisel and the quote is I cannot and I do not want to forgive the killers of children. I ask God not to forgive She begins her article. It was more than 15 years ago But I still remember the date clearly my husband and I hosted a dinner and at our home for emerging young German leaders They are participating in an exchange program with the American Jewish Committee that included a week in Washington, DC I viewed the evening as a test of how I would deal with Germans Indeed of whether I could deal with them at all the Germans after all Had murdered most all of my family in the Holocaust To say nothing of their wanton slaughter of millions of other Jews gypsies homosexuals and others I escaped that gruesome fate myself only because shortly after my birth in The ghetto in November 1942 my parents gave me a way to be hidden by a Polish Catholic family More than a million Jewish children. However, we're not so fortunate. They were strangled or starved shot or gassed Bashed against walls or tossed out windows burnt in ovens or buried in mass graves. I tried to behave myself that evening I really did but I could not help myself I asked a wispy young German woman who with whom I was speaking whether she thought she was capable of throwing a baby off A balcony. She was stunned. What do you mean? I? Told her that Germans routinely had thrown Jewish children off balconies during the Holocaust Did she think that she could have done something like that she protested she said that she was not even alive during the pot Holocaust How could I think such a thing? Wouldn't I ever be able to forgive the Germans? She began to cry. I Told her that it was not hard for me to think of such things. I think about such things often I think about how easily I could have been one of the murdered babies I think of how the Germans killed all the pregnant Jewish women. They discovered in the ghetto along with so many others I think of how my mother avoided their clutches to bring me into this world after she suffered terribly in four Nazi camps and Returned from the brink of death found me again after the war And I think of the father grandparents uncles aunts cousins and others I will never know of the post-war anti-Semitism in Germany and Poland and the resentment heaped on me by some Holocaust survivors Whose sons and daughters have had perished when I was older. I realized that I was conscious reminder to them of the inability Their inability to save their own children She goes on to explain how she began to live a life That was a successful life and she says that none of this However has been thanks to the Germans who are responsible only for the darkest corners of my life Including a million other things my regular nightmares my survivor guilt Why was I spared and my persistent fear of intruders and attackers? No, I cannot forgive the Germans. That's God's job She says no, I cannot forgive the Germans. That's God's job At the end of the article she explains that on judgment day that she would like to have a word with God When he judges the Germans Meaning that she would persuade him not to forgive them Forgiveness is Not an easy thing. What's the easy answer to that story? There isn't one. What are you supposed to say to? Anita I was supposed to say something trite like most Easy believism, I'll just forgive Forget about it. Move on What about all those? Murders How is she to respond? Is she right to have that anger? Is she right to live that way? She right to speak to that That young German lady the way she did No, she's not she's not she doesn't understand Biblical forgiveness. She doesn't have the power to forgive Because she herself has not been forgiven and she herself has not seen her own sin before God When someone does that when God saves that way Then you can even forgive a Nazi What does the Lord have to say about forgiveness before we get into the text think of you fit Let's think a little systematic theology about forgiveness to help you okay so Let's think about what forgiveness is and what forgiveness is not What forgiveness is Forgiveness is a promise not to remember anymore It's a promise not to remember anymore you you've been hurt by someone and When they repent You agree with them that you will not bring it up to yourself. You will not bring up to God You will not bring it up to them. It's a promise that I'm not going to remember it anymore repentance biblically is conditional In Luke 17 verses 1 to 10 We see how the Lord explains that when someone repents is when you forgive them in Ephesians 4 31 to 32 We see that we forgive the way God does and God forgives repentant people So repentance is the condition for forgiveness but we also see in the scripture that we're always ready to forgive and praying for it Ready in your heart to forgive no grudges no bitterness no anger you can see that in the way the Lord is crucified When he has a prayer father forgive them They don't know what they're doing. You can see it went in that's in Luke 2334 you can see in Acts chapter 7 verse 60 the way that Stephen has a similar prayer Or he prays to the Lord That the Lord would forgive them and the Lord answered those prayers many of the crucifiers were converted and forgiven in Acts 2 The Lord answered Stephen's prayer one of the men who whom they have the The men who are throwing the rocks laid their coat at the feet of who? That's all And the Lord heard Stephen's prayer to forgive It's important to understand that those are prayers forgiveness and they're not It's not a forgiveness granted because the people were not repenting that time Forgiveness is it has the goal of reconciliation If you don't understand that and keep that in focus that the goal of forgiveness is to reconcile two parties Then misunderstandings of forgiveness will arise if you don't understand people say oh, I forgive you But I don't want anything to do with you You see how that's not forgiveness Because it misses the whole goal of forgiveness, which is reconciliation Biblical forgiveness Can be categorized in two different ways? There's forgiveness when God forgives you as judge and when he forgives you as father He forgives you as judge like the the man the temple who's praying God be merciful to me be propitiatory Towards me the sinner He's asking for forgiveness for his sins to be wiped away And that's a once-in-for-all-time act But then you see how the Lord teaches Christians in the in the disciples prayer the Lord's prayer that you're to pray Father forgive me Father forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and That's something that it's similar to the way when Peter was Had his feet washed by the Lord and remember how he says Lord Not my feet only but my hands my head my whole body and he the Lord explains to him You're clean But not all of you you need your foot feet washed and he's explaining this two different types of forgiveness What biblical forgiveness is? Is something that whether you're offended or you're the offender you must act If you have been offended Luke 17 calls you and commands you to go to your brother and rebuke him and Forgive him if he repents If you have been offended Matthew 5 23 to 26 Commands you to go to the one if you if your brother has something against you something you've done to him You need to go to him and plead for forgiveness Think through now what forgiveness is not These things will help you understand the text better when we get into it Forgiveness is not apologizing a lot of families when something bad happens somebody in the family will come up and they'll say I'm sorry that I Screamed at you that way What are you supposed to do with I'm I'm sorry Kind of reply well, I'm sorry it happened to So now we're kind of a stalemate. Okay, that's great. They were both sorry now What happens you see how that kind of apologizing is not asking for forgiveness? There's there's a difference there When asking forgiveness you have to admit your sin You have to admit that you're indebted to the person you've sinned against and that you don't deserve this So forgiveness is not apologizing forgiveness is not forgiving yourself and all those people said mm-hmm. Amen in forgiving yourself is When you begin to think of forgiveness as simply good feelings The idea of forgiveness is so that you feel better. You get your conscience clean So you've sinned against somebody else and then you think to how can I feel better about it? I won't forgive myself Yes mark I forgive me and suddenly I feel better It's like a facade of cleanness When it's in it's no forgiveness at all it's something that psychology has Developed in order to try and make people feel better while they stay in their sin So forgiveness is not about forgiving yourself. It's not about you feeling better When you get forgiven you'll feel better believe me But that's not what it's about and if that's what you make it about then you're going to twist the theology of forgiveness forgiveness is Is not simply forgetting You'll hear that common phrase forgive and forget That's a that's a misnomer. There's a if I try and not think about You know papers right and I try not to think about papers not to think about papers not to think about papers What am I thinking about? papers If I try not to think about the sin not to think about the sin not to think about the sin It's just gonna make me think about the sin more so it's real forgiveness is When you choose I will choose not to remember and I'm going to move my mind to something else I'm not going to remember their sin anymore So it's a choosing not to remember and When it does come up in your mind you're saying I'm choosing not to remember You can see from this forgiveness is not simply an emotional thing But is much more a choice of the will You see that how you make the decision Forgiveness is not necessarily trust You can forgive the one who abuses your family But it's something else to bring them and invite them into your home to live with you So trust is something that may come that comes your time But forgiveness is something that God commands when someone repents Forgiveness is not the absence of serious consequences What happens to David? When he sins against Bathsheba Does the Lord does not remember his sin It's what Nathan says to him, but what are the consequences? Yes, the baby dies and he has a whole life read the rest of 2nd Samuel The rest of 2nd Samuel it is a battlefield literal and figurative of the effects of David's sin with Bathsheba you can see this in when the the teenager when He he takes dad's car and He goes out He has a wreck with it And then he goes to his dad and he says dad, please forgive me. He said I forgive you son Now son, you're gonna pay for the car He says what I thought you forgave me. You see how forgiveness Must have consequences. He's got to pay for the car Forgiveness does not take away the consequences But what it does do is reconcile Forgiveness is about reconciliation. The greatest reconciliation is Between a sinful person and the holy God So to understand how to be reconciled to your brother you got to understand how you're reconciled to God and then that will help you live out forgiveness the Lord has a lot to say about forgiveness and Perhaps what's most memorable is this parable in Matthew 18? Let's look at it Understand that there's gonna be five parts Versus 21 to 22 is the setup the intro verses 23 To 27 Are about God's compassionate forgiveness and it's seen one of the pair Seen two in Versus 28 to 30 we have the unforgiving Christian in verses 31 to 34 So we have seen three of the parable and It's God's judgment on unforgiving in verse 35 we have the conclusion I Love the parables where the Lord has those intros and conclusions because they really help you understand Why he's telling the story who he's telling it to And then he applies it to us at the end So I want you in the context in Matthew 18 We're in Peter's house Likely Peter's house. He's in the house is what mark the the gospel mark says so it's likely the house where they regularly state and While they're there at the house Jesus picks up a young child While the disciples are arguing about who's the greatest and he begins to make an illustration to them about salvation And what it is to be humbled and how true salvation is a is a mighty humbling And you must become like this little child if you're to enter the kingdom of heaven And then he goes on from there to explain how Christians are to live in verses 6 to 10 He he warns about the one who takes a little child and the little child is the the imagery throughout the chapter who takes it who he warns about the person who comes and perverts the The walk of the little child the person who comes and who's a millstone someone who drags some one of these little children off away from the the path of righteousness in Verses 12 to 14 he talks about the importance of going after one of those little ones Who's gone away like a sheep and Then in verses 15 to 20 he begins to apply what if I go after the sheep and Little flossy bites me and and attack it doesn't want to come back What if my brother sins against me? What do we do then and then he outlines a four-step process Or five-step if you if the person will examine themselves and then naturally in the context and it's still in the same place Peter has a question and It's about this forgiveness since we're already on the topic verse 21 Then Peter came to him And aren't you glad Peter comes? He asks a lot of questions and it's so helpful to us People ask questions are bold enough to help the rest of the body when everyone else is quiet But Peter Peter is one of those people who understands by asking questions I remember going to school with people like that They always go one more question one more question one more question. We call one guy one more question It was just like his nickname But it helps everyone else to understand and that's what Peter does here and he asked an interesting question He says Lord How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him up to seven times? You can see him smile. It almost see him smiling, right? He has in his heart You've been teaching about how to forgive and I'm ready to forgive and I am so ready to forgive He has gone above and beyond what was taught during the day It was a common teaching to take Amos chapter 1 verses 3 to 10 and say you forgive a man three times And Peter says look at how Lord see my forgiveness. I'm gonna take the common teaching I'm gonna double it but more than that one more than that. I'm gonna I'm gonna be even more better than double And he says Lord, how often shall show my brother sin against me? And I forgive him to seven times now the the way that this is phrased in Greek is called a deliberate subjunctive so what that means is you're saying something and You already believe it and you're just getting the person to come along with you So it's as if Peter is saying Seven times right Lord seven times and he says it in a in a direct address He says it in the in the bucket it right He says to him directly Lord You think don't you Lord That seven times is the good is a good number and the Lord responds in verse 22 Strongly contrasting in the Greek the first word is no. He says no. I do not say To you up to seven times but up to 70 times seven Now what is the sin in what Peter says? Why does he get rebuked by the Lord? He puts a qualification a number on forgiveness The sin isn't in verse 21 is up to seven times He's saying where's the limit and the Lord is saying No There is no limit So the Lord says to him no, I do not say to you up to seven times. He's repeating up to He's taking Peter's words and he does this in a beautiful way He takes his words and says up. No, not up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven if you have a ESV we may say seventy seven times and That that may be a more accurate rendering But the point is not to say okay. I got my list here and ah, yes Finally you hit 78 I've been waiting for this day Now I don't have to forgive you Obviously, Jesus is speaking in hyperbole. He's saying no, no, no, no, it's not countable It's not 491. It's not 78 No, no, you you have an unlimited amount times you are to forgive your brother You don't keep count and then he begins in the parable and you understand this parable is meant to correct Peter So now we see the first scene of the parable Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like This is the the marker of the when Jesus is going to begin at parable and he loves it Matthew loves to have this phrase It has it particularly in in chapter 13 chapter 20 And he continues it throughout the gospel of Matthew Therefore the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of heaven is the rule and reign of King Jesus It's present here and now and it is to come it's present here and now By those who Christ rules over and it is to come when he will one day His rule will come earthly and hit when his feet hit the Mount of Olives So in verse 23 therefore the kingdom of heaven is like this is what it's like to be under the rule and reign of Christ Like a certain King who wanted to settle accounts with his servants Now there's this certain King. He has it. This is it obviously a financial term here with settled accounts He's beginning to maybe taxes that he's settling with his slaves But he's beginning he's he says get the books out We're gonna See who owes me money how much they money they owe me and we're gonna go to them It's payment Time in verse 24 and when he began to settle accounts one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents Now you notice that this man didn't come to him on his own, but he was brought it's He was brought to him and he owed him 10,000 talents Now talent is not is a weight It's not necessarily a monetary amount So if it's gold, we're talking a serious amount of money if we're if it's see it if it's silver Towns of silver. We're still talking about a serious amount of money I if you look on the back of the MacArthur study Bible, there's a chart where it takes talents and denier I if this is silver Then it's if I remember right. It's three point seven billion dollars in today's money according to the chart in the back of the Bible the amount Here ten thousand is the largest written number in Greek So it may not be a number at all. It may just be a way of saying zillions The man came up was brought before the king and he owed him zillions It's an it's this number is used to describe the the host around the throne Who are worshipping the Lord in Revelation? Myriads of myriads and thousands upon thousands and expressing a number you can't count and It's the same with our term when we say zillions. He owes him zillions So this man owes the king a number That he will never ever be able to even see let alone pay So verse 25, but he was not able to pay. Yeah, that's right. No doubt His commander his master commanded that he be sold With his wife and children and all that he had and the payment be made This is justice This is justice. This is not an uncommon thing in the day That the king is like well Since he's stolen this all this money then what it needs to happen is justice At least we'll get money from what he from him being sold into slavery and His wife and his children and all that he has in the day a wife and children were considered property of them of them the head of the home So that's why they must be sold to You can see the ache and effect of his sin So the servant therefore fell down before him saying master have patience with me and I will pay you all You see the desperation He's got no hope he can't plead that's not just that's not fair No, all he can plead for is patience mercy compassion and He wants to say I'll do the right thing. I'll pay you all he can't pay at all He's scrambling. He's he's he feels the people dragging him off and his family Off to the dungeon and then the master does something amazing The master that servant was moved with compassion released him and For gave him the debt Think about this first scene in verses 23 to 27 and we and we can see God's compassion God's compassionate forgiveness In Psalm 145 verse 8 we hear about how the Lord is full of graciousness and compassion And when you hear about the story about that King you say wow that is like the Lord in Psalm 86 verses 5 and 15 15 we see how he's ready to forgive In Psalm 130 verses 3 to 4 we see if you Lord should mark iniquities Who could stand? Who could stand and you see this story? the salvation of the Lord and Ezra 9 6 he does a prayer where he says I am too ashamed our iniquities have gone over our heads In this prayer well, you see how the the master is coming to judge and God the father is coming to judge every Everyone who does not have Christ to pay for their sins That this judge is coming to settle accounts and one day our Lord will settle accounts with every Person on the planet in verse 24 you see that your debt of sin is greater than you can count Do you get the point the talents and the numbers about the 3.7 billion? That is your sin You're to think of your life before God As that amount of sin Just think if you were to have an ungrateful attitude Maybe a unloving word maybe just two sins for each hour And your weight 16 hours If you added up and if you were to live 75 years having two sins an hour You would have over 21 million sins against God Think about it in reality you have sinned much more than two times an hour You have more than millions 21 million Than millions 21 million sins against a holy God You have more sins than you can count and we're talking about Someone who grows up in the church Someone who grows up in the world doesn't matter You have millions and millions You have a debt that you will never be able to pay on your own And you could say some foolish thought like oh Lord I will pay it all And he would just shake his head You have no idea of the debt What if justice were demanded for your crimes What if justice came for you And the millions upon millions upon millions of your own sins You would never be able to pay But what compassion does God have When the master looks and he has compassion This word is the same when the good Samaritan sees the man in the street The same term is described When the good Samaritan looks at the man in the street and has compassion on him That's what this master has when he sees his slave before him On his face He has compassion The same word described in Luke 15 When the father has compassion on the son And this is describing the compassion and the mercy of God the father Did this judge Did he have to forgive It was out of the kindness of his heart There was nothing Nothing persuading him, begging him That no reason why he had to do it He did it out of the goodness of his heart And at what cost to him It cost this master a great amount What character does he have He didn't just reduce the payment And say work it off He paid it all And when you see that story you think And Jesus paid it all All to him I owe He washes away your crimson stain And washes you white as snow Think through now Specifically remember the ways that you've sinned Just don't think the amount Think specifically how you rejected his word And how this slave would have known the day was coming He would have known with this incalculable amount of money This is going to really cost me someday Hopefully I won't get caught This would really cost me someday And how you did the same When you heard the word of God You did not repent You did not listen You said oh it's okay I'll get by I can disobey I can live this way You rejected the will of the king of kings You blasphemed against him with his thoughts Thinking judgment will not come for me I can continue on in this blasphemy against him Think of how your rebellious example With this slave when others saw him And how this amount of money incalculable What kind of example was he setting for the other slaves It's hard to hide that kind of money But think about you You did the same In your rebellion You set an example for others to defy the living God You need this compassion and this forgiveness And if you understand this compassion and forgiveness Then you can go on to forgive your brother Because in Luke 7 He who has been forgiven much Loves much Only this person who understands their sin To this degree Who understands the compassion of God To this degree of amazement Only that person can forgive Do you see your sin in that way Do you see your God in that way Scene number two Verses 28 to 30 We see scene number two The unforgiving slave C.H. Spurgeon said How hard a heart could this be That such a fire of love did not soften it How hard a heart this could be That such a fire of love could not soften it Verse 28 Verse 28 But that servant went out Found one of his fell servants Who owed him a hundred and narrow And 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 on me And I will pay you all Does this sound familiar That's a quote taken from verse 26 Master, verse 26 Master have patience with me And I will pay you all Verse 29 Have patience with me And I will pay you all And as he's choking his fellow slave You understand He came to his master He came to someone he had stolen against An incalculable amount And he plead for mercy But this man is not his master He's not a master over him He's a fellow slave And it's not an incalculable amount A denarii is the common day's wage If you were to take the same chart And look out a denarii It comes to, with a hundred denarii Comes to about today's equivalent Of $3,200 So he owed $3.7 billion And this man comes And hurts him with $3,200 You see a problem there? And look at verse 30 It parallels verse 27 And he would not But went through him into prison Till he should pay Verse 27 The master had compassion Three things Compassion released him Forgave him Verse 30 Three things Through him into prison He went Through him into prison And that he should pay the debt Complete opposite Instead of compassion He has bitterness, anger Instead of releasing him He throws him in prison Instead of forgiving him He holds him to the debt It's supposed to remind you Of the story It's supposed to be paralleled Right next to each other Because When you go to your brother And you will not forgive your brother It is exactly parallel You have become The hypocrite Think through the excuses That come in your mind When you don't want to forgive What are the excuses that come When you want to be like this guy This guy says I can't forgive my fellow slave People will see me as weak And people will see me as weak And they will do the same sin against me Justice Justice must be done But I say To the unforgiving one Is the Lord weak? No And how complicated is that? No And how compassionate and forgiving is he? The man with bitterness will say But people will continually sin against me If that happens Not only will other people come But when they sin The people who do sin They'll sin continually But I say To that man with bitterness When the Lord forgives someone Does he not give them a new heart And a new fruit In order to no longer continue in that sin When they see the compassion The forgiveness of the Lord The man with bitterness will say But I knew a holy man I knew a righteous person Who would not forgive And I say To that man with bitterness He was no holy man at all He was not a spiritual giant at all If he could not forgive He was not the leader That you thought him to be The man with bitterness says He wouldn't forgive me if the table was turned And I say to the man with bitterness But though you would not have forgiven the Lord If the table was turned The man with bitterness says I would But he doesn't deserve it And I say to the man with bitterness You don't deserve it either And the Lord forgave you The man with bitterness says I would But I cannot forgive It is not in my ability And I would say to the man with bitterness What a sad confession this is If you cannot forgive How can you be a Christian The man with bitterness will say But they accuse me falsely And I say to the bitter man But the Lord was accused falsely The bitter man says I'll do it when I feel like it Come back in another time When I feel more generous And I say The Bible says to you And commands you to repent Not when you feel it The bitter man says When he comes to me I'll be willing to forgive No, the Bible says in Luke 17 That you must go to him And rebuke him And if he repents you forgive him The bitter man will say When I get more faith I'll have forgiveness like that And I say to the bitter man If you had faith the size of a mustard seed You could forgive the greatest sinner It's when you have real faith Then you're able to forgive The bitter man says When I see fruit Then I will forgive him And I say yes There must be fruit of repentance But are you ready And willing to forgive Are you praying Lord forgive him He doesn't know what he's doing Do those excuses come in your mind When someone has hurt you The Bible answers them all The Bible answers them all Unforgiveness In 2 Corinthians 2 verse 10 Opens the door to Satan You're going to give Satan an open door If you do not forgive Let's see the final scene Of this parable Verses 31 to 34 The scene of God's judgment On the unforgiving Verse 31 So when his fellow servants Saw what he had been What had been done They were very grieved And came and told their master All that had been done And this is going to happen Other Christians will see your bitterness And they're going to be very grieved by it They're going to come to you And speak to you And if you don't hear them Then they will go to the Lord And pray And they will go through the steps That are outlined in the verses Prior to this passage And when it comes up They bring They tell the master In verse 32 That his master after he 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 Do you see the disgust that he has How could you do this Think about what it looks like For you Not to forgive You can You can learn about this In the bitterness book Out in the hallway Some of these things When you don't forgive It's going to look like You spend a lot of time Thinking about trivial disappointments Oh, if I had only been with that girl Oh, if I had only gotten that car Only if I had only gotten that job If you are unforgiving Bitterness in your heart You'll have difficulty resolving conflicts Do you try and get along with somebody And then somebody else has to sort it out for you You're not obeying this passage Do you withdraw From people And say, fine I'll take my toys And go home And I won't talk to you anymore You see how you like it You won't even know it Until you want to talk to me And then you'll find out You're not forgiving You have outbursts of anger When you kind of bump that person Who's withdrawn Oh, sorry Bam How could you bump me You have an unforgiving heart You are this You are this wicked servant What about biting sarcasm You have this Way of just taking your words And Referring to somebody and demeaning them And you're like, they deserve it And when you think that You're disobeying this passage You are not forgiving You are the wicked servant When you have condescending communication Thinking yourself better than another You have this bitterness When you overly critical of others When you are continually suspicious And distrustful You're not forgiving You've forgotten your promise Not to remember You are the wicked servant When you are intolerant Hypersensitive When you're impatient When you're disrespectful Sometimes when you're rebellious to authority It's because you're not able to forgive Sometimes when the authority is abusive They're not able to forgive What about depression Depression often comes on Because of the inability to forgive Sometimes doubts of salvation Come from your inability to forgive Remembering others' offenses against you With great specificity I remember they were wearing the plaid shirt And they had the wrinkle right there And they had the eyebrow right there And they were standing right here And they had their finger out just like this With a little cricket part And then they said to me And they laughed at me There are events that have happened in your life That you have held on to And you remember with great detail You remember with great detail You remember with great detail You remember with great detail You remember with great detail And what does it mean? It means that you are the wicked servant Who is he saying this parable to? The disciples Wake up and be warned Do not be the wicked servant If you see these signs in your life Not if When you see these signs in your life You must fight And fight with goodness Fight with grace Instead of thinking that sarcastic comment You think No, how can I say something nice and kind Instead you think Of being withdrawing No, then you say How can I do something kind for them So I exhort you You must fight For forgiveness And the only way you can do it Is when you remember How much you have been forgiven And that is the way That bitterness goes away That is the way that bitterness goes away This wicked unforgiveness And look at the judgment that comes on Verse 34 And his master was angry And delivered him to the tortures Until he should pay all that was due to him For the Christian who doesn't forgive Is going to be extremely grieving in life You're going to grieve the Holy Spirit You're going to grieve your Lord And your life will become one of grief Psalm 66 talks about how your prayers Will be hindered if you're not forgiving 1 John 420 It shows that you will have a lack of love for the Lord In Hebrews 12 verses 5 to 6 You will see a great scourging Come in your life In 1 Corinthians 5 If you continue in the Lord's Supper It may even cause you to die But the character of one Who is continually unforgiving Is a very dangerous place to be Look at Mark 11 25 to 26 This idea is repeated Many times throughout the Gospels Just for clarity and simplicity Have you look at this one In Mark 11 25 to 26 And whenever you stand praying If you have anything against anyone Forgive him That your Father in Heaven May also forgive you your trespasses But if you do not forgive Neither will your Father in Heaven Forgive your trespasses What is the character Of one who is unforgiving But a wicked character The character of the Christian Is one who is merciful Blessed are the merciful They shall receive mercy This man In verse 34 This wicked servant Was delivered to the tortures Until he should pay all That was due to him And so now in verse 35 The Lord takes this parable And he applies it The scenes are done The story has been told And he turns to the disciples Now And he uses the vocative The direct address The same way that Peter addressed The Lord Now he addresses Peter and All the other disciples Saying directly to them So my Heavenly Father Also will do to you And it's in the plural Will do to you all If each of you all From his heart Forgive his brother This is to make you Very, very afraid Of not forgiving You must be terrified Of bitterness in your heart The Lord is saying this To his disciples And now he's saying it Directly to you If you Do not forgive Your brother From the heart Will do the same to you If you do it from the heart The Proverbs 19-11 says It is the glory of a man to overlook A trespass Romans 12-19 tells you About how you need to resist revenge That will be from the heart If you do it from the heart For Thessalonians 5-15 Says you will not seek To do evil for evil Spurgeon talked about how When he was very young He learned this skill And you can almost see A little spurgeon in the sandbox One kid steals his toy And he learns to steal it back One kid hits him He learns to hit them back And what he's saying is I learned this at a very young age When somebody hurts me I hurt them back But that is not The character of a Christian It is not return evil for evil If you have it from the heart Luke 6-28 says You will wish well on your enemy If you have it from the heart Proverbs 24-17 You will grieve at your enemy's calamity If you have it from the heart Matthew 5-44 will teach you How to pray for them If you have it from the heart Romans 12-18 You'll have to be seeking reconciliation If you have it from the heart Exodus 23-4 You'll be willing To help and aid even your enemies And the way John McCarthy says If it's from the heart You have never been more like God You are never more like God Than when you're willing to forgive Does that encourage you to forgive? It is the best of man to forgive And bitterness can bring out The worst in man Bitterness is at your door And it can consume you But forgiveness Following the example of Christ Forgiveness will fill you with joy Forgiveness from the heart Based on the gospel Based on what Christ has done Then you can go out and forgive Do you remember the story about Anita Epstein And how she cannot forgive Even the entire people From Germany The entire nation I mean you read you a story To close That's someone else who suffered from the Nazis Those who were older in the faith I'm sure you'll remember this story It's from Corey Timboum Corey Timboum wrote The Hiding Place It was a very well read book And she was someone in Holland Who was hiding Nazis Or hiding, sorry She was hiding Jews from the Nazis She's hiding Jewish people from the Nazis They had a secret room in their house They called it The Hiding Place They were eventually caught by the Nazis And she was sent to a prison camp With her sister Betsy And her sister died in the prison camp Corey Timboum writes It was in a church in Munich So she's in Germany That I saw him A balding, heavy set man In a gray overcoat A brown felt hat clutched between his hands People were filing out of the basement room Where I had just spoken Moving along the rows of wooden chairs To the door of the rear It was 1947 And I had come from Holland To defeat Germany With a message that God forgives It was the truth that they needed to hear They needed most to hear In that bitter, bombed out land And I gave them my favorite mental picture Maybe because the sea Is never far from a hollander's mind I likened to think That it's where forgiven Sins were thrown When we confess our sins, I said God cast them into the deepest ocean Gone forever The solemn faces stared back at me Not quite daring to believe There are never questions After a talk in Germany in 1947 People stood up in silence In silence they collect their wraps In silence they leave the room And that's when I saw him Working his way forward against the others One moment I saw the overcoat In the brown hat The next, a blue uniform A visor cap With its skull and crossbones Then it came back to me with a rush The huge room with its harsh overhead lights The pathetic pile of dresses And shoes in the center of the floor The shame of walking naked past this man I could see my sister's frail form Ahead of me Ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin Betsy, how thin you were Betsy had been arrested for concealing Jews In our home during the Nazi occupation in Holland This man had been a guard at Ravensbrook Concentration camp where we were sent Now he was in front of me His hand thrust out A fine message frail line It is good It is good to know that as you say Our sins are at the bottom of the sea And I who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness Fumbled with my pocket book Rather than take that hand He would not remember me, of course How could he remember one prisoner Among those thousands of women But I remembered him And the leather crop swinging from his belt I was face to face with one of my captors And my blood seemed to freeze You mentioned Ravenbrook in your talk He was saying, I was a guard there No, he didn't remember me But since that time he went on I have become a Christian I know that God has forgiven me For the cruel things I did there But I would like to hear from your lips as well Frail line Again the hand came out Will you forgive me I stood there I who sins had again and again Needed to be forgiven And could not forgive Betsy had died in that place Could he erase her slow, terrible death Simply for asking It could not have been many seconds that he stood there Hand held out, but it seemed Ours As I wrestled the most difficult thing I ever had to do For I had to do it, I knew that The message that God forgives Has a prior condition That we forgive those who injured us If you do not forgive men's trespasses Their trespasses, Jesus says Neither will the Father in heaven Forgive your trespasses I knew it not only as a command of God But as a daily experience Since the end of the war I had a home in Holland For victims of Nazi brutality Those who were able to forgive their former enemies Were able also to return to the outside world And rebuild their lives No matter what the physical scars But those who nursed their bitterness Remained invalids It was as simple and horrible as that And I stood there with the coldness Clutching my heart, but forgiveness is not an emotion I knew that too Forgiveness is an act of the will The will can function Regardless of the temperature of the heart Help, I prayed silently I can't lift my hand I can't, I can't She said, no, I can't lift my hand I can't do that much Lord, you supply the feeling And so, woodenly, mechanically I thrust my hand into the one outstretched to me And as I did An incredible thing took place The current started in my shoulder Raced down on my arm Spraying into our joined hands And then this healing warmth Seemed to flood my whole being Bring tears to my eyes And she says, I forgive you, brother And I cried with all my heart And for a long moment We grasped each other's hands The former guard and the former prisoner I had never known God's love so intensely As I did then How is it possible that Anita Epstein Who had never seen a Nazi guard Could never forgive But Corey Tenboom Who had seen many Nazi guards And seen her sister die in the hands of them Can forgive Because Corey Tenboom understood How much she had sinned against God And how much he had forgiven her Remember the forgiveness of the Lord And bitterness will be far from you Remember the character of the Lord His compassion, and compassion will be in you Remember the Lord And you will go out And be able to forgive Never forget the gospel And how much you have sinned against the Lord And it will lead you to be like him Let's pray that Lord would help us to forgive Lord, we are a sinful people And we are so easily prideful and arrogant So easily with a sarcastic word So easily with bitterness So easily withdrawn So easily with anger Lord, help us never to forget your compassion Your payment of all sin How you paid it all Dear Lord, help us to live that way So that we may forgive others As you have forgiven us Amen