Matthew 18:21-35

This is a parable and remember a parable is a story within a story; A story that has a deeper meaning. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. A parable teaches a spiritual truth.

Verse 23 tells us that this parable was given to us so that we could have some insight into the Kingdom of Heaven. In this parable Jesus is teaching about forgiveness. In this parable the King represents God and the servant who owed the king 10,000 talents represents us. However, we need to realize that this parable is not a true allegory. Jesus is clearly teaching about principles and relationships rather than persons. If for example this was a true allegory and the king is God then there are some contradictions that we face.

(1) In this parable the king was fooled by the servant’s words but we know God is never fooled. God only forgives when a sinner genuinely repents (Matt 21:31; Luke 24:47; Acts 20:21)

(2) In this parable the king made a mistake and revoked the pardon he granted to the servant but we know God never makes a mistake therefore God never revokes a pardon.

(3) In this parable the king the king forgave the servant without any renewal taking place in the servant’s heart but from we know God never forgives without regenerating the sinner.

But it is crystal clear that Jesus was talking about God and God’s relationship with man so … with these few matters in mind lets learn what Jesus is teaching us about forgiveness.

A talent represented 6,000 denarii’s and one denarii was one day’s wages. Therefore, 10,000 talents would represent 60 million denarii’s or 60 million days wages. At 365 days per year it would take 164,384 years to repay. The 10,000 talents would be worth over $12 million. The point is that the amount of money was so great that the servant could never repay the king. Think about it, the only way a servant could accumulate such a large debt would be the misappropriation or misuse of the king’s property.

Now look at verse 25 - The king orders the servant, the servant’s wife, the servant’s children, and all of the servant’s property to be sold to repay the debt. That was justice.

But in verse 26 the servant begged for mercy and made a promise to the king that he could not keep. "I will repay everything."

In verse 27 the king took pity on his servant and canceled the servant’s debt. That was forgiveness.

Now, let’s draw the parallel. This is God’s universe. God made the universe and God made us. God rules the universe whether men acknowledge it or not. God is our King. Since God made us, we belong to Him. We are subject to Him and we are His servants. In Genesis 1: 26-28 we read that when God created man and woman, God put man in charge of the earth and gave him dominion over it. In Genesis 3 we read that the man and the woman disobeyed God and sin entered the world. In Romans 3:23 we read that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" and in Romans 6:23, we read "The wages of sin is death." Yes we are God’s servants. We have disobeyed Him, we have sinned, and we deserve to be cast into hell because we have a debt that we can never repay. That would be justice. But, thanks be to God, God has provided a way for our debt to be paid in full and … for us to be brought back into a right relationship with God. In John 3:16 we read "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

Jesus took our place on the cross. Jesus paid for our sins with His blood and His life. God canceled our debt. The only thing we have to do is accept the gift that God gave to us. Romans 10:9-10 tells us "If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." We were condemned to die an eternal death for a debt that we could never repay. But the Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus paid the debt for us. God cancels our debt that is so great we can never repay it when we accept God’s free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:1 tells us, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Now, back to the parable. In verses 28-30 we see how the servant responded to the mercy and forgiveness the king had shown him. Right after the king had forgiven him, the servant went out and found another servant who owed him a hundred denarii, or a few dollars and demanded repayment. In this parable the fellow servant represents the people around us; our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends, our family, our acquaintances. Notice that verse 29 is a replay of verse 23. The fellow servant pleaded for mercy but the servant demanded payment. The servant who had just been forgiven a debt of millions of dollars sold his fellow servant into slavery because he could not repay a debt of a few dollars.

The reaction of the other servants in verse 31 is obvious. They were "greatly distressed". How could that servant be so ungrateful and not extend the same forgiving spirit to his fellow servant? And we have exactly the same reaction when we read the parable today. How could the servant fail to forgive his fellow servant when he had just been forgiven so much, much more? In fact 600,000 times more.

The punch line comes in verses 32-35. Remember verse 23 tells us this parable is about the Kingdom of Heaven. The King calls the servant back in and this time gives him justice rather than mercy because the servant did not extend the same forgiving and merciful spirit to his fellow servant.

But also notice this time, not only does the King throw the servant into jail but he turned him over to the jailers and I quote "to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed." Remember his was a debt the servant could never repay. Also the servant had no way to earn any money in jail. So the ungrateful servant would be tortured for eternity. Verse 35 is crystal clear and is the bottom line for us. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." Make no mistake about it forgiveness is serious business. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer we pray "forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." (Matthew 6:12)

Notice the past tense here, "As we also have forgiven our debtors." In other words we are saying, "God, only forgive me if I have forgiven all the people who have ever wronged me; All the people who have hurt me; all the people who have let me down."

You have heard people say, "I will never forgive that person." That is sad because what they are doing is closing the door for God to forgive them.

You have also heard people say, "I will forgive them but I will never forget it." Think about that. Is that true forgiveness? Is that what we want God to say to us?

Forgiveness is not only about the little things in life. Forgiveness is about real pain and real suffering. Forgiveness is also about the big things that change or interrupt our lives.

As Christians we are called to be "professional forgivers". We have to choose to forgive all those who hurt us and wrong us. And that is not easy. That is very hard. But … the Good News is that God did not leave us helpless. Whom God forgives God also regenerates. The person who has been forgiven of God will want to forgive their fellow man. In Philippians 4:13 we read, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and Luke 1:37 "With God nothing is impossible". And in II Corinthians 5:17-18; "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation."

When God forgives God regenerates. The person who God has forgiven will want to forgive their fellow man. When we are forgiven by God, then we can forgive ourselves. Our first priority is to be right with God. Our second priority is to be right with other people. When we truly understand God’s forgiveness then we can begin to mend the human relationships that have been destroyed.

If it were up to us would we never forgive Saddam Hussein or Adolph Hitler? Every fiber in our body, every ounce of humanity screams out "NO" "If you forgive these people there is no justice! If you don’t make them pay, then right and wrong do not seem to matter". "What is to stop them from doing it again and hurting someone else?" But we need to remember the words of Romans 12:19 "Vengeance is mine says the Lord I will repay." You see the Good News is that God’s forgiveness is unlimited to the person who is truly sorry and is genuinely repentant. No matter what the crime or how many times we sin.

We all sin, sin, and then sin again but ... God is anxious to forgive. God desires to forgive us. God has made provisions for forgiveness, (Romans 3:23-26) God’s forgiveness is unlimited and ... if we are truly His followers our capacity to forgive others will also be unlimited.

Peter asked Jesus, "How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me; Up to seven times?" Peter was really feeling pious and that he was really going the extra mile, and then some. You see the Jewish Law required people to forgive their brother 3 times. Here, Peter is willing to forgive more than twice what was required. But notice in verse 22, Jesus says, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times". In other words, Jesus is saying … Forgiveness is infinite. This may sound harsh but when we remember all that God has forgiven us of and how many times God has forgiven us, … it is the very least we can do. God expects His children to always forgive. No matter what, Christians are called to be "Professional Forgivers".

Now, let’s think about being turned over to be tortured that we read in verse 34. ...... I think this applies in our physical life on earth and in our spiritual life after we physically die. First in our physical life on earth; when we refuse to forgive someone we become bitter. We become resentful, we become revengeful, and our life becomes sour. If this attitude continues, hate enters in and people will no longer want to be around us. All of these things eat away at us and eventually our life is consumed. There is no peace in our soul which is truly torture.

I think this verse also applies to the life hereafter. When we read the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 we can read about the rich man in hell where he was in torment. (Luke 16:23). The torture was so bad the rich man begged Father Abraham to let Lazarus, the beggar with open sores all over him, "dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue." This rich man was really in pain.

In this parable I see several aspects of forgiveness for us.

1. Our forgiveness of others is a choice. We make a choice to forgive that person or not to forgive that person every time we are wronged or hurt or taken advantage of.

2. As Christians we are to forgive out of an attitude of gratitude. We can never repay God for one little sin we have committed. In Colossians 3:13 we read, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you".

3. Forgiveness is much more than lip service, "I forgive you" Verse 35 tells us to forgive from the heart. True forgiveness is complete. Forgiveness must come from the heart. Forgiveness is telling the person who wronged us: "What you did hurt me" or "What you did was wrong, but because God forgave me, I forgive you"

4. Our forgiveness from God is conditional. Yes our debt was canceled when Jesus died on the cross for our sins. But remember in the parable when the King heard that the servant had not extended the same mercy to his fellow servant he called the servant back and told him, "Since you did not forgiven your fellow servant and punished him, I will not forgive you and I will punish you". In Matthew 5:24, Jesus told us to "leave our gift at the altar and go be reconciled with our brother." In other words, our worship is empty if we have not forgiven our fellow man. Jesus is saying that sincere worship cannot take place until reconciliation with a brother or sister has taken place!

Remember the words of Ephesians 4:32 ^"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." ; and in Matthew 5:44 Jesus said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Yes forgiveness is serious business and as Christians we are called to be "professional forgivers"

Now I am going to ask each of us to think back over our lives and remember the people who have hurt us, the people who have wronged us, the people who have caused our lives to be miserable, and the people who have used us or abused us. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you recall those times. Go all the way back to your childhood days. Then honestly ask yourself, "Have I truly forgiven that person?"

If you have not truly forgiven that person, do it now. Release that person from the prison of your heart. When we free those people from the prison in our hearts, we free ourselves. In Matthew 18:18, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Forgiving those people is for you - Not for the person that wronged you. God’s word is clear God will not forgive us until we forgive those people.

Lets us bow in prayer and take the next few minutes to forgive those people whom we have not totally forgiven in the past and take this time for us to get right with God. Let us pray silently and I will close the prayer.

Father we thank you for always being ready, willing, and able to forgive us when we come to you. Lord we do not want to be ungrateful servants. Father, we thank you that you have enabled us to forgive those people who have hurt us, the people who have wronged us, the people who have used us, and the people who have caused our lives to be miserable. Lord we release them and by so doing we pray that you will empty out hearts of hatred, bitterness, and blame. Now Lord we ask that you fill our hearts with love, joy and with Your peace; The peace that surpasses all human understanding. We make this prayer in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. AMEN