Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Law of Forgiveness

Hallelujah! Amen. We're going to be looking at one of the most important subjects really in all of the Scriptures as it pertains to our relating to one another. We're just going to be spending this morning and then possibly Wednesday, I don't know how it's going to go tonight. Ron will be sharing with us. Ron and Terra are leaving tomorrow afternoon so be prayerful as they head back to join Tony and Karen there in Africa. Looking forward to the things that are going on.

Some good reports already. The meetings have begun on the streets there in Nairobi. I'm really excited about what God's doing. So be prayerful. We've got a facility there that we're renting at this time. The negotiations for property are still going on-a lot of exciting things. We don't know exactly what the Lord's going to have for us, but we're going to be faithful and be about His business. The ministry in Eldoret that we said wanted to be part of us as we shared is producing some great things. We got a letter from one of the members of the congregation there that had been touched by the Eldoret ministry and it was such a blessing as God was speaking to their hearts and they got hold of one of the tapes that we had done. Ron, what was that tape? Do you remember? Enduring Chastening.

This sister just wrote and talked about the persecution, the troubles that she had been through and the Enduring Chastening and how it had changed her life. She said she had never really heard a message like that. Most of the ministry in Kenya is just a "Bless Me" Ministry. Take the worst of what's in America and that's what they're getting in Africa, unfortunately. She said it just transformed her life and she's been rejoicing in the sovereignty of God and the goodness of God and looking for His deliverance but at the same time, rejoicing in the purity that's taking place in her life. She wrote a whole letter and didn't' ask for a dime. It was unbelievable.

You've got to understand what we're going through. Everybody over there wants a hand out, virtually. And when you find this, we're getting people in our midst and in our ministry that aren't beggars, they're givers. They want to give of their lives to glorify God. The want to seek the kingdom first in His righteousness and it's an exciting thing. There's good fruit already taking place in Eldoret. Be in prayer and it's exciting what Father's doing.

Ron will be ministering tonight. I just thought I'd give you warning. We're looking forward to that word that's coming forth. He was going to share a couple of weeks ago. He was in Africa all that time and didn't get sick. Over there, all there is AIDS and Malaria and stuff and he came back and got what we've all been fighting. Been hacking and snorting and different things that have been going on. So, the Lord's delivered him and we're looking forward to that ministry this evening.

Let's turn for just a second to the book of Mark. I talked about this subject that we want to deal with that is so vital to us as believers. One that has to be looked at in the perspective of God's love and grace toward us. But we need to understand that we cannot effectively approach Father and move in the spirit and know the power of God unless we're moving in pure vessels. One of the things that defiles us most is a spirit of unforgiveness. You might think, "Well, really I don't have grudges against anybody." We're going to see that it's a lot bigger than just a discernable grudge or a hatred, an identifiable schism in relationship or expressed hatred and strife. But many times it's just an attitude that we carry with us that really hinders our ability to move in the kingdom and effectively represent the heart of our Father.

In Mark chapter 11, a familiar verse to many of us, verse 22, "And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and [say it with me] ye shall have them."

That's a good verse, isn't it? How many have you ever quoted that? Most of us here are very familiar with that verse. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Praise God! Good promise. Most of us really expect that when we pray. The prayer of faith that we pray has to be prayed in this manner, believing that what we pray for we do receive. But so many people forget to read the next verse.

There's a condition of the heart that if we're going to come and believe that whatever we're asking Father for, He's going to do it according to John the fourteenth chapter. There's got to be a heart attitude of forgiveness. (Verses 25-26) "And when ye stand praying, [say it with me] forgive," "And when ye stand praying..." What? "...forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."

Pretty important topic wouldn't you say? If you don't forgive, your Father won't forgive you. Now, so often we're unaware of this attitude in our lives. We don't call it, "unforgiveness," we just call it, "keeping score." "I've forgiven him, but I've made a note of this thing, man. I just want you to know I have forgiven him, but I've got a record of it."

It's kind of like what's going on right now with Coach Mariucci with the 49'ers and Terrell Owens-interesting thing that's going on. I read an article the other day. An incident happened a while back in Texas and a lot of people didn't appreciate what this player did as he went out into the middle of Texas stadium and celebrated their victory over the Cowboys, or whatever was taking place at that particular time and it caused a fine to be given to this particular player, etc. He really felt that the coach let him down. So, they got into a feud and they haven't been able to reconcile this thing. It goes something like this. An interviewer was asking him just the other day. He said, "Have you guys worked this thing out? Have you and the coach worked this thing out?" He said, "What if he was to call you on the telephone right now and have you come to his office and say, 'Look, this thing just needs to be put to rest,' what would your response be to that?" And he said, "Well, first of all I'd rather he didn't call me. Secondly, if he did, I would listen to what he had to say, but my mind's already made up because I know what's in his heart."

Now, do we really know what's in people's hearts? So many of us continue to make judgments based upon our perception or our own feelings, our own insecurities, our own pride and we somehow, then, transfer this to other individuals. We need to learn, as we're going to look at the subject this morning, we need to learn one of the greatest laws that the Lord has taught us and that's to first of all take the what? The beam out of our own eye so we can see clearly to help our brother with the speck that may be in his eye. Listen, you're going to never get into unforgiveness if you always assume you're in worse shape than everybody else.

You think, "Well, how can I do that? Really, it's not right, because after all I think I'm actually in better shape than most people." What does the Scripture say? "Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall." Every one of us has got to understand the principle that no man knows his own heart entirely. It is deceitfully, desperately wicked, who can know it? Only the Holy Ghost. So to assume that we know our own hearts, listen to me, without specific revelation of the Holy Spirit, is to begin to move into deception.

When you talk about knowing your own heart, and this is a vital part of walking in the spirit, it's not just assuming that you know everything about yourself. Knowing your own heart means that you are aware that you need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit so He can speak to you momentarily about the condition of your heart. "I know what my intentions are but I also know the wickedness of my heart. I know the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, and therefore I don't assume good about myself, I assume that I need the Holy Spirit to speak to me continually and say, 'This is the way, walk in it.'" If we don't walk in that kind of an environment, we're going to get into this unforgiveness, or another way of saying that is, the judging of other people from our perspective and not from obvious fruit.

I'm going to try and tie these things together this morning if we can. The Scripture starts off this morning and says that we have the right to access God and to pray and to believe God for whatever it is that we desire in our hearts. But He says, "When you come you've got to forgive if you have ought against anybody." Well, we're going to see in just a moment who these anybodies can possibly be. But before we do, lets look at what forgiveness really is and what He's asking us to do. If you have ought against anybody you need to learn to forgive them. You're going to have to move into the biblical understanding of forgiveness.

We say things like this, "Well, I forgive, but I don't forget." Have you ever heard anybody say that? Some of us wouldn't even articulate that but that's kind of where we are. "I forgive, but I've got a record, right here." Well, the fact of the matter is, beloved, that if that's how you're going to relate to your brothers and sisters, then I want you to understand something very clearly. The handwriting of ordinances that was against you has not been blotted out. There's still a record and that's not the condition that you want to be in.

When you forgive, then, your Father, which is in heaven, can forgive you and He's going to forgive you in direct proportion to your ability to forgive others. And you say, "Well, wait a minute, is it a meritorious thing then? Is it going to based upon my works?" No, because in essence what's really happening is this, that you're going to be forgiven in direct correlation--or I should say the forgiveness that is going to be directed to you is going to be in direct proportion to that that you believe God for and receive. In other words, we're hindering God's forgiveness because we're only allowing His blood to affect our lives to a certain degree. We are not free from our own will. We are not free from those areas of pride. We are not free from self-righteousness and because that still remains in us we've not allowed God to forgive us of that, we're not allowed then to forgive others. We will not forgive others. "I refuse to accept that from God, and I'm going to hold it against you." And that's where too many people are today in their bondage.

Let's see how God works. Let's see what real forgiveness is all about. Psalm 103 begins to really give us an understanding of what forgiveness is about. Now, first of all what I want you to do is to ask yourself this question, "Have I really allowed Father to forgive me of my sins. Do I really believe that I am forgiven totally of all my transgressions and trespasses? Or is there something that I'm still trying to work out? Is there something that I'm still working on to merit God's love? To merit my salvation?" Because if there is, then you haven't received the full forgiveness of God. If you're still working, you haven't been forgiven in your own mind. You have not been forgiven. And if you've not been forgiven I want to tell you something, I guarantee you, if you're an individual that has not allowed God to forgive you, you will not forgive other people. Can't do it, it's impossible. Because you will love your neighbor as you love yourself. And if you don't love yourself you're not going to be able to love anybody else. And you're going to forgive in the direct proportion to how you've been forgiven, we'll see in just a moment in Matthew 18. So, if you're finding trouble in your life forgiving other people, the real problem, beloved, is not them. The real problem is, you haven't been forgiven of God. You haven't received the forgiveness of God. You're still under the law and so you're holding other people under the law. And it's a miserable place to live. Psalm 103 tells us this.

It's a fabulous chapter of course. We talk a lot about the beginning of this 103rd Psalm. "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities..." How many? "...who healeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's...The Lord [Verse eight] is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy."

Is that how you see your Father this morning? Tragically, too many people still see God as some ogre. Somebody that's just waiting for you to make the wrong move so He can smash you like a bug. Some of us see this great disciplinarian. Someone who just is waiting for you to make one false move so that He can bring you back into line. Many people see Father as a drill sergeant or as Coach Lombardi. He was a pretty hard guy. He was old school. And I think he was probably an expert on the flesh, tremendous motivator. Not known for mercy, though. Not a person that was very forgiving.

The thing that is so beautiful about our Father is, He expects and has one standard and it's perfection. And He never compromises it. And He demands a pursuit of diligence in the life of every one of us. He requires us to expend all of our energy in the pursuit of Him. He said, "If you don't love me more than you love your mother and your father and houses and land you are not worthy of me." He said, "I want you to take up your cross daily and follow me." He said, "I want you to be able to follow the apostle Paul and extend yourself wholly in the pursuit of God that we might attain and apprehend that for which we've been apprehended," Colossians says.

But in all of this, verse eight tells us that our Father is merciful. Mercy doesn't lower the standards. Mercy understands the frailness of the individual, the limitations of the individual, but He doesn't leave them there. He says, "I understand and I will bring you to a higher place," Praise God! "I understand your limitations and now I will give you instruction on how to come higher, how to make yourself better in this process of walking in the spirit, how to reckon the deeds of the body dead, and see yourselves alive into Christ." He's merciful and gracious and He's slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Can you say that about yourself? If this isn't how we respond to other people then that's an indicator as to how we see ourselves being treated by our Father. Because the law of reciprocity makes it clear that we're going to continue to give as it's been given unto us.

He goes on and he says, "He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever." There's a day of judgment. If you refuse His grace, if you reject His mercy, if you refuse to be conformed into His image, if you refuse the free gift through the blood of Jesus and continue to demand that you do it in your own merit and your own righteousness and your own strength, "He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger," but the good news is, verse ten, look, "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." Can you say, "Praise God!" for that? The Scripture tells us very clearly that He's cast them into the sea of His forgetfulness. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him."

I want you to see something, that our sins have been removed from us as far as the east is from the west. Why? Because of the mercy of God, the tenderness of our heavenly Father. Jeremiah speaks toward this thing in a way that I think helps us understand it in how we relate to one another. Go to Jeremiah. When you read Jeremiah, you think, "Jeremiah is just all about judgment and the discipline of God and the wrath of God." Much of it is because he knew the hearts of those that were hearing, that they wouldn't repent and they were prophesying to them their inevitable end. But in the midst of this he speaks towards a remnant.

In chapter 31 of Jeremiah we see a powerful statement beginning at verse 31, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel... [I'm going to make a new covenant with you. What is that? Verse 33] I will put my law [halfway through the verse] in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest...for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." "I will remember their sin no more."

That's our Father. That's how He relates to us. Now, how do we relate to those that transgress against us? Jesus in Matthew 18 speaks toward this and gives us probably the most comprehensive understanding of the consequences of unforgiveness of anywhere in the Scriptures. So look over at the 18th chapter of Matthew for just a second, a passage that many of us are familiar with. We talk about Matthew 18 and we immediately begin to think about, if your brother sins against you, you go to him, and if not, you bring another brother...and that's part of the discourse. Tragically, most of us see the whole purpose of this passage of Scripture to set somebody straight. Really, if you'll understand this chapter you see that it is not a chapter of legalism and demanding performance in the lives of brothers and sisters, but it's really a chapter on forgiveness. It's a chapter on mercy. It's a chapter on the unfathomable forgiveness of God and love of God toward us.

In this 18th chapter of Matthew, it's very interesting as you read through the discourse and understand the mercies of God that are being extended to us. Back to verse 15, "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against three..." Then what most people think forgiveness is, "My brother trespasses against me, so I just forget about it." Forget about it. That's not love and that's not forgiveness. Forgetting about it is not the biblical standard. "My brother trespasses against me and because I love him and because I've been forgiven of God, I'm going to forget about it. I just write it off, it's okay." No. That's not what the Scripture says to us. God being pitiful, God being merciful, God being kind never leads us unto the power of sin. We realize then, here in Matthew, how we respond to transgressions. Sin against us must always be confronted. There has to be a confrontation. There has to be at this time a reproving for the transgression.

Look, "...if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him [say the next verse with me] alone." Most people want to advertise it to everybody. Wait a minute. I understand that none of us here are gossips. I understand that. None of us here are talebearers and backbiters. That's just not among us because we know that's wrong. We just "share" with other people. We don't gossip. We just kind of "share" what happened. Primarily we're "sharing" this with them so that they can pray for our brother. The Bible does not want them praying for your brother at this point. The Bible wants you confronting your brother. Say it with me, "alone."

It's that unforgiving heart that won't go to someone alone. It's this lack of forgiveness. We've already judged them by bringing a reproach on their name when we go tell somebody else. We've already extended to them unforgiveness when we make known what God wants to cast into the sea of His forgetfulness. We've already put things in the minds of others that they're going to have to deal with next time they encounter this individual that should not be to his account, because we haven't been able to move in forgiveness, because somehow we're compelled to let our best friend know or our spouse or somebody. But the Scriptural verse is, what? "alone." Go tell him alone. It's very important for us to see this.

God wants us to continually move in the benefits of forgiveness to where there is no guilt, to where there is no schism, to where there is no judgment that's taking place other than the free gift of God's mercy that's extended to every one of us. We get stuff messed up when we begin to allow these things to enter the minds of other individuals. So the first thing you do is you go encounter them alone.

Now the Scripture tells us here what's supposed to take place at a moment like this. If you would, keep your finger here and turn over to Luke's gospel, chapter six and let me show you something that's important. Verse 27, "But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. [And then verse 31] And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."

This is the law that has to govern everything that you and I are involved in. What's important here is how we can administer that law of doing unto others. The first thing is, if we have a heart that says, "I want to be pure, I want to be right before God," then what we're saying is, "When I'm out of order, I want people bringing the light to me. I want people to bring reproof to me. The Bible says, 'iron sharpens iron,' and so I look forward to that in my life." If we don't have that as the desire of our hearts, we're never going to be able to love sufficiently to go bring that to brothers and sisters. It's inconvenient; it's uncomfortable. Nobody likes in the natural, confrontations.

The Scripture says, Matthew 18:15, "...go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." Now the hearing is a very interesting word and principle unto itself. You're going to find out as we continue on in this study here in just a little bit that the confrontation being heard demands one thing and one thing alone: Repentance. We're going to talk a little bit about repentance. It requires repentance. We need to hear something and get it real clear in our understanding. Repentance is not, "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry I hurt you, but I don't plan on changing." "I'm sorry I got caught, but I don't plan on changing." "I'm really not sorry I hurt you, I'm just sorry we have to have this uncomfortable meeting, but I'm not changing." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry."

What does "I'm sorry," mean? Supposedly it's indicating that there is sorrow that's being expressed, but we understand that godly sorrow is the derivative of what? Repentance. There is no sorrow until there is a purposing to never do it again, a turning from that that's wrong. There has to be repentance before there can be forgiveness. You can't forgive somebody who says they're sorry. You can only forgive somebody who repents and they're two different things entirely.

What we're doing when we're going to an individual who's sinned against us and we tell them alone and we bring to them the reproof and we show them their transgression against the Word of God as it pertains to an encounter with ourselves, then the thing that's expected of them is, if they're children of God, if they're children of light, if they've experienced what Jeremiah says, the Word now in their hearts, they'll hear that word, it'll bring conviction, it will cause a desire to move and to turn towards the light and righteousness. They'll have a spirit like David who when he was approached by the prophet responded, "I'm the man. I didn't see it, you told me the story. I was able to pass righteous judgment, but I realize, I am the man. Yeah, this is me that we're talking about. I si...si...sinned. I'm the one that's wr..wr..wrong. Please f...f...for... Please f...f..for..." And we want to say, "Forget it." But what we're supposed to say is, "Forgive me." Isn't it interesting when you have to say those words, "I'm wrong. Forgive me." There's a real narrow passage those things try to get through. Oh, it's easy to say it right now. We could all say right now, "I'm wrong! Yeah I'm wrong!" It's no problem saying your wrong when you think you're right.

What we're looking at here is the Lord talking to us about bringing enough love to an individual to encounter them with the truth so that they can receive the forgiveness of God. These encounters in Matthew 18 aren't about you. It's not about you feeling better and getting justice, praise God! It's about getting your brother right with God. We've already been told what our role is. We're to be willing to suffer wrong. We're to be willing to suffer loss. They ask of you, you give to them. They take your cloak; you give them your coat. That's how we're to perceive our role. It's not about us getting justice and getting what's right and saying, "Praise God. I've been vindicated." It's about getting our brothers right with God. We're to be willing to suffer loss in the process. The motive of Matthew 18, if it is NOT getting the beam out of your eye, then you're already in trouble. You're going to bring offense into this encounter. You're going to cause your brother to sin through resentment rather than getting him delivered through grace and love and the tender mercies of God.

The Scripture tells us what to do here. It says, you go to them and you tell them and if they neglect to hear you then you take two more with you so that every word might be established so that we can know exactly what took place because at the mouth of two or three witnesses, the Scripture says, every word is established. Once that's been done, there's an establishing of each side in this encounter and there is still no reconciliation, then it says you have to tell it to the Church. Once the Church passes the judgment in this schism, if this individual then says, "I don't accept that judgment from the Church," then let him be unto you as a heathen and a publican. He's no longer a part of you. Once it's come to the judgment of the Church and the Church has passed judgment on this issue, if that judgment is rejected, "No, I don't see it that way. Frankly I don't interpret the Scriptures that way and I don't accept that, thank you." Then basically what you're saying is, "I'm going down the street. I'm going down the road here." Because everyone here has to accept you as a heathen or a publican, two cannot walk together if they're not agreed.

It's very important for us to realize what's taking place here. What's really important is to see this one principle of the church passing a final judgment. What does that tell us? Our perception isn't always correct, but the Church's is. "I can't buy that!" There's no judgment in here on the Church. The judgments are on the individuals. What are we talking about here? We're talking about the authority of the Church. Now watch, assuming that the Church authority is not one of these individuals, it is a disinterested party, if you please. And what that tells us is that those parties that are involved are not always able to see as clearly as those that are disinterested, and especially those that have the wisdom of God and those that have the fruit of the Spirit and those that have been ordained and set by God, etc.

Listen to what it's saying: Don't trust your own perception when you're under pressure. Don't assume that what you see and feel is right when judgment's been made differently. Don't allow yourself to come into unforgiveness and bitterness and strife, holding to your perception, when the fact is, according to the Word of God, you're wrong. "I don't see it that way." Of course you don't see it that way, you're involved in it. The judgment was unbiased. The judgment was the wisdom of God. The judgment was a disassociated, disinterested party and you're holding to your perception and because of that applying unforgiveness and you're in bondage to your own pride and your own lusts and your own ignorance. By doing so you're harming the Body of Christ. Learn these principles and understand what's being said here by the Spirit of God.

Now, as He goes on and He continues to bring this about, the understanding, He says, "Don't you realize," Verse 18, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." This is a passage that talks about the true authority of the Church. In other words, God's going to stand with His authority, the designated authority. He's given them the power to bind and to loose. Not only naturally to loose you and say, "You're no longer part of us. You're a heathen." But in doing so, Paul said over in Corinthians that it looses Satanic wiles upon you for the destruction of your flesh that your spirit might be saved.

Then came Peter before Him in the midst of this teaching who says, "Wait a minute. A guy comes and sins against me and I go to him... I've got a question, Lord. How many times does my brother sin against me and I forgive him. I mean, you know..." And then Peter being just so totally over the top merciful and gracious says, "Seven times?" We know that the number seven is the number for completion and he really did feel that this was being gracious and among the rabbinical teachings this was something that was over and above the application of the letter of the law, so he came up with a big number. "Seven?" "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." Now, that doesn't mean that on the 491st time you take them out. You're counting, "489, 490, Dear Lord I hope he comes one more time." The spirit of what He's saying, seven times seventy, 490, is not a literal number that you say, "That's it, man." We all understand the spirit of what the Lord's saying. It's without number. Take what you think and multiply it.

"Therefore is the kingdom of heaven..." As Jesus goes on in His teaching, "likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants." We all know the story. As he began to take an account here of what's going on, there was this man that owed him probably about 260 million dollars. He worships him and says, "...have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." Now this is before "dot com." Somehow this guy thought he could come up with like 260. If this is 10,000 gold talents, it's about 260 million dollars. And it says, look at verse 27, (this is fabulous), "Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, [binding and loosing] and loosed him, and forgave him the debt."

I want you to see how forgiveness works, "...and forgave him the debt." Can you ever bring yourself out from under forgiveness? "Hey, if I've been forgiven, if it's been cast into the sea of forgetfulness, if it's been separated from me as far as the east is from the west, it's gone!" What you're going to see here is this: Our forgiveness is gone to the degree that we forgive. Because this man who was forgiven this debt is going to have it called back up against him in just a moment. And it goes along with the Lord's teaching that you're going to be forgiven in direct proportion to how you forgive.

Look at the wickedness of this! Of course, the Lord exaggerates this so that we can get the point. The Scripture says that this guy just fresh off of forgiveness. He just got up from the altar. Praise God! Born-again, supposedly, filled with the spirit, joyous that his sins are forgiven, he's encountered God and his sins and iniquities are no longer going to be held against him. Praise God! And he's totally penniless in this particular juncture, but he was just forgiven 260 million. So he rolls out, the same servant does the Scripture tells us in verse 28 and he finds one of his fellow servants which owed him 15 bucks.

And he put his hands on this man and he said, took him by the throat and said, "Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." "Yeah, right, like you're going to come up with 15 bucks." And he wouldn't do it and he cast him into prison. And then, and I want you to know something, it will come to the light. Your unforgiveness will come to the light. There's no way to hide it, and if not today, then in the Day of the Lord.

And when it was brought to the light he stood before his master and the master said in verse 32, "I don't understand, I forgave you all that debt. Not because you're worthy, but because you asked me to. You thought I was of sufficient character and big enough to forget it. You recognized me as being merciful and kind and tenderhearted and I extended that to you. What makes you think it's for you alone and not for all of my children? Where does that false worth come from that makes you think that mercy and forgiveness and understanding only applies to you and not to all of my children? What I just showed you I want for all of my children. Go out and forgive as you've been forgiven."

When the Lord is expressing this, he said, "I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, [two big words] even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him." There was no way. "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."

He's talking about how we relate to one another in the kingdom of God and how we're to go to one another and bring about the rebuke. "Just because you desired me." What's interesting is this. You see, the Lord was buying, "I'm sorry." This guy went out and didn't repent and because of that the sin was put back to his account. He didn't choose a lifestyle that was now exemplary of having been forgiven. It's still all about him. It's all about self. It's selfishness; it's taking all that I can get my hands on. Instead of having freely received, we freely give. We see that this is what the Lord's speaking toward.

Look over at Luke chapter seven. And what it shows to us is this powerful principle of the inability to receive love, the love of God. The anointing of the Lord had taken place here in the seventh chapter in Luke and the alabaster box of ointment had been broken. This was very costly and the Pharisees in verse 39 were horrified and said, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him...Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have [something] to say unto thee...There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?"

Now, let's not make a mistake here of thinking that mass murderers, drug addicts, rapists that get saved, love more than children who were raised in church and never been out in the world and make a profession of faith as a young person. Many people have that misconception today. What Jesus is speaking about are those that have allowed the Lord to forgive us the most. How much have we accepted and received in forgiveness from God? Because we all have the same debt don't we? We're all sinners. We're all indebted. If you're guilty of one sin, you're guilty of all. So we don't have "good" sinners and "bad" sinners. Just sinners. The fact that some people have been out and gotten scared up and beat up by the world and these different things and have been freed from that, it doesn't make them a greater lover than those that have never been involved in those things. It has to do with the understanding of how much we've been loved and forgiven and that every one of us was a debtor and every one of us was going to a devil's hell. And all of our righteousness are as filthy rags in the sight of God.

So Peter answers the Lord's question, "I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head." It doesn't have to do with how wicked she was, it has to do with how much worth she put on Jesus. "Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven." Let's say it another way, "Her sins which are recognized by her." The problem is the Pharisees didn't see that much sin in their lives. They were trusting in their own self-righteousness. They were trusting in their works. They were somehow trying to appease God. "Her sins, which are many are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little."

It's very important, as these principles become a reality in our lives that we begin to move in true expression of the forgiveness of God toward others, recognizing worth in them because Jesus died for them, expressing the full benefit of the love of God for us. Because having freely we receive, we're now able to freely give. The word, "forgive," in the Greek is an interesting word. It literally just talks about "to send forth," or "to send away." Or as the Scripture says, we saw in the prophets, "to cast behind his back," or "to cast into the sea of forgetfulness," or "to remove as far as the east is from the west." It means, "to send away," it means, "to dismiss," or "to release."

I say this to you: Forgiveness has no record of the event. Now I know it's hard, but if you can put yourself in the mind and the heart of God, God has the ability to forget. I mean, totally forget all of our sins. Can you say, "Praise God!" for that? I mean TOTALLY forget it! But there's also within Him the ability to have it renewed through our rejection of His forgiveness. I'll show it to you in the Scriptures here in just a minute, really how this thing works. It's cast into the sea of God's forgetfulness.

We are to forget when we forgive; we're to send it away. Now, we don't have that supernatural capacity. God does. Ours is by volition, we choose not to remember. And what that means is, you say, "Well, I can't not remember." God can, but we're held to the same standard. But watch what we have to do. "I choose not to remember in that I choose to never let it affect any type of the way I relate to, or think about this particular individual. It will never cause me to respond to them with a preconceived notion that they're going to transgress against me again. I forgive them, and therefore I will not prejudge them. I will not hold them guilty. I will not hold this to their account. I'm going to treat them like I treat everybody else."

But one thing will bring that back to our remembrance and do you want to know what it is? When they do it again. When they do it again. When they refuse to repent, then it comes back up on the table and we have to deal with it again. "I thought you forgave me!" "I did forgive you. You brought it up again. I'm not dealing with you about that commission, you brought that up because you never received forgiveness. I'm dealing with you in this occurrence." It's the guilty party that always says, "You're bringing it up again!" "No, I'm dealing with this offense, not that one. I forgot about that one. We're dealing with this one." The person that's offending always says, "No, you're bringing this up, you always treat me..." "I don't always treat you this way. I only treat you this way when you act this way."

Forgiveness doesn't mean you forget about it. Forgiveness doesn't mean that you don't rebuke and reprove. Forgiveness does not mean that you don't then give them all that is necessary to walk free from that offense in their life again by instructing them in righteousness and giving them opportunities to divest themselves of their own will and their own selfishness and all of these different things. But we forgive, we FORGET, but we respond to every offense as it occurs.

We'll end with this for this morning. These parallel passages in Ephesians and Colossians are really outstanding. Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13.

Ephesians 4:32, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, [There're those two big words again] even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Kind, tenderhearted, forgiving-put it away, and use every opportunity to exhibit the longsuffering and the grace of God, but ALWAYS bringing instruction and reproof and correction to the offense. Why? So that that person can receive forgiveness. If you just leave it alone, they're under the judgment of God. If you don't give them opportunity to repent, they're under the judgment of God. It's us confronting them that give them the opportunity to be free. It is the love of God to bring the reproof and the correction and the instruction.

Colossians three says it this way. "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." Now, in all of these things--and we'll end with this for this morning--In all of these things as it pertains to our, as a community, encountering one another, Matthew 18 tells us how to effect these. Most of us get into trouble in stage one, between him and you say it, "alone." The love of God constraining us.

Some of us have things against others. We don't see it as being strife and causing real division in the body. We just kind of..."It's not really unforgiveness. I just kind of resent them." "I resent their naturally curly hair." "I just kind of resent their cocky attitude, because they just got the new Nintendo game." We look and we start judging people and the next thing you know we're reading into their condition because of envy and covetousness and the next thing you know it begins to breed a hatred or a strife, which then, listen--and we've got to stop here--is a self-imposed judgment of their guilt. We judge them now guilty and because they don't change, because they don't repent of our perceived behavior, we now can't forgive them and we've created an unforgiveness based upon a false perception. Dangerous, damnable!

Put your own heart out before God and pray with David, "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me at all times so that I can love my brother as I've been loved. I can love my neighbor as myself. Freely I have received, freely I will give."

I just put this out to you as just a one time shot here. As I was in prayer and asking the Lord, "What's just something here for the community? What's something that in this hour we need to guard ourselves against to where we give no place to the enemy?" And I sensed that the spirit was telling us, because of the closeness we have in community, because of the familiarities that we have, we're a little quick to pass judgments and hold little resentments and allow it to give place to the enemy. Love thinks no evil. It doesn't rejoice in iniquities. It confronts every fault, it brings them to repentance so that there can be the righteousness of God in my brother and in my sister. Because the freer they are, the freer they'll make me.

Father, we thank You for Your love. We thank You for the community that You've given us and the opportunity to speak into one another's lives. Father, we do transgress. We get on each other's toes and we do commit offenses. When a brother or sister comes to us, let us be quick to say, "Yes, I'm the man. Thank you. I'm sorry. I was wrong. Forgive me. I repent. I am changing course, you will never see this from me again. Thank you for bringing it to the light." You've won your brother. What a great ministry that is. It's just like going out and reaching a new convert. You've won your brother from the power of sin. Let's guard against this unforgiveness in our midst.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning as Gary plays for us just a moment here and we take these moments of refreshing. This can get into things like we were talking about yesterday in the men's breakfast. We talked about people taking advantage of one another and assuming upon brothers and sisters. And people begin to resent that and sometimes there's unforgiveness for those abuses. What we have is the attitude of receiving wrong. We don't have to have everything made right. "Is this something that's damning in my brother's life? Not because I want to be justified in this thing, but maybe I need to go to them because it was truly an offense and they need to be free. This value they put upon themselves thinking that everyone's to serve them. It's going to destroy them. Left alone it will bring sin, bring strife." The motivation is never self-justification. Quick to repent while being thankful for love that brings reproof and rebuke and instruction in righteousness by the Word of God. With hearts ready and anxious for that light, there is no place for unforgiveness.

As we sing this together and just rejoice in the goodness of the Lord and we look on Him and He is the treasure, He is the example of the believer. We just want to be more like You Lord. Let's sing it together. Thank You, Jesus. We bless You Lord.

Put it in the right perspective this morning. No matter what any man has done to you. Did your parents abuse you as a child? Was your spouse unfaithful? Were you battered? Were you raped? Were you beaten? Were your goods destroyed? Has your reputation been slandered? At every corner you find an enemy? If every one of those things has occurred in your life, you're at 15 dollars and you owe 260 million to God. Freely you've been forgiven. We're the debtors. Thank You for Your love, Jesus. Thank You for Your mercy, Father. Thank You for letting us love again. In Jesus' name, amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you, say, "Forgive." Amen. Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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