Divine Forgiveness (Mat 18:21-35)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.280 To open them remains standing. Will be going to the New Testament this morning, 2 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:21.980 the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter Eighteen. Matthew Eighteen, Matthew eighteen will 3 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:28.940 begin our reading and Verse Twenty One. This is the word of the Lord. 4 00:00:28.980 --> 00:00:34.659 Let us give our attention to its reading. Then Peter came up and 5 00:00:34.899 --> 00:00:40.369 said to him, him being Jesus Lord, how often will my brother sin 6 00:00:40.570 --> 00:00:47.130 against me? And I forgive him as many as seven times? Jesus said 7 00:00:47.130 --> 00:00:51.280 to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy seven 8 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:57.000 times. Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who 9 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:00.759 wish to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one 10 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:07.709 was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents and since he could not 11 00:01:07.150 --> 00:01:12.230 pay, his master ordained or ordered him to be sold with his wife and 12 00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:18.659 children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the 13 00:01:18.739 --> 00:01:23.900 servant fell on his knees, imploring him have patience with me, I will 14 00:01:23.939 --> 00:01:27.140 pay you everything, and out of pity for him, the Master, sister 15 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:33.609 of that servant, released him and forgave him the debt. But when that 16 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:37.810 same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 17 00:01:38.090 --> 00:01:42.129 a hundred Dinari and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying pay 18 00:01:42.329 --> 00:01:48.439 what you owe. So this fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 19 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:53.840 have patience with me, I will pay you. He refused and went and 20 00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:00.400 put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants 21 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:02.870 saw what he had taken, what had taken place, they were greatly distressed 22 00:02:02.909 --> 00:02:09.110 and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then 23 00:02:09.189 --> 00:02:14.069 his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave 24 00:02:14.110 --> 00:02:19.699 you all that debt because you pleaded with me, and should not you have 25 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:23.780 had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you. And 26 00:02:23.939 --> 00:02:29.659 in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all 27 00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:35.289 his debt. So also, my heavenly father will do to every one of 28 00:02:35.370 --> 00:02:40.610 you. If you do not forgive your brother from your heart, you may 29 00:02:40.650 --> 00:02:58.629 be seated. Well, a bit of a hard saying to end that parable 30 00:02:58.710 --> 00:03:05.229 this morning, isn't it? That's it's shocking and a lot of a lot 31 00:03:05.310 --> 00:03:12.310 of ways. Well, this morning will be talking obviously about forgiveness, certainly 32 00:03:12.349 --> 00:03:15.620 God's forgiveness for us, but what it looks like to be called to be 33 00:03:15.780 --> 00:03:24.259 people of forgiveness, people ready to offer forgiveness to others? Why? Way 34 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:30.530 of introduction, I want to consider some words from an English poet from seventeen 35 00:03:30.770 --> 00:03:35.490 eleven. Its name is Alexander Pope. You might be familiar with him, 36 00:03:37.050 --> 00:03:43.840 and Alexander Pope famously wrote an essay in the form of a poem entitled an 37 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:50.479 essay on Criticism Part two. He had a lot to say about criticism, 38 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:58.030 apparently, and in the poem he speaks of the dangers of prideful and arrogant 39 00:03:58.069 --> 00:04:04.150 critique, on being too hard on people, and in the end of one 40 00:04:04.189 --> 00:04:10.379 of the final stanzas of the poem, he remarks in a now famous line 41 00:04:11.659 --> 00:04:18.660 to air as human, to forgive divine. That's a very long poem. 42 00:04:18.740 --> 00:04:23.220 It's very interesting. I would encourage you to take a look at it at 43 00:04:23.300 --> 00:04:26.970 some point, but that's a line that most of us are probably familiar with. 44 00:04:27.490 --> 00:04:34.129 To air is human, to forgive divine. It's a profound truth, 45 00:04:34.250 --> 00:04:38.759 isn't it? One that doesn't take long to put to the test, especially 46 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:44.720 in our current culture, where everyone airs everything on social media. where it 47 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:50.199 looks like mass media has made it whole industry on on journaling. The public 48 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:57.589 foibles of public figures mean it does not take long to understand that airing is 49 00:04:57.629 --> 00:05:04.990 indeed a common human capacity. But equally so, it is very difficult to 50 00:05:05.110 --> 00:05:12.660 find forgiveness and the public sphere, isn't it? We're really good at pointing 51 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:19.139 fingers, but it is rare, so rare to find displays of forgiveness, 52 00:05:20.649 --> 00:05:25.009 so rare indeed that when we see them, if we've seen them, it 53 00:05:25.649 --> 00:05:32.810 causes us to stop. Perhaps pope was right. Forgiveness, it seems, 54 00:05:32.850 --> 00:05:40.120 is a divine quality. Well, in our passage this morning is we have 55 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:46.160 heard, we find a command from Jesus to forgive, to forgive extravagantly. 56 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:50.829 But if pope is right, that sets up a big of a bit of 57 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:57.069 a problem for us, doesn't it? If forgiveness is indeed divine, how 58 00:05:57.350 --> 00:06:01.350 is it that we follow this command? Well, today we come to a 59 00:06:01.470 --> 00:06:08.660 passage and parable that that threatens the listener with banishment from the Kingdom of God 60 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:18.089 if we don't forgive, threatens withholding of God's forgiveness if we are not people 61 00:06:18.970 --> 00:06:25.250 marked by forgiveness. Well, by way of introduction. I want to consider 62 00:06:25.290 --> 00:06:30.810 the context this morning. This parable comes right after a passage that we actually 63 00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:35.959 looked at in Sunday school last week, talking about the process of restoring a 64 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:43.319 brother within the church who is in sin, the passage that we develop a 65 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:49.430 lot of our theology around church discipline on. And you'll note in Matthew Eighteen, 66 00:06:49.589 --> 00:06:57.069 verse fifteen begins if a brother sends against you, and then Jesus lays 67 00:06:57.110 --> 00:07:03.939 out this process for how to restore this brother, a process that finally, 68 00:07:03.980 --> 00:07:11.019 if you find that this brother can is continually not repentant, ends in excommunication 69 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:17.250 of removing this individual from the body. So a horrible thing to think about, 70 00:07:18.529 --> 00:07:24.569 but it itself, as Paul will explain later, is part of this 71 00:07:24.889 --> 00:07:31.000 process of restoration bringing someone in. And so as we think of this passage 72 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:34.639 in Matthew About Church discipline, we should remember that this whole thing is really 73 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:40.759 about forgiveness and and how is it that we treat sin within the body? 74 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:46.029 Well, Peter, who is often the disciple to speak up and situations like 75 00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:55.670 this, comes to the Lord after he is outlined this process of restoration and 76 00:07:55.790 --> 00:07:59.660 says, Lord, how often do I need to forgive a brother if he 77 00:07:59.899 --> 00:08:07.139 sends against me. Seven Times. Seems Fair and it's easy to point a 78 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:13.730 finger at Peter here. But actually, if you look at rabbinical tradition around 79 00:08:13.769 --> 00:08:18.850 this time, the writing say, well, three times is enough if someone 80 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:24.329 commits the same sin over and over again. So Peter here is actually being 81 00:08:24.370 --> 00:08:33.279 quite generous doubling it and then some. But Jesus response is interesting. He 82 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:39.840 says actually, seventy seven times. For those of you married here you might 83 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:43.309 be saying, well, my spouse has gotten there. But I don't think 84 00:08:43.350 --> 00:08:50.230 Jesus is giving us a particular amount of times to forgive, but is speaking 85 00:08:50.269 --> 00:08:54.950 of a culture of forgiveness which he will lay out for us in this parable 86 00:08:54.029 --> 00:09:00.019 that will look at this morning under three headings. One, a time to 87 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:09.500 forgive, to a time to collect and three, a time of reckoning. 88 00:09:09.539 --> 00:09:15.690 A time to forgive, a time to collect in a time of reckoning. 89 00:09:16.730 --> 00:09:20.370 Let's look at this parable a little bit closer. This first section a time 90 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:26.399 to forgive. Jesus Begins Teaching and Response to Peter's question and he tells of 91 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:31.519 a King and it has come time for this king to settle accounts with his 92 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:37.279 servants and and one servant in particular is brought to him. The passage says 93 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:45.389 he owes ten thousand talents. Now to think about this number, a talent 94 00:09:45.990 --> 00:09:52.139 is the largest monetary unit in the Greek language and ten thousand is the highest 95 00:09:52.259 --> 00:09:56.700 Greek numeral. So if you think about that, what what this guy is 96 00:09:56.820 --> 00:10:03.500 saying is he owes like a billion dollars. Not to say that Jesus e 97 00:10:03.580 --> 00:10:09.809 exaggerating, but he is very, very poignantly bringing out the fact that this 98 00:10:09.009 --> 00:10:18.370 guy owes a debt that is insurmountable, it's unimaginable. I mean think for 99 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:22.200 a minute. What's a number that you could never save in your lifetime? 100 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:28.039 Okay, that's how much this cios a lot of money, and when he 101 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:33.480 doesn't have the cash, the king says, well, sell him and his 102 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:41.629 wife and his children and all that he has and collect the proceeds. Well, 103 00:10:41.669 --> 00:10:46.590 we find here is that this debt held against him as not only related 104 00:10:46.669 --> 00:10:50.980 to his pocket book, but his entire life and that of his family. 105 00:10:54.059 --> 00:11:00.059 What's probably implied here is that this king would sell this man into slavery, 106 00:11:00.100 --> 00:11:05.090 as well as his generations of children, which was not an uncommon practice in 107 00:11:05.129 --> 00:11:11.769 Roman law at this time, and children born into slavery would be the possession 108 00:11:11.850 --> 00:11:16.250 of the master unless they were somehow able to buy themselves out of that. 109 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:24.320 And we know that this debt will not soon be paid off. Well, 110 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:30.679 the man pleads with the king. The text says he falls on his knees 111 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:37.750 and he begins to beg verse. Twenty six, have patience with me. 112 00:11:39.190 --> 00:11:45.350 I will pay you everything now. This is kind of a humiliating scene, 113 00:11:45.429 --> 00:11:48.659 but there's also some comedy to it, because there is no way this man 114 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:54.899 could ever repay this debt. This is an empty promise in a lot of 115 00:11:54.980 --> 00:12:03.850 ways. The king would do well, if he was thinking fiscally, to 116 00:12:03.009 --> 00:12:11.090 sell this guy off, to cut his losses and to collect what he could. 117 00:12:13.129 --> 00:12:18.840 But the king's response is interesting, isn't it? It says that he 118 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:24.120 has pity on the man. Some translations say he has compassion, and this 119 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:30.190 is a good translation. It brings out this quality that we often see Jesus 120 00:12:30.309 --> 00:12:35.750 having when he comes upon the destitute, the poor, the needy. He 121 00:12:35.870 --> 00:12:43.710 has compassion on them. And so the master forgives the debt and releases him. 122 00:12:43.740 --> 00:12:46.659 It's easy to miss this, but there's two things going on here. 123 00:12:48.659 --> 00:12:52.620 One is this guy is a servant or bond servant of the king. He 124 00:12:52.779 --> 00:13:01.090 is the king's possession and it would take much for him, debt excluded, 125 00:13:01.330 --> 00:13:09.610 to buy himself out of this relationship. But the king not only forgives this 126 00:13:09.850 --> 00:13:16.080 incredible ount of money, but he gives him his life. He frees him, 127 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:24.559 the text says, and his wife and his children. This man goes 128 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:33.789 free to air. Is Human to forgive divine. If that is true, 129 00:13:33.870 --> 00:13:39.870 then this king has certainly showed divine forgiveness, hasn't he? This is no 130 00:13:39.429 --> 00:13:43.820 small transaction. You can imagine this guy walking into the king's court, not 131 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:52.220 sure what's going to go down, and walking out free, truly a new 132 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:56.850 man. His future in the future of his wife, the future of his 133 00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:05.970 children, has changed and a moment it's amazing to think about. Well, 134 00:14:05.970 --> 00:14:11.600 if our parable begins with a time to forgive, it quickly and jarringly moves 135 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:16.320 to a second section, a time to collect. So this man, who 136 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:22.639 has just been released from his debt, who has been given his life back, 137 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:28.710 seemingly use his uses his first moments of freedom to track down a fellow 138 00:14:28.789 --> 00:14:33.230 servant who owes him a hundred Denari. Now, a hundred denari is no 139 00:14:33.389 --> 00:14:39.940 small amount. Of this would probably be several months money for a a regular 140 00:14:39.940 --> 00:14:45.820 day labor of this time. And yet, in light of what this man 141 00:14:45.940 --> 00:14:50.379 has just been forgiven, there really is no comparison, is there? So 142 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:56.289 the Texas he finds his fellow servant, he seizes him and he he grabs 143 00:14:56.289 --> 00:15:05.850 him and he begins to choke him, demanding pay what you owe. It 144 00:15:05.289 --> 00:15:11.720 seems ridiculous from our vantage point, doesn't it, that this man immediately would 145 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:18.600 go out and it would seem, forget about this incredible debt that has just 146 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:28.710 been paid on his behalf and be so unforgiving almost immediately. It's incomprehensible to 147 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:33.950 think about, isn't it? Well, Matthew here, in retelling this story, 148 00:15:35.149 --> 00:15:39.100 is careful to show that the second servants response to the call for repayment 149 00:15:39.259 --> 00:15:45.659 is precisely like the first servants. He falls to his knees, he takes 150 00:15:45.700 --> 00:15:52.730 the same posture and he says be patient with me, I will repay you. 151 00:15:54.970 --> 00:15:58.090 What's different about this servant, though, is he actually probably could have 152 00:15:58.210 --> 00:16:03.679 repaid I mean it's not a small amount, but it's something he could save 153 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:12.559 up and repay. Nothing in comparison to the amount that the first servant was 154 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:18.269 forgiven, and that is a vivid contrast that we should note in this passage. 155 00:16:22.269 --> 00:16:26.950 But instead of releasing the man, like the gracious King did, he 156 00:16:26.070 --> 00:16:33.779 does quite the opposite, has him thrown into prison until the payment is able 157 00:16:33.860 --> 00:16:42.220 to be made to air. Is Human to forgive divine, apparently, it's 158 00:16:42.259 --> 00:16:48.889 true. In this man's case, he is unable to forgive even right after 159 00:16:48.049 --> 00:16:53.730 this great forgiveness has been given to him, and the text says that he's 160 00:16:53.809 --> 00:16:57.090 brazen about it. He does it in front of other servants. He doesn't 161 00:16:57.090 --> 00:17:03.519 even wait until, you know, nightfall comes, other folks are watching. 162 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:10.240 He humiliates this fellow servant and his unforgiveness, and these other servants are, 163 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:15.670 I mean understandably shaken by this and disturbed by it and go and tell the 164 00:17:15.829 --> 00:17:25.069 master. And so this time of collection then turns to the final section of 165 00:17:25.109 --> 00:17:32.700 the parable, a time of reckoning. The man's indiscretion comes back to bite 166 00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:37.339 him, doesn't it? The other servants who saw what happened report the whole 167 00:17:37.579 --> 00:17:45.130 thing to the king and the Master Summons this servant and he declares, you, 168 00:17:45.210 --> 00:17:52.210 wicked servant. I forgave you all the debt because you pleaded with me. 169 00:17:53.009 --> 00:17:59.079 You should therefore have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had 170 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:06.319 mercy on you. And then, his anger, this master turns the servant 171 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:10.720 over to the jailers until his debt should be repaid. We know how long 172 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:15.029 that will take. This word for jailer's here is is kind of a disturbing 173 00:18:15.150 --> 00:18:19.190 one. It's not a common one used. Some translations say tortures, and 174 00:18:19.349 --> 00:18:27.299 this would rightly fit this, this interesting word. This is not a pleasant 175 00:18:27.500 --> 00:18:36.180 sentence. Cell that this man is going to serve and he's not going anywhere 176 00:18:36.259 --> 00:18:44.009 soon. And then Jesus ends this parable with this statement that likely caused us, 177 00:18:45.009 --> 00:18:49.009 made us a little bit uncomfortable as we heard it read so also, 178 00:18:49.970 --> 00:18:55.250 and then the stomach turns a little bit, doesn't it? So also, 179 00:18:55.369 --> 00:19:00.240 my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive 180 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:10.549 your brothers from your heart. Jesus can't mean this right. There's no way. 181 00:19:10.750 --> 00:19:15.470 We have theological categories that get us out of this. I mean, 182 00:19:15.549 --> 00:19:18.750 we know that we are saved by grace through faith, right. We are 183 00:19:18.829 --> 00:19:22.829 not saved by work, certainly not saved on the merit of our ability to 184 00:19:22.950 --> 00:19:30.099 forgive. We know that. And yet here it is right in front of 185 00:19:30.180 --> 00:19:36.500 us, and it's not the only time that Jesus has said this, is 186 00:19:36.819 --> 00:19:41.690 it? Fact, a few chapters prior at the end of the Lord's prayer, 187 00:19:41.769 --> 00:19:45.569 how does Jesus in the prayer? He says for if you forgive their 188 00:19:45.769 --> 00:19:52.920 trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you, but if you do not 189 00:19:52.119 --> 00:20:02.519 forgive others trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. As James and 190 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:08.589 his epistle summarizes it, for judgment is without mercy to one who has shown 191 00:20:08.670 --> 00:20:17.869 no mercy. This parable, unlike some others that we encounter, is not 192 00:20:18.109 --> 00:20:25.460 that difficult to understand, and yet we will go to great intellectual lengths to 193 00:20:25.500 --> 00:20:33.259 veil the obvious implications that God's word has for us. Forgive of or you 194 00:20:33.299 --> 00:20:41.250 will not be forgiven. Why is this so difficult? Well, because forgiveness 195 00:20:41.410 --> 00:20:45.809 is hard, some of you might be thinking right now. You have no 196 00:20:47.009 --> 00:20:52.519 idea what I've been through. You have no idea how difficult it is to 197 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:57.519 forgive a specially when the trespass is sourced and someone close to us, like 198 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:03.670 brothers and sisters within the church, which is precisely what this text is aimed 199 00:21:03.710 --> 00:21:12.190 at and its context. Right, people really wrong us. People truly do 200 00:21:12.509 --> 00:21:18.539 wicked things. Brothers and sisters in the church disappoint us, they neglect us, 201 00:21:18.619 --> 00:21:26.259 they don't meet with our expectations and it is hurtful and it is difficult 202 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:33.170 to forgive. If you were to go out and pole people who have left 203 00:21:33.250 --> 00:21:37.569 the church, my guess is nine out of ten times you would find that 204 00:21:37.650 --> 00:21:41.970 they left because they were hurt by someone, perhaps even a pastor or a 205 00:21:42.009 --> 00:21:52.000 leader in the church, and they've removed themselves from this earthly manifestation of the 206 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:59.880 Kingdom of God because they were unable to forgive. Forgiveness is hall art, 207 00:22:00.599 --> 00:22:07.109 it is costly, but here we have fairly clearly that Jesus is asking us 208 00:22:07.190 --> 00:22:14.150 to own the debt of others, to forgive them, and not only that, 209 00:22:14.390 --> 00:22:22.700 but threatening to withhold forgiveness if we don't. Well, perhaps this morning 210 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:29.900 Jesus, in this text is is calling us to reorient ourselves just a bit. 211 00:22:32.049 --> 00:22:37.329 Perhaps God is calling on us who struggle with unforgiveness to shift our view 212 00:22:38.450 --> 00:22:45.720 just a bit. Perhaps you are familiar with the story of Corey Tin Boon. 213 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:53.599 Cory was a Christian arrested for hiding Dutch Jews under the Nazi regime during 214 00:22:53.680 --> 00:23:02.190 the Holocaust, she herself being thrown into concentration camps, and Corey writes about 215 00:23:02.309 --> 00:23:06.390 this experience and it's horrifying. If you've if you've read any of her books, 216 00:23:06.430 --> 00:23:11.710 it's it's quite striking the suffering that she's gone through. And yet cory 217 00:23:11.859 --> 00:23:19.140 is constantly talking about how God has forgiven her sense. She seems to make 218 00:23:19.299 --> 00:23:26.019 little of the offenses of others, constantly thinking about how she is offended a 219 00:23:26.140 --> 00:23:33.250 holy God, but how God in Christ has shown her great forgiveness. Well, 220 00:23:33.289 --> 00:23:37.569 one of the things cory did, in addition to writing books, that 221 00:23:37.690 --> 00:23:41.640 she would go and speak in different venues and one evening at a church in 222 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:48.200 Munich, after she had talked, a balding man in a gray overcoat came 223 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:56.990 walking toward her and she froze because she immediately recognized him as one of the 224 00:23:57.509 --> 00:24:03.589 more brutal guards and camp raise at Ravensbrook, one of these concentration camps, 225 00:24:06.029 --> 00:24:11.180 specifically the camp that her best friend had died in at the hands of guards 226 00:24:11.299 --> 00:24:18.660 like this one, and he began walking toward her. She she doesn't know 227 00:24:18.740 --> 00:24:22.740 it hurt to do her. Her mind is is flooded with images of the 228 00:24:22.859 --> 00:24:30.210 injustice that this man had committed against her and her friends. And he walks 229 00:24:30.250 --> 00:24:34.730 up to her and and he says, thank you for being here, thank 230 00:24:34.769 --> 00:24:41.400 you for speaking. You know, you mentioned Ravensbrook in your testimony. I 231 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:45.400 was a guard there, and he says, but I've I've since come to 232 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:52.480 faith in Jesus and I've experienced his forgiveness. He says, Oh, how 233 00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:57.269 I would love to hear that forgiveness come from Your Lips. And she froze 234 00:24:57.950 --> 00:25:04.750 again. All this she could think about was the great injustice done to her. 235 00:25:07.819 --> 00:25:11.220 Well, she writes about this experience in one of her books. It 236 00:25:12.579 --> 00:25:17.660 says I pray to Jesus help me. I can lift my hand, I 237 00:25:17.740 --> 00:25:22.450 can do that much, but you must supply the feeling. And Corey lifted 238 00:25:22.529 --> 00:25:26.089 up her hand and she says, as I did, an incredible thing took 239 00:25:26.089 --> 00:25:33.049 place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang 240 00:25:33.210 --> 00:25:37.720 into our joined hands, and then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole 241 00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:42.880 being. I forgive you, brother, with all my heart. I cried, 242 00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:48.920 she writes. For a long moment we grasped each other's hands. The 243 00:25:49.069 --> 00:25:55.269 former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely 244 00:25:55.309 --> 00:26:00.349 as I did then, but even so I realized it was not my love. 245 00:26:00.910 --> 00:26:06.380 I had tried, but I did not have the power. It was 246 00:26:06.460 --> 00:26:11.099 the power of the Holy Spirit. As Corey continues to write, she talks 247 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:18.450 about how God's grace allowed her to look past this man and his great injustice 248 00:26:18.569 --> 00:26:27.250 toward her, to a God who is holy and Cory's great injustice toward him, 249 00:26:30.650 --> 00:26:33.880 but also to a rugged cross that stood between her and the wrath of 250 00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:40.640 God. And as she looked to the broken body and shed blood of Christ 251 00:26:40.839 --> 00:26:45.279 for a sinner like her, she was able, by the power of the 252 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:48.789 Holy Spirit, to extend forgiveness to this man who had done her so wrong. 253 00:26:52.589 --> 00:26:57.589 It is very difficult for us to stare down the Cross of Christ, 254 00:26:59.630 --> 00:27:04.660 in all of its brutality and all of its beauty, and continue to withhold 255 00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:11.619 forgiveness. The power to forgive is not found in our own ability to muster 256 00:27:11.660 --> 00:27:18.730 up a heart of forgiveness, but to consider afresh God's heart of forgiveness shown 257 00:27:18.809 --> 00:27:26.769 to us in Jesus Christ, and as we shift our orientation, our focus 258 00:27:26.930 --> 00:27:33.119 to the great redemption that is in Christ, the debts owe to US grow 259 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:38.880 strangely dim as we focus on a payment that has been made on our behalf 260 00:27:40.839 --> 00:27:45.990 by the blood of a crucified savior and his lavish forgiveness offered to us. 261 00:27:47.029 --> 00:27:52.390 We grow in the ability to forgive by the power of the spirit. The 262 00:27:52.549 --> 00:28:00.900 power to forgive others is truly divine, but given to us as we reflect 263 00:28:02.059 --> 00:28:08.140 on the divine forgiveness offer to us in Jesus Christ. So, this morning, 264 00:28:08.380 --> 00:28:14.930 is we conclude, I want to consider a few of the Apostle Paul's 265 00:28:15.009 --> 00:28:22.089 words. Church it Coloss A, was struggling with some different issues, returning 266 00:28:22.250 --> 00:28:26.359 to habits that did not reflect the freedom that they had found in Christ. 267 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:33.880 But interestingly enough, Paul does not tell them to muster up enough will to 268 00:28:34.039 --> 00:28:41.470 act like Jesus, but he calls them to reflect on the great debt that 269 00:28:41.670 --> 00:28:48.710 was paid on their behalf. And this morning I want to conclude by reflecting 270 00:28:48.910 --> 00:28:56.099 on those words together. From Colossians chapter two, beginning in verse thirteen, 271 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:02.059 Paul writes to the Colossians. He says in you, who were dead in 272 00:29:02.180 --> 00:29:07.380 your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive, together with 273 00:29:07.500 --> 00:29:15.049 him having forgiven all your trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against 274 00:29:15.049 --> 00:29:22.009 us, with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to 275 00:29:22.089 --> 00:29:29.200 the cross. Our life was gone, Paul says, dead in the depths 276 00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:34.559 of our debt were we imprisoned by our own sin. But God, rich 277 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:41.109 in love and mercy, came to us in Christ, giving us life by 278 00:29:41.190 --> 00:29:48.109 uniting us to his son. And how did he do this, Paul Answers, 279 00:29:48.349 --> 00:29:52.299 by canceling the record of our debt that stood against us, with all 280 00:29:52.339 --> 00:30:00.299 of its legal demands. God took that bill that we could never repay and 281 00:30:00.460 --> 00:30:07.529 he nailed it to a Roman cross alongside his son. And now that notice 282 00:30:07.849 --> 00:30:12.890 of debt that was insurmountable is stamped in the blood of Jesus, paid and 283 00:30:14.049 --> 00:30:22.400 for. He has paid our debt and he has set us free from what 284 00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:30.480 held US captive and he has given us life. And now we stand free, 285 00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:36.910 free to love, free to show mercy and, yes, free to 286 00:30:37.069 --> 00:30:45.069 even forgive, because he first loved, showed mercy and forgave us. Amen. 287 00:30:45.029 --> 00:30:45.829 Let's pray together.