Just How
Great is God’s Forgiveness of Our Sins?
Matthew 18
Audio MP3
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
6 June, 2010 AM
I.
Introduction (Acts 13:38,39)
A.
THE greatest
thing that could ever happen in ANY person’s life is to be forgiven by God!
1.
People have
such a flippant view of their sin, and all its consequences, that
forgiveness is the last thing they are worried about.
2.
Oh, they are
very concerned when someone wrongs them, and they are very determined to
make sure justice prevails
3.
But, when it
comes to their own actions and attitudes, they couldn’t be bothered – people
just don’t worry about getting right with other people
4.
And it is
because people aren’t concerned with getting right with God
B.
The Gospel
is all about fixing our relationship with God. That’s what the disciples
went all over the world preaching! It’s NOT about health, wealth, success,
houses, economies, family, education, accomplishment, or anything else.
Because there is NOTHING, I mean NOTHING greater than being absolutely and
completely forgiven by God!
II.
Message
A.
The Concept of Sin and Wrong
(Isaiah 59:1,2)
1.
We all wrong
and hurt people – that’s a given!
a.
We say
things that hurt people on purpose
b.
we do things
that are selfish only
c.
We don’t do
things we should do
2.
We also
wrong and hurt God – He is that forgotten Person that needs to be remembered
3.
You see, We
have forgotten that we humans are in trouble with God!
a.
Matthew 3:7
“who hath warned you…?”
b.
c.
Romans 1:18
d.
Revelation
14:10
e.
The hardest
part of Christianity today is getting people to admit that they are in
trouble with God. That they owe God big
time!
f.
The fact
that people are finding it harder and harder to forgive today is simply
because they know less and less of the forgiveness that THEY need themselves
4.
Why are we
in so much trouble with God? Why is wrath coming?
Because of sin
a.
If we break
a window, we owe it to replace that window
b.
If we steal
a game from a shop, we owe it to replace that game in full
c.
If we gather
a grocery cart of food, and just walk out of a shop without paying, we OWE
it to pay for all that food don’t we?
d.
If we say
hurtful things to someone, we owe it to them to make it up to them
e.
It is called
being in debt to the person we have wronged!
f.
Jesus said
in His example prayer of Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors.” He used the word “debts” – forgive us what we owe YOU
as we forgive those who owe US! He was speaking of our transgressions, our
sins that we owe fixing up with God!
5.
All have
sinned (Rom 3:10) – every last one of us have disobeyed God, and broken
God’s laws, and ignored His commandments
a.
Have you
ever made something in your life more important than loving and obeying God?
You know that you should love God most of all, and always obey Him first?
b.
Have you
ever bowed down to a statue, or an idol? Have you? God says it is wrong to
bow before any statue!
c.
Have you
ever used Gods’ (or Jesus’) name flippantly or disrespectfully?
d.
Have you
ever worked on the Sabbath?
e.
Have you
ever dishonoured or disobeyed your parents?
f.
Have you
ever killed somebody? Have you ever WANTED to kill anybody?
g.
Have you
ever committed adultery? Even in your heart?
h.
Have you
ever stolen ANYTHING? EVER?
i.
Have you
ever told a lie? Can you even COUNT how many times you have lied?
j.
Have you
ever coveted something? When were you NOT coveting in this day and age?
k.
There is not
one of you, not one person on this planet who has not sinned against God
almighty! That has not become indebted to God for some wrong word, or action
against Him!
6.
The wages,
the results, the consequences of sin is death (Rom 6:23) – serious
punishment. Not a slap on the wrist, or a verbal rebuke, but an eternal
punishment of death in hell!
7.
Three things
show just how serious our sin is:
a.
Life without
God in this world
1)
It’s not
getting better and better!
2)
And things
are the way they are because of SIN, not lack of education, or government
programmes, etc!
b.
Hell – it
proves just how serious our sins are (Rev 21:8)
1)
We all
accept that Hitler should be in hell, and Paedophiles, and mass murderers
2)
But God puts
LIARS into hell!
c.
Christ’s
death on the cross in our place
1)
Our sin put
Jesus on the cross
2)
His death
shows just how awful our sins are
B.
The Meaning of Forgiveness
1.
To treat
someone as no longer guilty. To pardon. To put away an offense, or a crime
and restore peace between two enemies
2.
What it is
NOT:
a.
It is NOT
arbitrary, or random, but precise and exact
b.
It is not
piecemeal. Forgiveness does not cover a majority of a crime, it removes the
punishment completely
c.
It is not
words you say – like when you were children and your parents made you say,
“I’m sorry” and “It’s okay, I forgive you”
d.
It is not
Denial – where the offended person just tries to forget something happened.
1)
Forgetting
is NOT forgiveness
2)
Forgiveness
however, will always enable you to forget!
3)
We might
fool ourselves and others into thinking we have "forgiven". But all of the
emotions and hurt are still there--only held back by force of will in
deliberated denial. But when we see "that person" again and all the
bitterness and pain rise up again within us, it only shows we have NOT
forgiven them!
3.
It IS from
God! Consider God's perspective.
a.
Nothing is
hidden from His sight: the evil intent, the hidden lust, the damage done,
the choosing of that which is wrong, etc. And yet He is the author and
originator of forgiveness.
b.
If we are
going to really forgive, we are going to have to do it His way: with our
eyes open, not an avoiding a person’s hurt, but a dealing with it squarely,
no matter how painful it may be.
c.
If we are
ever going to understand forgiveness, we are going to have to see just how
much God forgives and how He forgives!
C.
The Danger of Unforgiveness
1.
It will damn
you if you do not receive it yourself
2.
It will ruin
your life if you do not give it to those who have hurt you!
D.
The Seriousness of Forgiveness
1.
Peter’s
Struggle (Matthew 18:21-22)
a.
With
forgiving people
b.
Saw what
people did against him as SIN
c.
Asked how
many times must he forgive them before he would stop and say there was no
more forgiveness for them!
d.
Peter offers
what he thought was very extreme – “I’ll give them seven times, and any more
than that would just be asking me too much!”
e.
Jesus
responds and says, “Try forgiving 70 times 7”
f.
I can
imagine not only Peter’s mouth, but every disciple’s mouth hit the floor in
amazement! How could ANYONE forgive like that?
g.
The answer
is by looking at how much we have been forgiven!
2.
Jesus’
Lesson - A King’s Pardon (Mt 18:23-27)
a.
Great Debt
(Mt 18:23-24)
1)
Unbelievable
Debt
a)
Taking
account is calling people in and investigating their handling of money
b)
Like what is
happening right now in the Seanad with senators who have been found out
about their extravagant expense accounts!
c)
This servant
owed the king 10,000 talents
d)
This was an
immense sum – like a king’s ransom. Equivalent to €20,000,000
e)
That’s
pretty hard to imagine a single person getting into that much debt
f)
We ALL live
in such debt today
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
g)
How did it
happen? We live our way, our own lifestyle, no matter the cost, flippant
towards repaying those debts, and flippant towards God!
2)
Unable to
Pay! (Mt 18:25)
a)
What an
understatement!
b)
Just any one
of you try and pay back a million euros! Just try! Just and pay back 20
million!
c)
This man had
no way to pay such a debt!
d)
OH! He could
easily spend himself into debt, but had no way to get out of it
e)
How many of
you could spend €1,000 a day? Easily?
f)
How many of
you could afford €1,000 a day?
g)
Spend a
€1,000 a day, and it would take you 2 ˝ years to spend a million
h)
It would
take you 2,740 years until you spent a billion euros
i)
Could any of
us ever hope to repay such large sums?
j)
This man
could not pay!
3)
Unavoidable
Ruin (Mt 18:25)
a)
No bailout
b)
Payment HAD
to be paid – oh that people were FORCED to repay their debts, and pay all
their bills again!
c)
His debt was
going to ruin not only his life, but the lives of his wife and children
d)
Payment was
going to be made!
b.
Great
Repentance (Mt 18:26)
1)
Notice the
worship
a)
Worship
occurs when we realise who it is we are facing
b)
No one
worships a “god” to whom we owe nothing
c)
But owe how
we worship a God to whom we owe everything
2)
This man has
a resolve – a determination – “I will take responsibility” for my debts
a)
Good
attitude
b)
Willing to
take responsibility – OH how we need people to take responsibility for how
they are living and the costs of their lifestyles, and the price they must
pay to make things right
3)
Repentance
is the sincere desire to be forgiven
a)
Not that
something be overlooked, but that all debts would be paid
c.
Great
Forgiveness (Mt 18:27)
1)
Obviously by
now you know that this parable is about us and God
2)
Great
compassion towards the servant
a)
Not because
of his ability to pay – had no ability
b)
But because
the king was moved – something pulled Him towards forgiving the entire debt
c)
Psalm
130:3,4 – thank God for His mercy and compassion!
3)
Complete
Forgiveness - The king forgave the entire debt
a)
He didn’t
reduce the debt
b)
He didn’t
renegotiate the payments
c)
He
completely FORGAVE the entire debt
d)
AND the king
removed the punishment for getting into such debt
e)
This servant
was able to walk away, FREE of all debt – as if he had never been in debt –
justified – pardoned! His forgiveness was PERFECT (Ps 103:12; Heb 10:17)
f)
The King,
who just moments earlier was the enemy of that servant, was now at peace
with him (Rom 5:1; 8:1)
4)
But notice
there was forgiveness, but it was not available until the servant was
repentant. God is so ready to forgive (Psalm 86:5; Isa 55:7)
5)
Notice also,
the KING bore the debt now. The money did not appear from somewhere else. It
cost the KING to forgive the servant!!!
a)
The price of
perfect forgiveness
b)
The bloody
death of His Son (Ephesians 1:7)
c)
The
crucifixion (
d)
And His
death was enough to pay for the sins of the whole world (1
6)
What kind of
a sinner can God forgive? The worst – those that murdered His Son were
offered forgiveness!!!
3.
We will
Study The Servant’s Failure in the next verses, two weeks from now – after
our church’s anniversary next week
a.
But let me
say, the way we treat others OUGHT to be the way we have been treated by God
b.
This servant
goes and severely punishes another servant who owes him only €1
c.
Though
forgiven, the first man does not forgive
d.
And for that
attitude, he is tormented for the rest of his life
III.
Conclusion/Application
A.
I know
people who are living like there is no tomorrow
1.
The fun, the
money, the girls, the guys – storing up the wrath of God
2.
Unaware of
the coming day of reckoning
3.
4.
The hardest
part of my job today is getting people to realise they are indebted to God
5.
Everyone
wants counsellors to fix their mates, or for police to catch their enemies
6.
But God
wants people to realise just how far away from Him they have gone!
B.
All are in
trouble with God (Heb 9:27)
C.
How to Avail
of God’s Forgiveness
1.
Take your
sin seriously
2.
Confess your
sin particularly – see just how much you owe God
3.
Repent of
your sin completely – want to be completely forgiven
4.
Accept
Forgiveness thankfully. Jesus PAID for it in full!
D.
I don’t meet
too many people who believe they are headed for hell. Everybody I know
thinks they are going to heaven.
E.
But they are
not going to heaven if they are a sinner – not if they owe God for their
sins. And no amount of payback is possible for a sinner.
F.
What people
need is forgiveness of their sins. Forgiveness not through good works, or
through the sacraments, or through absolution, or through denial.
G.
It is only
fully paid for by Jesus Christ