All right, so our reading tonight is in Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. So if you want to read tonight, you're welcome to do so. And we'll go at Galatians chapter 2 tonight. All right, so five of us, okay. 21 verses. We'll do four a piece. Six. Six of y'all. All right. Got a last coming in at the end there. All right, so six, three. Three. Three verses. Four verses. The first three do four verses. You do four. Four verses. Yes, ma'am. who gave himself for our sins that we might deliver, that he might, wait a minute, how much? Galatians chapter two. Oh, two, I'm sorry. Okay, so first four, okay. Then 14 years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also and went up by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. but privately to them, which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or have run in vain. But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised, and that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. Thank you. I appreciate that. Four. to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But of these who seem to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me. God accepteth no man's person. For they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me. But contrary was, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed, unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter. For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. Thank you, Sister. Four verses. And when James, Caiaphas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, received the grace that was given unto me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go into the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to do. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself. fearing them that were of the circumcision." Thank you, brother. Three verses. Okay. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him. And so much that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimilation. dissimilation, but when I saw that they walketh not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, if thou being a Jew livest after the manner of Gentiles and not as do the Jews, why accomplish thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles. Thank you. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid, for if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. Thank you. For I, through the law, am dead through the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Amen. If you have your Bibles tonight, turn to Matthew, Matthew chapter 18. I want to continue the thought on Wednesday nights about one another and so tonight we'll be talking about forgiving one another and it's out of Matthew chapter 18. We'll begin reading in verse 23 and again this passage is not Unfamiliar, it's a very familiar passage. I'm sure that you've heard much preached on it, taught on it throughout the years, but just want to give you what God's given me concerning about forgiving one another. I feel this subject is the greatest problem in church and in homes. Today is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is in our children. Unforgiveness is in our spouses. Unforgiveness is in members of churches. Unforgiveness is in pastors' hearts. Unforgiveness today is in family, like brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and mothers and grandmothers. We find unforgiveness at work, at the boss, with coworkers. We find unforgiveness pretty much anywhere and everywhere today. And I tell you, it's a great, great harm. And I believe tonight that if we can begin to think about unforgiveness and what the Bible has to say about it, in order to bring a fear to our hearts tonight, that I will not be an individual with unforgiveness in my heart. And I pray that that would be you tonight as well as me that I would not carry on with unforgiveness. And let's read the story and let's read what Jesus has to say and then we'll put some points to it tonight with the help of the Lord. I want to be a blessing to you tonight, I want to be a help and so this is why we're here. It says, therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king. which would take an account of his servants. When he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But as for much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, his wife, his children, and all that he had in payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of thy servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence. He laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. He would not, but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all thy debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his Lord was wroth, delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother trespasses. Father, we come to you in Jesus' name. Lord, this passage we read tonight is very fearful. Lord, it's very damaging. God, I know tonight, Lord, that one of the reasons for divorce tonight is unforgiveness. And I know the reason for people murdering others and abusing others is unforgiveness. And I know tonight, dear God, that many are in prison and in jail tonight, Lord, because of unforgiveness. We recognize tonight, Lord, that people don't even talk to each other, don't even have a relationship any longer because of unforgiveness. And yet tonight, Lord, you make it very clear and very plain what that means to us tonight and how we ought to live our lives in the way of forgiveness. God, give us help, Lord. Speak to our souls. Open our mind and open our hearts. And God, help us tonight, dear God, if we do have unforgiveness in our hearts, that we'll make it tonight a confession unto the Lord and be forgiven of these things. In Christ's name, amen. Amen. You may be seated. Forgiving one another. All through the passages, all through the scriptures, we find that truth. Not just here, but all through the scriptures. But I want to say first of all tonight, the severity of this unforgiveness is what Jesus compares the story to. There in verse 23, he says this, therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened. And then gives the story of one that was forgiven by the Lord, and the one that was forgiven by the Lord didn't forgive his servant. And because of that, he had tormentors. And because of that, Jesus said at the last of that story, he said, so shall I do unto you. if you not forgive your trespassers. So I want to say tonight that this is not something to be taken lightly. It's not something tonight that you have choice in. Do I have choice to unforgive? Do I have choice to forgive? Well, you make that choice here, but it's very clear tonight that he is talking about He's comparing what do those people do that are in the kingdom of heaven. How does the kingdom of heaven people behave? What is their conduct? Those that are in the kingdom of heaven, do they forgive? If you're in the kingdom of heaven, what is expected from you? What is your requirements to be there? So let's look at the kingdom of heaven for just a moment. That word like in there, it says, means compared or resemble, or it means similar in appearance and character. So the important things that we're speaking of here tonight is unforgiveness or forgiveness. That is important. But what's of greater importance is who he's liking it to. And so if you are one tonight to say that, you know, I have unforgiveness in my heart and I've got good reasons for that, well then the Bible says that you're not of the kingdom of heaven. That's the seriousness of this tonight. For if you are of the kingdom of heaven, then unforgiveness will not be part of who your character is. So it's very clear tonight. It's cut dry. It's black and white. And so we find tonight, so what is the kingdom of God though? Well, let's look at that tonight so we can, or the kingdom of heaven tonight is different. The kingdom of God tonight, let me just say it like this, the kingdom of God tonight is talking about eternity. The Bible says in John chapter 3, verse 3 and verse 5, verse when he says you shall not enter into the, shall not see the kingdom of God, and then he says you shall not enter into the kingdom of God except you be born again. We're talking about the kingdom of God is of eternity, but the kingdom of heaven is earthly. Okay? The kingdom of heaven is earthly. The kingdom of God is eternal. We're not talking about the eternal part. We're not talking about salvation tonight. We're talking about herein within the kingdom of heaven. Now, what is the kingdom of heaven? Well, the gospel tonight is connected to the kingdom of heaven. Look in Matthew chapter 4. in verse 23 with us tonight as we just get you through this introduction here, sort of the foundation of what we need to be said. But here in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 23, the Bible says, And Jesus went about Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. All right, so the gospel tonight is connected to the kingdom. If you're gonna get into the kingdom of heaven, you're gonna have to get in through the gospel, okay? So that's kind of what he's saying right there. So who is in the kingdom of heaven are those who have been given the gospel, amen? So the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the death, burial, and resurrection is connected to this kingdom of heaven. Chapter 9 in verse 35, we see sort of the same thought. The Bible says, And he went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. All right, so the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom that's connected to the gospel. Number two, there is the preaching of repentance is connected to the gospel. Look in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 17. The Bible says from that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So in order to be in the kingdom of heaven, you're going to have to go through a process of repentance. The Bible says, look in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 2, Bible says that John the Baptist, and saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so the message that is going for the kingdom of heaven are those who have been in the gospel, but those who have experienced repentance in their lives. We find thirdly, that the will of the Father is connected to the kingdom. Look in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 21. Matthew chapter 7 and verse 21. He says, And so you'll find that this kingdom of heaven is everyone and all that are in the will of God. That does the will of God. That's obedient to the Lord. That does in the way of what God wants. What the Lord's will is, is your will. That's what He says, that's what you do. And that's the Kingdom of Heaven. And if you're in the Kingdom of Heaven, then you'll do as the Father would have you to do. We find the fourth thing is that persecution of righteousness is connected to the kingdom. Look in chapter 5 of Matthew and look in verse 10. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And so we find those that are in the kingdom of heaven will find persecution because of the righteousness of their lives. You have taken on the righteousness of Christ, and because of that, you have been saved unto true righteousness, true holiness, true godliness, and your life is about righteousness. He's righteous, you're righteous. It's not your righteousness, but it's His righteousness in which you live by. The kingdom of heaven is governed by the righteousness. And because of that, you'll find persecution with that. Hypocrites are excluded in the connection to the kingdom. Look at Matthew 23. And look at verse 13, Matthew 23 and verse 13. I'm just trying to let you know who and what is the kingdom of heaven so you can know the magnitude of what Jesus is saying in this passage. Chapter 23, verse 13, the Bible says, Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven, means you draw people away from it, against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses for a pretense, make long prayer, therefore you shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees and hypocrites, for you come past sea and land to make one proselyte. When he is made, he made him a twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Well, strong words that Jesus is saying, but the point is this, there's no hypocrites, there's no scribes and Pharisees in the kingdom of heaven tonight. Those who say they're saved, those who present themselves to be saved, those who live in a lifestyle or life way, showing themselves that they know God, but yet in their heart they don't know God, they deny Him. We find tonight that hypocrites are not in connection to this kingdom. We find in chapters 18 of Matthew, and look at verse 3, that conversion is connected to the kingdom of heaven. Conversion, look at chapter 18 of Matthew. And verse 3, it said, Verily I say unto you, except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. And so we find that it's going to require conversion to get into the kingdom of heaven tonight. So we see tonight, according to the scriptures, that's not all of them, but all that we're going to see tonight, Hopefully you're convinced and persuaded tonight that this kingdom of heaven, that Jesus is likening the story about forgiveness and unforgiveness. He's talking about this is where those that are of the kingdom of heaven, this is how they act and behave. This is what their lifestyle is. This is the way they treat one another. This is what it will look like. This is what will happen if not. And that's what he's saying in a way of likening the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is made up of born-again believers. And they are born-again believers who Jesus Christ is their King. For it's a kingdom. He rules and He reigns in their hearts as the Lord and as Savior. That's what the kingdom of heaven is. This kingdom is not tonight of this world, but this kingdom is on this world. Jesus said that very clearly in John 18, 36. I'll read it to you. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews? But now is my kingdom not from hence. So tonight, the church, the bride, the body, Christianity, the building, these all are made up of the people that are in the kingdom of heaven. And one day, Jesus Christ, according to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, one day He'll come to the Father and He'll deliver this kingdom of heaven unto the Father. And this Father will receive the kingdom that Jesus will deliver to Him. That's the kingdom of heaven tonight that we're speaking of. Again, the kingdom of God is eternity, but the kingdom of heaven is earthly. And so when you get saved, when you get born again, You now are in a kingdom. The Bible said that you have been delivered from the power of darkness and been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. And so tonight, when you get born again, spiritually speaking, on earth, you become in a kingdom. Jesus is the King. He's the ruler and the reigner of your heart and life, and that's the way you live. That's the type of servant that you are for all the rest of the time on earth. And Jesus is saying that, I am going to like the kingdom of heaven unto this. Now, I want you to notice tonight before we get into the scripture at the alarming truth concerning forgiveness and unforgiveness. Listen to this in Matthew chapter 6 and in verse 14. It says, For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. That's good. If you forgive, you'll be forgiven. The next verse says this, For if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. That's alarming. That's scary. That ought to be frightening to every one of us tonight to know that if we are not going to forgive, then we can't expect to be forgiven. I'm telling you tonight, that's a scary way to live. I want you to know something else. Luke chapter 6 and verse 37 says, Forgive and you shall be forgiven. Forgive and you shall be forgiven. Mark chapter 11 verse 25 says, And when you stand praying, forgive. If you have ought against any, that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespass. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive ye your trespasses. Now, tonight we need to take serious this thought about unforgiveness. And we need to take serious about, if we're in the kingdom of heaven, then we are going to be people who forgive and not people who are unforgiven. For tonight, if you're unforgiven tonight, there's a great possibility you're not in the kingdom of heaven. Because the kingdom of heaven don't behave that way. Because if you don't forgive, you're not forgiven. So it's very clear, very plain, but very frightful too as well. It's kind of odd that God don't say this. He don't say, to love one another or I will not love you. He don't say that, does he? To serve one another or I won't serve you. To give to one another or I won't give to you. Be kind to one another or I won't be kind to you. But he does say, forgive one another or I won't forgive you. So we are in very deep situation here tonight concerning the thought of unforgiveness and forgiveness tonight. Now let's get to the most serious, I guess, truth tonight concerning forgiveness and unforgiveness. I want you to notice number one, according to our passage tonight, and I hope I get through tonight, but I don't want to rush because this is such a serious matter tonight that a lot of people feel if they make a profession of faith or got baptized or they joined a church or they're good, this, that, and the other, that they're okay. But friend, if you got unforgiveness in your heart tonight, you're in trouble. You're in real trouble tonight. You can't convince God you're saved. You can't convince God tonight that you're right with him. If you have unforgiveness in your heart, then you haven't been forgiven. And tonight, that's not the way the children of heaven, or children who live in the kingdom of heaven behave and act. Tonight, you better consider yourself tonight, look within your heart concerning these things about unforgiveness. I want you to know some more on the truth about forgiving. The truth about forgiving. I'm so glad tonight that this passage has been given to us so that we know what forgiveness is. What does it mean to forgive? Have I forgiven? And what does all that even mean tonight? And I know that maybe all of us, me included tonight, maybe not really understand completely what forgiveness means. You know, I thought maybe forgiveness means I'm sorry, okay? You got it? You over it now? You know. That's forgiveness. Well, I think it's a little bit deeper than that. Maybe forgiveness, say, okay, you're right, you're right, you're right, I did that, and I'm sorry that I did that, hopefully I won't do that again. Okay, well, that guy forgave. Well, no, it's even deeper than that. You say, well, okay, all right, if you say that I did it, and you say that I upset you, and you say that it offended you, well then, okay, I'm sorry that I offended you, I didn't want to, it wasn't my idea, but I hope you forgive me. You say, well, is that forgiveness? No. So what is it? Well, Jesus gives a very clear understanding right here, and I like it. He said, number one, I want you to notice tonight the truth about forgiving. It is generated from the heart. Any forgiveness tonight is generated from the heart. Anytime tonight that there's going to be forgiveness that you're going to forgive and it's going to be accepted and Received by the Lord tonight will be of a heart moving Look what it says there in the scripture as we look there in verse 27 says then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion moved with compassion So he what was he moved? He wasn't moved with a feeling and And many a times, when we get into places where somebody has offended us, and somebody has trespassed against us, somehow, someway, we get feelings, right? I feel like you didn't do right. You're making me feel uncomfortable. You made me feel angry or you made me feel like I wasn't very important. And so feelings are really big in this thing about forgiveness tonight. But that has nothing to do with forgiveness. So tonight, he wasn't feelings. He wasn't of emotions. There's no such thing as a forgiveness in an emotion. That ain't gonna work. You say, well, I'm just gonna say I'm sorry to just make everything just okay. Right? I've done that before. But that is no forgiveness there. You say, well, you know what, what do you want me to do? I mean, you're having a conversation, you're in some sort of debate or battle, and you say, what do you want me to do? I want you to apologize. I'm sorry. Okay, let's go eat. But friend, it's deeper than that. It's not an emotion. It's not a feeling. Hey, let me tell you something else it's not. It's not a thought. It's not a thought. Well, you know, I forgave you already. Oh, really? I didn't know. Well, you know, I thought in my mind, you know, that I'm sorry about doing that. But that has nothing to do with this forgiveness here. So it's not a thought. It's not an emotion. It's not a head thing. In other words, I'm just going to say I'm sorry in order to move on. I'm just going to say that I'm sorry just to get it going. It's a head thing. It's something I'm going to have a strategy. I'm going to work this thing out. And what does she really want? What does he really want? He just really wants me to say I'm sorry. She wants me to say I apologize. That's what they want out. And so in my mind and in my strategy and my game plan and the way that I'm going to work this thing out is I'm just going to have her say, okay, okay, I did it. I'm wrong, and I won't do it no more. Everybody's laughing, everybody smiles. Boy, we're so glad that he... So it's not a thought, a head. It's not a mind thing. It's not an emotion or a feeling. Tonight, it's not even a sympathy. It's not a sympathy where it's human. Because as humans we have sympathy towards one another. As humans tonight we see people who are starving and see their bones on their body and we want to give them food. We go about seeing people who are all dressed because that's all they have and they don't fit or it's overfitting or it's dirty or something like that. And what we want to do is we want to go get them new clothes. We want to get them to a bath. We want to get them to a shower. We find people have long hair and it's all matted up. and they're all looking pretty rough. We want to get their hair cut. We want to write a sympathy that we have. And whatever, it's a dog, or if it's a cat, or if it's a cow, or a horse, it don't matter. We have sympathy for all of these things, and it moves us to that situation. And friend, we might think that this forgiveness is a sympathy thing. Because I want to make, I just feel sorry for her. I mean, I feel bad for them. I mean, I feel like, man, their life is just messed up. It feels like, I just feel like, man, if I could just tell them I'm sorry, that everything will be better, and then we can have life again. Sympathy. But there's no sympathy here. There's no emotion here. There's no thought here. But what is here, though, is the moving of the heart. So when this Lord looked upon his servant, he had a heart movement. It was not only a heart movement, but he was stirred in his will. He was down in the soul of this Lord, and friend, action began to take place, but it was an inward action. It come down in the depthness of his heart, through his will and in his soul, and friend, when he spoke up and said what he said, it wasn't off his head, it wasn't an emotional movement, it wasn't of sympathy, feeling sorry for them, no, it was completely on heart, Will, soul, action. And that's what forgiveness is tonight. When you actually forgive someone and you forgive them in the way that God says to forgive them, you'll forgive them with your heart. You won't feel sorry for them. You won't have an emotional movement toward them. You won't think and have a head plan or strategy about it. It will come from the heart. It will come with an emotion of the heart. It may come with a tear. It may come with a grunt. It may come with a mourning. It may come with a hurt. It may come with a pain. It may come because what you're about to do in the way of bringing forgiveness unto this individual is that you're going to do it from the heart. Friend, I say to you tonight, this is where forgiveness becomes real, is when your forgiveness comes from here, down deep. Amen? Number two, I want you to notice, in the way of this forgiveness that we're talking about, the truth of forgiving is generated in the heart. I want you to notice tonight that Notice the amount. This is how I know it's the heart. Notice the amount forgiven. In verse 24, the Bible says that he owed him 10,000 talents. You know how much 10,000 talents is tonight in today's number? 1.5 million dollars. That's what 10,000 talents would be. So today it's 1.5 million and that day it would be like 1.5 million dollars that this guy would have to pay back. Amen? And so, how do we know that it was a heart movement? How do we know it was a stirring of the soul? How do we know there was an action tonight that was from down deep? It's because 1.5 million dollars is the amount that was owed. Friend, only a heart can say to somebody who owes you 1.5 million dollars, There's absolutely no reasoning in the mind for that to take place. There's no emotion in the world that will cause you to let somebody who owes you $1.5 million to get off on that. There's no way. No way. There ain't a sympathy in all the world. $1.5 million. We find tonight the amount owed is showing to us that there was a heart involved in this forgiveness. Number two, I want you to notice the payment required. In verse 25, it says, For as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, his wife to be sold, his children to be sold, and all that he had to be sold, and payment to be made. Friend, that isn't no emotion. That isn't some head work. That isn't something tonight of sympathy. He looks at this man, his servant, he says, you owe me 1.5 million dollars, and I know that you can't pay me, and yet what I'm going to tell you that I require the payment of paying me, you're going into slavery, your wife's going into slavery, your children's going into slavery, and all that you have is going into slavery. Tonight, that's heart. That's heart tonight. That's not mind, that's not emotions, and that's not sympathy. That's completely heart. If you tell that man who owes you that amount of money and he says, you know, he can't pay you because he don't have that amount of money, there's no way that man could get that amount of money in 500 years of working every day for 500 years, he couldn't come up with that amount of money. He said, okay, you, you, you, you, you are sold. And whatever I get for you, I put it into my treasury. That's heart. That's heart tonight. Number three, I want you to notice, not only the amount forgiven and the payment required, but I want you to notice tonight the servant's response. He says in verse 26, he says, the servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee. We notice four things about this one tonight that he was about to forgive. We know number one, he showed forth submission. Submission tonight. And this ought to be something on your side tonight, whenever you want to be forgiven, that you need to display submission. Right? If you want somebody to forgive you tonight, don't come with arrogancy, and don't come with defiance, and don't come trying to explain and justify, and don't come blaming and telling the one that you offended because, friend, that's not submission. Submission is falling down before the one whom you owe and worshiping him in way of submission tonight. That's how you get forgiven tonight. You don't get forgiven when you're trying to stand on your ground. You've got no ground to stand when you offend. You've got nowhere to go. You have nothing to say. All you can do is shut your mouth and fall down on the face and say, and within yourself, God have mercy. Tonight, this is if you want forgiveness. Number two, I noticed, now I see submission, but I see respect. He says, Lord, he says, Lord, He didn't disrespect him at all and say, I cannot believe what kind of person are you that you would sell my children. How awful that you are. I can't believe you would do such a thing. I mean, there's other things in your life that you did. I'm sure that you did other things too. And you didn't have to pay that kind of penalty like you're making me pay. He didn't do anything. He had submission. He's the one that needs the forgiving, amen? He's the one who's on the side of needing that forgiveness of this Lord tonight. And he showed him respect, and he said, Lord. And tonight, if you want forgiveness, you need to start showing respect to those that you want forgiveness from. We gotta come to the place tonight to understand that, listen, when we offend someone and when we do and when we trespass against someone, we've got no grounds to stand on. being disrespectful, and being arrogant, and being mouthy, and being blameful, and being something tonight that you want to fight over it, and you want to call, weigh up your cause, and you say, I'm gonna stand up for my purpose and my reason. I'm not gonna let nobody push me around tonight, friend. Listen, you're not gonna get forgiveness that way. You'll get it whenever you find submission, and you'll find respect. Number three, tonight I noticed he found in the way of, because he's the one to be forgiven, he found humility. For he said, have patience with me. That's humility. That's humility because what he's saying to the Lord is, Lord, you're right. And man, I'm telling you tonight, it takes humility to say somebody else is right. It takes humility for him to say somebody else, I'm wrong. Don't it? It takes real humility to say, you're right and give me patience. Bring patience on me. Oh, would you show patience towards me? In other words, you're the weaker vessel. You're the one that is at the very bottom. You're the one that's up begging of someone to have patience with you. That takes humility. So here he is with humility, submission, respect. Because he's the one who needs forgiveness, right? I mean, and tonight I pray that when we get to that place of needing forgiveness that we would remember, be submissive. Oh, be respectful. Oh, find humility, be humbleness of heart. Stop being the arrogant, proud and haughty. Oh, tonight, friend, that we may find ourselves thirdly or fourthly tonight. He was honest. There was honesty. He said, I will pay thee all. I'll be honest with you. I'll pay you all. And tonight, we need to find ourselves when we're on the other end of this thing about forgiveness, and we need to be forgiven for some things that we've done, or some things we've said, or some things that we acted out, or some things tonight that we even didn't do, or maybe we didn't do what we said we're gonna do. And we need some forgiveness that we'll be submissive, and we'll be respectful, and we'll have humility, but we'll be honest. Honest, I'll pay you all. I will. I mean, my heart is, I pay it all. Hey, listen, friend, when you need forgiveness, friend, it's almost like this tonight, is if you want me to crawl on my knees all the way down to the brand lane from the door of this church in order for you to be satisfied, I'll do that. Whatever consequence I get, then that's what I'll take. I'm asking you to forgive me, right? I'll do whatever it is because I humble myself into the place, friend. If I do something at work and they'll offer me to say, hey, I want you to forgive me for doing that. And they say, well, I forgive you, but you're fired. I'll say, amen, glory to God, I'll take that. See? You're in a spouse situation, and something's said, or something's done, and they're mad at you, and you come to them and say, will you forgive me? Now, I need to be forgiven. And they say, well, you know what, you need to do this, you need to do that, you need to do this, I'll do whatever you want. That's if you want forgiveness. Amen, am I right? I'm just saying tonight, this is what's needed and necessary in our homes, in our church, and our workplaces, in life. This is what the kingdom of heaven children are likened to. That's what this Bible teaches. We find tonight, with that being said, I want you to know number two, not as it generated from the heart, but tonight the very truth about forgiving is granted by the heart. Look what he says in verse 27, loosed him. Now we're talking about forgiving someone tonight. The first thing you have to do to forgive someone and forgive them correctly is you have to forgive them from your heart. All right? It's not an emotional, it's not a sympathy, it's not a head deal, it's a heart thing. Down deep in your heart, I'm going to forgive you. I'm going to go down deep in the recesses of my heart, down in the depthness of my soul, and I'm going to forgive you. Now, the next step after that heart decision and action is lucem. Lucem. Now, we're talking about forgiving now. What does that mean? That means to free fully. To free fully. It means also tonight to release completely. Thirdly, it means to dismiss entirely. Let me read that to you again. What does it mean tonight to forgive? It means from your heart, you freely and fully, you release completely and you dismiss entirely. In other words, tonight, yourself is set free. You set free that individual. Whenever he said to him, he said, listen, you're going to have to be sold. And then he says, I loose them. And what he's saying is this, is I set free you, you don't have to be sold no more. I set your wife free. She don't have to be sold no more. I set your children free. They don't have to be sold no more. I set all that you had free. It doesn't have to go anymore. Nothing has to be dismissed. Nothing has to be set free. I set it free. I loosed them. And tonight, let's put it into our mindset, and it's like this. When somebody does something to you, when somebody says something to you, you're offended and you're trespassed with tonight. And if you truly want to forgive them, you will set them free. They are fully, entirely, and completely at liberty. And it's over, it's done, it's out. And whatever it was that I required of you to do for me in order for us to have relationship again or have companionship again, whatever that was, it's loosed. If I required you to say, forgive me. If I required you to buy me a car. If I required you to go sit on the couch. I required you to say this. I required you to say that. And full, full truth of forgiveness tonight is saying, I set all that free. There's nothing you have to do. I forgive you. I loose them. Does that make sense? That's forgiveness tonight. And if you don't do it this way, I got very much serious consideration to just say you're lost. Because that's what the Bible teaches. We're talking about the Kingdom of Heaven and what it's likened to. We're talking about people that are really born again. That when they forgive, they give from the heart. But whatever they require that they might do in order to find the satisfaction of forgiveness, they let it go. Number two, or number three, I want you to notice tonight that that was granted. It was granted. The required payment was to be made. He said, I'll pardon that. I set at liberty that. I will depart that. You see, you're not personally responsible. Now, listen to me. Now, when somebody offends you and you really forgive them, and what you would forgive them, you're saying, I'll loose him, and you're saying, you're no longer personally responsible. You're no longer emotionally responsible or you're no longer mentally responsible. I lose you in every area of my life. Nothing in me, about me is holding anything against you. I have released it. I have let all that I expected you to do in order for us to reconcile, I let it go. That's what he's saying. I want you to notice, thirdly, not only has He generated from the heart, granted by the heart, but it is given because the heart. The Bible says in verse 27, and forgave him the debt. Now that's talking about the 1.5 million. The loosed him was talking about the slavery of him and his children and family. We just talked about that. That's what that man said. This is what you're going to have to give to me in order to pay my debt that you owe me. He said, but I cancel that. You ain't got to do that no more. You don't have to go into slavery. But then he says, not only do you not have to go to slavery, but I go ahead and just forgive the debt. I forgive the $1.5 million. I just forgive that. So whenever you get offended and somebody in your mind, in your heart, you're thinking, okay, in order for me to really like this person or come to a reconciliation with this person and really get back to this person, they're going to have to do this, this, this, and this, but real true forgiving is loose them and you let that go. They ain't got to do all that. At the same time, the very thing that caused you to be offended, you now forgive. Amen? So whatever it was, whatever it was done, truly forgiveness is pardoned. So the reason why we got in this situation, it's done. That word forgive means let it go. That's what it means. So whatever it was, let it go. He said, let the 1.5 million go. It means put it away. It means leave it alone. It means lay it aside. It means send it forth. So the 1.5 million is gone. Never to be mentioned again. Never to be considered again. Never to be recalled again. Finished! Done! Over! Through! That's how you forgive and if you forgive any other way you forgive the wrong way because it's not forgiveness this is the only acceptable way in the kingdom of heaven that God will accept forgiveness now if you're in this room and somebody's done something to you yesterday, the day before, last year, five years ago, ten years ago, and you bring it up, and you still bring it up, and you hold it as a weapon, or you hold it as something tonight against them, you're wicked. Right. You're wrong. That's right. And I doubt you even know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Right. Because that's not the way the kingdom of heaven people live. No. They don't do it that way. So tonight we find in the church people full of unforgiveness. We find people in our homes full of unforgiveness. Now, let me go through a few things tonight, probably all I can do, and then we'll finish it some other day. But I want you to, unforgiveness tonight, let me identify, okay? So you can write these down if you want to or you don't want to. But how do you know that you still have unforgiveness in you? How do you know that? How do you know that somebody else has unforgiveness in them? How will you identify that? Well, number one, we might have to go fast because I've got 16 things. Let's start with number one. Number one is this. When you have unforgiveness in you, you have outbursts of anger. When you have unforgiveness of them or that or him, it don't matter, whoever may, but it's just your life is constantly of outbursts of anger. You just get mad at the grandchildren, you get mad at the husband, you get mad at the wife, you get mad at work, you get mad at anything, you get mad at everything. A little roach is crawling down the road, I get mad at the roach. I mean, you get in your car, you know, and you got a half a tank of gas, you get mad at the gas tank. I mean, there's outbursts of anger, and you're just, you can't be, nobody can be around you, nobody can enjoy you, because you just get mad all the time. And your problem tonight is you have unforgiveness. Because that unforgiveness just keeps you up in the air. You're just real tight all the time. And it don't take much to get you off the rocker. God, help us. You say, what's wrong with that individual? Well, the house ain't clean, or the husband's sorry, or the children are rebellious, or the work is bad. No, unforgiveness in her heart, or unforgiveness in his heart. So outburst. Test it out. You might want to ask your spouse when you get home, do I have some outbursts of anger? Number two, you give silent treatments. That is an indication you have unforgiveness in your heart. You give silent treatments. When you don't get your way, when you don't get what you want, if it don't go your way. Or, if you don't think it is the way that it should be or ought to be, you give silent treatments. Silent treatments is this, you're talking, you just walk off. Or, whenever you're talking, you say, I'm not hearing this, I'm going to take off. Or you get in the car and you just drive off. Or you go sleep on the couch. Or you go do this. But you're silent. Somebody says, what's wrong with them? Oh, they're just mad. No, what's wrong with them is they have unforgiveness in their heart. That's what's wrong with them. Silent treatments. Help us, Lord. Amen. Number three, they are petty with their remarks that are made. Petty and their remarks are made. Little digs, little cuts. Little phrases, just little words and little things that you say, and it's so petty. You make everything such large and you make everything such troubling. Everything isn't that big, but you make it big. And you always got something to say. It's always critical. It's always condemning. It's always somebody else. It's always a little smart aleck remark, a little snide remark. You got unforgiveness in your heart. Number four, you tell, you're always trying to make your point of why you got hurt. Always try to make that point. No matter if the conversation's about a football game, it always ends about how you got hurt. If the conversation's about food, it always comes back around to how you got hurt. If you're going to the lake, or you're going to the park, or you're going somewhere, somewhere in between, all that kind of stuff, you're going to make your point again, how you got hurt. You got unforgiveness. in your heart, because it always comes out in every situation or any time there's communication. It just comes out. You're out of control. You're always looking on social media. Trying to figure out the one who hurt you or the one who offended you. You're looking on social media. You're trying to find out what they're saying. You're trying to find out what they're doing. You're angry with them and you have unforgiveness in your heart, but you're trying to track them. So you're on social media trying to find out. You're always concerned about the texts. They might get a text. Who is that? What do they want? Why are they texting you? Phone rings. Go get your phone, somebody. Who is it? Unforgiveness. You're just out of control. I mean, everything, nothing can go on, nothing can happen. You're bothered where they might be. You want to know where they are 24 hours a day. You want to know when they're coming. You want to know when they're going. You want to know when they're buying. You know when to this, that, and the other. Listen, you're out of control because you want to be in control. That's unforgiveness. You control of people, you control of places, you control of things. You control. And the reason why you control is because you have unforgiveness in your heart. And you cannot go without controlling. It's got to be you all the time. You're the center of attention. You're the one who everybody bows down to. They walk on shells around you. because you've got unforgiveness in your heart. You're blaming, number eight, you're blaming all for how you feel. Everybody else is the problem, everybody else is the reason why you feel the way you feel. It's not your fault at all, you think, but it's everybody's fault. But you're the common denominator. at work, at family, at home, at church, wherever you go, and you're always getting offended, and you're always getting, you always feel like you're getting trespassed about, and it's everybody else's fault, but you're the only person everywhere you go. This makes common sense. You're the one who has the unforgiveness. We find tonight, number nine, an identification of unforgiveness is sickness. Yes, sickness, anxiety, blood pressure, depression, overeating, sitting around hours at a time watching TV, watching your phone, on your computer, and constantly eating. These things right here is something that brings forth, tell you and identify that there's an unforgiveness in you. Because you're trying to satisfy, you're trying to get, but you become a sick person. We find the 10th thing is you keep lists of offenses. Now you don't keep the list physically, but you keep the list mentally. Mental list, emotional list, and you always keep these lists, and you got all this stuff here. You can't memorize scripture. You can't memorize songs. You can't memorize other things, but you memorize all the things that everybody's done against you and offended you. You just keep the list. Yeah, you did that last week, and you did that the week before, and you did that a month ago, and you did this two weeks ago, and you did that, and you did that, you did that, you did that, you did that. So you got this list. And boy, you can remember that. The reason why is because you have unforgiveness. You didn't make this list. Amen? Am I telling it right? Okay. I didn't know if I was off base. Number 11, we're getting there. Number 11, you hate life. People who have unforgiveness, they just hate life. They're unhappy. They're unsatisfied. They're uncaring. They don't care about life. They don't care about people. They don't care about nothing. They're just never content. They're never satisfied. It don't matter, friend, how much you do for them. It don't matter how much you go for them. It don't matter how much you don't do for them. They're never going to come to the place and say, I'm just happy and satisfied and content, because they're not, because they're unforgiving. Unforgiveness is they hate life. Life is not fun. Life is not good. Life is not the abundant life as a Christian. It's not like that no more. It's just always problems. It's always fights. It's always arguments. It's always trouble. It just seems like there's bickering here and there. It just seems like everywhere I go it's just a battle everywhere, and I hate life. I'd rather just go home. I'd rather just eat me a bowl of spaghetti, and I would just rather drink me a whole liter of Coke and just sit there and watch TV. and just go to bed or lay on the couch and just not want to do nothing, anywhere, anytime, because I just don't like life. You'd be amazed how many people's like that tonight. Unforgiveness. Number 12, they replay the offense over and over and over. Wherever you got offended, Last year, yesterday, 10 years ago, it just goes over and over and over. At night, when there's some quiet time, it just goes over. During the day at work, over, over. It could be 10 years ago, over, over. When you see buildings or you see restaurants or you see stores and Start re-going all over that whole thing again. You see streets and it just goes over. You just keep going over the same offense 10 years ago, 5 years ago, a year ago, it don't matter. You see the building, you see the street, you see the restaurant at night, in the morning, at work, at the house, it don't matter, friend. You see, you hear people's names, oh, that goes back. people's names. You start saying the same name, you hear the name, and you just keep going. It just keeps going. The hair colors, the body types, the very work, the home, and you just replay, replay, replay, replay, replay, replay. Right? Unforgiveness. You just cannot get it off your mind and off your heart. Unforgiveness. All right, number 13 I think it is tonight. You tell others. You tell others what happened to you over and over and over. You'll tell your brother, you'll tell your mother, you'll tell your sister, you'll tell your husband, you'll tell your children, over and over and over. It's like mom, it's like dad, it's like brother, sister, you told me like 15 times what happened to you. They just keep telling the same story. over and over. And the reason they do that, because it brings hurt to others. Whoever is the one who hurt them and what they did or what they said, if they keep repeating it to other people, it brings hurt to them because it makes them look bad. And they enjoy that. But not only does it bring hurt to others when they keep on repeating it, but it also brings sorrow for them. Because whomever they're telling, they say, Poor thing. Oh, you need a hug. This lady keeps telling the story. But it's all in unforgiveness. Unforgiveness, 13. We got three more. You're right and can be. In other words, you're never wrong. In other words, in that situation that has created you to have unforgiveness, you're not wrong in it. You didn't have any play. It wasn't anything you said. It wasn't anything you did. It wasn't your attitude. It wasn't your behavior. I mean, that one who offended you is 100% wrong all the way around and you didn't have anything to do with it at all. Baloney! Hogwash! Every single person in this room, if you have unforgiveness in your heart tonight, it's because of something that you did as well. That's the way it works. There's always two sides of the stories. That's right. Now, you may not want to hear it, but the fact of the matter is, you're just never wrong. You're not wrong in that. You're clear from any consciences and you're deserving to be right because you're the one who's been offended. But you didn't have anything to do to cause the offense. You know, like somebody pulls in front of you and you shoot them the finger. And they shoot you with the gun. Why did you shoot me? Well, you shot me the finger. Right? That's kind of a crude illustration, ain't it? Verse 15. Oh, not verse 15, but number 15. Those who have unforgiveness have bad choices constantly. They just keep on making bad decisions. They say things, they just keep on saying the bad things. They keep on doing the bad things. They keep on thinking the bad things. You tell them, listen, please, if you couldn't say that no more, please don't do that no more, please don't act like that no more. They say, okay, I won't do that no more. But then they keep on doing it. They can't help themselves because unforgiveness is in their hearts. Lastly, they don't want real help. They don't want to discuss their faults in the situation. They don't want to have anything to say the reason why they were offended because they might have done something in order for that individual to do something to cause her to be offended or cause him to be offended, but they don't want to talk about that. They don't want to discuss it. They don't want to be corrected, and they don't want to be blamed. And friend, everyone who don't want to be corrected and don't want to be blamed, friend, you have a problem with unforgiveness. Unforgiveness. Tonight, the Bible says, if you haven't forgave as the Lord forgave, then you're in unforgiveness. Let's stand to our feet, our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. If you haven't forgave as the Lord forgave this servant tonight, then you're in unforgiveness, and that's bad. But there's something worse than that. And that is tonight, if you haven't forgave, like the Lord forgave this servant tonight in our story, you're in unforgiveness. But what's worse than that is you're unforgiven. So you might have unforgiveness in your heart, but just know you're unforgiven. That's the worst part. God, help us tonight to look and see in our hearts tonight, does there lie any unforgiveness with one another? With one another tonight. If you need to come to the altar, just come. Lay out before the Lord. Forgive me, Lord, of unforgiveness. Forgive me, Lord, of being disobedient to you. I'm in the kingdom of heaven, I'm saved, I know I am. Lord, I don't want unforgiveness in my heart. Will you search it out for me? Will you seek it out in my heart, Lord, tonight? I wanna know it tonight if I'd have it. Please, I beg you, Lord. I don't wanna go home tonight with unforgiveness in my heart. I don't want to. Anybody like that tonight, come. Some have come, would you come? Would you come tonight? Say, I don't want any unforgiveness in me. I want to be cleared up, cleaned out. I don't want to mistakenly leave out of here. I don't want to accidentally leave out of here. I want to know clearly and plainly that there's no unforgiveness in my heart. And right now, every kingdom of heaven people tonight is searching God. God, find it, seek it, and get it out of me. Don't want any of it. I want to be clean tonight of unforgiveness. Please, my Father, please. Anybody tonight? Anybody else? Anybody else tonight? You say, it's gotten late, Brother Larry. Yeah, it's gotten real late. It's gotten real late for our relationships and our marriages and our parenting, our workplaces. You say, every service you say about all that. Yeah, because that's where we live. That's where we're at. I'd like to preach tonight where we walk and how we live. That's how God can help us tonight. Anybody else tonight, just give some time. God, I don't want any unforgiveness in my life. You might get home tonight and ask your spouse, do I have any unforgiveness in me? And let them be honest with you. Ask your children, do you see any unforgiveness in me? That's if you really want to know and really want to make it right. Let me pray tonight about this, and then we'll pray about your prayer request in just a moment. Father, I come to you in Jesus' name tonight. Lord, I pray for all of us, Lord, that have come to the altar who have not. Lord, the message has been clear. God, you told us how to forgive. God, that is, that it has to come from our heart. And Lord, we're going to have to loose them, and God, we're going to have to forgive them of the debt. And I pray tonight, Lord, that is the case in every one of us. Lord, that there's nobody in our church, in our home, at work, and our families, even tonight our neighbors or our friends, or even those tonight that we hardly even know, God, even our enemies tonight, that we are not having unforgiveness in my heart for them. We pray tonight, God, that as we leave out of here, We will not have this sin. I pray you cleanse our church of it. I pray you cleanse our hearts of it tonight. I pray, Lord, that we'll leave out of here and we'll be very careful in the next year, ten years, the rest of our lives to be careful about forgiveness and unforgiveness. Lord, that you help us. It has wrecked our world. It has destroyed, tonight, dear God, our homes. God, it has divided and separated people. God, unforgiveness is so ugly, and so damaging, and so I pray tonight, God, that we'll be so fearful of it, and God, that we'd run and flee. I pray tonight, God, you touch each one of us and you'll help us tonight. God, and the people that are the Kingdom of Heaven, tonight, thank you for God's Word. We praise you for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. You Christian brothers together Come hear a truthful song Full, highly praised names which are Related of God's Son The scriptures such as the Spirit leads, so to confess and in truth own, that which was from beginning is here. In the first place will you notice how Christ is the Word of God, through whom the Father worked as from the beginning were taught. When God created the heavens and earth, this Word with God was in concord, one with the Father as one.