Speaker 1: 0:00

There was a type of guy that every two months he would come out and run his gun and that's about the only time he had a chance at getting a gun. And when I say many times I was talking to him, I literally say I'm literally saying this is what he did. He would either wave to him or he would say Hi, john, and with his hat pulled down and his dark sunglasses on, he would maybe look over At the most. He would maybe look over at the most people he wanted to talk to. I'm going to have to remember and I'm thinking to myself while I'm reading this. I'm going to have to remember that security apparatus that we could buy, that was made with a quality and there's a security in your vehicle. Make sure that nobody in the street is able to do that. You can do the clock in the street. You can do the clock in the street. You can have this van parked in front of your yard, you can go, look down the hallway and you can have a clock in the street. You can trust it. And there's a little town of Ball State and you have a club across the street, across the street from the end of the town, after months of living there and we keep meeting up with him. We talk to the other neighbors and look for a job. The other side of the store says, uh, he can go to that job. He said he is a type of guy that he said here's a great, great guy that you know that I am and you know that I am. She said that. Remember that in court I was sterilely out of his house and none of us were sterilely. Strange thing. That makes me so wonder when was the last time you talked to him? Oh, maybe he was in the bathroom. Oh, okay, maybe he was in the dressing room. I don't understand.

Speaker 1: 1:55

After months of waiting there it was probably a year one evening after Eric, something knocked on our door and we thought to ourselves. One evening I had a letter. Someone knocked on my door and I was a little bit out of my mind. I had no idea what I was doing and I opened the door and he said I need to call, I locked myself out of my house and you can over to my apartment and I'm going to use your family to build my basement and I need you to do all that. Do my basement and you're going to go up to my house. That's what I'm doing. I want to build his house. I fear there's a world that's a little bit of a stone of the stairway. His house was pitch black. I know that. I had conversation with this guy. I had a good idea about it. I put the flashlight in front of you. I called the people in the room. I thought they were at his house. By the way, they were at the stairway in his house. I opened the door and everybody saw my house.

Speaker 1: 3:11

A few weeks later he again knocked on my door. I walked over. He said he's going to come here but he's expecting me to be on time. Will we be going to keep an eye on him? And before they get to a point where they say, just bring it over to our house and we'll help you with that, absolutely. And by doing some of those things we start to slowly build a trust we start to Later we use at Bethlehem. And that's where I discovered that John knew his Bible better than I did.

Speaker 1: 3:57

I also discovered that John was a very, very manly person. He would tell me stories. He would tell us words, word for word, word, of what his son was going through, and he would tell me stories of other people that he didn't like, paper that he did not like. He was turned off, kicked off, had a lot of memories because of the financial needs that he thought he got wrong by the years Later. He lived there for maybe a few years and then we were going to the country. John had stopped working at house and kept visiting and every time and I don't think I'm stretching the truth by saying I'll say it almost every time, but most of the time when we were talking to John, we would bring up the same stories that we have in years. Conrad moved in across the city from John. Conrad knows John well and he can't let him down and I want to thank you for this move.

Speaker 1: 5:20

Fast forward the story to 2021. John grew old with me. My dad had a lot of connection with John and those children had a lot of connection with John. There was the most people here in that cross country that had a lot of connection with John, that had a lot of connection with God. All these years John was carrying a backpack filled with rocks that was literally slowing him down, aging him pretty quickly and just as you keep going along, you know that you will just be good for him. In 2020 and 2021, john became a believer. You will just be good for the man you love. In 2028, 2021, john became a man. He got cancer, yet not good for him, yet not good enough to forgive him. Every night, when you talk to John, you will bring up the same thing. You will bring up this guy's guy and this guy right now.

Speaker 1: 6:28

In 2002, john found a toothless. He did, but he didn't have a nail. Absolutely, I don't say one thing, but some of us, we didn't know if one that would come to that point. My dad said that we might have been out of the hospital and I think we might have been in the hospital. I'm not quite sure. After John became a Christian, the first time I walked into his room down here at the nursing home in New Philly, I could not believe how beautiful and just beautiful it was. I would have never maybe my faith was dead I would have never imagined seeing the way it was and see the great things. He does this. He wanted the people that he had all chosen to be with in the world Because he had finally left the world. That was in 22. I think it was in 22. I think we were in. That was in 22. I think we were in 22. And how that happened. I think we were in 22. And we were in 22. And we were in 22. We were in man. Some of you might know this and some of you might not know this After.

Speaker 1: 8:09

This is just a point of interest, and maybe you know what that means Freeing a man from bitterness, freeing a man from that extent of the bitterness of him and him extending the bitterness of the people he loved and loved again. Forgiveness also creates generosity. After his will was opened, they discovered that he wanted his money to go to a three-fifth purchase and respond to all the customers. This makes him the most able to do my magic in the classroom, because John is generous and his kids grow up in this active environment. This is because of God and the idea of creating for his house the freedom of forgiveness.

Speaker 1: 9:09

Forgiveness is one of the more difficult things that Jesus has given us, and yet it is one of the simple reasons that we have to do it. This morning I'd like to talk and preach through the parable of the servant that was forgiven his debt and yet refused to give it back to his brother. Matthew 18, peter comes to Jesus with a question that probably all of us have at some point in time wrestled with how many times do I need to forgive? How many times do I need to forgive that certain person that doesn't care about me? How many times do I need to forgive that people that don't love me? How many times do I need to forgive me? Jesus answered for what does this sin matter, whether it be heart of stone, a prayer of life-giving service? This morning, I would like the sermon to be a divine call to us, and I'm not sure we're going to be using it, but I would like for it to be a reminder for all of us that forgiveness is not optional. Forgiveness is not simply a suggestion. If we're a believer and we've experienced God's forgiveness, it is actually a requirement for everyone who has experienced God's forgiveness.

Speaker 1: 10:50

Turn in your Bibles. The text this morning is Matthew 18.1-35, but I'd like to begin reading in verse 15 to get the setting. Now, even before I get the setting, I read the setting of this passage. I'd like to draw attention to the scripture leading up to this passage. In verse 15, jesus says so. The question that came to me is who is he talking about who is this brother? And then, down in verse 18, peter says how often will my brother sin against me? So he's talking about I don't know if you're going to be confused, but rather that Peter's a writer. Who is that brother? Well, it's a fact that this is a little bit of speculation, just coming from what we've been talking about in this discussion.

Speaker 1: 11:52

If you go back, if you check the fight, you see that Transfiguration happened and we know that we just involved in that reality, going all the way to the end of Transfiguration, from the gospel of the transfiguration. And after they come back from the transfiguration, after they come off the mountain, they come to the scene of the boy that had to be, and the people there were saying Jesus, we need your help, the disciples can't do this job. And then after that, you come to the scene where the disciples are asking Jesus, look at Jesus, Actually, who is the greatest? And he said. And then Jesus wants him to become like a child. He can become like a child. And then he also wanted that whoever caused sin against the name of his children could throw that on the middle of someone's neck, and he thought it would make him epic. And we know, some of the time about his neck, and we don't think there's any ground. And then we get to the point about sin which leads up to the parable of all sheep and seeds. The warning of sin and the parable of all sheep are kind of a continuation from the discussion of children who is the greatest? But then all of the discussion of the warning, all of the discussion about the one who did sin and the lost sheep. Then Jesus wants to interview.

Speaker 1: 13:13

If the brother sinned against you, and that's where I want to start this morning Matthew 18, verse 15. If your brother sins against you, don't tell him. His fault, you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen to the church, let him be to you in your life and in your past life. Truly, I say to you, whoever you find on earth shall be found in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And can I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them. I call in heaven For where two or three are gathered. My name is there and mine upon the earth. This is where we come to the text of this morning, verse 4. Then Peter came up and said to him Lord, how often will my brothers sin against me? And I will give them. Take a time out right here.

Speaker 1: 14:25

In the context leading up to this, I'd like to believe that the brother and sister could be one of the other disciples, based on their discussion of who is the greatest. I don't know, but I'd like to think that it could also have been somebody that he was associated with. It could have been a family member, but it could have been one of their disciples. And I'm totally sure, just assuming as many as seven times, then Jesus I don't think we can go to the exact number of 77 or something like that. It's probably 77 or something like that, but's kind of 77. But Jesus is making it happen. I do not say do seven times, but 77 times, in other words, as often as he needs to do this, you do the right thing.

Speaker 1: 15:23

Then Jesus launches into this prayer, this powerful story. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is prepared for a king who wishes to sell a house for his servants. When he began to sell, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents and since he did not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and even human. So the servant fell on his knees and warned him have patience with me and I will pay for everything. And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and made him to die. And when that same servant would have, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred zinari, and seizing him, he began would ask him I want his fellow servants who owe him a hundred senarii. And seizing him, he began to choke him, saying pay what you owe. So the fellow servant thought that he pleaded with him have patience with me, I will pay you. He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

Speaker 1: 16:21

When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him you, wicked servant, I gave you all the debt because you did it with me and should not. You have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I have had mercy on you. And in anger, as Master delivereth you to the jail of the spoil of the poor man's house until you should pay all his debt, so also I, the only Father, will forgive every one of you.

Speaker 1: 16:58

If you do not forgive your brother, who is to blame for your sin? Let's look at the prayer and then I'm going to get the prayer. In the moment you hold me by the hand, peter had this question that, as I mentioned before, most of us. I'm going to get it and I'll add one other. So Jesus answered was not simply most of us, I did at my mother's struggle. Jesus' answer was not simply enough, but it's part of the story of every time this person comes, you are required to give. Give to one, jesus.

Speaker 1: 17:44

Let's look at the characters. So who is the king? King forever has had his guy, full of mercy and willing to give our to His death. The first servant represents us Sinners who are forgiven by God despite how much we owe. The second servant would represent the people that we associate with and the person that might have quote, a smaller debt than our people combined. The fellow servants could be the worker, could be our family. Anyone who witnesses how we act after we experience of Jesus Could be another one. Anyone who is observing me as a Christian.

Speaker 1: 18:52

I spoke of the death that this guy had. Let's look at the depth that this guy had. When somebody tells me what is representative of one pound In this setting, one pound was 20 years of work, 20 years of wage. Now do the math. He said this guy had a wealth of 50,000 talents. Now, this is a story. And Jesus made sure that he had his money because he used some of his talents to make sure he got his money. So this guy came with a debt of 2,000 years in the interest that in the days, my habits on this earth, and a 20,000 or 10,000 pounds and the weight of the whole thing. They were 2 million dollars, and the weight of the whole thing day would be 2 million dollars and the weight of silver in the day would be 200 million dollars. So good enough for this guy. And then he gave it to you. It was actually very interesting that he said please, please, have mercy on me, I will pay it all back. Personally, I will pay it all back. I don't know what's going on. It's just interesting that he was pleading for help.

Speaker 1: 20:25

The servant was also a investor in that concern. I would pray for him to say you're king or they, you're bad. The king had plans up, I'm not sure, with selling him, or that you know that he's selling him into slavery. I'm not sure what all that means. But he says he ordered him and he sold him his wife and children and all that kind of thing. I think that's what he said. And then he kind, lighten it up. I'm going to use that guy I described earlier. I'm going to go to the table and say I saw a guy and I'm going to be out for a while. And I'm going to be out for a while Because it's kind of weird. I don't know what to say. And the team, it seems to me, is saying well, there's not going to be a good from a self-explanatory perspective, a good security net and a lot of the way to the other side of the world. But the other guy behind me is a certain group of people and we've got a lot of people that are really good at that.

Speaker 1: 21:43

If you're believing, this morning you've been blessed. If you're believing this morning, it very well is that you're on your knees at one time, crying on the spot, and it's ridiculous for you to have that kind of thought. But his forgiveness was dead and I was dead, fortunately for me, he said. I have a new son. He died. Watch this too with me and hope in you who, in any of your trespasses, have the one service of the flesh.

Speaker 1: 22:17

God made a line to the devil with him and had forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of our death. It stood against us in his little rebalance. Then he set aside and handed it to us Ephesians 1, 7. In him we have redemption through his blood for the forgiveness of our trespasses and for the forgiveness of his grace and going to the riches of His grace Psalm 103, 10-12. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the Elepharim are here, so great is His steadfast love for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far is we move, our transgressions will pass as a world.

Speaker 1: 23:08

Today, the circle of Adam and Eve is set. Is that not something I know? We know, in reading this parable we would say there is no way that we would be able to do that, and there isn't Ghosts of Spawn. This is going to happen to us. We can work, we can do good deeds, we can do all the good that we can think of, we can be the best person, the most upright person that we can be, but if we do not accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, if we do not proclaim Jesus as our Son of God, if we do not accept His forgiveness as a gift, we are in the same position as our officer untageless. Without faith, intent and faith, we're in this moment. The search could have worked the rest of the time, but we know it only to the rest of the world in the way of the Lord If we don't close us and follow our needs and beg the cosmos to do the same for us. Ephesians 2, verse 89,. For by grace have we been saved with faith, and this is not of our own doing. It is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that the more money you make, the better, it seems in our culture, in the United and Chinese culture, it seems that there's a lot of people who ask for work for something and it's not.

Speaker 1: 24:51

I recently read something saying I was trying to think who said it and actually it was somebody who said it, but the point was God made us human beings, not human beings. I was. I was too off. I wanted to be a human being. It's a lot easier for me to do something, to learn something, than it is at times to just be still and abide in the line and accept God's grace.

Speaker 1: 25:26

This morning, it is an hour of grace. It is an hour of grace and, by the way, the king did not have to do what he did. He chose to do what he did. God was not required to send Jesus on the sacrifice of us. He chose to do what he did. Let that sink in a little bit. I'm going to take a break out of this. So my first point was forgiveness granted. My second point is failure to forgive.

Speaker 1: 26:16

Now we come to what the servant did to the second servant. That was him who died, but when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 800 denarii. This is where this gets really interesting. Does somebody know what one denarius is? It's a singular. What is the word for one denarius. It's a single day. What is the word for one denarii? It's a single day's wage. It's a single day's wage. And it says that this servant, or the first servant, 100 denarii, which is 100 days wage. This guy was just together and he had no idea what he was going to be until he said I'll be a painter. And he went out and took the task of the guy that had the little gun and that guy knew him. That guy was actually a great painter. His fellow circle guy get a similar kind of question. So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him and I will be paid.

Speaker 1: 27:46

But instead of showing mercy as he entered the show of mercy, he beat down the person. Mercy. Repeat that in prayer. God, I thank you. Watch this fevered game. There are one hundred enemies and if one has a complaint against another, forgive each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive Matthew 6, 14 and 15. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Folks, that's struggling. That does not leave any unhappiness for us as believers, unless we're okay with not forgiving one another.

Speaker 1: 28:41

God forgives Ephesians 4.32,. Be kind one another. And there are forgiving one another, as God and Christ forgave each other. So what is forgiveness? What is forgiveness? First of all, forgiveness cancels the death. Forgiveness means I will not bring out the events and lose it against you after we settle it and after we forgive it. Forgiveness means I will not gossip about the Republicans about it.

Speaker 1: 29:17

Forgiveness barely being forgiven is an action. If we don't forgive, we make a choice, just as God chose to forgive us. If we don't forgive us, we are making a choice to do that and we forgive those who are victimized. Thank you for your time. And we forgive those who are victimized. Thank you for your time. We're glad you're here. We're grateful for your time. Okay, come on. Would you all like to have forgiveness? Wouldn't it be nice if forgiveness would be one of them here?

Speaker 1: 30:04

I'm not somebody to go back and do that, but I saw my past. I feel like I'm going to go back. I had to do that for me. I could go back and live up to the bones, the bones of the trash that I had in the past, and I know there have been times in my life where I have to go back and I have to do it again and I have to do it again give, and I have to be able to handle it. It's a very kind of thing. I guess I'm a steward and I think I can probably speak for most of us at this point that we all have a role, for goodness is the process.

Speaker 1: 30:47

As a very important person, jeremiah 31, I'd like to read from the life of them to the greatest of those who are there, for I will forgive them what they did and have them repent and their sin will be forgiven. My question this morning, as always, is in our biblical state, we often hear the term forgive together. This morning, I will be able to say that is not totally true. Can you actually forgive and forget? The Hebrew meaning of the word remember, as used here in Jeremiah, doesn't actually mean forget and actually remember no more. I don't think it's possible. I believe God can actually do that To pull it off of his own name and not remember it.

Speaker 1: 32:02

The deeper word is and I'll probably put it in this book is that hard? It doesn't mean to mentally remember something, like we often think it does. It has a much deeper sense. It means to bring something to mind in a way that leads to action. It means to keep something actively present, to act upon it or to pay attention to it. Attention to it.

Speaker 1: 32:37

The dream needs to to get in a sense that when I see if I have something against the guy, that's something I can take, and if I have a different Joe, that means if I am walking down the streets of Syracuse and I see Joe coming up the street, that I don't all of a sudden cross the street so I can only look over at Joe. It also it doesn't mean that when Joe and I meet that we can't stand to talk about what we do. It does mean that when I meet Joe that I don't the first thing I say to him hey, remember what we talked about. How do you feel about that? That's all I mean. Will I remember that name? If I steal? I absolutely will.

Speaker 1: 33:42

But if I forgive a guilt, I will not again use that offense as an initiative to correct my guilt. Will I struggle with thoughts, impure thoughts, ugly thoughts? Probably because forgiveness is a process. So when God says I will remember this anymore, it doesn't mean that God gets in the human sense. It means he chooses not to act upon it. He chooses not to choose separation from us as we need for eternity. He chooses or hurtful forces no more. It's a beautiful act of forgiveness, not a constant forfeit.

Speaker 1: 34:34

This morning I don't know if there's people on your mind that's specifically talking to you. If there ever, I hope there's going to be a lot of people. If there's people coming up in your mind in a negative way, you might have some hope. In a negative way, you might have some hope. And asking God to extend the forgiveness that he gave you or him to that person Is forgiveness the same? Asking for forgiveness is the same as asking for forgiveness. The same as asking for forgiveness. Is asking for forgiveness the same as asking for a model? And one of the reasons I address that question is I know how I can respond if people apologize to me about something and this is not what you're doing, just a little bit. The girl who walked in and said you saw me, I felt my effect because somebody had an eye on me. Probably my first response would be yes, I'm here, that's okay, and then we might be good, but I might also also awful or anything, and we do it again.

Speaker 1: 35:58

It is apologizing, asking for forgiveness differently and asking for giving in a higher way. An apology says and this is now more of a radical part of the sermon an apology says I'm sorry for what I did. It's mainly about expressing regret. Asking for forgiveness says will you forgive me? It's about admitting wrong and inviting the other person to release their past. An apology focuses on my own feelings. I feel that all the time, asking for forgiveness focuses on restoring the relationship that I want to make with the person who cleaned us. Why am I saying these things about apology and forgiveness?

Speaker 1: 36:52

Forgiveness is a serious thing and I think sometimes we take the thing of well, I apologize, we take that as it's not going on. Because I apologized, I assume that that doesn't forgive me. So we're good. Let's make sure that we're going to take our legacy seriously. When we fail to forgive, we lose sight of our own ability to forgive. The ability to forgive folks is a direct insight into how, in my life or in your life, forgiveness is powerful. Forgiveness is effective. It's an effective way to express the love of Christ.

Speaker 1: 37:40

We're already at this point on the forgiveness of you. If you have on a scale of 10, you're living in freedom as far as forgiveness. Now we have one. You're carrying that backpack of water in your back because of not having forgiven. What are your hands worth? Are you a five? Are you an eight? Hopefully you're a ten, or are you a two? Where are you on forgiveness in this moment? So we had forgiveness received and we had failure to forgive.

Speaker 1: 38:20

And the last point in his prayer at this point is the final judgment. The final judgment. 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 have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I have mercy on you. And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers, which in this context could also mean the pulp of his hands until ancient Baal is dead. So also, my heavenly Father, I will be kind to all of you if you do not forgive your brother from your part.

Speaker 1: 39:03

As Christians this morning we are commanded to extend mercy to others, as God extended mercy to us. If we fail to extend mercy to others, as God is extending mercy to us, if we fail to extend mercy to others for a very minute thing that we've got to cross, we are actually making a denial If that has not been valuable enough for us in order for us to pass on to the next person. So you have to search for it. If we refuse to project from the heart, we certainly have to turn away from the spirit in order to receive God's commitment to us. And if we have not received His commitment, we can settle ourselves up for an eternity of heart and mind, and that's serious.

Speaker 1: 40:01

In conclusion, this morning, I'd like to just read a summary that I have in my mind Because God has forgiven us an impossible death through His mercy, we are called to forgive others with the same grace. God has forgiven us an impossible death through his mercy. We are called to forgive others with the same grace. True forgiveness is not awful. It flows from a heart that understands the depths of God's forgiveness. If we withhold forgiveness, we reveal that we have not fully embraced the mercy that ourselves have received. Isn't that it? If you're really here, then you've seen it done. You have experienced a grace and mercy that is greater, far greater than the person that was served in this passage. If you are sitting here and you are not extending that mercy to your fellow brothers, then it's time to be ready for that and make sure that we extend that mercy to all our friends and family and students this morning.

Speaker 1: 41:10

I'd like to end on a positive note. We've all received that grace and we have a God that is full of grace and mercy and can't be intended to face his heart and be with him. As we leave here, let's not forget the ones that we're observing the first servant. We have many people watching in our lives. We have many people that know that we profess to be the people that have experienced God's grace. What are they seeing when they see this? Are they seeing that same extension of mercy when they come to God?

Speaker 1: 41:50

I trust that here at Grace Point Group, we stand in your presence. If you're not, it's good to be here. It's good to have mercy, so that we can overthrow that mercy that's coming at us. That is the truth of God's word. As God shows us, we might show mercy on the world. I'm glad to be here. I thought about this much. Thank you for this example and this battle, and I pray that you could help us to get through this battle, what you did for us, and, in all of this, go out to others and help them stand against the devil. Lord, thank you for speaking to us in this world, thank you.