Please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter 18, starting at verse 21. Matthew 18, verse 21. The subject matter at hand today is forgiveness. which is God forgiving man, but also man forgiving his fellow man. Of course, the most important aspect of that is forgiveness between God and man, forgiveness that takes place vertically. And the less important aspect is that of forgiving horizontally. And that's what we want to know is in the title of this sermon. And that is, what is the evidence of having been forgiven? What is the evidence that God has indeed forgiven all my sins? What is the evidence that God has forgiven all my sins? And of course, you can guess where I'm heading for this answer. It's a parable in Matthew, but somehow I have to relate this to the faith that God has given me. So let's look at the background to this question. So Peter's question. that starts in Matthew 18 verse 21. Peter came to the Lord with a question that concerned him personally. See that here in 21. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how often, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times. but until 70 times 7. The question of Peter was prompted by Jesus teaching in verses 15 through 17 of the same chapter that within the church a man must do all that is in his power to save his brother who trespasses against him. And I'm stressing within the church because that's what these words refer to. When we read my brother, we understand that this refers to a brother or sister in Christ. Now, if we were living 200 years ago, we could probably count all members of Christian churches, not Roman Catholic, but Christian churches as brothers and sisters in Christ. But today we live in a time of great apostasy. And so when any stranger tells me he's a Christian, I'm kind of leery of him. For the majority of people today who call themselves Christians are bearing the name of the Lord in vain. When I remember what God is warning us about in Revelation 13 verse 8, then I must be aware that the majority of the churches today have been deceived by Antichrist. And so the only brothers or sisters in Christ we have today are those in our own local church, for these are people who listen to and believe the true gospel, and There are some outside our local church who we personally know, and they too are brothers and sisters in Christ. These are brothers which are referred to in this passage and in the parable that follows. The chapter primarily deals with relationships between brothers in Christ. It's not concerned with our neighbor. The question of who is my neighbor comes up in another chapter, but not here. We must listen carefully to the words that are used that will learn to focus rather than to just have our minds scattered all over the Bible. Peter asked this question because he thought he was being very generous in forgiving his brother in Christ seven times. But the answer that the Lord Jesus gave him was no, not just seven times, but 70 times seven times. That's 490 times. Need a big book to keep track. This means that we must not be like the legalists, who are counting until the number of times my brother has sinned against me has reached 490. Got down every one. And then, they stop forgiving. They've been counting them all. Have they been forgiving? I think not. Remember that the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Not the exact number, but the concept. The spirit of Jesus answer was keep forgiving. For long before you reach 490, you'll lose count. There's no limit to the number of times we forgive our brother in Christ. Therefore, the basis of this rule that Jesus gave us is that we must love one another for without love, our faith is vain and then we're still in our sins. Now this forms the background for the parable that follows. First, Lord Jesus answered Peter's question directly, which is unusual if you consider the answers of Jesus throughout the New Testament. But then the Lord gave the reasons for his answer in the form of a parable. This is not a historical event. It's truly a parable with a focus on forgiveness. And so we should not try to squeeze a works gospel out of the details of this parable. Remember what the Lord said in Matthew 13. A parable is understood only by the saints. For to the unregenerate mind, parables are confusing. So let's read about this now, about the mercy of God. In Matthew 18, verses 23 to 27. Matthew 18, verse 23. Therefore, is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, had payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion. and loosed him and forgave him the debt. Lord Jesus starts out this parable with the word, therefore, for this reason. And so we see that this parable must refer to the rule of forgiveness that the Lord stated in the previous verse. When the Lord stated the kingdom of heaven is like, he indicated thereby that these are truly events that take place in the church. which is the earthly manifestation of the kingdom of heaven. All members of a church have been sanctified, which does not mean saved, but means set apart for service to God. All people in the church have been given a loan. In loan, a wealth of spiritual and physical things to us is committed the calling of using all these things to God's glory and in his service. These things over which we are placed are never ours, but they belong to God, who is the king in this parable. We are given the responsibility to use them all for the king's benefit. So this is a daily debt we owe to God. And in this we fall short every day, which is sin. And thus we steal from God by not using the resources that he's entrusted to us. And so we can see that we easily can accumulate an enormous debt. The Lord Jesus stated this debt as 10,000 talents, which actually has the value of 10,000 years of wages. For a talent was the wage of a laborer for one year. The Lord could just as well have stated that this debt was 100 million talents. For if we would attempt to pay the debt that we owe to God, we would have to spend more than 100 million years in hell. In fact, it would require an eternity in hell to pay our debt in full. And thus we understand that this debt is so great that it is absolutely unpayable. Moreover, even if we would repent and dedicate our life from this moment forward, we would still have to pay our past debt. And we can't even pay our current bills. We find it impossible to love God with all our heart and soul and mind every minute and every second of the day. And thus, we daily increase our debt to God, for daily we fall short of giving Him all the honor and glory. This, then, is our condition before God bestows His mercy on us. And thus we see here in this passage how infinite the mercy of God is when He shows His forgiveness. You remember the definition of mercy. Mercy is God withholding what we do deserve. We deserve an eternity in hell. When God has mercy on us, he withholds from us this penalty of hell. And that's a great blessing in itself. For if we do not have to go to hell, then we can look forward to a life hereafter of no suffering at all. That's wonderful. But that's not the whole story. Mercy takes us out of the bottomless pit. and lifts us up to ground zero. But God also pours his grace upon those on whom he would like to show mercy. And you remember the definition of grace? Grace is unmerited favor or grace is God giving us what we do not deserve. OK, let's go back justice, getting what we deserve. Mercy, not getting what we deserve. Mercy, sorry, grace, getting what we don't deserve. If you think of those three, the step up in God's grace to us. What do we not deserve? We do not deserve to go to heaven and be in God's presence forever. But God takes us up out of the bottomless pit by showing mercy on us. And then he also bestows his grace upon us, which means he lifts us up from the bottomless pit to ground zero mercy. And then he takes us from ground zero and lifts us up higher than the angels and makes us sons of God. That's grace. And that is how great the mercy and grace of God is for those whom he loves. That's why God says for Samuel two, verse eight, we quote a lot. He raised up the poor out of the dust. and lifted up the beggar from the downhill to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth of the Lord, and he has set the world upon them. We are those poor people, for we have nothing to offer to God, for all our works are tainted with sin. We are those beggars, for we're begging God for his mercy because we don't want to go to hell. But it is God. who has softened our hearts. And it's God who has put those prayers for mercy within us for its God who delights in mercy so that he has from before the foundation of the world ordained that we should ask for mercy. And it's God who sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to save us from our sins and the consequences of our sins. And it's God who through Christ has bestowed his mercy and grace upon us. so that through Christ's purchase of us, he has made us accepted by the Father as the bride of Christ and as sons of God. Notice who did the action. It's God. How can we how can we now get some appreciation of the infinite mercy and grace that God has for those he has chosen to be his people? Truly, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God's ways higher than our ways and his thoughts higher than our thoughts. His mercy incomprehensible. Let's now turn back to Matthew 18, verse 27. You might remember that I said we have been given a loan. Sorry, been given in loan. a wealth of spiritual and physical things which we are obligated to use in the service of God. That last word of Matthew 18 verse 27 is a Greek word that's not used anywhere else in the Bible, but that word says actually loan, not debt. The nature of a loan is that we have to pay it back, not immediately, but much later. The servant accumulated alone, which he had to pay later when his body has died and when he has stood before Christ as the judge and has been found guilty of still having to pay his loan. The Lord very carefully chose his words in this parable. Nowhere in this parable is the word is the Lord using a word that could absolutely imply salvation. This is not about salvation. When we read in Matthew 18 verse 27, the three words moved with compassion. It does not necessarily mean that the Lord saved that servant. These three words in English are actually one word in the Greek, which is also used in Matthew 9 verse 36 and Matthew 14 verse 14. where we find that the Lord Jesus was moved with compassion for the multitudes. Certainly, Jesus did not save everyone in the multitude, but it means that he had pity on the multitude, for they were as sheep having no shepherd. Within this context of mercy and grace, we would like to know, on whom does God bestow his mercy? Please turn in your Bibles to the prophecy of numbers. All the way back to Numbers, Numbers 23, verse 19. Numbers 23, verse 19. This is the story of the wicked soothsayer Balaam, who was asked by the king of Moab to curse the nation of Israel. But God spoke to Balaam at night and told him that God would put his own words in Balaam's mouth, for God did not want the nation of Israel to be cursed by anyone. And so, when Balak took Balaam, he's the king who's asking him to curse Israel, when Balak took Balaam to the top of a high mountain where he could see the entire multitude of Israel, and Balak asked him to pronounce that curse on Israel, out of Balaam's mouth came wonderful blessings on Israel. You read that in Numbers 23, verse 19. God is not a man that he should lie. Neither the son of man, that he should repent, hath he said, and shall he not do? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received a commandment to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. And then the verses we're looking at, he shall not, he hath not, be held iniquity in Jacob. Neither have he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him and the shout of a king is among them. What we to understand when we read he has not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Many of us have been taught in previous churches that when we read about Jacob in the Bible, it must always refer to the physical descendants of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. But is this really so? We know for sure that only a remnant from the nation of Jews will be saved, just like only a remnant of the Gentiles will be saved. For this is the teaching of both Romans 11 and of Galatians 4. But those who will be saved will have all their sins forgiven, past, present and future sins, and they will be in the sight of God as righteous as Christ himself, even while they still live on this earth. When God says he hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, it means that the group of people whom God calls Jacob are either a part or represent all the elect whom God intends to save. For those in whom God does not see iniquity are absolutely those whose sins have been forgiven and who have been saved. The doctrine of the thousand-year reign of Christ with the Jews evangelizing the world is a serious error on the part of those who are in the pre-millennial persuasion. Here in Numbers 23 verse 21, the saved people called Jacob are the same saved people who are called Israel in the same verse, which is not referring to the nation of Israel, but to the Israel of God, according to Galatians 6 verse 16. You might even write in that reference there. Galatians 6 verse 16. And so the fact that God calls the elect Jacob as well as Israel is a totally new concept for many of us. And we wonder if this is substantiated in the New Testament. Please turn to the gospel according to Luke. Luke chapter 1 verse 33. Luke 1, verse 33. We were there quite a bit with our Bible study as we were looking at the incarnation of Christ. In this passage, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin named Mary to tell her that God has bestowed on her the honor of becoming the mother of Jesus, the promised Messiah, the Son of God. And then the angel Gabriel adds, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David. And then look at the following verse in verse thirty three. Luke one thirty three, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There shall be no end. Christ shall reign over a people that are called the house of Jacob. If this means only the physical descendants of Jacob, then Christ is not ruling over us, for most of us are not physical descendants of Jacob. But that's not possible for Christ rules over all those who have put their trust in him. Therefore, in Luke 1 verse 33, the name name Jacob refers to Christ and all those who are in Christ, not just a portion only who are physical descendants of Jacob. We must always keep in mind that God says in John 1 verse 13 that our salvation is not of blood. indicating that no one can claim a special relationship to God for being a descendant of one of his favorite people of the past. This rule also may not be violated. We can look at Luke one verse thirty three with similar eyes as we look at Luke one sorry Matthew one verse twenty one which we quote a lot where the angel said to Joseph thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. then who are we to understand his people to be? If his people refers to only the Jews, then Jesus did not save me from my sins for I'm not a physical descendant of Jacob. Therefore, just like we must understand that his people in Matthew 121 refers to all the elect, so we must understand that the house of Jacob in Luke 133 refers to all the elect. Let's go back to the parable in Matthew 18. Verses twenty three to twenty seven, where we will see God's infinite mercy on display. We must always keep in mind that God does not grant his mercy by just some hand waving. For this, we're infinitely grateful for if God could forgive sins by just some hand waving, then he could retract also himself from this obligation by some hand waving. But this is not the God whom we are serving. Our God is infinitely righteous. and our God's righteousness must be satisfied. Now that takes us back to Isaiah 53. Please turn in your Bibles to the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah 53 verse 10. We've looked at this quite a bit in the past few months. Isaiah 53 verse 10. For the most part, Isaiah 40 through Isaiah 66 contains doctrines that are immediately applicable to the New Testament time. Here in Isaiah 53, God gives us various pictures of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. God's righteousness must be satisfied for every sin that he forgives in mortal man. The penalty for each sin must be paid in full. We are not able to pay such a great penalty for it would take us an infinite time and help to pay for even one sin. But Christ is able to pay such a great penalty without being consumed in the process for the man Christ Jesus has been united with God, the son, the second person of the triune God. He must be a man for only as a man and he substitute for another man. He must be God also, for only if he has the strength of God can he endure the penalty of our sins, which require the equivalent of eternity in hell. And thus, when Christ paid the penalty for our sins, he suffered this payment in his humanity, in his human body and soul, but especially in his soul. For man's sins are registered in man's soul, but Christ endured this payment with the strength of God. And since he was united with God the Son into one person, it's not possible that he would fail in his attempt to satisfy the righteousness of God for the payment for our sins. God entirely orchestrated this event of Christ's atoning work for us on the cross. For God says in Acts 3 verse 18. But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer. He hath so fulfilled. And so we read here in just one of the prophets how much Christ had to suffer for our sins. So Isaiah 53 verses 10 through 12. Isaiah 53 verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see a seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Remember, that's God shall see the punishment Christ underwent and his sense of justice is satisfied. He understands those sins are covered by his knowledge. Shall my righteous servant justify many? for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I, God, divide him, Christ, a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Brief summary of that, it pleased the Lord to bruise Christ, for God delights in mercy. And only if Christ would pay for people's sins is God able to exercise his mercy. And therefore it is the pleasure of the Lord that shall prosper in Christ's hands. We have a hard time understanding that it was a pleasure of the Lord that Christ's hands were pierced by cruel nails. We have even less understanding when God says that he shall make the soul of Christ an offering for sin. It means that Christ in his soul endured the wrath of God equivalent to the penalty that we must endure if we would have to pay for our own sins. Only then can we say that the righteousness of God is satisfied. And we actually can see that when Christ and the cross with a loud voice cried out, it is finished. Hope's finished. He's still hanging on the cross. He still suffered greatly in his body. But the suffering in his soul was finished. He had finished suffering in his soul, and now the suffering in his body was a mere pittance compared to what he had to endure in his soul. And herein we can see the great suffering of Christ in his soul. This is also evident from Isaiah 53 11. where God speaks of the travail of Christ in his soul. Therefore, when we read in verse 10, he shall see his seed. And again, in verse 11, he shall see of the travail of his soul. We understand that this refers to the promise of his resurrection from the dead. It is the promise that he shall not fail, but be successful in all of his suffering, for God is with him to strengthen him and all that he had to endure. It's surprising that some people have a hard time accepting that Christ had to endure the equivalent of an eternity in hell. When we think of the substitution that God promised way back in Genesis 3 verse 15, he shall bruise his head, thou shalt bruise his head, but he shall bruise his heel. Read Genesis 3 15. When we think then also, we also think of the righteousness of God that must be satisfied. How could Christ accomplish a substitutionary payment if it wasn't a full payment that was equivalent to our payment needed in hell? And so we realize how great the sacrifice of Christ was when he atoned for our sins. This is what God had to do in order to forgive. Let's go back to that parable of the ungrateful servant in Matthew 18 verse 28. In Matthew 18, verse 28, we read that the Lord was moved with compassion for that servant because he was unable to pay back such a great loan. And the Lord released him from the obligation to pay back this loan. Now, notice that this is a parable about forgiveness in a merely money accounting business. It's not a parable about salvation for the Greek word that are words that are used do not imply salvation. This explains the course of events in the remainder of this parable. Some others. Otherwise, some people would say, Wait a minute, he was saved and then he still gets thrown into hell. That doesn't make sense. It's not about salvation. Let's read Matthew 18 verse 28. But that Italics same, so it's not really there. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And the fellow servant fell down to his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. Again, in verse twenty eight, the word same is not in the original. The Greek text simply says that servant. And so if someone tries to introduce another gospel here, we could reply that in the first part of this parable, the servant is representing every one of mankind. For every one of us comes before Christ to judge with a debt that is so great. It's unpayable. In the second part of the parable, we're introduced to a very ungrateful servant who demands that his fellow servant pay him back a small debt, and he has to pay it immediately. The Lord indicates that this debt is equivalent to 100 pennies or 100 denarii, for it represents a laborer's wage for 100 days of work. It's a debt which easily could be repaid maybe in a year or two years. But it's certainly no reason for throwing the man in jail for such a relatively small debt. Again, we should stress that this is not a parable about salvation, but about money. Although we can extend the application of salvation, but then we'd have to screen out those things that strictly are speaking about money. The Lord Jesus told us this story to show us the lopsided accounts we have vertically with God and horizontally with our fellow man. Vertically, we owe God an unpayable debt or loan. What we owe God is an equivalent to an eternity in hell. Horizontally, the hurts we receive from our fellow man are, by comparison, a mere pittance. If we can't see that, it's because we have no appreciation for the enormous payment that Christ has made for each one of us whom he came to save. And if we have no appreciation for the payment Christ had to make. Then we have no appreciation for God's great salvation that he designed and worked the Lord Jesus Christ. And that means we're still our sins. For if God has not opened our mind to the beauty of his magnificent salvation program, and if he has not opened our mind to the wretchedness of being slaves of sin and Satan, And if he's not opened our mind to our great need of being saved from our slippery slide into hell, we simply have not been saved. And thus, the unsaved people of the world, which have no comparison with their vertical debt to God, will be very unforgiving toward their fellow man. But with us who are saved, this ought not to be so. Let's read on in this story. Matthew 18, verses 31 to 34. So when his the unforgiving servants, fellow servants, saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, Oh, thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest me. Shouldest thou not also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, 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." Now we can see that the Lord is shifting this parable towards salvation issues. This fact is reflected in verse 34, where the Lord delivered him to the tormentors. which is a direct reference to hell. When people are judged in the last day and are cast into hell, who's waiting for them there? Oh yes, Satan. And all of his demons are already there, for they don't need an arraignment and a process of justice. The tormentors are Satan and his demons, who hate mankind, for they'll blame mankind for their suffering. God will delegate the torments in hell to Satan and his demons, Please turn in your Bibles to the epistle to the Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 1. Hebrews 2 verse 1. It's then understandable that God says in Proverbs 9 verse 10. Proverbs 9 verse 10 we would read the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When we have a fear of hell. It's the beginning of the wisdom that eventually leads to salvation. For the fear of hell leads us to the fear of God. For it's only God who can cast us into hell. Here in Matthew 18, verses 6 through 9, God warned about this condemnation. And God warns us that if we do not have great respect for his plan of salvation, we will be condemned. That's obvious in Hebrews 2, verses 1 to 3. Hebrews 2, verse 1. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the words spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, a reward justice. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that heard him. Oh, yes, fearful words, how shall we escape? If we neglect so great salvation. For if we are so unforgiving toward our brothers in Christ. Then we show from our conduct that we have no appreciation for what Christ has done to save us from our sins. And if we neglect to appreciate the cross of Christ, if we spurn the love of God for mankind, if we count the blood of Christ as an unholy thing, then we have trampled underfoot the Son of God. And we must face the fact that we have no faith and no fear of hell. Let's not turn again to the Gospel of Matthew and turn to the last verse in this parable. Matthew 18, verse 35, where we see the evidence of forgiveness in the title of the sermon. What is the evidence that God has forgiven all our sins? What is the evidence that God has saved us? Of course, the first evidence is that we have received faith so that we believe the gospel that Christ has suffered and died for us. But don't we read in James 2 verse 26 that faith without works is dead? For it's not a faith that's given by God. Remember the focus of this parable. How often shall I forgive my brother in Christ? The answer is you must forgive him indefinitely without limitations For this is what we are called to do based on our appreciation for how much Christ has done for us, and how little the offense is by my brother in Christ. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 18 verse 35, so likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother in Christ. their trespasses. Do we love our brethren in Christ? If that's so, then do we act as if we do not love them? God commands us to love our brethren in Christ. If we do not love them, then we are violating his commands and we show by our actions that our salvation is in question. I didn't invent that. God says In 1 Corinthians 13 verses 2 and 3. 1 Corinthians 2 and 3, you may know it because it's the famous love chapter. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could move mountains and have not charity or love, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profited to me nothing. Does this not mean that we, in our love for our brethren in Christ, must forgive our brother what he might have done to us without even knowing that he's hurt us? And so what is the evidence that we have been forgiven? The evidence is that we want to do all those things that are pleasing in God's sight. And that includes the command to forgive our brothers in Christ. But why is it so difficult to forgive? We're not always sure what to do about it. We don't know where to begin. But the Lord tells us here in Matthew 18. Matthew 18, again, verse 15. Matthew 18, verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell them to the church. But if you neglect to hear the church, let him be under the as a heathen man and a publican. And also, because we have an issue with brethren in the church, we get help from the church. And notice the last words of verse 17, let him be under the as a heathen man and a publicans, a publican. And thus, from these words, we can see that we're dealing with outsiders differently. Then we're dealing with our brethren in Christ. The Bible speaks in many places about the same thing that we must be in a loving relationship with our brethren in Christ, especially in our local church, for the Saints need this loving fellowship. For example, we read in Ephesians four, verse 32. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. And thus the main point of this parable is clear. If we experience the forgiveness of God for the sins that we commit against him, we will surely forgive our fellow saints. When we experience the wonder that God has forgiven us, then this can only fill us with awe and thanksgiving. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, and it is his mercy that is completely undeserved. God does not need to forgive us. He's not under obligation to forgive us any sins we could. He could just as well have chosen someone else in our place, someone who is probably more forgiving than we are. Let's consider these things and be grateful that he did not pass us by when he paid the penalty for our sins. And when we are inclined to pass judgment on someone who is our brother in Christ. Let's remember what God said in Romans fourteen verse four. Who are thou that judges another man's servant. To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand. And when it comes to forgiving others outside the church. Let's remember that the Lord also wants us to have peace in the world and not be eaten up by grudges against others. God says in Matthew 6, right after the Lord's Prayer, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. What does he end that with? For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Sounds like an if-then. Remember, we only forgive if we've been forgiven. If we have not been forgiven by God, that's why we don't forgive. This command, not a suggestion, this command we have from Him who made us for His glory. Let us then do all things to his glory and let us forgive our fellow man from our heart. What goes on in our heart is what really counts. It's not the theatrics of the world. It's not waiting till the other party repents and asks for forgiveness. But forgive them from the heart. Don't record it. Drop it. Amen. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer. Father in heaven, we come to you to thank you for these words. Lord, there's so many times because of our sinful nature that we hang on to grudges and we count the number of times we've had to let someone slide for something they did. Lord, break us of that. Humble us. Help us to recognize the amazing forgiveness that we have received and therefore the forgiveness that we are able to give because we've been forgiven. Lord, we pray that this will work in our hearts and in our lives, that those around us may see that you have changed us and are in the process of changing us to be more and more forgiving in all things. Lord, we pray that this message will go forth powerfully and touch those you've prepared. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.