WEBVTT 00:16.978 --> 00:22.922 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the preaching ministry of the Agape of Baptist Church in George South Africa. 00:32.109 --> 00:32.569 [SPEAKER_01]: Good morning. 00:32.589 --> 00:37.133 [SPEAKER_01]: Good to be together again this morning with you. 00:37.153 --> 00:42.457 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to thank you for your prayers for sharing the eyes. 00:42.517 --> 00:43.758 [SPEAKER_01]: We've been away for 00:47.509 --> 01:01.400 [SPEAKER_01]: blessed our time there in the states and just really providing for us things that we needed. 01:02.300 --> 01:07.845 [SPEAKER_01]: Some of the things we didn't realize we needed until we needed it and the Lord provided people 01:09.529 --> 01:15.353 [SPEAKER_01]: and just situations that only he could have brought together. 01:15.413 --> 01:17.555 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're just so thankful for that. 01:17.575 --> 01:30.043 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just seeing his provision for us and means of getting things done that we need to do and so we're thankful. 01:30.584 --> 01:31.965 [SPEAKER_01]: Thankful for your prayers for us. 01:33.292 --> 01:43.443 [SPEAKER_01]: During that time, we were praying for you, and it's good to be back with you today, be able to worship together, and be able to bring you a message from Matthew. 01:43.483 --> 01:49.970 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to skip from our series in John for this morning. 01:50.991 --> 01:54.235 [SPEAKER_01]: Continue to pray for Carl somewhere. 01:54.295 --> 01:55.136 [SPEAKER_01]: He's not been well. 01:56.176 --> 02:05.979 [SPEAKER_01]: and he was scheduled to preach today so we're willing he'll be able to preach next week so we'll do pray for him that he can recover. 02:07.939 --> 02:18.822 [SPEAKER_01]: About a little over a year ago we're back in the States for another situation, another reason and I had a dream which 02:19.761 --> 02:25.344 [SPEAKER_01]: I guess it's not that unusual, but it's a bit unusual for me to remember what I dream about. 02:26.044 --> 02:30.667 [SPEAKER_01]: Usually some nonsense, as you can't even figure out what it was about. 02:31.647 --> 02:36.790 [SPEAKER_01]: But I dreamed that someone had done something or said something. 02:36.810 --> 02:42.233 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't even remember that that was very hurtful to me. 02:43.674 --> 02:45.755 [SPEAKER_01]: And it was like a betrayal. 02:47.756 --> 02:48.897 [SPEAKER_01]: And in the dream, 02:49.768 --> 03:01.831 [SPEAKER_01]: I can remember that this hurt was such that even if the person apologized or said they were sorry, I didn't want to forgive them. 03:03.692 --> 03:10.093 [SPEAKER_01]: So that was the that was the feeling or the attitude that was in the dream. 03:11.494 --> 03:15.995 [SPEAKER_01]: And I remember, you know, waking up and kind of 03:16.749 --> 03:20.650 [SPEAKER_01]: being able to remember this feeling of not wanting to forgive. 03:21.970 --> 03:29.752 [SPEAKER_01]: And I asked the Lord to forgive me for that attitude, for that selfishness that's there. 03:29.832 --> 03:44.816 [SPEAKER_01]: Although the dream, the situation wasn't real at all, it does reveal that there is in us this self-centeredness and to a degree 03:45.538 --> 03:54.250 [SPEAKER_01]: I think we all struggle with that and we can struggle to be, and become defensive when someone does something or says something to us. 03:55.512 --> 04:01.540 [SPEAKER_01]: And so out of that situation that wasn't even a real situation, 04:04.172 --> 04:06.655 [SPEAKER_01]: I developed this message, or I didn't develop it. 04:06.695 --> 04:07.776 [SPEAKER_01]: The Lord led me to it. 04:08.136 --> 04:11.339 [SPEAKER_01]: It's already the messages in Matthew eighteen. 04:12.961 --> 04:19.087 [SPEAKER_01]: So I didn't really have to do much preparation. 04:19.127 --> 04:20.549 [SPEAKER_01]: The message is already there. 04:20.569 --> 04:24.853 [SPEAKER_01]: I just want to point out what the Lord 04:25.710 --> 04:37.937 [SPEAKER_01]: had already preached or already talked to the disciples and those that were listening to him at this time in Matthew eight teams. 04:37.977 --> 04:41.520 [SPEAKER_01]: If you want to find your place there, we're going to begin in verse twenty one. 04:43.141 --> 04:49.985 [SPEAKER_01]: So while you're finding your place, I don't know what to the situation. 04:50.748 --> 05:12.323 [SPEAKER_01]: in your heart is obviously there may be there may be someone here this morning that have for a long time struggled with hurt or resentment or feeling that you really don't want to forgive and to some degree I think we all struggle 05:13.733 --> 05:22.740 [SPEAKER_01]: with this at times because of our sinful nature, our human nature that we have is inclined to put ourselves first, isn't it, over others? 05:22.900 --> 05:30.646 [SPEAKER_01]: And we tend to focus on ourselves instead of what the Lord wants. 05:32.808 --> 05:41.315 [SPEAKER_01]: In Colossians chapter three, we just show you that verse twelve and thirteen, 05:42.161 --> 05:55.745 [SPEAKER_01]: where it managed to put on the end as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. 05:55.985 --> 06:00.066 [SPEAKER_01]: And if one has a complaint against another, forgive each other. 06:01.586 --> 06:07.988 [SPEAKER_01]: Notice that sliced phrase as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 06:09.336 --> 06:28.285 [SPEAKER_01]: And there's the standard for us, and this is what Jesus is going to be teaching His disciples, and He's teaching us the standard to which we've been called to in all areas of our Christian life, but in certainly in this area as well, and that is related to forgiveness. 06:30.767 --> 06:37.590 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, in this passage, Jesus had just taught in the previous section about 06:38.289 --> 06:55.644 [SPEAKER_01]: being reconciled to someone who's send against you and the process of going to them and trying to wind them back to you as a in that relationship. 06:57.025 --> 06:59.186 [SPEAKER_01]: And then we come to verse twenty one. 06:59.767 --> 07:00.788 [SPEAKER_01]: So let's read together. 07:02.654 --> 07:31.864 [SPEAKER_01]: Matthew eighteen verse twenty one then Peter came up and said to him Lord how often Will my brother sin against me and I forgive him as many as seven times Now just so you you get the what Peter is asking here He's he's being very gracious in suggesting that we forgive someone seven times the there was a 07:33.068 --> 07:47.619 [SPEAKER_01]: from the Old Testament law, the Jews had basically said a standard of three times for giving someone three times for what they had done. 07:48.533 --> 08:05.381 [SPEAKER_01]: And so as Peter suggests here, seven times he's being magnanimous in his thinking, he's like, this is the extreme forgiveness to forgive somebody seven times for some offense against them. 08:06.922 --> 08:14.966 [SPEAKER_01]: But in verse twenty two, Jesus says to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy seven times. 08:17.008 --> 08:21.410 [SPEAKER_01]: And so basically Jesus is saying, just don't count. 08:24.091 --> 08:37.435 [SPEAKER_01]: He's not trying to keep a record and up to seventy times seven, but he's saying, don't keep a record. 08:38.796 --> 08:39.716 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't keep a record. 08:40.897 --> 08:44.598 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think this is an area where we often fail. 08:46.601 --> 08:56.030 [SPEAKER_01]: We can, we can, someone can ask for forgiveness and we can say we forgive, but we remember it intentionally. 08:56.510 --> 08:57.611 [SPEAKER_01]: We keep a record of it. 08:58.272 --> 09:02.636 [SPEAKER_01]: And we may even remind them later of what they did. 09:03.597 --> 09:12.565 [SPEAKER_01]: Or at least in our own mind, we remember it and we hold it against them later when they do something similar or maybe the same thing again. 09:14.690 --> 09:16.211 [SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord is telling us, don't do that. 09:17.012 --> 09:17.853 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't keep a record. 09:18.153 --> 09:18.753 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't count. 09:21.155 --> 09:30.543 [SPEAKER_01]: And he continues here in verse twenty three with a story, a parable. 09:32.504 --> 09:39.030 [SPEAKER_01]: And he says in verse twenty three, therefore the kingdom of heaven 09:39.935 --> 09:45.497 [SPEAKER_01]: may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 09:46.877 --> 09:53.739 [SPEAKER_01]: When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 09:54.999 --> 10:03.802 [SPEAKER_01]: And since he could not pay his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had in payment to be made. 10:05.275 --> 10:10.519 [SPEAKER_01]: So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, how patience with me, and I will pay you everything. 10:11.620 --> 10:17.944 [SPEAKER_01]: And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 10:19.345 --> 10:24.969 [SPEAKER_01]: But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred Daeneria. 10:26.110 --> 10:29.853 [SPEAKER_01]: And seized him, he began to choke him, saying, pay what you owe. 10:31.212 --> 10:38.037 [SPEAKER_01]: So his fellow servant fell down, impleted with him, how patience with me and I will pay you. 10:39.998 --> 10:46.802 [SPEAKER_01]: He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 10:47.883 --> 11:00.131 [SPEAKER_01]: And when his fellow servants saw what he had, what had taken place, they were greatly distressed and they went and reported to their master, all that had taken place. 11:01.324 --> 11:04.925 [SPEAKER_01]: Then the master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant. 11:05.506 --> 11:14.529 [SPEAKER_01]: I forgave you all the debt because you pleaded with me, and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servants, as I had mercy on you. 11:14.549 --> 11:20.311 [SPEAKER_01]: And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt. 11:21.232 --> 11:23.012 [SPEAKER_01]: So also, sorry, five. 11:23.112 --> 11:29.955 [SPEAKER_01]: So also, my Heavenly Father will do to you every one of you if you do not forgive your brother 11:30.980 --> 11:31.760 [SPEAKER_01]: from your heart. 11:35.221 --> 11:50.325 [SPEAKER_01]: Our fathers, we come before this passage, I pray that you would help us to see this message that you gave and to apply to our own life. 11:50.405 --> 11:55.307 [SPEAKER_01]: Our own situations, our own heart, and help us to 11:56.616 --> 12:05.239 [SPEAKER_01]: value greatly, Lord, what you've done for us, so that the impacts us in every way, in every part of our life, we ask, in Jesus' name. 12:05.519 --> 12:05.919 [SPEAKER_01]: Amen. 12:07.199 --> 12:13.881 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, the first thing I want us to see this morning is the great debt that Jesus speaks of here. 12:15.622 --> 12:17.202 [SPEAKER_01]: Ten thousand talents. 12:19.443 --> 12:24.945 [SPEAKER_01]: Talent was basically twenty years of labor. 12:27.705 --> 12:30.907 [SPEAKER_01]: of common laborers work. 12:32.348 --> 12:38.831 [SPEAKER_01]: So that comes to two hundred thousand years worth of debt. 12:40.511 --> 12:42.612 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's a ridiculous isn't it? 12:43.733 --> 12:47.295 [SPEAKER_01]: That's a ridiculous amount that Jesus has given here. 12:48.115 --> 12:53.698 [SPEAKER_01]: Ten thousand talents or two hundred thousand years worth of labor. 12:57.198 --> 13:08.868 [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was ESV notes that calculated that in our modern economy that would be six billion with a B, six billion US dollars. 13:10.850 --> 13:15.254 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's talking, he's given a figure here that's so large that it's ridiculous. 13:16.235 --> 13:23.842 [SPEAKER_01]: It's so large that it is obvious that this man could never pay this debt. 13:25.474 --> 13:37.181 [SPEAKER_01]: In the story, he says, he requests that he would be patient with him and have, you know, mercy in that he'll pay back. 13:37.741 --> 13:40.382 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, he's never going to pay him back. 13:40.903 --> 13:43.044 [SPEAKER_01]: He's never going to even get started on this debt. 13:43.064 --> 13:44.105 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, can you imagine? 13:45.385 --> 13:47.466 [SPEAKER_01]: You can imagine one talent, twenty years. 13:48.507 --> 13:53.770 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you had, you know, twenty years worth of work, you could conceivably 13:54.647 --> 13:59.110 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it would be possible if you would live long enough that you could pay that back. 14:00.491 --> 14:07.537 [SPEAKER_01]: But two hundred thousand years worth of work, you're not going even scratch that debt. 14:08.457 --> 14:10.439 [SPEAKER_01]: You couldn't even pay the interest on that debt. 14:11.980 --> 14:13.481 [SPEAKER_01]: If you worked your whole lifetime. 14:15.402 --> 14:23.809 [SPEAKER_01]: And so Jesus has given a figure here that it's so large, he wants people to hear it and see it and say, 14:24.596 --> 14:25.257 [SPEAKER_01]: impossible. 14:26.057 --> 14:28.019 [SPEAKER_01]: It's an impossible debt to pay. 14:29.240 --> 14:42.470 [SPEAKER_01]: And this debt that Jesus illustrates here is illustrating or corresponding to our sin debt, the debt that we owe against God before we were saved. 14:45.872 --> 14:50.536 [SPEAKER_01]: It is the the sin against God as a debt. 14:53.170 --> 14:56.891 [SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, some people's sins are greater than others. 14:58.331 --> 15:04.333 [SPEAKER_01]: Some people are in their lossness. 15:06.193 --> 15:09.474 [SPEAKER_01]: They are worse sinners than others are. 15:09.814 --> 15:11.575 [SPEAKER_01]: Some people are more moral. 15:13.815 --> 15:20.097 [SPEAKER_01]: Better neighbors, better husbands, better wives, better parents than others are. 15:22.792 --> 15:33.401 [SPEAKER_01]: But what makes our sin that's so great is not how much we've sinned, but who we've sinned against. 15:35.422 --> 15:38.384 [SPEAKER_01]: So our debt is so great. 15:39.926 --> 15:46.471 [SPEAKER_01]: It's an infinitely great because we've sinned against an infinitely holy God. 15:47.628 --> 15:49.828 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what makes our sins so great. 15:50.409 --> 15:55.590 [SPEAKER_01]: And it doesn't matter to what degree we might imagine that somebody is a sinner. 15:56.650 --> 16:08.432 [SPEAKER_01]: We are all sinners of infinite greatness before God, because of who He is in the fact that we have sinned against Him. 16:10.233 --> 16:16.514 [SPEAKER_01]: This is why it's foolish for people to try to earn favor with God by doing good works. 16:17.618 --> 16:34.930 [SPEAKER_01]: The hope that if they just do enough good things, enough good deeds, then God would somehow recognize that and it would weigh the scales to their favor so that their good would outweigh the bad and somehow they would be able to enter into heaven. 16:36.030 --> 16:38.512 [SPEAKER_01]: And so people actually think that way. 16:39.113 --> 16:46.938 [SPEAKER_01]: Think that's how God forgives people based on how good they are. 16:48.348 --> 16:50.790 [SPEAKER_01]: But God does not accept sinners. 16:52.171 --> 16:57.134 [SPEAKER_01]: He does not accept their efforts at righteousness. 16:58.555 --> 17:07.202 [SPEAKER_01]: And the only hope that any of us have is in the mercy of God, which is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. 17:10.324 --> 17:15.328 [SPEAKER_01]: It's like the lady years ago 17:16.733 --> 17:44.100 [SPEAKER_01]: that when I was teaching a home Bible study and it was talking about the fact that the Lord came to save sinners and was talking about that and she just kind of said well I'm not a sinner you know like well who you're talking about but you're not talking about me because in her mind a sinner was a really bad person 17:45.902 --> 17:53.787 [SPEAKER_01]: A sinner was someone who mistreated people and was evil and did really bad things. 17:56.889 --> 18:02.733 [SPEAKER_01]: But the fact is that we are all sinners apart from Christ. 18:03.913 --> 18:06.435 [SPEAKER_01]: We have no hope and we have this great debt. 18:07.836 --> 18:14.280 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's only when a person realizes that they are a sinner before God that they 18:15.375 --> 18:18.658 [SPEAKER_01]: have a desire to be forgiven. 18:19.258 --> 18:22.061 [SPEAKER_01]: They can turn to Christ and forgiveness. 18:22.141 --> 18:24.683 [SPEAKER_01]: They're ready to turn to Him. 18:24.723 --> 18:27.305 [SPEAKER_01]: They're ready to seek help from Him. 18:28.166 --> 18:43.499 [SPEAKER_01]: As long as the person thinks that they're a good person, that they're a moral person, or that somehow God will accept them in their efforts, they don't need a Savior. 18:44.363 --> 18:46.164 [SPEAKER_01]: They see themselves as a Savior. 18:46.804 --> 18:50.206 [SPEAKER_01]: They see their own righteousness as their salvation. 18:51.567 --> 19:05.094 [SPEAKER_01]: It's when a person realizes that they're hopelessly lost without Christ, that they're ready to turn to God for salvation. 19:06.955 --> 19:09.256 [SPEAKER_01]: You see, when we don't forgive 19:10.695 --> 19:14.998 [SPEAKER_01]: We undervalue the greatness of our own sin dead. 19:18.581 --> 19:25.866 [SPEAKER_01]: We don't appreciate the greatness of our own sin. 19:27.227 --> 19:28.208 [SPEAKER_01]: We don't forgive others. 19:28.968 --> 19:36.314 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, there's a second truth here that Jesus teaches and that is the great forgiveness. 19:38.215 --> 19:39.556 [SPEAKER_01]: In verse twenty seven, 19:41.932 --> 19:49.054 [SPEAKER_01]: says the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loose him and forgave him the debt. 19:50.195 --> 19:52.115 [SPEAKER_01]: The ESV says out of pity. 19:53.456 --> 19:57.077 [SPEAKER_01]: I think the compassion is probably communicating better. 19:58.757 --> 20:08.960 [SPEAKER_01]: The idea of being moved or feeling the idea here is connected to this word of the feeling of emotion for them. 20:09.858 --> 20:19.223 [SPEAKER_01]: It's one of those Greek words that just in the word, you feel the meaning. 20:21.344 --> 20:22.744 [SPEAKER_01]: Splock-neez-o-my. 20:24.985 --> 20:31.529 [SPEAKER_01]: Splock-neez-o-my, or Splock-nons, speaks of, this is what you feel from down here in your bowels. 20:31.609 --> 20:35.651 [SPEAKER_01]: It's like feelings that come from deep within you. 20:39.908 --> 20:47.951 [SPEAKER_01]: this compassion, and the King James, most translations speak of being moved with compassion. 20:49.212 --> 20:55.454 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a word it was used of the father, the parable that Jesus told about the prodigal son. 20:55.474 --> 21:09.200 [SPEAKER_01]: It's the same word it's used of the father when he sees his son coming back home, coming down the road, he's moved by that. 21:11.081 --> 21:19.105 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's the father, our father, has compassion for us. 21:21.806 --> 21:26.988 [SPEAKER_01]: It's only by God's mercy and grace that we can stand forgiven by God. 21:27.008 --> 21:34.392 [SPEAKER_01]: You see, our infinite debt required an infinite payment to be made. 21:35.152 --> 21:39.534 [SPEAKER_01]: And that payment can only be made by the Lord himself. 21:40.175 --> 21:46.278 [SPEAKER_01]: the Lord Jesus Christ when He died for us and was buried and rose again. 21:46.298 --> 21:49.720 [SPEAKER_01]: He was seated at the right hand of the Father. 21:50.380 --> 21:54.643 [SPEAKER_01]: He paid that payment so that we could be forgiven. 21:55.583 --> 22:08.530 [SPEAKER_01]: Just as the story that Jesus told here of the King who freely forgave this enormous debt that this servant owed 22:10.439 --> 22:39.023 [SPEAKER_01]: Colossians chapter two verse thirteen and fourteen says in you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh God made a life together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses and then he says how he did that by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands 22:40.505 --> 22:44.128 [SPEAKER_01]: This he set aside nailing it to the cross. 22:46.230 --> 22:55.777 [SPEAKER_01]: When the Romans crucified someone they would normally put on the cross they would nail to the cross a statement of their crime. 22:58.339 --> 23:08.907 [SPEAKER_01]: So if this person was a murderer they would put on their murderer or whatever their crime was so it was visible to be seen by all 23:09.741 --> 23:12.302 [SPEAKER_01]: why they were being crucified. 23:13.562 --> 23:36.909 [SPEAKER_01]: But notice the analogy here, the Colossians II says that we've been forgiven and the debt being canceled, canceling the record of debt stood against us with its legal demands, this he set aside nailing it to the cross. 23:38.430 --> 23:39.290 [SPEAKER_01]: So in Christ, 23:40.408 --> 23:50.851 [SPEAKER_01]: Our debt was forgiven so that we could have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 23:52.612 --> 23:58.894 [SPEAKER_01]: You see, our sin debt was infinitely great because God is infinitely holy. 23:59.814 --> 24:05.436 [SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus paid that infinite price dying for us so that we could be forgiven. 24:07.316 --> 24:09.617 [SPEAKER_01]: And when we don't forgive, 24:10.591 --> 24:20.173 [SPEAKER_01]: We undervalue the greatness of the price that was paid so that we could be forgiven and have our sins dead removed. 24:20.193 --> 24:32.056 [SPEAKER_01]: It was the third thing that Jesus makes clear here, and that is this great ingratitude of this first servant that was forgiven. 24:34.016 --> 24:36.177 [SPEAKER_01]: In the Lord set up this contrast 24:37.352 --> 24:48.019 [SPEAKER_01]: to show how wicked he was, to receive such a great forgiveness and not be willing to forgive in comparison, a very small debt. 24:49.921 --> 24:59.868 [SPEAKER_01]: This, the Narius, this is a Roman coin that would represent one day's labor. 25:02.790 --> 25:06.032 [SPEAKER_01]: And so it was a hundred days. 25:07.222 --> 25:34.819 [SPEAKER_01]: hundred days of labor and that's still a substantial debt if you think about it that's about if we work six days a week that would be about four months of work so it's not a small thing really is it if somebody owed you four months of work you know that's a pretty big debt isn't it but 25:36.646 --> 25:43.150 [SPEAKER_01]: You can't really compare it to two hundred thousand years of debt, can you? 25:43.891 --> 25:57.580 [SPEAKER_01]: And so Jesus has intentionally set this enormous amount over against the relatively small amount of debt that this other servant owed a hundred denariye. 25:59.160 --> 26:00.941 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a debt that was manageable. 26:01.021 --> 26:05.284 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he could pay that debt if he was just given a little more time. 26:05.344 --> 26:06.845 [SPEAKER_01]: He would have been able to pay it. 26:09.547 --> 26:18.372 [SPEAKER_01]: And this relatively small debt that Jesus illustrates here corresponds to other people's sins against us. 26:21.494 --> 26:28.239 [SPEAKER_01]: And so you may be wondering, why is it sins against us considered small? 26:31.123 --> 26:33.364 [SPEAKER_01]: Because many times they don't seem small do they. 26:34.324 --> 26:39.647 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean people can do some very hurtful things and say some very hurtful things against us. 26:40.507 --> 26:41.628 [SPEAKER_01]: And they can do things. 26:44.009 --> 26:48.110 [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes these are just carelessness. 26:49.391 --> 26:55.394 [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes people can, they don't even realize what they did or said, hurt you. 26:55.414 --> 26:57.034 [SPEAKER_01]: They're just careless. 26:59.155 --> 27:00.696 [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes they can be malicious. 27:03.275 --> 27:22.752 [SPEAKER_01]: sometimes in the family relatives, people at work, people even in the church can end the flesh, do and say things that are very wrong and hurtful. 27:24.693 --> 27:30.138 [SPEAKER_01]: And so why would those things be considered small in comparison? 27:32.373 --> 27:41.482 [SPEAKER_01]: And the reason is that they're considered small relatively is because they're committed against us. 27:44.464 --> 27:51.972 [SPEAKER_01]: See, sin committed against God is an enormous thing because God is infinitely holy. 27:53.253 --> 27:57.457 [SPEAKER_01]: But sin's committed against us is relatively small. 27:58.930 --> 28:06.654 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's entirely small in comparison to God sending it's God because we are fellow sinners. 28:08.955 --> 28:10.656 [SPEAKER_01]: We are not holy like God's holy. 28:12.236 --> 28:18.059 [SPEAKER_01]: And we are also people in need of grace and forgiveness from God. 28:19.360 --> 28:27.324 [SPEAKER_01]: And so the Lord has intentionally set this comparison extremes so that we can understand 28:28.967 --> 28:52.218 [SPEAKER_01]: that the fact that God would forgive us such a huge and enormous debt when we come to grips with that, when we think about that, we should not have trouble forgiving the comparatively small debt of others sins against us. 28:55.381 --> 28:59.642 [SPEAKER_01]: For given people, forgive us, the title of the message. 29:00.923 --> 29:16.588 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think I heard that from Troy Gaiman, maybe a year or two ago, one of the classes in talking about titles for sermons. 29:17.803 --> 29:20.184 [SPEAKER_01]: He had this title for given people forgive. 29:20.344 --> 29:23.786 [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't say everything, but it's a memorable isn't it? 29:24.206 --> 29:26.327 [SPEAKER_01]: For given people forgive. 29:27.207 --> 29:40.774 [SPEAKER_01]: If you've been forgiven, if you've truly belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ, you're in a position where you don't have any option other than to forgive. 29:43.475 --> 29:47.097 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not something that you can decide about. 29:50.449 --> 29:55.271 [SPEAKER_01]: Because we belong to Christ, we must follow Him. 29:57.473 --> 30:05.937 [SPEAKER_01]: And an interesting thing is, because we belong to Christ, we're compelled from within to obey Him and follow Him. 30:07.138 --> 30:15.143 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not like we have to go being dragged along like you're being dragged by a chain through the dirt. 30:16.764 --> 30:18.845 [SPEAKER_01]: No God puts within our hearts a desire. 30:19.590 --> 30:21.091 [SPEAKER_01]: to follow Him and obey Him. 30:21.991 --> 30:25.813 [SPEAKER_01]: And so forgiven people forgive because God has changed our heart. 30:27.553 --> 30:29.034 [SPEAKER_01]: And He's put within the desire. 30:29.054 --> 30:31.135 [SPEAKER_01]: And only does He put within the desire. 30:32.536 --> 30:33.896 [SPEAKER_01]: He also enables us. 30:34.096 --> 30:36.818 [SPEAKER_01]: He gives us the power to obey Him. 30:38.798 --> 30:43.360 [SPEAKER_01]: And so for the believer, there is no other way. 30:43.841 --> 30:49.263 [SPEAKER_01]: This is the way that God has given for us to follow Him to obey Him. 30:50.249 --> 31:06.478 [SPEAKER_01]: When we're reluctant to forgive, when we want to hold on to hurt, when we contemplate it and mull over it, and when we exaggerate it in our own mind, is because we have an inflated view of ourselves. 31:08.680 --> 31:14.103 [SPEAKER_01]: We've allowed the importance of ourselves to become great in our own eyes. 31:15.877 --> 31:22.400 [SPEAKER_01]: And it magnifies the hurt that someone how dare they say that to me or do that to me. 31:23.720 --> 31:25.141 [SPEAKER_01]: It's an inflated view of self. 31:25.621 --> 31:37.565 [SPEAKER_01]: And it is part about the tendency of the flesh to do that, to think that way, to put self first, the tendency of pride and self-importance. 31:38.185 --> 31:42.107 [SPEAKER_01]: And if we allow it, it will take the upper hand in our life every time. 31:44.148 --> 31:44.888 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's so easy. 31:45.700 --> 31:48.282 [SPEAKER_01]: because the flesh wants what it wants. 31:49.784 --> 31:51.065 [SPEAKER_01]: And we must put it to death. 31:52.966 --> 31:55.909 [SPEAKER_01]: We must every day put it to death. 31:57.690 --> 32:09.620 [SPEAKER_01]: And put on, put off those sinful habits, attitudes, thoughts, and put on the righteousness that is in Christ. 32:10.681 --> 32:12.443 [SPEAKER_01]: And the wonderful thing about that is 32:13.537 --> 32:14.738 [SPEAKER_01]: that God will help us. 32:15.418 --> 32:16.959 [SPEAKER_01]: God enables us to do that. 32:16.999 --> 32:18.580 [SPEAKER_01]: He gives us grace to do that. 32:21.161 --> 32:41.172 [SPEAKER_01]: And so when we realize this tendency, this self-centeredness, this lack of forgiveness, this resentfulness, when we feel that and we sense that taking hold of our heart, we need to get along with God, we need to repent of it, we need to turn away from it, 32:42.055 --> 32:49.677 [SPEAKER_01]: And we need to allow God through His Word to remind us of what He has done for us. 32:51.398 --> 33:03.181 [SPEAKER_01]: And what we are without Him, who we were before He were saved in our own sin. 33:05.542 --> 33:07.943 [SPEAKER_01]: But when we begin to 33:09.896 --> 33:12.778 [SPEAKER_01]: think about these things and allow God's Word to change us. 33:14.298 --> 33:15.399 [SPEAKER_01]: He does just that. 33:15.699 --> 33:22.663 [SPEAKER_01]: He gives us a heart that is full of grace. 33:24.504 --> 33:27.765 [SPEAKER_01]: It's full of mercy because that's who He is. 33:28.606 --> 33:34.469 [SPEAKER_01]: And God puts within our hearts His own love, His own grace, His own forgiveness, 33:36.344 --> 33:43.826 [SPEAKER_01]: And we find that when we've been with the Lord, it's not difficult to forgive other people. 33:44.407 --> 33:48.688 [SPEAKER_01]: Because God's grace and God's love can flow from us onto other people. 33:50.328 --> 33:55.270 [SPEAKER_01]: Not because they deserve it, but because of God's grace towards us. 33:57.571 --> 34:05.313 [SPEAKER_01]: Philippians two verses one and three says, so if there is any encouragement and Christ, any comfort from love, 34:05.998 --> 34:10.781 [SPEAKER_01]: any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy. 34:10.801 --> 34:16.966 [SPEAKER_01]: Also saying, is there any of these things in Christ? 34:18.727 --> 34:21.609 [SPEAKER_01]: Answers obviously, yes, all of these things and more. 34:22.529 --> 34:26.172 [SPEAKER_01]: He says, then, complete my joy by being of the same mind. 34:27.913 --> 34:34.718 [SPEAKER_01]: Having the same love, being in full accord in of one mind, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit 34:35.942 --> 34:39.945 [SPEAKER_01]: But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. 34:42.966 --> 34:48.089 [SPEAKER_01]: It's God and God's grace that enables us to do that, to obey that. 34:49.770 --> 34:52.132 [SPEAKER_01]: But it doesn't come natural to us, does it? 34:52.672 --> 34:54.433 [SPEAKER_01]: That's an opposition to the flesh. 34:56.294 --> 34:58.756 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we must be walking with the Spirit. 34:59.376 --> 35:03.539 [SPEAKER_01]: And submission to the Spirit, if we are going to obey this command, 35:04.910 --> 35:09.273 [SPEAKER_01]: This is not possible within our own power, with our own ability. 35:09.713 --> 35:14.195 [SPEAKER_01]: It is God who enables us to walk with Him in obedience. 35:17.057 --> 35:24.121 [SPEAKER_01]: In this same passage in Philippians II, He's going to continue to administer us to have the mind of Christ. 35:25.022 --> 35:33.687 [SPEAKER_01]: In other words, to think or to have the same attitude that Christ had in humbling Himself to come to this earth, 35:35.522 --> 35:46.389 [SPEAKER_01]: lowered himself to be born as a man as a human and to take up on himself the limitations of humanity and to be humbled in such a way. 35:47.209 --> 35:51.411 [SPEAKER_01]: The Lord is admonishing us to have the same mind to humble ourselves. 35:52.432 --> 36:03.038 [SPEAKER_01]: And if the Lord of glory can come and humble himself for us, who are sinners, 36:04.974 --> 36:08.376 [SPEAKER_01]: should not be difficult to humble ourselves before God. 36:10.157 --> 36:11.818 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we're in mind this in this way. 36:11.838 --> 36:27.786 [SPEAKER_01]: And as we, as we meditate upon God's Word and think about His forgiveness, His grace and love will fill our hearts and enable us to follow Him in forgiving others. 36:30.568 --> 36:32.669 [SPEAKER_01]: Matthew six, and I want to close with this verse 36:35.305 --> 36:39.588 [SPEAKER_01]: Matthew six, verse fourteen and fifteen, you'll remember this passage. 36:40.689 --> 36:46.533 [SPEAKER_01]: We call it the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer, the Lord gave to His disciples. 36:48.014 --> 36:54.979 [SPEAKER_01]: He says in verse fourteen, if you forgive others, their trespasses, you're heavenly Father will also forgive you. 36:56.140 --> 37:04.146 [SPEAKER_01]: But if you do not forgive others, their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 37:06.525 --> 37:07.806 [SPEAKER_01]: That's pretty sobering, isn't it? 37:09.447 --> 37:14.130 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why I said, this is the only way for us as believers. 37:14.551 --> 37:18.633 [SPEAKER_01]: We're not giving the option to forgive or not forgive. 37:19.054 --> 37:34.484 [SPEAKER_01]: God wants us to have hearts that are quick and open to receive others, to forgive others because we love the Lord and because He first loved us. 37:35.085 --> 37:35.325 [SPEAKER_01]: Amen. 37:36.595 --> 37:36.815 [SPEAKER_01]: Amen. 37:37.035 --> 37:58.144 [SPEAKER_01]: Father, thank you so much for this truth this morning and the reminder from your Word of how great you are, how great your love is in your mercy and compassion upon us who sinned it was so large that it could never be paid. 38:00.645 --> 38:05.307 [SPEAKER_01]: And only in the Lord Jesus Christ could you forgive us as He 38:07.447 --> 38:12.808 [SPEAKER_01]: came and died in our place that we might be forgiven. 38:14.129 --> 38:20.990 [SPEAKER_01]: That the debt could be paid in that we could have life and life with you. 38:21.490 --> 38:22.291 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for that. 38:22.491 --> 38:31.593 [SPEAKER_01]: I pray that you'd help us to never forget that never to underestimate the greatness of our sin and the greatness of your forgiveness. 38:33.473 --> 38:36.914 [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, I pray you'd help us to apply it in our daily living. 38:38.923 --> 38:54.917 [SPEAKER_01]: with all the difficulties and trials that we might face through the week, I pray that we might be able to put into practice, Father, the truth of what you have done for us and how you've changed us and forgiven us. 38:55.718 --> 38:56.899 [SPEAKER_01]: We thank you in praise you. 38:57.679 --> 39:01.863 [SPEAKER_01]: I pray, Father, there's someone here this morning that has not 39:03.315 --> 39:21.656 [SPEAKER_01]: trusted in you, I pray you'd open their hearts to your word, help them to see their need, help them to get a glimpse of their lossness before you, their guilt, their sin debt before you, and cause them to turn to Christ. 39:23.698 --> 39:29.845 [SPEAKER_01]: Open their heart and mind to see what Christ has done for them that they might be saved. 39:30.146 --> 39:31.447 [SPEAKER_01]: We pray in Jesus name. 39:31.728 --> 39:32.008 [SPEAKER_01]: Amen.