1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,820
Matthew chapter 18 verses 21 and 22. That's in the New Testament, first book of the New

2
00:00:12,820 --> 00:00:27,660
Testament. Matthew chapter 18 verse 21. We'll read these two verses, then we'll pray and

3
00:00:27,660 --> 00:00:37,960
get started. Then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how many times could my brother sin

4
00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:45,680
against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times? I tell you, not as many as seven, Jesus

5
00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:53,000
said to him, but seventy times seven. Let's pray. Father God, we come to you today and

6
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:59,080
I pray that your Holy Spirit would be here with us today to open our ears and to open

7
00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:04,160
our eyes, dear Lord, that we would see your word, that we would hear from you. I pray

8
00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:10,280
God that you would free us of all the distractions and the worry and maybe the hatred and the

9
00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,480
anger and the bitterness that is within us, dear Lord. Sometimes those things kind of

10
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:20,720
rage within us, dear Lord. But God, I pray that maybe through these words that we read

11
00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:29,080
today that you would help us to see the beautiful joy that is forgiveness, dear Lord, and that

12
00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,760
we can receive it through you today and that we can give it to others today. So I pray

13
00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,880
God that your Holy Spirit would guide me in every word that is said. Dear Lord, there

14
00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:43,120
is no good word I can say if it does not come from you. So I pray that you take away any

15
00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:49,480
pride or any fear that I have today of speaking and I pray God that you would do the work,

16
00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,480
that we would see you and you would receive the glory. So help us not to worry about the

17
00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:57,720
things of the world this morning, but in these few minutes that we would be completely and

18
00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:05,000
totally devoted to you. And I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.

19
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:11,120
And the verses before this, Jesus had told his disciples about dealing with someone who

20
00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:16,340
had sinned against them. And Jesus gave some good instruction on the proper way to deal

21
00:02:16,340 --> 00:02:20,600
with a brother who has sinned against you. You go to him and if you still can't work

22
00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,240
it out, you take somebody else with you and if you still can't work it out and they're

23
00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:29,320
still living in sin and committing that sin, then you take it before the church. And Jesus

24
00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:34,720
says, and treat them like an unbeliever and a tax collector. And he gives some pretty

25
00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:40,800
strict instruction there on how to deal with a brother or sister in Christ, I suppose,

26
00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:47,080
who has sinned against you. And with this in mind, what had just been said, Peter asked

27
00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:53,360
a question. He says, it says Peter came to him and he said, Lord, how many times could

28
00:02:53,360 --> 00:03:00,000
my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Okay, so if we're supposed to forgive people,

29
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,760
if we're supposed to, you know, people come against us and they do evil things, how many

30
00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:09,860
times can we forgive them? How many times are we going to get burned? And Peter says,

31
00:03:09,860 --> 00:03:15,480
is it seven times? Should I do it seven times? And then am I off the hook? And maybe we ask

32
00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:20,120
a similar question. Maybe we've got people in our life that sinned against us in some

33
00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:25,560
great way and we're kind of getting burned out. We kind of get tired of them. It just

34
00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:30,080
hurts. We don't want to go through it anymore. And we say, how many times I've done enough?

35
00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:34,520
And so maybe Peter was to that point, okay, well, how many times, how much is enough?

36
00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:39,040
How many times can someone sin against me? Seven times? That seems like a pretty reasonable

37
00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:46,440
amount. But Jesus says to Peter, no, 70 times seven. Now, I don't think we should take Jesus

38
00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,560
too literally here. I don't think Jesus is saying, all right, keep account and forgive

39
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:56,680
somebody 490 times and then you'll have forgiven them enough. That 491st time you can tell

40
00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:01,880
them, that's it, you're done. I don't think that's what Jesus is saying. Jesus is using

41
00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:08,240
this language here to say, don't put a limit. Don't limit people. People may sin against

42
00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:12,800
you a bunch, but don't give up on them. Now, when Jesus said in the verses before to treat

43
00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:17,880
somebody like an unbeliever, what do you do for unbelievers? You continue to pray for

44
00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:22,560
them. When you have somebody in your life, as probably some of you do, you pray for them.

45
00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,040
That they would not be an unbeliever, but that they would be a believer and that they

46
00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:30,960
would repent of their sins and that they would forgive you if you sinned against them and

47
00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:35,640
that you could forgive them if they sinned against you. And so Jesus gives this instruction

48
00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,960
about how to deal with people and Peter says, okay, what's the limit on how to deal with

49
00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:47,000
these kinds of people? And Jesus, I believe says here, there is no limit. And Jesus puts

50
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:54,960
it into perspective as really only Jesus can. And we see so often, he gives a parable to

51
00:04:54,960 --> 00:05:01,600
understand the significance of our own sin and the importance of forgiving the sins of

52
00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:07,240
others. And so Jesus tells a story in the verses that follow. He says there was a king

53
00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:12,800
and the king had slaves and there came a time that there was a king who was going to settle

54
00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:20,400
a debt with one of his slaves. And it says that that slave owed 10,000 talents to the

55
00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:25,400
king. Now that doesn't really mean much to us in our day and time. So if you do a little

56
00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:30,720
research on the internet, you're going to find some different ideas as to what that

57
00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:37,720
converts to in US dollars. But at the very least, it would convert to several billions

58
00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:45,560
of dollars worth of debt. Some have suggested as much as $13 billion that this slave would

59
00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:52,720
have owed to this king. And so the slave sees this debt and obviously is unable to repay

60
00:05:52,720 --> 00:06:00,280
this debt and the king says, okay, then this slave, his family need to be sold all of their

61
00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:07,880
items need to be sold to recoup whatever of this debt can be recouped. And the slave falls

62
00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:14,600
down and he begs the king and he says, King, would you please have mercy on me? I will

63
00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:21,440
repay this debt. I'll repay it. Now it would have taken a lifetime for the slave to even

64
00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:28,760
chip away at this debt and the least it was impossible for the slave to repay the debt

65
00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:36,080
to the king. And so the king does something that's quite phenomenal. The king forgives

66
00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:42,480
the debt. He says, I'm wiping it away. It's done. Now you can imagine the joy that this

67
00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:47,400
slave must have felt to know that all of his debt had been cleared, a debt that would have

68
00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:53,480
been impossible for him to pay and 200 lifetimes he couldn't have repaid that. And here the

69
00:06:53,480 --> 00:07:00,780
king being a merciful king because the slave asked, said, King, would you have this mercy

70
00:07:00,780 --> 00:07:07,040
on me? Because he asked the king forgave his debt. Now you would think that this would

71
00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:13,400
be a life changing event for the slave. You would think that this slave would say, Holy

72
00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:18,800
smokes, this is the greatest gift that I have ever been given. I have never received such

73
00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:23,640
compassion. And you would think that it would have shaped his life and changed his life

74
00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,600
in such a way that he would have been the most compassionate man that you have ever

75
00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:32,240
seen that all those who have wronged him and come before him and don't do him right, that

76
00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:37,320
he would be so full of compassion that he would say, look, I was once like you and I

77
00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:44,000
received great mercy and compassion from the king and therefore I will give it to others.

78
00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,960
Would you believe that that's not what that slave did? Here was a slave that had been

79
00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:55,200
forgiven what we would call billions of dollars in debt. And the scripture says that this

80
00:07:55,200 --> 00:08:03,760
slave goes to another slave who owed him 100 denarii. Now denarii is one day's wages back

81
00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:09,160
in those days. That was about a day's wage for a common folk. Now that would be equivalent

82
00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:17,320
to about $6 in our day and age. So this other slave owed this man who had been forgiven

83
00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:22,860
all of this billions of dollars in debt. This other slave owed him, which would equate to

84
00:08:22,860 --> 00:08:33,040
about $600. $600. And he goes to this man and the scripture says that he begins to choke

85
00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:38,300
him and he begins to tell him, I want every penny that's coming to me. I want you to pay

86
00:08:38,300 --> 00:08:46,960
it all back. Wait a minute. This is the man who just had been forgiven way more than 100

87
00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:54,680
denarii. He had been forgiven 60 million days work. This man owed him 100 days work, 100

88
00:08:54,680 --> 00:09:03,460
days wages. This first slave had been forgiven 60 million days wages or 200,000 years worth

89
00:09:03,460 --> 00:09:11,800
of wages that had been forgiven. And yet the one who owed him, he went before him and he

90
00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:17,000
said, I want every penny of what you owe me. Well, the rest of the slaves saw this and

91
00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:23,080
they of course were alarmed at what had taken place. And they reported this word to the

92
00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:28,900
king. And when the king heard this, you can imagine the king was not too pleased. After

93
00:09:28,900 --> 00:09:33,520
all the king had showed great compassion and great mercy to the slave only to find out

94
00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:42,480
that he was being so hard on the one that owed him money. And so the king said, lock

95
00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:51,960
this one up. Lock this slave up until he can repay every penny that he owes me. Now it

96
00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:58,120
was impossible for this slave to repay the debt that he owed and the king knew that.

97
00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:05,080
And the king had offered compassion and mercy to the slave and this slave had totally missed

98
00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:11,120
the compassion and mercy that he received. Certainly he was glad that his debt was forgiven,

99
00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:16,280
but he didn't make the connection there of the beauty of what compassion is and what

100
00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:23,400
mercy is and what forgiveness is. And what a beautiful story for us to consider today

101
00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:29,320
as we think about the words of Peter here. And we say, Lord, how many times should I

102
00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:35,460
forgive somebody? Well, if we want the answer to that, then we need to ask ourselves, how

103
00:10:35,460 --> 00:10:41,480
much have we been forgiven? What is our debt to God? Our debt to God that is brought forth

104
00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:48,240
because of our sin is something that we can never pay back. It is an impossible amount

105
00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:53,800
to pay. And that's the point of Jesus's story. There was one who owed a debt to the king

106
00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:59,480
that was impossible for him to pay unless the king himself was going to abolish the

107
00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:07,680
debt. And so it is for you and I today that we come in here as sinners. We come in here

108
00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:14,320
and we are so indebted to God and all it takes is one sin. It doesn't matter if we have a

109
00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:21,560
million sins today or one sin. That one sin that we commit is enough that we are indebted

110
00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:28,240
to God. There is no way that we can pay this back. But praise the Lord, the very king that

111
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:35,360
we are indebted to and Jesus Christ is the king who gave his life for us. And when we

112
00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:41,800
come to Jesus Christ and ask for forgiveness, our sins are forgiven. Our debt has been paid

113
00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:49,920
by Jesus Christ on the cross. Our sins have been cast as far as the east is to the west.

114
00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:56,040
And if we have come to Jesus Christ, if we claim to be a Christian, then we should recognize

115
00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:03,160
today the compassion of the king. That we should recognize today the mercy of the king.

116
00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:08,920
That we should know that we are so undeserving of the love of Jesus Christ and yet he showed

117
00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:14,280
his love for us and that he gave his life on the cross so that we could be forgiven.

118
00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,920
And what a beautiful gift that is. That's something we could never earn. That's something

119
00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:24,760
that we cannot repay but that's something that Jesus Christ has paid. He has paid in

120
00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:32,200
full with his death on the cross. And if we have received such compassion and mercy and

121
00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:38,440
grace and the forgiveness of our sins today that we have not deserved, then how can that

122
00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:45,000
not transform our life? That has to transform our life. If we've really experienced that

123
00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:53,000
to the fullest, then that has to transform our life. And how do we know? How can we tell?

124
00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:59,800
How can we be sure that our lives have been transformed by Jesus Christ? Or perhaps one

125
00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:07,440
very easy way for us to measure is to see how willing we are to forgive others. If we

126
00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:14,200
have asked Jesus Christ to forgive us today, then praise God he has forgiven us today.

127
00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:20,920
So who are we not to forgive those who sin against us? What has somebody done to us that

128
00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:28,160
is so much greater than anything we have done to Jesus Christ? It don't take long. You start

129
00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:31,640
listening out your sins. You won't have to think but 10 seconds and you'll think of some

130
00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:37,200
of the worst, most horrible things you could ever imagine and you've done those things

131
00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:41,680
and you can think of five or six of them right now. And that's not to count all the other

132
00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:47,200
thousands and tens of thousands and millions of sins that you have committed in your life

133
00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:53,680
day after day, year after year, time after time. And God has been gracious to you and

134
00:13:53,680 --> 00:14:00,760
he has forgiven your sin. And how can we say if we are a child of God that we will not

135
00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:07,000
forgive one who has sinned against us? We want to be those who receive grace, praise

136
00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:11,440
the Lord. We want to be those who sins are forgiven, praise the Lord. There is freedom

137
00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:20,080
in that. There is joy in that. Our burden is taken away in that. And yet somehow we

138
00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:27,120
may find ourselves in the same boat as this unforgiving slave. We will praise God. We

139
00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:33,160
know the grace of God. We've experienced the grace of God. And then somebody sins against

140
00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:39,880
us in a far lesser way than we have ever sinned against God and we say, nope, I will not forgive

141
00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:47,640
him. I will not forgive her. Well, we're on dangerous ground when our heart gets to that

142
00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:53,800
place because if we will not forgive the sins of those who sinned against us, then our Father

143
00:14:53,800 --> 00:15:01,800
in heaven will not forgive our sins. It's a hard thing for us as humans and I suspect

144
00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:07,040
it was a hard thing for God and it was a hard thing for Jesus Christ to suffer and bleed

145
00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:15,160
and die and be nailed to the cross. And yet Jesus did it because there is beauty in forgiveness.

146
00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:21,380
There is love in forgiveness. There is peace in forgiveness. And maybe that's what some

147
00:15:21,380 --> 00:15:26,320
of you are looking for today. Maybe you're looking for some joy and some peace in your

148
00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:31,960
life and maybe you come to church and maybe you're reading the scripture and maybe you

149
00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:36,360
know about God and you know about Jesus and maybe in a lot of ways you're trying to follow

150
00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:40,920
him. But maybe there's one way in which you're not. Maybe there's one way in which you're

151
00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:45,920
not following him and listening to him and that is when he calls you to forgive those

152
00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:52,920
who have sinned against you. And perhaps you are carrying around some burden today and

153
00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:59,040
you are not experiencing the joy you should because that lack of forgiveness that you

154
00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:05,880
have for others is eating away at you because you dwell on it day and night. What he did

155
00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:11,820
to you, what she did to you, how she wronged you. Tell everybody else to listen how they

156
00:16:11,820 --> 00:16:17,240
wronged you. And it just eats at you and it eats at you and it eats at you. And the only

157
00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:24,960
way to overcome that is through forgiveness. That's the only way. And it is not always

158
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:30,720
easy and we may have to pray a lot for God to help us. God this person has wronged me

159
00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:34,960
and God I struggle with this and I know I should forgive him and God I want to forgive

160
00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:39,640
him but my heart's still not right. God would you help make my heart right? And you can

161
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:45,280
be honest with God. You can tell him your struggle. He knows your struggle. He knows

162
00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:50,600
that we are weak human beings and we know that God's word calls us to forgive but it

163
00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:56,000
is not easy and unless we have the help of God and unless we recognize the compassion

164
00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:01,240
and the mercy and the grace we've received from God it will be impossible for us to forgive

165
00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:07,880
others. But if we ever struggle with forgiving others then the first place we might need

166
00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:15,480
to turn is to this passage to be reminded of just how much we have been forgiven of

167
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:24,200
in Jesus Christ. It says at the end of chapter 18 in verse 35, so my heavenly father will

168
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:31,700
also do to each of you, excuse me, so my heavenly father will also do to you if each of you

169
00:17:31,700 --> 00:17:41,000
does not forgive his brother from his heart. Now this slave that had not realized and appreciated

170
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:48,340
the compassion he received to pass it on to others was cast for all of his life into prison

171
00:17:48,340 --> 00:17:54,960
to be tormented and so it shall be for you and I. If we are not those who experience

172
00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:59,780
the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ, if we are not those who forgive others then

173
00:17:59,780 --> 00:18:06,960
we will suffer the same consequences as this slave that we see in this story. But at the

174
00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:13,920
end of that verse Jesus says this will happen to us if we do not forgive our brother from

175
00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:23,200
our heart. Forgiveness is not simply words you say, it's got to come from your heart.

176
00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:27,080
You know you little kids sometimes you fight and your parents say alright make up to your

177
00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:29,880
brother and sister tell them you're sorry and they're like I'm sorry and you really

178
00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,440
don't mean it you just say it because your momma says you got to say it or you're going

179
00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:38,120
to get a whipping and like sometimes we kind of do that even as adults we kind of act like

180
00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:42,480
it's okay, we kind of act like we've forgiven people and we do just enough to be able to

181
00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:48,880
speak to them in a crowd but really in our heart we haven't forgiven anybody and forgiveness

182
00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:56,520
must come from our heart and I think the only way we can truly forgive others is to be truly

183
00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:02,640
forgiven ourselves. And once we experience the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ

184
00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:08,640
if that does not transform our heart in a way that causes us to think twice, that causes

185
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:13,520
us to have a little compassion to those who have sinned against us then maybe our heart

186
00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:23,000
has not been changed by Jesus Christ. Perhaps today you are one who needs to be forgiven,

187
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:28,200
you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Perhaps you think today that your

188
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:35,320
debt is too large, perhaps today you've decided you're going to try to work it off, you're

189
00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:39,240
going to try to earn God's favor, if he would just give you another chance maybe you are

190
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:43,480
like the slave we see at the beginning of the story that begs the king if you'd give

191
00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:48,920
me another chance I'll repay it. But I'll tell you today you cannot repay the debt of

192
00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:56,640
your sin but if you'd go before the king and you would seek him and you would ask for forgiveness

193
00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:02,280
then your sin will be covered, your sin will be cast away as far as the east is to the

194
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:09,260
west. There's no limit to how many sins Jesus can forgive, he can forgive all of them. Everyone

195
00:20:09,260 --> 00:20:13,360
you've committed and I've committed and everybody in this room has committed and in the whole

196
00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:20,320
world Jesus Christ can forgive those sins if we would just seek him. You'll find peace

197
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:25,600
in that today if you'd come before Jesus Christ and repent of your sins and seek him and live

198
00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:32,800
for him. There's peace in that and there's joy in that. Maybe for some of you today,

199
00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,280
maybe you have trusted Jesus Christ, maybe you've experienced that forgiveness and maybe

200
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:43,060
you've forgotten how great of a gift that is. That Jesus Christ died to forgive you

201
00:20:43,060 --> 00:20:50,760
and me. As rotten as we are, Jesus forgave us. How many times has the Lord given you

202
00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:56,820
second chances? You've had a million second chances and if God is gracious to give us

203
00:20:56,820 --> 00:21:06,660
chance after chance then how can we as children of God not give those around us one more chance?

204
00:21:06,660 --> 00:21:11,960
It's hard when people do us wrong but I believe Jesus teaches us that there is no limit to

205
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:17,000
forgiveness. There is no limit to the forgiveness that he gives to us and therefore if we are

206
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:24,000
to follow Jesus we are to forgive those who sin against us. Maybe today you are his and

207
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:28,280
maybe you're struggling with it then keep seeking the Lord and ask him to help you to

208
00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:33,880
deal with that person who has wronged you. Maybe today you just feel angry and you feel

209
00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:38,120
hatred and you just feel mad about what people have done to you. I pray that God would help

210
00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:43,240
you to overcome that and maybe the solution to your problem and the restoration of your

211
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:52,320
joy is going to come when you forgive those who have wronged you from your heart. So we

212
00:21:52,320 --> 00:22:00,680
have a decision to make today. Will we be like this slave who was forgiven and who took

213
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:07,760
it for granted or will we do better than him? Will we receive the compassion and the mercy

214
00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:15,440
of the King and be compassionate and merciful to those who are around us? Blessed are the

215
00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:22,960
merciful for they shall receive mercy. Let us be men and women today who are merciful

216
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:29,640
to those who have wronged us just as Jesus has been merciful to us. Let's pray. God we

217
00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:34,720
come to you we thank you for your good word today and dear Lord this is a tough passage

218
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:39,600
that really calls us to reflect on our own life dear Lord we may be tempted to think

219
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:45,480
we are not as bad as we really are but dear Lord maybe if we are honest today we are just

220
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:51,760
as rotten as this unforgiving slave. That God we have received your grace and we have

221
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:58,760
seen it and God we are not at all willing to live in that grace and share it with others.

222
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:03,840
So dear Lord I pray that if there are any here today that do not know Jesus Christ that

223
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:09,080
maybe they are struggling in the burden of sin that today they would experience grace

224
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:13,640
for the first time. To know that they do not have to live in sin and live for the world

225
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:18,060
but if they would just ask you to forgive them their sins would be forgiven today dear

226
00:23:18,060 --> 00:23:23,600
Lord. I pray that they would turn their life to Jesus that they would repent of those sins

227
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:27,120
that they would experience your grace and mercy right now dear Lord that you would bring

228
00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:33,000
about a joy in their life that they have never experienced before today. God maybe there

229
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:41,080
are some in this room today and they just struggle with the wrongs that have been committed

230
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:46,920
against them dear Lord there are great wrongs that have been committed against us but dear

231
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:53,160
Lord we have committed great wrongs against you and yet you still find it in your heart

232
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:58,960
dear Lord to forgive us. So God I pray that we would do the same thing that we would find

233
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,320
it within our hearts dear Lord to have grace to other people that you would be with us

234
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:08,360
dear Lord that you would help us to have compassion like you do and mercy like you do and I pray

235
00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:13,000
that we would seek you for strength to do that because God we cannot do that on our

236
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:18,360
own. God I pray that if there are any in this room today that have been holding grudges

237
00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:25,640
that are reluctant to forgive dear Lord that they understand the severity of that God.

238
00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:31,000
We would recall your word dear Lord that we are not forgiven if we do not forgive others.

239
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:36,840
So God I pray that if we are struggling today that we would not allow that lack of forgiveness

240
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:45,120
on our part to just rattle us inside dear Lord but that we would forgive those who sinned

241
00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:51,280
against us that we would experience joy today and peace today. God we thank you for who

242
00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:56,440
Jesus is we thank you that he loved us enough to die on the cross for us as rotten as we

243
00:24:56,440 --> 00:25:03,200
are dear Lord we are just a room full of rotten sinners but yet Jesus Christ died on the cross

244
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:08,800
so that we could be forgiven dear Lord that's a debt we could not repay. God help us never

245
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:15,520
to try to earn your favor by what we do but to accept that Jesus Christ has paid the debt

246
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:21,200
for us today. So I pray God that if you spoke into any today that God that you just work

247
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,520
in them right now that they would respond to you right now dear Lord that your Holy

248
00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:28,840
Spirit would work among us. God help us to experience your forgiveness and to have a

249
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:51,720
heart of forgiveness toward others and I ask these things in Jesus name Amen.