Forgiveness      Matthew 18:23-24

This post explains what Jesus said about the necessity of forgiveness.

‘Forgiveness’ as a post stresses forgiving each other. Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive a brother. Jesus said seventy-seven times and then illustrated his answer with a parable, Matthew 18:23-24. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven… compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.” Someone estimated this amount as ten million dollars. Workers could usually make one denarius a day. Therefore, this worker could not ever pay back the debt.

So, the king demanded the selling of the servant and his family to pay on the debt. The servant begged for mercy. Out of pity, the master released the debt of the servant.

However, this servant found another worker who owed him 100 denarii and demanded payment. Although this worker also begged for mercy, the servant refused and had the worker put in prison. Fellow servants reported this action to the master.

The master called him wicked, Matthew 18:32-33. “Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’” Then, the master put the wicked servant in prison until he paid all—an impossible task.

Jesus provided the lesson, Matthew 18:35. “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

If we do not forgive from the heart, our forgiveness due to the grace of God will disappear.

Today, we all resemble the servant with an enormous debt, namely, our sins.

God’s grace provides forgiveness—see Acts 2:38. But if we do not forgive others, we will receive eternal punishment according to Jesus—see v. 35 above.

So, what did we learn?

1.Our sins cause us to resemble the servant who could not pay a tremendous debt.

2.God provides forgiveness provided we forgive our brothers.

3.God will remove our forgiveness if we do not forgive our brothers.

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