Pastor Railton would consider it a privilege to talk with anyone about the church, living the Christian life, how to become a Christian or any problem or discouragement you may be experiencing. Let him know and he will be glad to either come to your home or meet in the office.
As We Forgive Our Debtors
I. INTRODUCTION / LIFE NEED
A. Let's turn to Matt. 18. We read there of a parable Jesus told that well illustrates how graciously God forgives our sin. I preached on
God's forgiveness last Sunday, and we'll continue in that study this morning. Matt. 18:23-27.
1. God is the king.
2. Each of us as individuals is represented by that servant.
3. Some day each and every one of us will be required to stand before the
Lord, to settle our "account." Our sin is as a humongous debt that we owe God. There is no way we can pay him back for all our sin. There's
no way we can "make it right." We literally deserve to die because of our sin. In fact we stand convicted and are under a "death" penalty.
4. But God, in his great mercy has paid the debt himself, by sacrificing his
only begotten son. If we come to him through Jesus with belief, repentance, baptism, and submission, then the debt is canceled, just as
in this parable.
B. Let me review how completely God forgives our sin. We won't read the
verses; we read them last week. But here are some quotes. He forgets our sin. He remembers it no more. He sweeps it away. He blots it out, pardons,
forgives, covers our sin. He does not count it against us. He removes our transgressions, puts them behind him. He shows us
mercy, treads our sin underfoot, and hurls it into the sea. I don't know if there's any way he could
have assured us any better, or made it more clear that when he forgives, he forgives.
C. Before we study any further, I'd like to have a time of prayer, meditation,
and confession. I'm going to read several scriptures. They list some of the sins that God hates. These are all things that will keep you out of the
Kingdom of God, if they go unconfessed and unforsaken. To be honest, I doubt there is one person here who is not guilty of at least one of these
sins. Listen as I read through this list. I'm going to read slowly. When I come to one of your sins, admit it to God. He already knows, but he wants
us to realize it, and to confess it to him. Why don't you close your eyes and bow your head.
1. Gal. 5:19-21.
2. Eph. 5:3-5.
3. Rev. 21:8.
4. I Corinthians. 6:9-11.
a. If you've believed the gospel of the kingdom, and the name of
Jesus Christ, if you've repented of these sins, and been baptized in the name of Jesus as a result of that belief and repentance, then be
confident in the faithfulness of God to forgive as he has promised.
b. If you haven't taken these steps, and if you're guilty of any of
these, then please, let's get together and talk. God's forgiveness is offered to you too!
II. BIBLE LEARNING
A. Now we're going to switch gears just a bit. We've been talking about how
wonderfully and completely God forgives us of our sin. But there's more to the concept of forgiveness. There's another essential ingredient that must
also happen. In the Lord's Prayer we pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." That's the other side of the same coin. Just as God
offers his forgiveness, he requires that we forgive those who have wronged us.
B. Let's look again at the parable in Matt. 18. (The rest of the story!)
1. Matt. 18:21,22. This is the question that prompted Jesus' parable in the
first place. (Rabbis - 3X. Peter, generous - 7X.)
2. Matt. 18:23-27. What a beautiful illustration of forgiveness.
3. Matt. 18:28-35. In Bible times serious consequences awaited those
who would not, or could not pay their debts. He could be thrown into jail, his family could be sold as slaves to pay the debt, pressure
could be put on his extended family to pay it off.
C. Matthew. 6:14,15.
D. Mark 11:25 reinforces this, "And when you stand praying, if you hold
anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
III. BIBLE APPLICATION
A. When you stop and think about it, the first person to benefit when you
forgive another is you. Your heart, your emotions, your mind, sometimes even your physical body is purged from the poison of
unforgiveness, from bitterness, from anger, from a grudge and resentment. A prisoner is set
free, and that prisoner is the forgiver.
1. Before his death, Frederick the Great was told he should forgive his
enemies. He called his queen into the room and instructed her, "Dorothy, write to your brother that I forgive him of all the evil he has
done me, but," he said, "wait till I'm dead first."
2. I love this story from the life of Clara Barton, founder of the Red
Cross. She was reminded one day of a vicious deed that someone had
done to her years earlier. She acted as though she didn't remember. Her
friend asked, "Don't you remember?" "No," Clara responded, "I distinctly remember forgetting it."
B. Turn to Luke 15. A couple weeks ago we were remembering the parable of
the prodigal son.
1. A man had two boys . . .
2. The younger son went off and spent all the money . . .
3. He realized his father's servants were better off than he, so . . .
4. His father was thrilled with his return, celebrated, etc. This too is a
picture of God's forgiveness towards us.
5. But the older brother was angry. Luke 15:25-32. Comments.
a. We must not assume the place and privilege of a child of God,
and at the same time refuse the obligation and love towards others in the family.
b. The older brother claimed to have been loyal to his father. He had
stayed home. He had worked hard. He thought he should have first place in the heart of his father.
c. But he didn't know the heart of his father. He had stayed home. He
had done the chores. He hadn't squandered the estate. But he didn't know his father's heart. He didn't know that his father longed
for his boy who was lost, who was as much as dead. In fact, he didn't care!
d. There's a spiritual application here. A wrong relationship with a
brother reveals a wrong relationship with the Father.
IV. LIFE RESPONSE
I want to share a formula that may help in the forgiveness process. This is taken from a little booklet put out by the Neues Leben
(Noy-us Lay-ben)
International organization.
A. Clearly identify the actual offense that made the person guilty toward you.
Write it out if need be.
B. Alone before God, go down the list item by item, telling him you are lifting
from the offender his responsibility to "pay for" his wrong toward you - and that by God's grace you no longer consider the offender guilty - toward
you. It may be necessary to do this with a counselor, or a mature Christian friend. This may take a considerable amount of time to work through.
C. Then in prayer, entrust the offense, and the offender to God. God may still
have to deal with the offender, but it is now in his hands, and not yours.
D. Destroy the list.