January 28

Forgiven of the Impossible, then Choking a Man for Pocket Change

Peter thought he was being generous. He asked Jesus how many times forgiveness should run before it runs dry. Seven times sounded spiritual. Jesus answered with a number so large it shattered the ledger. Forgiveness in the kingdom of heaven does not count the way fallen men count.

Matthew 18:21–35 sits in the middle of Jesus teaching His disciples how life works under God’s reign. Peter comes with a sincere question. “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus replies, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times” or seventy times seven, depending on translation ~Matthew 18:22. The point is not arithmetic. The point is the death of limits. Kingdom forgiveness has no expiration date.

Jesus then tells a story that exposes the human heart. A king settles accounts. One servant owes ten thousand talents. That is not a manageable debt. It is unpayable. The servant is finished. Judgment is just. When the servant begs, the king does something shocking. “And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt” ~Matthew 18:27. The whole debt. Gone. No payment plan. No probation. Mercy triumphs.

That scene is the gospel in picture form. Every sinner stands before God with a debt they cannot repay. Scripture is plain that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ~Romans 3:23. The wages of sin is death ~Romans 6:23. Yet in Christ, God cancels the record of debt that stood against us. Paul says it was nailed to the cross ~Colossians 2:14. Jesus is not telling a fable. He is explaining what His own mission will accomplish.

Then the story turns dark. The forgiven servant finds a fellow servant who owes him a hundred denarii. That is a real debt, but it is small compared to what he was forgiven. The man begs with almost the same words. Patience. Time. Mercy. The forgiven servant refuses. He grabs him by the throat and has him thrown into prison. Grace received did not become grace given.

The king hears and responds with righteous anger. “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?” ~Matthew 18:32–33. Judgment follows. Jesus closes with words meant to land heavy. “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” ~Matthew 18:35.

This passage does not teach salvation by forgiving others. It teaches that an unforgiving heart exposes a heart that never truly grasped grace. Those who have been forgiven much forgive much ~Luke 7:47. Refusal to forgive is not strength. It is evidence of blindness to one’s own debt. When mercy does not flow outward, it reveals mercy never took root inward.

For the believer, this lands close to home. Jesus is speaking to disciples, not pagans. He is shaping kingdom character. Forgiveness is not pretending sin did not happen. It is releasing the right to collect. It is trusting God with justice and refusing to keep a personal prison system in your soul. Paul commands believers to forgive one another “as God in Christ forgave you” ~Ephesians 4:32. That is the measure. Not feelings. Not fairness. The cross.

This also protects the church. An unforgiving spirit poisons fellowship and fractures witness. Jesus has already warned that unresolved sin destroys relationships and community ~Matthew 18:15–20. Now He shows that unresolved bitterness destroys the forgiver as well. The man who would not forgive ended up in torment. Unforgiveness always imprisons someone, and it is often the one holding the key.

Jesus stands at the center of this passage. He is the King who forgives the unpayable debt. He is also the Judge who takes unforgiveness seriously. Grace is free, but it is never cheap. It transforms. If the gospel you claim does not soften your heart toward others, you have misunderstood the gospel itself.

Here is the pressing question. Who are you still choking by the throat in your heart while claiming to live under mercy? Tomorrow’s passage will move forward, but this truth must settle first. Forgiven people forgive. Anything else is a dangerous illusion.

Matthew 18:21-19:12
Exodus 5:22-7:25
Psalm 23:1-6
Proverbs 5:22-23

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New Testament: Matthew 18:21-19:12

Summary:
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
Teaching About Divorce

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?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” ~ Matthew 18:32-35

Overview: Matthew 14 – 28 – Click Here

Learning to Forgive, Part 2

Matthew 18:23–27

God calls men to an accounting for their lives. For some people, that might be happening today, for the first time, or the hundredth time. But periodically through the flow of life, as men possess in their hands the stewardship of the things that God owns, they are called to give an account for their life. And there will be many such accountings before that final judgment verdict is rendered at the great white throne.

In Romans Chapter 1, it says that God has deposited in man the knowledge of Himself. That God has given to man the environment around him enough information that he may follow that path to the knowledge of God. That God has given man the intellectual capability to understand, and reason, and see the truth. That God has presented to him the revealed Word, the Holy Spirit. In other words, God has given a treasure to men that they are to perceive it from Him, and they are to follow that perception to the full understanding of who He is and what He wants. And God periodically calls men to such accounting.

And maybe for some of you that conviction was heightened by a physical illness, or it was heightened by the death of someone you love very much, or the loss of a job, or a painful experience. But God calls men to such accountings, whereby alarming circumstances, or alarming truth, or alarming guilt, or penetrating, awakening of the conscience, men who appeared to be asleep before are all of a sudden alerted to the sinfulness of their sin. And sometimes he brings along severe circumstances to heighten that intense awareness.

But all men come to that same accounting, and it may happen again and again. And it may be rejected again and again, and for all of us who know Christ at one time, it was accepted, and we entered into eternal life. And so what we have here, then, is God calling men to the accounting of conviction of sin.