34 minutes 14 seconds
🇬🇧 English
Nathaniel Nurse
00:01
Good morning everyone, I'll be doing today's reading, which is Matthew 18, 21-35. You can flip to that if you want or just follow on the screen. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as 7 times?
Nathaniel Nurse
00:21
Jesus said to him, I do not say to you 7 times, but seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servant. When he began to settle, 1 was brought to him, who owed him 10000 talents. 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.
Nathaniel Nurse
00:45
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 that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found 1 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.
Nathaniel Nurse
01:11
He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow-servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 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 mercy on you and in his anger his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt so also my heavenly father will do to every 1 of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
Speaker 2
01:50
Thank you very much Thomas. Well good morning everyone. Thank you for being here.
Speaker 2
01:55
For those online, good morning. And before we begin, I just want to say, Andrew and the music team, great job this morning, seriously. As many of you know, Andrew and I are very good friends and I hope you all get the experience of serving with your good friends and loving those with your good friends. You like look at them with pride, you look at them with what you've gone through, you look at them with how Christ has led you, and you're just grateful.
Speaker 2
02:23
So brother, it was amazing. This morning we're going to be looking at forgiveness, and more specifically we're going to be looking at the parable of the unforgiving servants. Now for the last few weeks we've been discussing these parables and how Jesus shared about the kingdom of heaven and as Louis very well put a few weeks ago during his sermon on the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the pearl, We see that an understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven requires exposure to as many of Jesus' parables as possible. It's important to recognize that Jesus didn't provide a single concise definition of what the Kingdom of Heaven is.
Speaker 2
02:59
Instead, he took his time and was very intentional in how he explained it. This morning we'll be looking at how Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of Heaven and more specifically with forgiveness. Now in general as we go through the series I want to pose the idea that the Kingdom of Heaven is not only about learning more about what it means to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, but it is also about being actively transformed by our Lord who is teaching these parables. It's easy to become a passive reader, I've been I've been a victim of this or I've been I've done this, where you become so passive when you hear these and you listen to these and just kind of go in 1 ear and out the other.
Speaker 2
03:37
But parables are meant to be engaged with and wrestle with because ultimately we can never grasp the deep mysteries and the truths of the gospel without actively being sharpened by the 1 who has given them to us. These parables are not meant for us to only grow in our head knowledge of the kingdom of heaven but are here to transform our hearts and draws deeper to our God who has created both heaven and earth. Let's pray. Emily father thank you for this morning.
Speaker 2
04:03
Thank you God for being so faithful to us when we didn't even realize we needed a Savior. As Louis shared this morning, God, would you soften our hearts to what you have to say, Lord? I thank you God that through worship our hearts are softened, through your presence our hearts are softened and through just your mercy our hearts are softened. So thank you Jesus for being with us.
Speaker 2
04:26
Open our hearts, open our ears and let us look to you in all things. We thank you for being ever present. To your name be the glory. In your name we pray.
Speaker 2
04:36
Amen. Now let's dive in. Now the teaching of forgiveness is something that we all agree is good. Now how many of you know C.S.
Speaker 2
04:45
Lewis? Yeah everyone pretty much all the evangelical circles know C.S. Lewis. This is what C.S.
Speaker 2
04:50
Lewis had to say about forgiveness. And as usual, it just kind of cuts to the heart. Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive. And that's true.
Speaker 2
05:04
If I ask you, forgiveness is great, you'll be like, absolutely, forgiveness is fantastic. Oh great, can you please forgive that person? Well yeah, but listen, you have to understand the full story. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 2
05:15
So we're quick to say it's good, but the application is quite difficult. The parable of the unforgiving servant is not the first time that Jesus has spoken on forgiveness however. To his parable, to his disciples in fact, in fact a few chapters earlier in Matthew chapter 6 verse 12, during the Lord's prayer, Jesus says this, he prays this, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and then a couple A couple of verses later in verses 14 to 15, Jesus goes back and explains what he just prayed. He says, for if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Speaker 2
05:57
But if you don't forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Now if you look at the Lord's prayer specifically within this section this is the only time where Jesus explicitly goes back and explains that specific part of the prayer. He goes back, he says, wait, I know I prayed this, but I hope you understand, if you don't forgive others, God will not forgive you. He took the time.
Speaker 2
06:33
So we see how important this is to Christ. He really wants us to make sure that we understand this. Then of course we look to the parable and this exact same message is shown again in the parable of the unforgiving servant if we start in verse 32 of Matthew 18, then his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all the debt because you pleaded with me And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servants, as I had mercy on you?" And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, which can also be translated as torturers. So he delivered him to be tortured until he should pay all his debt." Verse 35, so also my Heavenly Father will do to every 1 of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
Speaker 2
07:29
So in the kingdom we forgive 1 another. If we don't forgive those who wrong us, God will not forgive us. And as this parable states, we will be tortured. Now how many times are we to forgive?
Speaker 2
07:43
Well as Jesus points out, we are to forgive in unlimited amount of times. And as we read at the start of this in verse 21, Peter's first question to Jesus is, but how many times am I to forgive? 7 times? Now, I want you to take a moment.
Speaker 2
08:00
I'm not going to explain the parable verse by verse, but for our purposes this is important. By Peter suggesting 7 times is actually pretty radical. Because the rabbinical teaching at the time, and what Peter would have been taught, is you're to forgive someone 3 times, but no more than 4. So by Peter actually saying 7 he's going beyond.
Speaker 2
08:21
You know what? Wow Jesus is actually transforming Peter's life. So imagine Peter surprised when Jesus says no no no that's not good enough. 77 times.
Speaker 2
08:32
Peter and the disciples would have been shocked. This would have been, what do you, I don't understand. I thought I got it, but now I really don't understand. And the point of the 77 is this.
Speaker 2
08:45
You are to forgive an unlimited amount of times. It's not a number. Now why is that? Well, this is because the kingdom of heaven is about us receiving forgiveness from God and about us extending forgiveness to others because we have been forgiven.
Speaker 2
09:01
We can't put a time on that. As a side note, I want to point this out before we go deeper. Our teaching for this morning is not suggesting that we shouldn't take legal action against those who merit it. And it's not suggesting that we simply allow wrongful behavior.
Speaker 2
09:20
But as I just said, the kingdom of heaven is about us receiving forgiveness from God. And extending forgiveness to others because we have been forgiven. So there's 4 ideas that I want to look at this morning. Number 1, why should we forgive?
Speaker 2
09:35
Number 2, how we can forgive? Number 3, how do we know we have forgiven? And number 4, Jesus our King. Now why should we forgive?
Speaker 2
09:47
Not gonna like this answer but it's a biblical answer. And you forgive because Jesus said so. Period. It's uncomfortable, isn't it?
Speaker 2
10:00
But, and why is it uncomfortable? Because we feel that we deserve a better answer. Isn't that interesting? We feel that we need to be reasoned with.
Speaker 2
10:11
Now I'm not going to go super deep into this, but I do want to use this as something to help us. And that is, why isn't, because Jesus said so, a good enough answer for you and for me. Ever thought of that? Why do we feel like we deserve more?
Speaker 2
10:29
Now The last thing I want you to do is to hear that question and go, oh no, you're right. Oh, what's so bad? What is my problem? Oh my...
Speaker 2
10:36
No, that's not the response. The response is to be curious about your own faith. That's interesting. Why is it not good?
Speaker 2
10:43
I wonder why. Lord, do I not trust you enough? That's interesting. God, I wonder...
Speaker 2
10:49
And let it usher you into his presence not stop you from trying to fix yourself what usher you in so why should we forgive because Jesus said so and I'm fine then I'm sure some of you can attest to this too. So I find that as I get older, I'm only 29, but I find that as I get older and I draw closer to the Lord, I realize more and more that Jesus is teaching his direction, his commandments are actually there for my well-being and for my protection and therefore forgiveness is actually for my well-being. I should forgive because it's for my well-being. Number 2, Unforgiveness leads to bitterness.
Speaker 2
11:33
So why should I forgive? Well, because if you don't forgive, you're going to become bitter. What happens when we become fixated on the offense on the wrong that has been done to us? Well, this happened to me and I'm sure it's happened to some of you, we become bitter.
Speaker 2
11:50
We become like the unforgiving servant. We become changed and greatly impacted by the harm that was done to us. Do you remember how the unforgiving servant treated the person who owed him money? So after the unforgiving servant had been forgiven, remember how he treated the 1 who owed him a little bit?
Speaker 2
12:08
He grabbed him by the neck, he treated him like garbage, grabbed him by the neck with no compassion, with no empathy, and didn't even say I'll extend your loan, it said pay me now after he had just been forgiven. So this parable shows us the state of the servant's heart and how bitter he had become by not forgiving. You see when we choose to not forgive we open up the door for bitterness and resentment to creep into our hearts. And Jesus is using this parable as a mirror to show us what happens when we don't forgive.
Speaker 2
12:51
John MacArthur writes, Bitterness is not just a sin, it's an infection. It will infect your whole life. And bitterness can become directly traced to the failure to forgive. It makes you caustic, sarcastic, condemning, and nasty, harassed by the memories of what you can't forgive.
Speaker 2
13:10
Your thoughts become malignant towards others, and your whole view of life becomes distorted. So many times we either choose to love or we choose bitterness. And lastly, unforgiveness leads to more pain. There's a quote that I like that says, unforgiveness will imprison you in your past.
Speaker 2
13:33
If unforgiveness and bitterness reign in your heart then you know what can't reign in your heart, the peace of God. And if the peace of God can't reign in your heart then the pain which caused you to go to a place of unforgiveness will flourish, will remain, and like bitterness will take root, It will grow, it will expand, it will morph, it will enter other areas of your life which you thought it wasn't supposed to enter. I thought I had it contained but it takes on a life of its own. As my grandfather puts it specifically to this point, you when you don't forgive you become double victimized.
Speaker 2
14:07
You become victimized because, number 1, you feel the initial pain that you experience when someone wronged you. And number 2, that pain continues to dwell because you hold on to it by not forgiving. Now it makes sense why Jesus says we can't experience God's forgiveness until we forgive. For how could we ever experience the love and forgiveness from God if we hold on to the pain through unforgiveness rather than bringing it to our Heavenly Father.
Speaker 2
14:35
So you see holding on to pain in a sense is actually rejecting the fact that you need a shepherd. I'm going to say that again. Holding on to pain is rejecting the fact that you need a shepherd. I'm not saying experiencing it, I'm saying holding onto it.
Speaker 2
14:53
For how can you be comforted by God if you refuse to give up what you need to be comforted for? See that? When we hold onto unforgiveness in hopes that we will eventually find resolve. But unforgiveness doesn't bring any resolve.
Speaker 2
15:12
It just brings misery and will end up impacting our thoughts, beliefs, and actions. But most importantly, unforgiveness prevents us from experiencing God's love towards us and healing our pain. See, when you unforgive, you cut off God from your healing process. You stop it.
Speaker 2
15:29
Many of you know I have a background in social work as well. I see it all the time. And then when you refuse to cut it off, where does it go to? It goes to the courtrooms where I also am.
Speaker 2
15:41
And then you see it manifest itself again. It keeps going and going and going. Now for the believer, and this is very important, where is Christ in your pain? In your unforgiveness.
Speaker 2
15:54
He's not there. He's not there. Are you able to be shepherded or are you trying to fix yourself and find your own resolve? Are you surrendering or are you trying to be your own savior?
Speaker 2
16:09
So why do we forgive? Number 1, because Christ commands it and we will not experience God's forgiveness until we forgive. Number 2, if we don't forgive then we will become bitter and in the long term we will be changed so that we lose our empathy and cause pain to others. And number 3, if we don't forgive then we will be entrapped by our pain and it will take the place of God's peace and love.
Speaker 2
16:36
By the way, this message wrecked me this week. I sound confident but I'm broken. And that's where I want to be. Because it means that Christ is healing me.
Speaker 2
16:50
Number 3, how we can forgive. You want to know how you can forgive? You start with the fact that you've been forgiven. You see, you and I cannot forgive until we have encountered the love and forgiveness of our Savior.
Speaker 2
17:11
Much like how in 1 John, specifically 419, we read, we love because he first loved us. In the same way we can forgive because we have been forgiven. So we look to the fact that we've been forgiven. D.L.
Speaker 2
17:26
Moody is 1 of my favorite writers in the in the in the Christian faith and he was reflecting on this passage, specifically he was reflecting on Peter and Peter asking the question, how many times should I forgive? And this is what D.L. Moody writes. He writes, Peter did not seem to think that he was in danger of falling into sin.
Speaker 2
17:46
His question was, how often should I forgive my brother? But very soon we hear that Peter has fallen. I can imagine that when Peter did fall the sweet thought came to him of what the master had said. The voice of sin may be loud, but the voice of forgiveness is louder.
Speaker 2
18:07
Forgiveness starts with dwelling in the fact, in the King's love and in His compassion towards us. Remember what the King said to the unforgiving servant in verse 33? He said, and should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, why? Because I had mercy on you.
Speaker 2
18:24
That's why. The Forgiveness and love that we have received from God heals our wounds, tends to our pains, and this allows us to forgive, and dare I say love, those who have wronged us, and extend the same forgiveness that we have experienced and received from God. You see, brothers and sisters, we need God's love and forgiveness when we sin. We're so quick to do that, run to God's love for when we know that we've messed up, But we need God's love and His affirmation to help us heal our wounds so that we can forgive as well.
Speaker 2
19:08
It's not about us, it's always about Christ. You see, when we forgive and when we cultivate the habit of forgiving, our pain becomes a springboard for knowing that you and I have been forgiven and that we can then encounter more of God's love and mercy and grace. Our pain now doesn't prevent us to try to fix ourselves, it launches us back into the arms of the Father. We have a Comforter because we need to be comforted.
Speaker 2
19:41
We have a Shepherd because we cannot lead our own lives. Pain doesn't have to draw us into bitterness. It can be a reminder that we have a God who tends to our wounds and shepherds our soul. Now How do we know that we've forgiven?
Speaker 2
20:03
Just as the king was able to extend love, you and I are able to extend love to those who hurt us, who owe us a debt. That's proof that we're forgiving and that because we have love for them. Now in my life, you can go to the next slide, no 1 has perfect parents and they don't always do the best job. That's because they're imperfect.
Speaker 2
20:38
As you and I are imperfect. They have pains and struggles as well. If I was to ask a child, by child I mean under 10, have your parents hurt you? The child would probably say no.
Speaker 2
20:54
No, they're great. But it's a funny thing that happens as you get older is you look back on your childhood and you go, whoa, that was wrong. What my parent did. You're not fine.
Speaker 2
21:16
When you're experiencing the painful behavior, and I can say actually as you get older your parents become better parents naturally. So the same harm that they caused you when you were a kid they're not doing it when you're 15, 16, 17. But It's when they're acting quote-unquote in a more appropriate like manner that you remember the harm that they did when they didn't act that way when you were a kid. And I think This started happening to me as I entered my late teens, my early 20s.
Speaker 2
21:50
I looked back and I said, that's not, whoa, that's bad. That's not good. Now, my father's a pastor and my mother taught me the Bible. Okay?
Speaker 2
21:59
So, I was like, man, this is interesting, what's going on? And bitterness started to come. I can't believe they will not get a parent, I'm not gonna be like that. I can't believe, they should have known better.
Speaker 2
22:17
How many of you can relate to that? How many of you have kids that maybe were reflecting like that? They should have, I can't believe they're going to pay. I'm not going to talk to them.
Speaker 2
22:28
They don't need to know about my life. I'm shutting them out. Bitterness. Bitterness.
Speaker 2
22:36
And guess what? It doesn't stay in that area. It goes on to other parts of your life. It takes root.
Speaker 2
22:44
It molds. It morphs. It changes. You lose, just like sin, it takes you to places where you never thought you were going to go.
Speaker 2
22:51
Bitterness takes you to places where you never thought you were going to be bitter. It starts to impact your life, it starts to impact your ministry, and it starts to impact, most importantly, your walk with the Lord. Because your parents have the biggest impact on how you view God. I'm thankful that I had people who spoke truth into my life, who knew the love of the King Because I wanted to fix myself through unforgiveness.
Speaker 2
23:18
I'm not gonna forgive them. Yeah, they did it. I'm whatever. I'm gonna figure it out.
Speaker 2
23:24
But people spoke into my life and said, Nathaniel, the pain that you're experiencing, Don't try to fix it. Let it drive you back to the arms of the Father. Don't focus on the pain, on the harm that was caused to you, on the debt that someone owes you. Don't focus on that.
Speaker 2
23:48
Focus on Christ's forgiveness for you, on His love for you. You're not forgiving them because you're trying to fix the pain. Don't fix it. Let the pain remind you that you have a home with your Father, with your Heavenly Father.
Speaker 2
24:06
Let it bring you to the shepherd who tends to our wounds and heals our iniquities. You know what happens when you start to come to Christ out of the pain that someone has caused you? You realize how imperfect you are. Because someone is showing you perfect love.
Speaker 2
24:28
God is showing you perfect love and Immediately you recognize how imperfect you are. And you realize how hurt and broken you are as well. We know the saying, hurt people, hurt people. Yep, that becomes true in those moments.
Speaker 2
24:42
So it's no wonder why We're tortured when we don't forgive others. We're tortured because our unforgiveness keeps our pain alive, blocks us from receiving comfort and love for Christ, and stops us from being transformed to more of Christ's likeness. And guess what? Forgiveness is not a one-time decision.
Speaker 2
25:04
Painful memories will come back. And let those painful memories serve as a reminder to go back home. The King is still there. His love is still there.
Speaker 2
25:15
Let them shelter you back into his arms. He's still looking, he's still open. It's not a one-time thing. I want to conclude by this thought.
Speaker 2
25:28
Jesus is the perfect. Jesus forgives perfectly. He's the model of forgiveness. In Luke 23 we read that as Jesus was spit on, as he was tortured, as he was beat up, as he was stabbed, as his sovereignty was questioned, as he was put to shame on the cross, what did he say?
Speaker 2
25:58
Father, forgive them for they know not what they're doing. In the midst of his pain and misery, he extended forgiveness. He did not become changed by the harm and the pain that was being done towards him. He rested in the fact that his father loved him.
Speaker 2
26:29
But on the cross he didn't just forgive us because you and I were the ones spitting at Him. You and I were the ones saying, crucify Him. Who is this guy? I can lead my own life.
Speaker 2
26:39
I don't need a Savior. And Christ forgave us in that moment, but he didn't just forgive us. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, we learn of how the king forgave the debts of his servants. Now as you and I know right now, the king is Christ and the unforgiving servant is you and I.
Speaker 2
26:59
In the parable we read that the servant owed the king a debt. Scholars debate on how much this debt was. For our purposes this morning, very quickly, the debt was 10, 000 talents back then. For our purposes it was roughly 500 million to 1 billion dollars in our current day currency.
Speaker 2
27:14
Now is the point of that to become fixed it on how much? No. The point of that is just to realize that debt was unpayable. Unpayable.
Speaker 2
27:23
So the servant owed an unpayable debt and the king took forgave the servant of the debt But not only did he forgive the debt, he took responsibility for it. Because you and I know in finances, money doesn't just go away. Sure, you and I are off the hook. We're forgiven, but there's still a price that needs to be paid.
Speaker 2
27:54
So not only did Jesus on the cross when he was hanging there with nails through his hands, Residue of his own blood dripping down his legs. Not only did he forgive us, but he paid the price for us to be forgiven. He extended. You have to think of the people who were literally telling him to be crucified.
Speaker 2
28:22
He forgave and then died for their forgiveness. Likewise with us. When we read about this in the book of Colossians, and you who were dead in your trespasses and uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of death that stood against us and legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to a cross." Do you want to know what Jesus said?
Speaker 2
29:00
You know what his last words were on the cross? Many of us know them as it is finished. That's not true. If you translate the Greek literally, it says Jesus cries out, it is paid.
Speaker 2
29:19
Want to know how to forgive? You rest in that. You see how much you experience Christ's love just from meditating on something for half an hour. It frees us up, it reminds us, yes we will experience trials, yes people will come against us but there is a love greater than any pain that I could experience.
Speaker 2
29:41
There is a Savior who heals me. Nothing can separate us from the love that Christ has for us. And that love transforms us and enables us to extend the same love and forgiveness that we have been shown. Leading others to know that they have a shepherd and a king who loves them.
Speaker 2
30:01
Let's pray. Lord, we don't forgive sometimes because we forget that we've been forgiven. Lord, sometimes we want vengeance more than your love. And Father, sometimes we forget that we have a Savior.
Speaker 2
30:39
God, open up our hearts to know how much you love us. God, open up our hearts to not only know how much you love us, but give us the desire to be transformed by your love. God, how quickly we forget your goodness, your faithfulness, and how beautiful you are. God, our true heart's desire is just to be in your presence.
Speaker 2
31:04
As we learn to love others God we realize that you are our 1 true love. We thank you God for molding us and loving us. God we thank you for the cross. Let us not just reflect upon it on Easter.
Speaker 2
31:17
God, we thank you for that cross. We thank you God for reconciling us to you. We thank you God for calling us sons and daughters, for adopting us into your kingdom where we get to learn from our Father and receive His love and mercy on us, God. Go with us, Lord, as we become transformed by Your love.
Speaker 2
31:38
Be with us, Father. Give us ears to hear. Have mercy on us, God. Give us the strength to look to You.
Speaker 2
31:47
And Lord, we thank you for showing us your love. And we didn't know we needed to be loved. As 1 John says, Lord, we thank you for loving us first. We deserve nothing for it.
Speaker 2
32:02
Let our lives be an extension of your love towards us. To your name be the glory. Amen. Oh
Nathaniel Nurse
33:00
The
Speaker 2
33:04
the the the the the the the
Nathaniel Nurse
34:00
Thank
Speaker 2
34:04
you.
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