Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Almighty God, you welcome you. Hey there. If you're new to Restored Church, we want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in. You're listening to a portion of our Sunday worship gathering. We believe the church is not an event, but a family you belong to, so we would love the opportunity to connect with you. If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please Visit our website, www.restoredtemecula.church and click on Contact. With all that said, we, we hope you enjoy the message.
[00:00:35] Hey listen, this morning's message is an important one.
[00:00:39] There's some sensitive topics in this morning's message. For the sake of time, I'm not going to do some, like, flashy story that like, brings you in and then introduces the topic to you this morning. I'm just gonna jump in, so grab your bibles. Matthew, chapter 18. We're gonna be at verse. We're gonna start in verse 21.
[00:00:59] If you're new with us, we are journeying through Matthew. We have been for quite some time.
[00:01:06] We've titled this series Going through Matthew's Gospel. We've entitled it the King and His Kingdom.
[00:01:11] And we're going through Matthew through the lenses of like. We want to learn as much as we can about the King of the universe, Jesus, the King of all kings, Jesus Christ, and what his kingdom is like, what his rule and reign is like.
[00:01:25] In other words, what does it look like when God gets His way in all things? What does it look like when God gets His way in your thought life?
[00:01:31] What does it look like when God gets His way with your body? What does it look like when God gets His way in your marriage and in your parenting or in your household or in your relationships, in your friendships or your wallet or whatever. Like, we want to be people who are consistently seeking and living for the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. All right, so Matthew chapter 18, starting in verse 21, what I want to do is I want to pray for us. I want to give you some context. Then we're going to jump in. Okay? I'm going to invite you to pray with me right now.
[00:02:09] Holy Spirit, I want to ask for your help personally. Right now. I just feel like my pace is not in step with your pace.
[00:02:17] So would you help me?
[00:02:21] I don't want to be out ahead and I don't want to fall behind. I want to walk in step with you, especially in the pulpit. So God, would you please help me?
[00:02:33] And Father, I pray for these incredible precious people, your people in this room, I want to serve them well.
[00:02:42] And so would you show all of us more and more of the beauty and glory of Jesus?
[00:02:50] I do not want to get in the way of your will, your desires, with your people. And so would you help me.
[00:02:58] And, Lord, I do pray for those.
[00:03:00] I just feel, even right now, Lord, a sensitivity to those that have maybe some painful parts in their life that I think you want to draw some attention to.
[00:03:13] Not to harm us, but to help us.
[00:03:15] You are the great helper, Holy Spirit, so I ask you to help. This morning.
[00:03:20] I pray for freedom.
[00:03:22] I pray for deliverance. I pray for joy and maybe even some renewed hope this morning as we go through your word. Jesus, we love you. We thank you. It's in your name that we pray. Amen.
[00:03:32] Okay, so I want to give you some context of where we are, where we're picking up here in verse 21.
[00:03:39] If you've been journeying with us, the last kind of. I don't know, the last two or three weeks has kind of been like all one sermon, really, that's kind of broken up because of time. And so what I want to do is I want you to see what's happening here before we read in verse 21, what's happening is Jesus is having a teaching moment with his disciples, with his followers, okay? And what he does in this specific teaching moment that we had to break up to multiple sermons, is he starts by addressing sin.
[00:04:04] And he says some gnarly things. He goes, if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, what does he say to do? Do you remember? Cut it off. That's gnarly, okay? He says, if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. And he's clearly. He's exaggerating. He's not actually telling you to take your eye out. He's not actually telling you to cut your hand off, right? He's exaggerating to make the point that sin should be avoided at all costs. Because it's dangerous for you, for me, and it's dangerous for the people around us. It's not good for us, right? And then he tells a parable about a lost sheep. So it's all in the context of him wanting us to understand that kind of sin should be avoided at all costs. And then he goes into this parable of the lost sheep. And if you remember, he describes a flock of 100 sheep, and he describes one of those sheep that goes astray.
[00:04:50] And he tells his disciples, he goes, your Father in heaven, your heavenly Father is like one who leaves the 99 in the flock to go after that one sheep who in their sight have gone astray.
[00:05:05] You remember this now, this whole teaching, it's all based around this idea. It's all about God's desire for reconciliation. Can you guys say that word? Reconciliation? Reconciliation. It's coming back together. It's a restoration, right? A reconciliation of relationship. Right. He wants people to be reconciled both with the flock and with the shepherd of that flock.
[00:05:29] In other words, God's church and the chief shepherd, Jesus. That's God's desire.
[00:05:37] It's all about his desire for reconciliation. And he begins this teaching on reconciliation, right? And he says that reconciliation requires two ingredients.
[00:05:49] Okay. Do you remember what the first one is? It's the whole point of the church discipline conversation we had last week, this idea of repentance. He says, if you want reconciliation between God and man, and man and man, the church, if you want reconciliation, the first ingredient is repentance. Right? Remember last week, some review, he explains. He gives God's four step process for going after the sheep who strays.
[00:06:19] The whole process is a call to repentance, to turn away from straying from God and his ways, the king and his kingdom, and come back to the flock and back to the shepherd. Right? The first step in that reconciliation process is repentance. And he gives the four steps. He goes, step one, if you remember this, he says, go to the other person. Go to that straying sheep. Go. When you see sin in their life, whether it's done to you or just in general, he says, go to them and only them, and humbly let them know, do you guys remember this? Nod at me if you remember this from last week. Great. And he goes, step two, if they don't repent after you go to them and only them, and humbly let them know. And he goes, take one or two other Christians with you and do it again.
[00:07:03] And he goes, if they still don't repent, step three, he goes, inform the church.
[00:07:08] And he goes, at that point, they still don't repent. He goes, treat the person like an outsider. Okay, sounds intense. You can go listen to last week's message. There's so much grace in it. There's so much goodness. There's so much like God's. Incredible. You can go back and listen to that if you missed it.
[00:07:22] But Jesus is teaching them that reconciliation first requires repentance. That's the first ingredient, right? Today's passage in today's message, it deals with that second ingredient.
[00:07:34] If you want reconciliation between God and man, and man. And man. You need two ingredients. Repentance, and today, forgiveness.
[00:07:43] Okay, let's start together here in verse 21.
[00:07:50] So after, in the middle of this teaching, Peter's going to respond here.
[00:07:55] It says this in verse 21. Then Peter approached him, Jesus, and asked, lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times. Now, really quickly, it's important to note, Jewish rabbis at the time, they would teach that a person ought to forgive three times.
[00:08:18] So think about this. That seemed like.
[00:08:20] Like a generous thing. So Jewish rabbis would teach people, you forgive three times. Okay, so Peter, what he's doing here, it's actually pretty, like on the surface, kind of seems kind of noble, you know, like, if they're taught forgive three times, he doubles it and adds one.
[00:08:36] Whoa. Okay, so he thinks he's going above and beyond here. Verse 22, Jesus is going to respond.
[00:08:41] This is Jesus. Now, I tell you, not as many as seven, Jesus replied, but 70 times seven.
[00:08:50] For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
[00:08:59] When he began to settle accounts, one who owed 10,000 talents was brought before him. Okay, pause. 10,000 talents? What is that? It's not talking about skills, okay? Maybe you have a talent to, like, shoot a basketball or throw a baseball or whatever. That's not what he's getting out here. Talent was a form of measurement. Think, like weight, okay? And it was about £75, give or take. And typically it was made up. When they referred to talents, they're referring to 75 or so pounds of either gold or silver. So this is money, okay? This is financial resource here. Now, to put this into perspective, this 10,000 talent thing, maybe you've heard this before, but if you haven't, I want you to understand how radical this is.
[00:09:43] The total revenue of the entire province of Galilee, which where Jesus ministry took place, most of it.
[00:09:49] The total revenue of the entire province of Galilee, which was a pretty wealthy province, was 300 talents.
[00:09:58] The whole region.
[00:10:00] All of the money, if you will, in the whole region. Okay?
[00:10:04] Now, for the average working man at the time, 10,000 talents would have taken over. Get this, 160,000 years to earn.
[00:10:17] It would have taken over 3,000 lifetimes for a average person to earn 10,000 talents.
[00:10:26] So needless to say, this is a lot of money, okay? I kind of spent too much time seeing what the biblical scholars were saying about, like, some were saying, you know, hundreds of billions, some were saying as much as a trillion. Like, whatever this is a truckload. This is so much money. Okay? This guy is in debt 10,000 talents. Okay, here's what you need to know. This is a hopeless amount of debt.
[00:10:52] Okay, let's keep reading. Verse 25.
[00:10:56] Shocker. Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded. So the king commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.
[00:11:10] At this, the servant fell face down before him and said, be patient with me.
[00:11:17] I will pay you everything.
[00:11:21] Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan.
[00:11:33] Let that sink in for a second.
[00:11:36] This king just forgives an unfathomable amount of debt of this servant.
[00:11:44] Verse 28.
[00:11:46] That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii.
[00:11:52] He grabbed him, started choking him, and said to him, pay what you owe. Okay, pause for a second. Again. You gotta know what's happening here. A denarius is one day's wage. Back. Then again, this is all money. Okay? A denarius, one day's wage, 100 denarii, plural for denarius, is 100 days wages.
[00:12:12] Right? So get the perspective here. You have 10,000 talents of debt. That's over 3,000 lifetimes of earnings, right? Versus 100 days wages. Do the math.
[00:12:30] Keep reading.
[00:12:31] Verse 29.
[00:12:33] At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, be patient with me and I will pay you back. Sound familiar?
[00:12:43] Verse 30.
[00:12:45] But he wasn't willing.
[00:12:47] If you have a pen with you in your Bible underline, he wasn't willing.
[00:12:55] Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed.
[00:13:01] When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn't you also have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you?
[00:13:27] And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed.
[00:13:36] Listen to these terrifying next words.
[00:13:40] So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.
[00:13:51] Remember how I said this morning was going to be a little heavy?
[00:13:57] Forgiveness.
[00:14:00] Reconciliation requires two ingredients. Repentance. And say it to me. Forgiveness. What is forgiveness?
[00:14:11] You hear a hundred different definitions about what forgiveness is.
[00:14:14] I think we should look at. See what the Bible says. Look back at verse 25.
[00:14:18] What is forgiveness?
[00:14:20] It's here.
[00:14:21] It's in this parable. Verse 25. Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to what?
[00:14:32] Pay the debt.
[00:14:35] Verse 26. At this, the servant fell face down before him and said, be patient with me and I will pay you everything.
[00:14:41] Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan. Okay, the Greek word there for loan literally. Literally means debt.
[00:14:51] So if you're taking notes this morning, my first point for you is to forgive is to pay the debt yourself.
[00:14:58] To forgive is to pay the debt that is owed to you yourself. It means you're the one paying the debt.
[00:15:08] If you know me, you know I'm a geek. For Tim Keller, I think he is just such a gift. I think he's a historic gift to the church. He. He passed away a couple years ago. But if you don't know who Tim Keller is.
[00:15:19] Wildly gifted and faithful pastor in New York City for decades.
[00:15:24] Brilliant mind, just incredibly helpful to me throughout the years.
[00:15:28] And when it's come to this concept of forgiveness, man, oh, man, he's been so helpful in learning about biblical forgiveness. I wanna give you guys a quote. Were you guys able to get that first Keller quote? Yes. Well done.
[00:15:40] I'm gonna read this to you. Like, listen to this. Okay?
[00:15:44] Keller says this quote, forgiveness is paying the debt rather than making the perpetrator pay it.
[00:15:52] When someone really wrongs you, there's always a loss.
[00:15:56] You've lost reputation, you've lost some opportunity you didn't have and you will never have again.
[00:16:03] There's a real debt.
[00:16:05] It's not a monetary debt, but there's a debt. You feel it, and you feel the person owes you.
[00:16:12] You feel the person is liable to you.
[00:16:15] But what are you going to do? This is what he says. He goes, there's two things you can do, only two things. One is you can make them pay.
[00:16:24] You can try to hurt them.
[00:16:25] You can gossip about them. You can slander, always under the guise of, you know, let me warn you about this person. You can slice up their reputation, or when you see them, you can be cold. Or maybe you just withdraw your friendship, or you can just berate them, or you really tell them off, or you try to make them feel horrible, or at the very least in your heart, you root for them to have a bad life. Anybody in the room guilty of that ever? Just me, okay? I'm the only person. I'm wicked. I Need Jesus. And he goes, this is what he says. What's the alternative?
[00:16:57] You pay.
[00:16:59] When you want to slice them up, you just refuse.
[00:17:03] You identify with the perpetrator and you refuse.
[00:17:09] When you want to berate them and just tell them off and make them feel bad, you refuse.
[00:17:15] Listen to this. Most of all, when you feel like rooting against them in your heart, when you feel like just replaying the tapes, he's like, the idea of over and over in your mind or just boiling in your heart against them, you refuse.
[00:17:31] Unquote.
[00:17:33] What is forgiveness? Biblically?
[00:17:36] Forgiveness is to pay the debt yourself instead of making the other person pay.
[00:17:45] How many married couples in the room raise your hand?
[00:17:48] Several.
[00:17:52] I know that you would never argue or fight with your spouse, but I'm going to share a story about how my marriage is imperfect.
[00:18:00] Yesterday, I won't get into specifics. I didn't exactly communicate well, and as you can imagine, that had an effect on my Ebony.
[00:18:19] She was irritated by it, rightfully so. Frustrated by it, rightfully so.
[00:18:24] And in response to her irritation, frustration with my poor communication, I was then frustrated because she was frustrated with me.
[00:18:35] So I don't know if this has ever happened to you in any of your relationships, but so she expresses, hey, your communication wasn't great. It's kind of. It's frustrating. It's irritating. And because she was frustrated with me, now I start to get frustrated with her. Because hear me in my mind and. And in my heart, in the moment, I'm going. But she owes me patience.
[00:18:54] Like, it's been a crazy week. You're laughing. I see you. Yes. I'm not alone.
[00:18:59] Some of you are looking at me like, this guy's disqualified from being a pastor. Like, listen, I need Jesus, but hear me. Like, in that moment, I'm just confessing to you what was going on in my inner man. You can judge me if you want, but this is real, okay? In my mind and in my heart, I'm going to. But wait a second. It's been crazy for me the last week. You owe me patience.
[00:19:22] You owe me some understanding here. Next thing you know, I'm the one holding this grudge in my heart.
[00:19:31] The reason I'm sharing that with you is because I want to. If nothing else, I want to share with you what helps me identify. If there is unforgiveness in my heart whenever the thought crosses my mind.
[00:19:47] But she owes me, or he owes me, or they owe me even something good, like respect or kindness. She wasn't necessarily being unkind. She Wasn't being disrespectful. She was frustrated, rightfully so. But her frustration caused me to go, well, now I'm frustrated with you because you owe me patience or kindness or whatever, right?
[00:20:08] And think about that language. And what's interesting is, for me, if you're anything like me, those dots don't get connected in my mind quickly.
[00:20:16] I need to kind of sit with it and examine what's the condition of my heart, what's really going on here? But that language of but like you should be giving me something you're not giving me. That's owing, right? That language, that owing language, what is that? That presumes there's debt.
[00:20:32] Are you seeing this?
[00:20:36] Here's the thing.
[00:20:38] Sometimes what we believe is owed to us might very well be something appropriate. Like I said, kindness or respect or understanding or care.
[00:20:55] I really want to be sensitive with this one, guys, because I know many of your stories, and I know.
[00:21:12] I know there's been terrible things that have happened to many of you.
[00:21:17] They're not justifiable.
[00:21:21] They're significant, and they're painful.
[00:21:29] And I don't want to downplay any of that.
[00:21:33] My goal here is I just. I want you to see that when someone wrongs you, if you're in this room and you have a heartbeat, someone has wronged you before.
[00:21:46] Like, if you're over the age of, like, I don't know, three, some of those wrongs are, like, really significant.
[00:21:56] In pain that you carry with you, wounds that you'll carry with you most of your life.
[00:22:02] And so I want to be sensitive, but I want you to see that when someone wrongs you, there's always debt involved. And there are two options.
[00:22:11] You pay or you make them pay.
[00:22:17] To forgive is to pay the debt yourself instead of making the other person pay.
[00:22:22] Okay, now, it's critical that we understand something here. Again, like we said, reconciliation requires two ingredients, not just one.
[00:22:32] Reconciliation requires two ingredients, not just one. I want you to keep in contact. Like, one of the worst things that we can do when we read our Bibles is just chop it up.
[00:22:41] Okay, we're just gonna do this. And this is all. No, no. This is in the context of all of Jesus teaching here in Matthew 18. It's all. If you look at your Bible, pro has red letters. It's just a continuous thing. And then Peter asks the question. It's a continuous teaching that Jesus is doing here. And it's in the context of him talking about reconciliation, teaching about reconciliation. And he's saying that there's Two ingredients for reconciliation, forgiveness and repentance. Now listen, that can be really, really hard because hear me. Like, what if you forgive but the other person doesn't repent?
[00:23:11] Or what if the other person repents but you're like, I'm not gonna forgive.
[00:23:16] Like, think about this.
[00:23:21] My children, I've asked them what their favorite food is now, hoping they will change their answer for probably 10 years.
[00:23:30] I can't blame them because their answer's a good one.
[00:23:34] It just.
[00:23:35] It's not the healthiest dish. Okay, any guesses as to what my children's favorite food is?
[00:23:45] Mac and cheese.
[00:23:46] Remy Lachlan for the win.
[00:23:50] Mac and cheese, man. That's their favorite food. And listen, I get it. Mac and cheese is delicious, especially if it's good. Okay? Now, did you know, do you know what the ingredients, the non negotiable ingredients, you can make like, the fancy Mac and cheese that has like, you know, 20 different ingredients. I'm not talking about that. Mac and cheese is called Mac and cheese for a reason because there are two primary ingredients, two required ingredients. What are they? Macaroni and cheese.
[00:24:15] Macaroni and cheese. Really creative name for a dish, don't you think?
[00:24:19] But listen, if you don't have one of those ingredients, you don't have macaroni and cheese. I know this is a silly analogy, but I think we need to know this. When it comes to reconciliation amongst God's people, it requires two ingredients, okay? Macaroni and cheese requires both of those ingredients or it's not Mac and cheese. Likewise, reconciliation requires both ingredients, both repentance and forgiveness. If one of those is lacking, the relationship is still broken.
[00:24:50] Between who?
[00:24:54] Between God and man and between brothers and sisters.
[00:24:59] Now, the reason I'm pausing here, I just want to spend some time with this is because it's really important to address because it can be really tempted to compromise that.
[00:25:07] It can be really tempting to compromise that, especially when you have forgiven someone that you really love. You've forgiven them, but they haven't repented.
[00:25:17] The classic and tragic story is, and I want to be sensitive here, the classic and tragic story is the woman experiencing abuse at the hands of a man and that woman going back.
[00:25:42] Listen, I'd love to tell you that I've never dealt with that pastorally, and that would be a lie.
[00:25:53] And depending on what studies you read. I tried to read some this week and there was several of them that just kind of talked about, like, what was this kind of interesting. I don't want to say it's a Phenomenon, but like this interesting reality that the data shows that. And it depends on what study you read, but roughly, they're all kind of in the same ballpark of the statistics.
[00:26:12] Roughly half of abused women return to their abusers and experience continued abuse.
[00:26:25] And so oftentimes they mean really well.
[00:26:32] And so oftentimes, like, I've forgiven him.
[00:26:36] And I just want to say, that's beautiful. That's incredible.
[00:26:40] But that's only one ingredient.
[00:26:43] I've forgiven him. The problem is reconciliation requires two ingredients, not just one.
[00:26:51] And listen, like, I'm not trying to throw stones. It's messy. Like, hurt people. Hurt people. It can be a thing.
[00:26:57] He might feel remorse, right? But if he has not repented, the abuse is going to continue.
[00:27:04] And we see that. We've seen it in society for. For generations.
[00:27:10] It might be tempting to shortcut reconciliation without repentance, but it's incredibly unwise, okay? Because when that happens, it can enable ungodly and destructive behavior, and it can interfere with God disciplining a sheep that's gone astray. You with me in this.
[00:27:28] This has practical implications for our relationships, guys, right? A victim can forgive their abuser, but they cannot control the abuser's repentance. And reconciliation requires two ingredients. And without those two ingredients, you don't actually have reconciliation. So if you try to, like, pretend in shortcut reconciliation, you're just perpetuating the madness. You see this?
[00:27:49] Thank you.
[00:27:51] Still here, Rebecca?
[00:27:53] I need some amens. You guys are quiet. Thank you. Or if you disagree, let's talk about it afterwards.
[00:27:59] Please don't be statues. Love you.
[00:28:04] So I just want to be clear, because we're talking about reconciliation. We're talking about repentance, we're talking about forgiveness. This is important, okay? This is like every day of your life, you're going to practice forgiveness. If you're a follower of Jesus, does God call you to repeatedly subject yourself to abuse, manipulation, or toxic, like, behavior?
[00:28:22] Absolutely. No. No, no, no, no, no. Does God call you to repeatedly subject yourself to another person's unrepentant sin?
[00:28:28] No. Absolutely right. Actually, that's really confusing that. I said that. I don't mean. No, I'm saying. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm affirming that. Okay?
[00:28:37] But hear me.
[00:28:38] He does call you to forgive.
[00:28:42] He does not call you to consistently subject yourself to somebody else's unrepentant sin, but he does call you to forgive.
[00:28:50] And those are different things.
[00:28:54] Here's the heartbreaking reality.
[00:28:56] There can be forgiveness without reconciliation taking place.
[00:29:02] Goodness gracious, that hurts.
[00:29:06] Because reconciliation requires two ingredients, not just one. If you want to go deeper in this. Because I can look around the room and I can see some of your faces. Like, I don't know about this, Tom. Like, this feels kind of unchristian. Like one, I'd say I have a plethora of Bible passages that you can study and we can talk about it. But there's also a really helpful book if you wanna take this down, if you wanna dive deeper into this. Maybe some of you have relationships in your life where you're trying to kind of navigate. Like, man, oh man, this feels like, I wanna forgive, but man, oh man, this feels abusive. This feels like toxic. This feels like something that God wouldn't have me continually subject myself to. There's a helpful book called when to Walk Away by Gary Thomas. When to Walk Away Christian book. Really, really helpful.
[00:29:45] Essentially what it is. It's a modern take on the biblical concept of shaking the dust.
[00:29:50] If you're familiar, I'm gonna do it on time.
[00:29:54] I'm gonna share this with you. Are you familiar with shaking the dust?
[00:29:57] Some of you are. I just wanna make sure everybody knows this isn't just like my opinion. It's not like Gary Thomas opinion. It's like the Bible. Okay, Shaking the dust, basically. Shaking the dust. What it is, is, it's Jesus instructions to his disciples on how to respond when people rejected their message and the call to repentance.
[00:30:16] So if you remember, I'll read you a couple really quickly. There's several examples in the New Testament of Jesus prescribing this, okay? And it's not cause he doesn't love people, it's because he loves people. Right? I'm gonna share two with you really, really quickly. Luke, chapter 10, verses 10 through 12. This is Jesus speaking. This is what he says. He's talking to his disciples. He's sending them out to give a message, right? He's teaching them to go preach the kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom of God is here. So therefore, what was his message? Therefore repent, which is, turn away from the sinful behavior. Turn away from the ways that you're sinning against God and sinning against others. Right?
[00:30:51] This is what he says to them.
[00:30:53] When you enter any town and they don't welcome you go into the streets and say, we are wiping off even the dust of your town that clings to our feet as witness against. You know this for certain. The kingdom of God has come near. I think, okay, that doesn't. I don't Know if that really applies, Tom? I kind of get it. Go to Matthew, chapter 10, verse 14. We were in Matthew, chapter 10, I don't know, three years ago or something.
[00:31:16] Jesus speaking again. If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town.
[00:31:28] Here's what I need you to know.
[00:31:30] I need you to know that when Jesus talks about shaking the dust off of your feet, it's done in response to the gospel of the kingdom being rejected.
[00:31:43] It's done when there is a refusal to repent.
[00:31:47] Now, listen, we've talked about this a lot.
[00:31:50] The pattern of the Christian's life is not sinless. We sin 100 times a day. The pattern of the Christian life is identifying that sin. And in response to God's goodness and glory and love and grace, we worship him through turning away from sin because he's worth it.
[00:32:07] You with me?
[00:32:09] So we're constantly repenting, like, all the time. So it's not like a. It's not a call to perfection. It's a call to repentance. And Jesus and his disciples, that's their message. And it's a really gracious message because it literally infers that you can be forgiven if you repent the kingdom of heaven, the king is near. Turn away. He will offer you forgiveness. There's two ingredients, right? There's two ingredients. He's offering one of them. If you offer the other ones, what do you have? Beautiful reconciliation between God and man. It's what you were made for, right?
[00:32:43] Three of you are with me. This is great.
[00:32:46] So it's done in response to the gospel of the kingdom being rejected. It's done when there's a refusal to repent. It's a symbolic act. Listen to this. Of leaving behind anything unclean and a declaration of separation from that unbelief. It's not condemnation, it's I. No, I've given you the message. I've loved you and called you to repentance. It was not an act of anger. It was not petty or vengeful.
[00:33:13] Listen to this. It was a warning to the unrepentant and a release for the faithful messenger.
[00:33:23] I'm spending a lot of time on this because it's really important. Reconciliation requires two ingredients, not just one.
[00:33:30] Forgiveness and repentance. And to forgive is to pay that debt yourself instead of making the other person pay. Okay, I need to fly.
[00:33:41] Okay, so naturally, what happens here? Peter goes to Jesus and he asks this question.
[00:33:48] Okay, so forget we talked. Jesus, I hear you. You're talking about repentance, that sheep that's gone astray, do whatever you can to call them to repentance. Go as far as you can.
[00:33:56] So I get that. That first thing, great. But then the second one, forgive. Peter's like, okay, well, how many times am I supposed to forgive? How many times? And what does Jesus say?
[00:34:04] Talk to me.
[00:34:05] 70 times 7, right? Verse 22.
[00:34:08] Do the math. How many times is that?
[00:34:11] 490 times.
[00:34:14] All of the Bible scholars agree. He's not saying it like 491. They're done.
[00:34:20] It's not what he's doing.
[00:34:23] RT France, he has this. I'm going to throw this quote up there if you guys can.
[00:34:28] RT France, he says this, talking about 70 times seven. He says, in other words, there is no limit and no place for keeping a tally of forgivenesses already used up.
[00:34:40] Peter's question was misconceived. Listen to this. This is brilliant. If one is still counting, however generously, one is not forgiving, I'm gonna steal my second point from RT France. It's this. If you're counting, you're not forgiving.
[00:34:59] That one hit me like a ton of bricks this week.
[00:35:04] If you're counting, you're not forgiving. Why? Because if you're counting, you're holding a grudge.
[00:35:17] I think one of the most tragic things in kind of modern recent history, which is like the last couple few years, is what seems like the rise in drug abuse is like increasing.
[00:35:31] Am I the only one who thinks that? And kind of notice like, holy smokes, man, These precious people made in God's image, living on the street, like, oftentimes, not every time, oftentimes, it's because they have this addiction that they can't kick and they're abusing these substances that are harming their lives, right?
[00:35:55] And listen, it can be like, easy to look down on people or judge them, but there's a reason why people use and abuse drugs.
[00:36:04] There's a reason for it.
[00:36:08] Why do people use drugs?
[00:36:11] They use drugs for the high.
[00:36:16] They use drugs for that momentary feel good, that moment of like, oh, I can drown away the pain.
[00:36:28] I can kind of silence the pain for just a bit. The brokenness, the hurt, the wounds. And I can just feel good for a moment.
[00:36:40] Listen, that thing that feels good is the very thing that destroys the person, right?
[00:36:47] It destroys their health, it destroys their relationships. Many of you in this room, you know, you have people, you've had people in your life where you see them go down there. I can remember this dude, I can still see her face. I remember this girl, she didn't go to the same high school as me, but we were kind of friends through different friends. And I remember sweet girl, like just lovely. And then she started kind of like dabbling and I saw her like three years later.
[00:37:16] I don't even need to get into that, you guys know what I mean?
[00:37:19] Just the thing, it was so awful.
[00:37:22] The thing that feels good is the very thing that destroys the person.
[00:37:26] But it felt good in the moment, right? Like yeah, hear me, holding a grudge.
[00:37:31] You might feel good, like they wronged me.
[00:37:34] It might feel good in the moment, it might feel right. You might even feel justified because they did wrong you, that whole they owe me thing. But listen, holding a grudge, guys, I know it sounds intense, but it's kind of like using heroin.
[00:37:47] It might feel good in the moment, but it will destroy you, dude.
[00:37:51] It will destroy you.
[00:37:53] How?
[00:37:57] Tim Keller again for the win. Can you guys throw this one up? The next one? Yes. This is fire.
[00:38:03] When you. This is what Keller says. Quote. When you stay angry at somebody, when you hold a grudge, when you refuse to forgive, it makes you feel so righteous, it makes you feel so wronged, it makes you feel so self pitying, it makes you feel so self centered, it makes you feel so self righteous. Listen to this. You're becoming more like Satan than Jesus.
[00:38:30] Oh, if you're counting, you're not forgiving.
[00:38:43] If you're counting, you're holding the grudge.
[00:38:46] And hear me, it's one of the most dangerous things that you can do to yourself.
[00:38:52] Because in doing so, at least according to Tim Keller, you're becoming more like Satan than Jesus. Jesus.
[00:39:02] All right, let's keep moving now. Let's go to my favorite part, verse 23.
[00:39:10] For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. Sake of time. I'm just going to go through. Let's go down to.
[00:39:17] Go down to verse 27.
[00:39:22] Then the master of that servant says, had compassion on him, released him and forgave him the loan. Forgave him the debt. Do you remember how big was the loan?
[00:39:31] How big was the debt?
[00:39:33] 10,000 talents. Okay, write this down. This is my next point. God forgives 10,000 talents.
[00:39:44] Do you realize what that means?
[00:39:51] Listen, there's no amount of sin that God is not willing to forgive.
[00:39:59] Listen to me.
[00:40:02] God forgives 10,000 talents. That means there's no amount of sin he's not willing to forgive.
[00:40:14] Like the ugly stuff, the Stuff that if right now there was a magic microphone that was connected to your head that played over the loudspeaker for everybody in the room to hear, and you'd feel so ashamed and so guilty. Just your thought life, just the gross thoughts, the judgmental thoughts, the lustful thoughts, the selfish thoughts, the hateful thoughts that everybody in the room has had at some point in their life.
[00:40:42] God forgives 10,000 talents. There's no amount of sin God's not willing to forgive. I'm talking the things that you're the most ashamed of, friend.
[00:40:51] The things that have cost you the most, the things that have been the most damaging in your life, the things that have hurt the people in your life the most.
[00:41:00] As serious as the consequences to sin are, there's nothing. There's no amount of sin that God's not willing to forgive.
[00:41:09] Let me ask you a question.
[00:41:11] Do you believe that?
[00:41:15] I know some of you believe it for your neighbor. I know. Because you'll pray for them and you'll remind them and you'll bless them when they blow it, or when they feel insecure, when they're afraid, or when there's been a mistake. You're there with the gospel. God bless you. I'm so thankful that our community is centered on the gospel of Jesus. It's who we are.
[00:41:31] I'm not asking if you believe it for them.
[00:41:34] I'm asking if you believe it for you.
[00:41:38] Or does shame and guilt rule your life?
[00:41:43] Are you hiding?
[00:41:46] You don't have to.
[00:41:48] You don't need to.
[00:41:52] You don't need to because Jesus gave His blood.
[00:41:56] You don't need to because he willingly offered his entire life as the perfect sacrifice.
[00:42:02] Your life's not perfect. His was. And he desires to credit that to you.
[00:42:09] There's no amount of sin he's not willing to forgive.
[00:42:17] I think I talked about this recently about, like. Have you ever thought about, like, your credit card statement and all the things, all the debt that comes up when you spend money, like, just, like, the tally of, like, sin, and not just the observable stuff that other people catch you in, but the stuff that is going on in you.
[00:42:36] Do you have any idea how valuable you are?
[00:42:46] You're worth way more than £10,000.
[00:42:51] You're with the blood of Christ.
[00:42:53] And that's not my opinion.
[00:42:56] That's the words of Jesus.
[00:43:03] God forgives 10,000 talents.
[00:43:06] Do you realize what that means?
[00:43:08] That means he's supremely generous. Right?
[00:43:14] I know. I was heavy for a second. Can we just, like.
[00:43:16] Can we just move into the space, like, of mentally recognizing the supreme generosity of God.
[00:43:25] Like, guys, he's supremely generous. That means you can't outgive him.
[00:43:31] You can't outgive God. Forgiveness is costly, right? There's a debt involved.
[00:43:36] It always costs something because there's a paying of the debt. Did you know, like, you cannot out give him. That means you can't forgive him more than he forgives.
[00:43:45] Sorry, that's not what I meant to say. You can't forgive others as much as he has forgiven you.
[00:43:50] Like, you can't outgive him in forgiveness. You can't out give him in patience.
[00:43:54] Even your best attempt at being patient with people, he's exponentially more patient with you. How do we know you're still alive?
[00:44:03] He's so patient. Even with all of the debt of your sin, he never gives up on you. He's so patient, waiting, repent. Come back to me.
[00:44:14] That street that's gone astray. And they're saying, come back.
[00:44:20] You cannot give them in forgiveness. You cannot give them impatience. You can't even out give him financially. I know people don't like to talk about, like when we talk about money in the church. Dude, read Malachi 3, it'll blow your mind.
[00:44:30] I'll summarize portions of it for you really quickly. God's basically challenging them. He's saying, try to outgive me, test me in this. It's one of the few examples in scripture where God goes, test me specifically with their financial resources, their animals, their food. That was their wealth.
[00:44:49] He goes, test me in this.
[00:44:52] I know this morning's Give Love. So I need to camp out with this for just a second.
[00:44:56] You have an opportunity. I'll dare you. I dare you to try to out give God.
[00:45:02] I dare you. You can't do it. Why? Because he's supremely generous.
[00:45:06] It's not gonna happen.
[00:45:08] I encourage you, man. If you haven't yet given or you feel like God might be having you give more, we're giving this away, okay? I want to encourage you, man. Ask God how he might have you to give. Because it's a worthy investment. It's an investment in this kingdom.
[00:45:22] Seize the opportunity.
[00:45:24] God's supremely generous.
[00:45:29] There's nobody like him.
[00:45:32] There's nobody like him.
[00:45:35] Okay, I'm gonna call the band up.
[00:45:39] I'm gonna close here. I cut a significant amount. There's so much I didn't cover this morning, guys. There's seven sermons in this passage. It's so rich and so deep. I appreciate you being Patient with me this morning.
[00:45:58] I didn't cover forgiven people Forgive.
[00:46:01] I didn't cover the concept of. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you all over the Bible. You see it here.
[00:46:08] But here's what I want to finish with.
[00:46:14] So this story, this parable that Jesus uses, he's telling this parable to illustrate what the king and his kingdom is like, literally, why we're going through this series, right? This, the Gospel of Matthew. So he tells this parable, right? The king offers to forgive the servant. How much?
[00:46:36] 10,000 talents. That same servant refuses to forgive. Do you remember how much?
[00:46:43] A hundred denarii.
[00:46:46] So the guy is forgiven over 3,000 lifetimes of wealth, and then he immediately doesn't Forgive the guy 100 days wages.
[00:46:56] One of the best questions you can ask when you read your Bible is this.
[00:46:59] Why?
[00:47:03] Do you know why One word.
[00:47:09] Why a guy who was forgiven a hopeless infinite amount of debt, it's forgiven. Why that same guy then goes and chokes the guy to give him 100 denarii?
[00:47:22] Why one word.
[00:47:29] Pride.
[00:47:34] Pride.
[00:47:40] Look back at verse 24, Help me, Jesus.
[00:47:56] When he. He, there's the king.
[00:48:00] When he began to settle accounts, Underline that. Settle accounts.
[00:48:07] Oh, boy.
[00:48:10] One who owed 10,000 talents was brought before him since he did not have the money to pay it back.
[00:48:19] Underline, pay it back.
[00:48:22] His master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.
[00:48:28] That's a whole other sermon right, right there that I don't have time to get to. Your spiritual debt affects your entire, your entire household, guys.
[00:48:38] Verse 26. At this, the servant fell face down before him and said, be patient with me. And look what he says.
[00:48:45] I will pay you everything.
[00:48:51] I'll pay you the 3,000 plus years of wages.
[00:48:57] In other words, give me time and I'll get you the money.
[00:49:03] Then the master of that servant had compassion and released him and forgave him the loan. Oh, it's amazing, right? It's God supreme and generous. Verse 28.
[00:49:12] That servant went out and found his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him and said, pay what you owe. Do you see it?
[00:49:24] Do you see it in this guy's pride?
[00:49:27] The servant rejected the grace, the mercy, the forgiveness of the king. How do we know that?
[00:49:36] Because he immediately goes to collect the money to pay it back.
[00:49:42] Do you see it?
[00:49:47] Listen, I'm gonna be candid. This is not everybody. I'm gonna talk to some people in the room. This is not everybody.
[00:49:54] But in an effort, in an effort for the word of God to make its way into the hearts of people, specific people that he wants this specific aspect of it to this morning to happen. I'm going to be very candid.
[00:50:07] Some of you.
[00:50:09] The reason you are unable to forgive others is because your pride is keeping you from actually receiving God's forgiveness. For you.
[00:50:22] I want you to sit with that for just a second, for probably an hour and a half.
[00:50:35] I held a grudge against my bride this week.
[00:50:41] And the reason I did that was a five letter word that starts with a P and ends with a ride.
[00:50:54] That was a bad, bad joke.
[00:50:57] But hear me, for some of you in the room, the reason you're unable to forgive others is because your pride is keeping you from receiving God's forgiveness for you. Can I remind you something? I've been talking about it a lot this morning. Reconciliation requires two ingredients, doesn't it?
[00:51:19] What are they? Talk to me.
[00:51:24] Repentance and forgiveness.
[00:51:30] Forgiveness and repentance.
[00:51:34] Some of you hear me. The biggest issue in your life, the biggest issue that's keeping you from having an incredible life with God. The biggest issue that's keeping you from forgiving others. The biggest issue that's keeping you from operating in like power. The biggest issue that's keeping you from the King and his kingdom is your pride and in love as a fellow sinner who needs Jesus, mercy and grace in love. I'm calling you to repent and be reconciled to God this morning.
[00:52:09] Because reconciliation requires two ingredients. In good God, the blood of Jesus is available to you for your forgiveness.
[00:52:17] What are you gonna do with it?
[00:52:23] If you're on the prayer team, would you make your way to the front, please?
[00:52:25] We're gonna open it up for a time of response. I'm gonna give you an opportunity to respond to the word of God. We're gonna fill the room with praise. But I feel like there's people that God wants to address.
[00:52:34] Okay, maybe you're here and if you're honest, if you're just brutally honest, you ditch the pride for just a second. If you're honest, you're here and you're going.
[00:52:45] There's actually some unforgiveness in my heart.
[00:52:49] I am at this moment right now, I've been struggling because I am holding a grudge against s somebody in my life. I'm holding a grudge, right? Listen, I really believe that's you this morning. God wants to free you.
[00:53:03] He wants to free you. If that's you, you can come forward in about in just a minute and come receive prayer. Okay, maybe you're here and you're hearing me talk, and your heart aches.
[00:53:17] Your heart aches because you long for relationships in your life to be reconciled like you want them to be. And you've been practicing forgiveness in your heart, like Jesus talks about in his passage. You've been practicing that forgiveness for a long time.
[00:53:34] And it's hard because your heart aches, because you know that reconciliation requires two ingredients, not just one. And you're waiting, and you're like, I keep forgiving, but they won't repent. And I want to be reconciled, but they won't repent. And so the relationship remains broken. And if that's you this morning, I want you to hear me say, God identifies with you.
[00:53:55] Like, he knows exactly what that feels like. He grieves along with you in that. And it's not like an arbitrary grief. It's like, I know exactly what that one feels like, and it's the worst.
[00:54:07] If that's you, I want to encourage you this morning. Can I just encourage you? I know it's sensitive, and I know those kind of spaces are tough.
[00:54:13] Stop praying.
[00:54:16] Don't stop praying. Don't stop praying for them. Don't stop interceding for them.
[00:54:20] Don't stop asking God to, in a godly way, convict their heart.
[00:54:25] Towards what? Towards that repentance, towards that second ingredient for reconciliation.
[00:54:37] If that's you, don't miss out. I think God wants to make minister to you through prayer this morning, too.
[00:54:45] And this one's big.
[00:54:47] Maybe you're here and guilt and shame is piling up in your life.
[00:54:58] Like there's behaviors in your life that you know, you know they're not consistent with what the king would have for you or what his kingdom is like.
[00:55:07] Even if the things that nobody knows about, stuff in the dark and you hate it, you don't want to do it anymore, but you do it.
[00:55:18] Can I remind you, if that's you, oh, man.
[00:55:23] God forgives 10,000 talents.
[00:55:30] There's no amount of sin that he's not willing to forgive, friend.
[00:55:36] And finally, this one might be the heaviest.
[00:55:42] Some of you in the room, you might be totally unprepared for what's coming in verse 23. I had you write this down. This is the beginning of a parable.
[00:56:00] For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wants to settle accounts with his servants.
[00:56:09] The Bible's clear, man.
[00:56:12] There is an age when God is openly distributing his grace and his mercy.
[00:56:17] Come to Me. Repent from your sin. Come, Come receive forgiveness for all of your sins. I forgive 10,000 talents. Come.
[00:56:26] I want to be reconciled with you. The forgiveness ingredient is provided in the blood of Jesus. You act in repentance, reconciliation.
[00:56:34] That's the settling of accounts.
[00:56:37] There's a debt, someone's going to pay it.
[00:56:40] But the day is coming, the Bible says, when Jesus is coming back and he's coming back to settle those accounts, he's coming back to make sure that debt is totally paid for. And hear me, it's either going to be paid by him or it's going to be paid by you.
[00:57:01] And at the chance that you're sitting in this room and you're you, like, if I stand before God and give an account, if there's a settling of accounts, I don't know what would happen.
[00:57:09] Like, I don't know how he would respond to me. And I feel a little bit of. Like, a little bit of healthy anxiety with that. If that's you, I want to assure you, you can be assured this morning of what's gonna happen when you stand before God.
[00:57:22] You can have confidence this morning of going, oh, my gosh, I can receive that forgiveness. How do I do that? You lay aside the pride and you go, I want it all. Like, give me all the forgiveness. Like, here's all the things. Like, I'm not keeping anything in the dark. I'm not holding anything back. My life, my time, my wallet, everything, it all belongs to you. I'm responding in gratitude because you've been so, so good. I want what you have for me, Jesus. You can receive it this morning. You can. You can know deep and have a. Have a. An assurance in your heart that when you stand before God, when he goes, I'm assembling my servants to settle an account that you can stand before him and he'll go, well done. Good and faithful servant.
[00:58:00] And the reason he says that is not because of your perfection. The reason he says that is because you've received the perfect one. You with me. You can have that this morning if you want. Come receive prayer.
[00:58:10] So here's what we're gonna do. I'm invite you to stand with me, and we're gonna spend the next 10 minutes. It's not a lot of time. We're gonna spend the next 10 minutes, and I want you to respond. If anything that I've said, if anything that God's word has triggered in your heart or pricked in your heart, come receive prayer. God wants to minister to you. Hear me as you minister to him.
[00:58:29] That's not heresy. He wants to minister to you as you minister to him. He wants to bless you as you bless him. So we're gonna fill this room with praise, with gratitude and thanksgiving, with our voices and our minds and our thoughts and our bodies, because he's worthy. Because he's offered that ingredient of forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. And we want to be people who practice repentance. So we're going to thank him and praise him and come forward for prayer. If it's work that God wants to do. He wants to touch you this morning. Come receive that through his hands and his feet, through trusted men and women who are trained that would love to. To intercede on your behalf this morning.
[00:59:05] You with me?
[00:59:07] All right. I'm gonna pray over the room for. Just really quickly. And then we're gonna fill this room with praise. Holy Spirit, we invite you.
[00:59:12] You're the leader.
[00:59:16] You're the leader. Spirit of the living God, spirit of my Jesus, you are the leader. And you're a good leader.
[00:59:24] You're the best leader right now. You're leading people to confess sin. That's good.
[00:59:28] There's freedom on the other side of that.
[00:59:31] Lord, have your way among us.
[00:59:33] Would you minister to us as we minister to you? Intimacy in this space. Love. Two way love in this space. I pray in the name of Jesus.
[00:59:42] Amen. All right. Love you guys. Enjoy him. And then, Mikey, why don't you close us? Okay. Love you guys.
