Lon Solomon Ministries
People Jesus Met Part 26
You know, the year was 1995, the scene was the PGA Mercedes Golf Championship. And the situation was this. Craig Stadler was milling around the first tee as his tee time of 8.02 AM approached. He was waiting for veteran starter Bob Fulton to announce him. When Fulton failed to do so, Stadler finally went ahead and teed off anyway. The problem was that by the time he actually struck his ball, it was 8.03 AM. Well on the next tee, tournament officials informed Stadler that he was being assessed a two stroke penalty for teeing off late. And he protested vehemently and said, I was standing right around the tee, the man never announced me. And when they wouldn't listen to that, he pleaded for clemency all to no avail. The PGA director of rules said and I quote, it was cut and dried. He wasn't on the tee at 8.02 and that's that end of quote. By the way, Craig Stadler lost the Mercedes Championship that year by guess how many strokes. Two, you got it exactly right. Now the point is that sometimes we live in a very unforgiving world. And this is not only true when it comes to golf, it's true when it comes to all of life. I mean, just listen to people's everyday conversations around you oozing with hard feeling and malice and venom and lack of forgiveness for other people who have hurt them and wounded them. Well, this is what we're going to talk about today because we're in a series entitled People Jesus Met and today Jesus has a meeting with Peter in which the topic of mercy and forgiveness is the central point of discussion. We want to go back 2,000 years and see what Jesus said to Peter. And then as always, we want to bring that forward to today and say, well, what difference does that make to me? And so Matthew chapter 18 is our passage, and we're going to begin at verse 21. Then Peter came to Jesus and said, Lord, how many times must I forgive my fellow man when he sins against me? Up to seven times? You see the rabbis in Jesus' day out of saying that went like this, if a person sins against you once, forgive him. If a second and a third time, forgive him, but if a fourth time, do not forgive him. And so in suggesting that he forgives someone seven times, I mean, Peter certainly thought he was going above and beyond the call of duty. I mean, for goodness sake, he took the standard the rabbis were using and he more than doubled it. But you know, there was a problem and that problem was in the very nature of the question that Peter was asking. You see, Peter's question implies that at some point, whether it's after three offenses or ten offenses or a hundred offenses, what difference does it make? At some point, it's okay to refuse to forgive somebody. And this is an error that Jesus quickly corrects. Verse 22, Jesus answered and said, "Peter, I tell you, not up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." Now, Jesus is not saying here, friends, that when somebody sins against us for the 49 first time, we don't have to forgive him anymore. What he's saying is that as followers of Jesus Christ, our forgiveness towards other people must be infinite. And to press that point home, Jesus tells a little story, tells Peter a story that we know today as the parable of the unmerciful servant. And let me just say as we begin to look at this parable, that the truth that's in this parable is for followers of Jesus Christ only. If you're here today and you're not a reborn believer in Jesus, hey, the parable we're about to study, you may enjoy it, it may even intellectually stimulate you, but you will never be able to understand the true power in this story. You will never be able to be gripped by the real message of this parable until you have experienced the unspeakable mercy and forgiveness of God at the cross. Now if you're here today and you are a follower of Christ and you understand and have experienced that mercy and forgiveness, then friends, listen up because this story is for you and it's for me too. The story has three scenes, like a little play, so here we go. In one, therefore Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. And as he began to do this, a man who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him. Now 10,000 talents is a huge sum of money. In today's money, it's about $5 billion. The point, of course, is that this was an utterly, absolutely unpayable sum of money. Verse 25, "But since the man didn't have the means to repay the debt, the king ordered that he be sold into slavery, along with his wife and his children and all that he owned. Then the servant fell on his knees and prostrated himself before the king and said, please have patience with me and I will pay back everything." Please notice that this man didn't ask the king to forgive the debt. He didn't ask the king to cancel the debt. I mean, no amount of hutzpah would have possibly expected a debt that size for someone just to write it off. He asked instead for a much smaller mercy and that is he simply asked for more time to pay it off, which we've already agreed he could never do. Verse 27, "Then the king felt compassion for him and canceled the entire debt, $5 billion and set the man free." Man, you talk about mercy, you talk about forgiveness, you talk about compassion, holy smokes. End of scene one, scene two. But when that servant went out, he encountered a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denariai. A hundred denariai was a modest sum. In today's money, it would be about $7,500, you say lawn. As far as I'm concerned, $7,500 is a lot of money. Well, I agree it is for me too. But look, compared to $5 billion, I mean, we're talking chicken feed here, we're talking small potatoes here, we're talking bobcats, if you understand what I'm saying. By comparison, verse 29, "Then this fellow servant fell to his knees and said, 'Please have patience with me and I will pay back everything.'" Do these words that he said sound vaguely familiar? Well, yeah, they're the exact same words. For baton, word for word, what the first servant had just said to the king a few minutes before. Yes, verse 30. But the first servant refused to listen. Instead, he had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. So as scene number two comes to an end, we find the servant who had received infinite mercy, unwilling to show even the smallest mercy to a person that owed him much less. Scene three, "When the other servant saw what had happened, they were deeply saddened and they went and they told the king all that had taken place. Then the king called the servant in and said, 'You wicked servant, I cancelled all your debt five billion dollars simply because you begged me to, shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you? See, this servant's lack of forgiveness would not have been so outrageous if it wasn't for the fact that he had just been forgiven five billion dollars worth of debt." This is the great indictment against this man that after being forgiven so much, he refused to forgive so little. Verse 34, "Then in anger, the king turned to the servant over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all that he owed." Now watch. Jesus concludes his story by saying, "And this is how my heavenly father will react to each of you if you do not forgive your fellow man from your heart." You say, "Oh, wait, hope, stop, yep, hope. What does that mean?" I mean, what in the world does that mean? Is Jesus saying that if we don't forgive our fellow man from our heart, he's going to take away our salvation, he's going to yank away our eternal life? No, no, no. Friends, we must interpret Scripture with Scripture. And when we look at the rest of the Scripture, we find that the Bible is crystal clear when we trust Christ and what he did for us on the cross has payment for our sin, God makes us an airtight promise that as Jesus said, John 10, 28, we will never perish. So whatever this means, we know what it cannot mean. It cannot mean that God revokes our salvation if we refuse to forgive somebody because then Scripture would be contradicting Scripture and that never happens. So whatever Jesus is talking about here, it's not eternal forgiveness of our sin. You say, "All right, so then what in the world is he talking about?" Well, having studied this passage in depth, I believe with all of my heart that what Jesus is saying here is that on an everyday level, as followers of Christ, if we refuse to forgive other people who sin against us, God will treat our everyday sins against Him with greater severity and less mercy. Or to put it another way, you know how as followers of Christ, how we all do sinful, stupid, just dumb things. You know how we do that? Hello? Yes. Well, if you don't know the answer to that question, it is yes, you do. Okay. You know how after we do stuff like that, we come to God and we go, "Oh God, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." That was so stupid. You know, "Lord, be merciful to me. Please don't punish me. I know that that was a stupid thing to do." And Lord, you know all the bad consequences that what I just did could possibly bring on me. Lord, in your mercy and compassion, please don't let any of those things happen to me. And you know how often God answers that prayer in mercy and compassion and how often He steps in and pulls us out of our own muck and how often He steps in and dust our trail. You know what I'm talking about? I've been there more times than I know how to count. All right. Well, what I believe Jesus is saying here in Matthew 1835 is that if we refuse to show the kind of mercy and compassion to other people that we're asking for from God, God is going to show a whole lot less of that mercy and compassion to us. You say, "Well, Lon, is there any other verse in the Scripture that supports that? Oh, yeah, there's a number. But how about James chapter 2 verse 13? This is written to believers now. Listen, James says, "For He who has shown no mercy shall have judgment without mercy." You say, "Now that is a scary thought." I mean, that is a little terrifying and it just sounds like God's being a little harsh on us there. Don't you think? Well, not when we figure out who's who in this parable. When we get everybody situated right in this story, it makes perfect sense that God would react like that. Let's go back and do that. Let's figure out who's who in the parable. The king that forgave the servant $5 billion, who do you think that is? Huh? That's God. Exactly right. And the servant who owed the king $10,000 talents $5 billion, who do you think that is? Well, raise your hand. There you go. That's right. It's you and me. And we all owed God a sin debt that we could never pay. Psalm 130 verse 3 says, "If you, Lord, should keep a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?" And the answer is, nobody. And yet in his awesome mercy, look, God just didn't merely reduce the debt that we owed him. God forgave it all. God canceled it all. God wiped it out of existence and let us go free. Colossians chapter 2, verse 13 says, "When we were dead in our sins, God forgave us for what's the next word, all our sins. And what's the next word? Cancelled the debt against us, taking it out of the way by nailing it to the cross, Hallelujah and Hallelujah for that. You can clap for that. It's worth a clap." Now who was the fellow servant that owed this guy a hundred denarii? Who was that? Well, friends, that's all of the people around you and me, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers and our relatives who sin against us and hurt us and wound us but whose offenses against us are minuscule compared to the offenses that we had against Almighty God, like a hundred denarii versus 10,000 talents, like $7,500 versus $5 billion, okay? So now that we've identified correctly everybody in the parable, I think the point of the story is unmistakable, the point is that as reborn believers in Jesus Christ, you and I have no right to refuse to forgive anybody for anything at any time in light of the forgiveness and the mercy that God has shown to you and me. To put it another way, God expects a forgiven man to forgive. God expects a pardoned woman to pardon and God expects recipients of mercy to show mercy and Jesus says here as far as God is concerned, this is not optional, it is mandatory. Now that's as far as we're going to go in the passage because it's time for us to ask our most important question, and this is a 1230 service, so don't let me down, don't let me down. All right, here we go, nice and loud, one, two, three, oh God bless you people. You say, Lon, you know what, honestly, you're doing a pretty good job of preaching so far today but you know what, you just don't get it. You don't get it, see I've been hurt so badly by some people that honestly, I don't really want to forgive them and honestly even if I did want to forgive them, I don't think I can, the power to do it is just not there and yet you're standing up in there and telling me that God says I must forgive them. So my question to you Solomon is first of all, where do I get the motivation to even want to forgive them and second of all even if I have the motivation, where do I get the power to be able to do this because I don't have it? Well those are great questions. I suggest, let's answer them one at a time, what do you think? Question number one, as followers of Jesus Christ, where can we, where should we get the motivation so that we want to forgive other people who have sinned against us from our heart, where we want to do that, well the Bible answers this question in no uncertain terms. Colossians chapter 3 verse 13 says forgive others just as the Lord forgave you. Ephesians 4 32 says we should forgive one another just as in Christ God forgave you. Matthew 18 32, remember what the king said, the king said shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you. Look for a true Christian who's experienced the mercy and the forgiveness of Almighty God for all their sins. Friends listen, these words have enormous power in our lives. How can you and I, how can we refuse to show mercy to other people in light of the incredible mercy, the undeserved mercy, the overwhelming mercy that Almighty God has shown to us? How can we do that? You know one of my favorite people is Corey Tenboom. I never had the privilege of meeting her, but I love her anyway because of who she was. Corey Tenboom, if you don't know who this lady was, actually was living in Holland at the outbreak of World War II with her family, her mom, her dad, brothers and sisters. And they were wonderful believers in Christ and when the war broke out and the Nazis began to hunt Jewish people down and send them to concentration camps, Corey and her family hid Jewish people from the Nazis until finally they were caught. And then the Nazis sent them to concentration camp as well. They were not Jewish but sent them anyway and all of Corey's family died in concentration camps. She's the only member of the family to survive. Well one of the worst camps they were sent to was Raven's Brook and when she and her sister were there they were especially mistreated by this one particular guard. Well years later after the war, Corey was speaking at an evangelistic meeting in Germany she tells the story. When after the meeting was over she looked up, she was standing in the front of the church and down the center aisle she sees this guard from Raven's Brook making his way down the aisle towards her. She said suddenly all the pain and the horror that he had caused her and her sister at that awful camp came flooding back and she could feel herself just starting to panic and this man walked up to her he wouldn't even look her in the face but looking down at the ground and stammering he said Ms. Timboum, I came to ask you if you would forgive me for what I did to you and your sister. Quoting Corey Timboum now, she said there he stood before me seeking my mercy and forgive forgiveness just as I had stood before Jesus Christ one day begging him for his mercy and forgiveness. In light of what God had done for me Corey said what else could I do but forgive him. She concludes by saying God flooded my heart with compassion for this poor man. I reached out and hugged him and we both stood there and wept end of quote. Listen here every time you and I as Christians need motivation to forgive someone all we have to do ladies and gentlemen is look at the cross it's all we got to do. After all that Jesus did for us at the cross my how could we ever refuse how dare we ever think about refusing to show little mercy to others in light of the huge mercy God has shown to us. He said all right Lon fair enough I get that and so let's say I actually want to forgive this person that still doesn't help me because I don't have the power to do it. It's not in me to do it they hurt me so badly it's just not possible well friends listen the Bible addresses that too and the Bible tells us no matter how deeply you and I have been hurt and no matter how impossible forgiveness may seem that Luke 1827 the things that are impossible with men are possible with God you say but Lon how does God do that I mean what's the mechanism how does he take a heart like mine that is hardened with bitterness and malice and how does he soften it into a heart of mercy and forgiveness you know what I don't have the slightest idea how God does that I don't but that doesn't mean it isn't real folks look I don't know exactly how penicillin works but I know if I take it long enough my sore throat goes away and by the same token I may not know exactly how God changes a heart of malice and anger into a soft heart of compassion and pity but I know that when I ask God long enough and often enough to do that supernatural healing takes place in my heart and suddenly the power to forgive is there and listen I want to tell you I know where of I speak growing up my mom and my relationship was probably as bad a relationship between a parent and a child as I've ever seen my mother tried to dominate me growing up she tried to control me she tried to eviscerate me and I grew up with a hatred for my mother that was deep and that was violent and I'm convinced that all the dysfunctionality and all the unhealthiness of the first 20 years of my life can be traced back and more than any other reason to that hatred and that malice that I had towards my mom and then I became a believer and then I started reading the Bible and then I read Matthew 18 the parable of the unmerciful servant and I went oh Lord if I got everybody identified in this story correctly if I've got me placed correctly and I've got my mom placed correctly then Lord I got some work to do donut and I got on my knees and I said you know Lord Jesus because of this parable in obedience to you I'm willing to forgive my mom it's first time I'd ever said that in my life but Lord I don't know how to do that I do not have the capacity to do that so if you'll change my heart if you'll take that anger and that malice out of my heart and you'll replace it with the power to forgive you have my word I will do it but God I can't do this myself and I prayed that prayer consistently for over two years look all I can tell you is that at the end of a little over two years God changed my heart I can't explain to you how he did it what differences and make how he did it but God took out of me the malice and the hatred and replaced it with pity and compassion for my mom and I went to see her in Atlanta after this and I said Lord you know if the discussion comes up I'm willing to get into it and tell her what's going on and so we were sitting there one evening it was just me and my mom the two of us and she turned to me and she said you know she said you have hated me all of your life haven't you and I thought okay here we go I guess this is the moment and I said yes mom I have and I said I'll tell you why because you tried to dominate me you tried to control me you violated my very personhood and I hated you for that I said but I want to tell you something it was not okay what you did to me then but because of what Jesus Christ has done in my life mom it's okay now and my mom and I at the end of that discussion hugged each other for the first time in 20 years and it was genuine that was the greatest moment in our relationship as the result of that my mom came to Christ several years later and far more importantly as a result of that God released me from prison from the gall of bitterness and the bondage of hatred and malice so that as a young Christian I could go on to have a healthy family and to serve Christ with a healthy life I'm telling you what happened in my heart friends with supernatural healing no scalpel could have done that no pill could have done that no counselor could have done that only God could do that and let me tell you the great news listen here's the great news is God is willing to do it for anybody who wants it anybody who wants it now I should say by way of balance before we close that forgiving another person does not mean that we go right back into a destructive relationship with them I mean if you if you have a business partner who cheated you forgiveness doesn't mean that you agree to start another business with this guy if you have a husband who beat you physically and abused you forgiving that man does not mean that you move back in with him immediately if you have a friend who betrayed you forgiving that lady doesn't necessarily mean that you reestablished a friendship with them so that they can betray you again folks forgiveness means listen that by God's supernatural power and healing I am able to declare those hurts as ancient history it wasn't okay what they did to you and me then but by the grace of God it's okay now and I'm able to move on with my life forgiveness means and I'm able to serve Christ in a new and healthy way liberated from malice and anger this is forgiveness and for some of us here today I believe this is the greatest need in our life we need to forgive some people so let me ask in closing is there an abusive parent in your life is there a prison guard or two in your life hey we just celebrated Thanksgiving weekend maybe you had some people in your house that on the outside you pasted it on but on the inside every time you saw them you were like grudge a grudge a grudge a grudge a grudge a grudge hey let's be real all right friends the question is in obedience to God are you ready and willing to ask God to give you the power to forgive this person once and for all from your heart whether they ever ask for it or not doesn't matter and are you willing to hold on to God and not let go of him until he gives you that change of heart and that power because you are committed to forgiving them in obedience to God well folks God's ready if you are God's ready if you are let's pray with our heads bowed and our eyes closed and nobody looking around if that's really where you are today with someone who's hurt you and wounded you deeply if in obedience to God you're really willing to say Lord I'll forgive them but you've just got to change my heart however I'm so committed to doing this in obedience to you I'm not going to let go of you till you do change my heart then if that's where you are with heads bowed and eyes closed I'd like you to tell God that you're serious by simply raising your hand you can put it right back down anybody like to say Lord that's me God bless you thank you thank you for some of you this commitment will be one of the greatest commitments you ever made in your life I want to pray for you Lord Jesus I'm reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul Romans chapter 12 where he said as much as it lies with me I am at peace with all men father this is liberty this is freedom this is healthiness and for many of us here you want to give us that same testimonial but there's somebody or maybe a couple people standing in the way that we need to deal with in our hearts and so Lord Jesus for all the people who raised their hands and for even those who didn't but they they're willing to make that commitment I want to pray that you would honor what they've done today and God that you would change their heart like you did mine that you would take out of them that heart of stone full of malice and hatred and you would give them a heart of flesh full of compassion and mercy and pity Lord we don't really care how you do it just do it and help us to hold on to you and not turn loose until it's done our lives because we were here today father for many of us may we look back on this day this service this moment is one of the fulcrum points in our life because it's when we began to become free and we pray these things and thank you for your power that can do this in our hearts in Jesus name and God's people said amen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You You