You are listening to a message from First Baptist
Church, Wichita Falls. For more information about
First Baptist, click the link in the show notes
or go to FBCWF .org. Today's message comes from
Senior Pastor Dr. Bob McCartney. Let's open our
Bibles this morning to Matthew chapter 18 verse
21. We are excited about opening this passage
of scripture because we're gonna talk about the
pardon. We're gonna talk about The fact that
we need to experience God's pardon and we need
to extend that pardon to other people The power
of a president to pardon someone who's been found
guilty of an offense or who might be found guilty
of an offense is one of the prerogatives that
our president has. And you know, sometimes presidents
pardon people and their pardons are a little,
well, they become infamous. Sort of like after
President Trump's first term, right at the end,
he pardoned the rapper Lil Wayne. Now, I was
worried about Lil Wayne. He had been found guilty
on a federal gun charge and was facing prison
time, and President Trump pardoned him. It means
it goes away. He can't be charged with that anymore.
President Biden famously pardoned his son Hunter.
That was kind of controversial. But there have
also been pardons in the life of presidents that
have actually been very, very important in our
nation. In 1980, or 1979 rather, President Carter
at the time, pardoned every person who had been
a Vietnam draft dodger. That was a really big
contentious thing in our society, and he just
settled it by saying, okay, we're not going to
prosecute this, we're just going to forgive this.
But perhaps the most powerful pardon that was
ever issued is one that has been long since forgotten.
In 1868, after the Civil War, President Andrew
Johnson was denied his party's nomination to
be president again. He was not nominated and
he was not re -elected. Ulysses S. Grant was
nominated and elected. And his party was completely
against him in a lot of ways. The nation was
divided over a question. What should we do with
Confederate soldiers and officers and the leaders
of the Confederacy? Should we put them on trial
for treason? And the nation was divided on this.
And on Christmas Day 1868, just before he left
office, President Andrew Johnson pardoned every
Confederate soldier, every Confederate officer,
every Confederate leader, and it settled the
question they could no longer be prosecuted.
And historians say that it, that action was one
of the most important actions in healing the
nation from this bitter divide. You see, a pardon
was the prerogative of a king in the ancient
world. They had the absolute power to set aside
a guilty sentence or an offense. And once they
had done so, it could never be brought up again.
Here's the great thing. Our king has the power
to pardon. And not only that, but he's given
us a command to extend that pardon power to others
around us. Now all of us have either been harmed,
hurt, or humiliated. by the words or actions
of other people. All of us at some point have
known what it feels like to be hurt and offended.
And because of that, we need to experience God's
grace and power to extend a pardon to people
around us. But the truth is this, all of us have
hurt, harmed, and humiliated others with our
words and actions, and we need to receive a pardon.
in many cases. So that's what we're going to
walk through over the next few weeks. We're going
to talk about how this works in the lives of
our families, our co -workers, the people in
our church. We're going to talk about what it
means to experience and extend the pardon. Now
in the passage of scripture, we're going to read
today, which is kind of lengthy So if you want
to follow along keep your Bible open, I won't
read it in its entirety, but we'll work our way
through it Peter comes to Jesus. He says Jesus
How often do I have to forgive somebody? How
many times do I have to forgive someone who's
hurt harmed or humiliated me? How often do I
have to do that and Peter has a proposition that
he offers to Jesus then Jesus responds with a
precept. He gives us a precept and then he gives
us a parable in which he illuminates this. So
that's what we're gonna walk through today. Let's
begin with Peter's question of Jesus in verse
21 of Matthew chapter 18. Then Peter came up
and said to him, Lord, how many times shall my
brother sin against me and I still forgive him?
Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not
say to you up to seven times, but up to 77 times.
Now you may be reading from a translation that
says 70 times seven. That phrase, that mathematical
phrase is a little difficult to interpret because
it's not in a lot of other Greek manuscripts.
And so it is either 77 or it's 70 times seven.
And we're not really sure, but either way, that's
a lot, okay? Let's talk about this from the principles
that Jesus is giving us. Here's the first principle
Jesus gives us about forgiveness. Stop setting
limitations on forgiveness. Stop setting limitations
on forgiveness. You see, there was a big debate
in the society of Jesus Day and among the Jewish
rabbis who were the teachers of the people about
how many times should you forgive somebody. There
was this one group of rabbis who were teaching,
you are under no obligation to forgive anybody
unless they come to you, they say, I'm sorry,
I was wrong, please forgive me. If they come
to you in contrition and they're humbled and
they're honest about it, then you have to forgive
them. But until they do, you don't forgive them.
There were other rabbis who said, no, The first
time someone offends you, you have to forgive
them. God forgives us, and so you have to extend
forgiveness to people. Now the second time, not
so much. It's kind of the old Irish proverb,
fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame
on me. So after the first time, you don't have
to fear them anymore. There was another group
of rabbis that said, no, You have to forgive
up to seven times. Now, you need to understand
something. In the Bible, numbers are significant
many times. And the number seven is the number
for completion. Think about seven days of creation.
It was completed. So after seven, no grace for
you, okay? I mean, it is done. But up to seven,
you got to forgive. So Peter comes to Jesus and
he says, hey, Jesus. Look at how gracious, how
merciful, how spiritually mature I am. I'm siding
with the most gracious rabbis. I'm saying up
to seven times. Aren't you proud of me, Jesus?
And Jesus says, no, Pete, that's not the way
it works, bud. He says, I don't say to you up
to seven times. Now Jesus, either way you look
at it, multiplies. the numbers of times that
we have to forgive. He places an obligation on
us that is really quite eye -opening. He either
says up to 77 times or up to 70 times 7. Now,
some of you have done the math. That's 490 times.
Okay, at 491 I don't have to forgive anymore,
right? The word forgive means to erase. So I
want you to think about this. You offend me and
I've got a white marker board in my office and
I put your name on it I put one right there You
hurt me you you did something that harmed me.
You did something harm my family So you have
offended me. I got a one right there and then
I forgive you and I erase it and the count starts
all over You see what Jesus is teaching? is not
that you get to keep score. It's that there are
no limitations on forgiveness. Now that's powerful
and it's stark. And to be quite honest with you,
it seems difficult. It really does. See what
Jesus is saying to you and me is that we set
limits on forgiveness and God doesn't. This past
Monday night I got home I was actually preaching
out of town and I got back in time to see the
end of that national championship game. I must
be honest with you, I was disappointed. I'm not
a huge Houston fan, but as a Tennessee volunteer,
I was really pulling for Florida to lose. It's
not I wanted Houston to win, I just wanted Florida
to lose and I got disappointed. But with a minute
and 24 seconds left in the basketball game, one
of Houston's best players committed a silly foul.
He shouldn't have done it. I mean, he should
have been, had his head in the game more. He
committed a silly foul and he fouled out. It
was his fifth foul. And he goes to the bench
and he can't participate anymore. You see, that's
what we want to do with forgiveness. We want
to say, okay, where is the number that I get
to put people on the bench? I get to put them
out of my life. I get to no longer have to deal
with them. All the mess that they bring into
my life and what Jesus is saying to us is stop
setting limitations on forgiveness Now we rationalize
why we can set limitations on forgiveness. Let
me give you a few of these that I've tried to
think through First of all, some of us say I
can't forgive because the hurt is too big The
hurt is just too big Now I want to speak directly
to some of you and an audience this size with
campuses and I know this is out there. Some of
you have been hurt in a really big way. Some
people have suffered abuse, and some people have
suffered betrayal. Some people have been hurt
in ways that are big. And I'm going to tell you
that forgiveness doesn't mean you minimize the
hurt. It's real. It's hard. It is big. But I
want you to see this from a different angle and
that is That the longer you hang on to that big
hurt the more of a burden it becomes on your
life So some of us just keep waiting for that
person to finally come to the realization that
they're wrong and They're gonna come back and
they're gonna apologize And here's what they've
done. You've rationalized why you can't forgive.
They've minimized what they've done. And until
the Spirit of God reveals it to them, and for
some who are lost, it's not gonna happen in this
lifetime, they minimize what is done. I mean,
if you even went and talked to them and said,
how bad that they hurt you. I mean, they'd do
the, but did you die? I mean, they'd say that.
I mean, it was like, they minimize what they
did to you. I realize the hurt is too big. But
the burden is too big to carry. You need to let
it go. The second rationalization that we use,
I need more time. I need more time. Now, forgiveness
is a decision and a process. It's both a decision
and a process. It's not just either or. You must
decide to forgive, but you have to forgive over
and over and over sometimes. This past week.
I had lunch with a friend and he brought up a
situation in which quite honestly I I was hurt
and I it brought you know it brought back some
of those old memories of some of that what I
went through and I Remember going out after lunch.
I sat in my truck and I said Lord once again.
I forgive them. I set them free because I The
more time I take with that the more that digs
into my soul It's sort of like a plant a weed
and here's how the writer of Hebrews put it see
to it that no one comes short of the grace of
God and That no root of bitterness springing
up causes trouble and by it many be defiled see
what happens when I don't forgive a very real
hurt is that that offense Becomes a root of bitterness
and then it springs up and listen to what the
writer of Hebrews says by it many are defiled
I want you to understand this. You cannot be
bitter toward one person. You can't be bitter
toward one person. You can be angry with one
person, but you can't be bitter toward one person.
Because bitterness is not a rifle shot that goes
to one person. Bitterness is buckshot. And it
hits everybody around you. And it hurts everybody
around you. So this, I need more time. Now it
may take some time to work through a process
of forgiveness, but start today. Start today.
Number three, they aren't sorry. No, they're
probably not. They don't even think what they
did was wrong or somehow they've made excuses
for it. And what we want to do is that until
they tell us they're sorry, we're going to keep
them in a prison cell in our mind. We're going
to punish them. Because if I forgive them I set
a prisoner free. Yes Forgiveness sets a prisoner
free, but what I find is the prisoner is me When
I forgive I set myself free or allow God to set
me free from the burden and number four they'll
just do it again I've heard this one before you've
said it before I've said they'll just do it again
Peter's question and Jesus answer Assumes they'll
do it again up to seven times Maybe more Let
me I want you to hear me forgiveness is always
risky business It's always risky business, it's
a relational risk To say I forgive you. I wipe
the slate clean. I'm not gonna bring this up
anymore This is not going to be a barrier between
you and me As much as possible now I do need
to say one thing to bring clarity to this and
I don't have time to go into it today I promise
I will Forgiveness and reconciliation are two
different things Forgiveness is part of reconciliation,
but reconciliation goes a step farther There
are some cases when forgiveness is imperative
in your life, but reconciliation is perhaps not
possible or wise. I think specifically about
abuse cases. So let's just kind of think in terms
of that. Now, Jesus says stop setting limitations
on forgiveness, but then he tells a parable.
He goes immediately into a story about forgiveness.
And the second thing that Jesus would say to
us is, you first of all need to see your great
need for forgiveness. After you stop setting
limitations, here's why you can stop setting
limitations, because you need to see your great
need for forgiveness. He tells his story beginning
at verse 23. For this reason, the kingdom of
heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts
with his slaves. And when he had begun to settle
them, one who owed him 10, Thousand talents was
brought to him, but since he did not have the
means to repay His master commanded that he be
sold along with his wife and children and all
that he had and repayment be made So the slave
fell to the ground and prostrated himself before
him saying have patience with me and I will repay
you everything and the master of that slave felt
compassion and He released him and he forgave
him the debt. This king has a, my translation
says slave, some translations say servant. And
this servant, when the king audits the books,
the king's kinda suspicious some money's missing
or being wasted, so he has a doge. They go in
and look at all the books. And they find out
that this one guy, This King's Elan finds out
this one guy has somehow managed to either squander,
embezzle, or waste 10 ,000 talents. So when you
think slave or servant, you can't think about
the guy who cleaned the palace latrine. That's
not this servant. He would not have access to
that kind of money. But everyone who served the
king was a king's servant. So this guy is someone
who has access to a lot of money. 10 ,000 talents
is an absolutely unimaginable sum of money in
the day and age of Jesus. Our national debt is
at $37 trillion. I can't even fathom how many
zeros that is and how much money that is. I mean,
this guy has squandered that kind of money. I
mean, it's like billions and billions, maybe
trillions and trillions. He has just run up a
debt that is just incredible. And you go, how
could he have possibly done that? Well, he's
a government department head. possible sum to
repay. It is absolutely impossible for him to
repay this. And so the king is ready to throw
him in prison. Not just him, but his wife and
his children are gonna be sold as slaves. They're
gonna apply that against the debt. They're gonna
sell his house. They're gonna sell his wife's
jewelry. It's all gonna be liquidated. But the
truth is that no matter how much money he raises
in this, It's not gonna make a difference, it's
not gonna make a dent. Because this sum of money
that he owes the king is an absolute unpayable
debt. And that is exactly the picture that Jesus
wants to paint. You see, we owe our king an unpayable
debt. The picture of this king. Who hears the
pleading of his servant for mercy and? When the
king says he felt compassion for him he released
him and he forgave the debt it is the picture
of Our unpayable debt to our king we have a sin
debt That there is no way that all the rituals
all the religious ceremonies all the baptisms
all the all the tithing all the acts of service
to the kingdom, go to a foreign country, be a
missionary, devote your life to Him. You can't
make a dent in your sin debt. But we have a gracious
King who says, I will forgive your unpayable
debt. It's amazing. You see, this servant did
not deserve forgiveness. And neither do I. Couple
of weeks ago. I mean as a as the parent of a
high school student as a parent of a high school
athlete I was absolutely stunned. It's really
bothered me The story that came out of the track
meet in Frisco, Texas about one student stabbing
another student Austin Medcalf was the student
who died. By the way, there is a family connection
in our church. You could just pray for someone
without knowing their name necessarily. And I've
prayed with them and extended my compassion toward
them. But it really bothered me. But let me tell
you what challenged me. The morning after it
happened, Jeff Medcalf, Austin's father, was
talking to Fox 4 News out of Dallas. And they
asked him how he felt toward the young man who
had done this. And Jeff Metcalf's statement was,
I've already forgiven him. Now, I'm going to
tell you how challenged I was by that. I don't
know where I am on that. I mean, if I put myself
in his shoes, I don't know. I don't know if I
can say that. But I was impressed by Jeff's walk
with the Lord to be able to say, I know I needed
to forgive him and I've started. I've made the
decision and I bet it's a process. But he says,
I'm doing that. And some would say, but that
kid didn't deserve to be forgiven. No, and neither
did I. But there is a God in heaven who issues
to me a full free pardon for my unpayable debt.
And so Jesus would say, we need to see our great
need for forgiveness. You see I am convinced
of this That until you see the seriousness of
your sin, you will never grasp the greatness
of his grace Until we understand the seriousness
of our sin, we will never grasp the greatness
of his grace fourth or the third and finally
There's a misprint if you take notes, so here's
the point start practicing authentic forgiveness
Now to Jesus' audience when he tells his story
about this gracious king who forgave this incredible
sum of money, I mean, that would have been the
end of a great story. But at verse 28, Jesus,
the master storyteller, puts a twist in this
that nobody sees coming. Imagine listening to
this for the first time. But that slave, that
servant, the one who's been forgiven, went out
and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him
a hundred denarii and He seized him and began
choking him saying pay back what you owe So his
fellow slave fell to the ground and began to
plead with him saying have patience with me and
I will repay you But he was unwilling and went
and threw him in prison until he would pay back.
What was owed So when his fellow slave saw what
had happened They were deeply grieved and came
and reported to their master all that had happened,
then summoning him. His master said to him, you
wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because
you pleaded with me. Should you not have also
had mercy on your fellow slave in the same way
that I had mercy on you? And his master moved
with anger, handed him over to the torturers
until he would repay all that was owed him. My
heavenly father will also do the same to you
if each of you does not forgive his brother From
the heart there's a twist in the story This guy's
been forgiven an unpayable debt He would have
been in bankruptcy for the rest of his life,
and he's been set free He goes out There's one
of his co -workers. It says fellow slave a fellow
servant There's one of his co -workers Maybe
he's a guy that he had loaned a hundred denarii
to. And the Bible says that he goes over to him.
He demands repayment when he doesn't pay up,
he chokes him. The guy falls to the ground and
he pleads for mercy and he uses almost the exact
same words that this servant had used with the
king. He owed him a hundred denarii. Let me tell
you about a hundred denarii. I told you about
ten thousand talents like this is unpayable debt
a hundred denarii Was about four months wages
for the average working person in the days of
Jesus You made a denarii day take out the 52
Sabbaths and so that's about four months wages
Last year in America the median income was $58
,000 the median income. Let's round up to 60.
Four months' wages would be a third of that,
$20 ,000. You are forgiven an unimaginable sum
of money, and somebody owes you $20 ,000. Now
look, $20 ,000 is not nothing, right? But it's
manageable. I mean, if you look at the balance
on your car note, some of you owe more than that.
But you got a payment plan. You're paying this
debt off. This debt is manageable. It could be
it could have been repaid but this servant refuses
To extend the same forgiveness that he's received
No one challenge you With a simple statement
When it comes to those of us, especially who
are followers of Jesus who have experienced the
radical grace and mercy of God that has completely
and totally forgiven us our sin. We have embraced
the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross who has paid
our full price. We have received forgiveness.
Forgiven people should be forgiving people. Those
of us who have experienced the grace of God in
forgiveness through Jesus. should be the first
to extend that forgiveness to other people. And
when we don't practice authentic forgiveness,
there's some fallout. First of all, there are
shattered relationships. Four times in this part
of the parable, He refers to fellow slaves. These
are people that work together. These are people
who lived around one another. These were people
who forged friendships. And now because of unforgiveness,
those relationships are shattered. Unforgiveness
does that. Second, we lose the respect of others.
His fellow servants watched him. First of all,
they knew what had happened in the palace. They
knew the king had forgiven him all this debt.
And now they watch him. choking his fellow servant,
and they lose respect for him. They go to the
king. They tell the king what's going on. When
I was in college, I was from a very small town,
but when I was in college, my coach in high school,
a man that I loved and respected, got cross ways
with some folks. It's a small town, so some of
you who are small town people, you kind of get
this. He got cross with some people, some people
got mad. There were some accusations made and
eventually they fired my coach. Well, it's a
small town. He still lives in a small town. And
I came home from college one weekend and I go
into the dairy bar. It's where you got a burger
and a milkshake. I go in, my coach is in there.
I love my coach. I go over and I sit down with
my coach. We're talking. We didn't talk about
anything about the firing. We're just talking.
He's asking how college is all that sort of thing
and a few minutes some people come in and They
were talking and they said hey, have you heard
about mr. Smith? Now mr. Smith I knew was kind
of the ringleader He was kind of the one who
was really pushing for my coach to get fired.
He was instrumental in I said, have you heard
about Mr. Smith? He's been diagnosed with stage
4 cancer. There's no cure for the cancer that
he's got. And my coach said, couldn't have happened
to a nicer guy. I love my coach. I still love
my coach. He's in heaven. But my respect for
him that day wasn't drained. But it took a hit
My respect for him that day went down You see
When you are unforgiving when you let that root
of bitterness spill out It ruins your testimony.
I Mean, why would the people around you in your
office or in your neighborhood or the other parents
on your kids team? Why would they want this grace
that we talk about if that's what it produces?
It ruins our testimony. But third and finally,
when we are unforgiving, we experience the displeasure
of our king. He, in a very dramatic way in the
parable, experiences both the best favor of his
king in one moment, but now he experiences the
displeasure of his king. And just let me say
this to you. Those of you especially who are
followers of Jesus God desires to bless you God
desires to pour out his favor upon you, but there
is absolutely no doubt about this. This is biblically
true Unforgiveness blocks God's best blessings
in your life It always does If you have an unforgiving
spirit God will not pour out his blessings and
favor on you He just won't. And that's why you
need to pursue a decision that leads to a process
where you forgive. You pardon. You set them free.
You let it go. Why? Because forgiven people are
forgiving people. You've been listening to a
message from First Baptist Church, Wichita Falls.
For more information about First Baptist, including
gathering times and locations, click the link
in the show notes or go to FBCWF .org. We'll
see you next week.