Introduction:
Who Are The "Merciful"? (Matthew 5:7)
Ephesians 2:4 - But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us...
Titus 3:5 - he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy...
Acts 7:60 - And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."
Why Are We Congratulating the Merciful?
Matthew 6:12 - and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:14 - For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you...
Luke 6:37 - ...forgive, and you will be forgiven...
Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Colossians 3:13 - ...forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
How Can I Be Merciful?
Matthew 18:21
5 Excuses People Give for Not Forgiving:
- They have to Come To Me .
- I'll forgive but I won't Forget .
- They'll just do it Again .
- They don't want to Reconcile .
- I just Can't .
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:00-00:03
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Matthew chapter five.
00:05-00:19
And we are in the middle of like an eight week long party, a congratulations party that comes from Matthew chapter five.
00:19-00:24
We're gonna be going through the Sermon on the Mount and this is Jesus' first sermon.
00:25-00:29
And this is the introduction to his first sermon.
00:29-00:33
and over and over and over you see a theme, right?
00:33-00:41
Look at verse three, Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
00:42-00:46
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
00:47-00:50
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
00:51-00:55
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
00:57-01:00
Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.
01:01-01:05
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
01:06-01:11
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.
01:12-01:17
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
01:19-01:26
Now that word blessed, most people say, well, that just means happy, but it actually means more than just happy.
01:27-01:40
What Jesus is doing here is congratulating his followers to say, "If you're this kind of a person, "then this is what is going to result from that." There's a glorious promise attached to it.
01:40-01:50
And in these Beatitudes, you have to see these, it's not like Jesus was just randomly coming up with cool little proverbs he was throwing out.
01:51-01:55
There's a spiritually logical flow to all of this.
01:55-01:56
These are like a ladder.
01:57-01:58
It's describing a journey.
01:59-02:01
This is what Christians are meant to be.
02:03-02:13
And something we're going to see in the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes specifically, and it's our theme for this whole series, is God wants your heart.
02:15-02:17
It's not about the externals.
02:20-02:27
A Christian, listen, a Christian is something before he does anything.
02:29-02:45
And today we're looking at verse seven, where Jesus says, "Blessed are the merciful, "for they shall receive mercy." Will you bow your heads with me for a moment?
02:45-02:53
And I just ask that you would pray for me, please, as I will pray for you, as we get into God's word together.
03:00-03:00
(P)
03:09-03:12
Father in heaven, this is a message for all of us.
03:13-03:19
I suppose there are some messages that people can sort of excuse themselves from.
03:21-03:22
Not this one.
03:23-03:24
This hits us all.
03:29-03:54
So I pray, Father, that you would help us to shelve any distractions in our hearts, and that, Father, you would help us to silence our own objections to what you've said, and that as true, obedient followers of Jesus Christ, we are just, right now, we are poised, to do whatever it is you said in your word.
03:55-03:59
And I thank you ahead of time for the fruit of righteousness that comes from that.
04:00-04:05
I pray in Jesus' name and all of God's people said, amen.
04:05-04:12
So we would like to say congratulations to the merciful.
04:14-04:14
(congregation applauding)
04:19-04:20
Wait, there's another wave.
04:20-04:21
Okay, there it is.
04:26-04:27
That is who we are celebrating today.
04:28-04:32
That is who we blew all these balloons up for, the merciful.
04:32-04:42
If you are merciful, that on behalf of our Lord and on behalf of the leadership of this church, I would like to say congratulations.
04:43-04:46
And you're like, who are the merciful?
04:48-04:51
Well, on your outline, Who are the merciful?
04:52-04:53
Are you ready?
04:54-04:56
We're gonna get really technical here.
04:57-04:57
Who are the merciful?
04:57-04:59
They are people who show mercy.
05:03-05:05
I didn't put a lot of time into this this week.
05:08-05:09
That's what I came up with.
05:12-05:15
But that's what the merciful really are.
05:16-05:17
It's people who show mercy.
05:17-05:19
We don't need to overly complicated, do we?
05:19-05:20
It's people who show mercy.
05:22-05:24
But the question is, what does that mean?
05:26-05:35
I don't know about you, but when I hear mercy, sometimes my mind goes to this more, I don't know, like this magnanimous place.
05:36-05:56
When I hear merciful, for some reason, just that concept, that word, it makes me think of like, please back me up here, if you're like me, but it makes me think of like some like 80s kung fu movie where the good guy finally has the bad guy or he wants them.
05:58-05:59
And he deserves it.
06:00-06:01
This guy definitely deserves it.
06:03-06:12
And he's like, "No, I'm going to show you mercy." You know, roll credits.
06:14-06:16
That's where my mind goes when I hear merciful.
06:21-06:26
But I think what we're more concerned about here is what does the Bible mean by that term, right?
06:27-06:28
And here it is.
06:28-06:29
Don't miss this.
06:30-06:31
Don't miss this.
06:32-06:34
Do you know what mercy is biblically?
06:35-06:37
Mercy manifests as forgiving other people.
06:39-06:40
That is biblical mercy.
06:40-06:44
It's forgiving other people who have sinned against you.
06:46-06:47
That's mercy.
06:49-06:52
And I heard a illustration many years ago it's from Pastor Bob actually.
06:54-06:55
I wanna share it with you quickly.
06:55-07:02
Some of you've heard this before, but this helps me understand mercy more than anything else.
07:02-07:05
But in this illustration, just imagine you have a teenage son.
07:05-07:08
Some of you do, some of you did, some of you will.
07:09-07:19
But imagine you have a teenage son and he goes to this party and there's another teenage boy at this party that he just hates your son, hates him.
07:20-07:29
And it got to the point this other boy's like, when your son goes to this party, this other boy's made up his mind, he's gonna murder your son.
07:29-07:30
He hates him that much.
07:32-07:33
Imagine that's what happens.
07:33-07:40
Your son shows up at this party and an act of just cold-blooded wickedness.
07:41-07:44
This boy murders your son.
07:47-07:59
If you track that kid down and you killed him for murdering your son, that's called vengeance.
08:01-08:10
But if you track that kid down and apprehended him and took him to the authorities, and he was arrested, that's justice.
08:13-08:36
But if you were in court while this young man is standing trial for the murder of your son, if you were in court and somehow, somehow, the judge leaves the sentencing up to you, since you are the victim, and you say, you know what?
08:36-08:37
I wanna let him go.
08:38-08:39
Just let him go.
08:40-08:41
And the judge grants that.
08:41-08:45
They open the door and this young man goes, he just walks out the door.
08:46-08:48
That is called mercy.
08:50-08:56
But if you, again, courtroom scene, kid on trial, judge says, it's all up to you.
08:56-09:03
If in that moment, you said, your honor, what I would like to do is I would like to adopt this young man and raise him as my own son.
09:04-09:05
That's called grace.
09:08-09:12
And you see what we're talking about here today is mercy.
09:13-09:21
The, you severely wronged me, but I'm gonna let you go.
09:22-09:23
That's mercy.
09:25-09:28
And note this, mercy is a feeling.
09:29-09:33
is feeling pity for someone's condition.
09:35-09:37
Okay, so that's what mercy really is.
09:37-09:42
Somebody has sinned against you and now they're coming to you for forgiveness.
09:42-09:44
I've wronged you, I am so sorry.
09:45-09:47
And they are under your power.
09:48-09:50
Maybe it is like the Kung Fu movie.
09:50-09:52
They're under your power now.
09:54-09:57
And mercy manifests as forgiveness.
10:00-10:05
Mercy is actually imitating God, because that is the gospel, right?
10:05-10:07
God felt pity for us.
10:09-10:13
God felt pity because of the miserable consequences of our sin.
10:13-10:14
What did sin bring us?
10:14-10:18
A life of misery and death and separation from our creator.
10:19-10:20
Miserable.
10:20-10:28
So God says, "I'm going to show mercy." and his mercy moved him to deal with sin and grace.
10:29-10:30
But look at these Beatitudes again.
10:31-10:34
Do you notice the first four that we looked at here?
10:35-10:41
Being poor in spirit, mourning, being meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness.
10:41-10:49
Do you notice all of those are about God moving in me, God changing me, God going after my heart.
10:49-10:57
But now we've sort of turned a corner here because now when we get to mercy, This is God moving through me to other people.
11:01-11:08
And Jesus says on this journey, on this spiritual journey, when you get here, you don't see people the way that you used to.
11:11-11:20
Now that you have this new nature that we talked about last week, this new nature, God's spirit in you makes you want to imitate God.
11:21-11:23
And that makes you wanna show mercy.
11:28-11:35
Speaking of God's mercy, and if we're going to imitate it, look at Ephesians 2, 4, we'll have it on the screen here.
11:36-11:38
Look at this, follow this flow here.
11:39-11:58
It says, "But God being rich in mercy "because of the great love "with which he loved us." So you see in this verse, it's God's love that produced mercy.
11:59-12:13
All right, hold that thought because then you jump to Titus 3, 5 that says, "He saved us, "not because of works done by us in righteousness, "but according to his own," what?
12:15-12:15
Mercy.
12:17-12:26
So you see, when you put these verses together, what we see here is love produces mercy and mercy produces forgiveness.
12:29-12:33
That's what Jesus is saying at this point in the journey, I have the love of God in me.
12:34-12:36
And that means I want to show mercy.
12:37-12:39
And showing mercy means that I forgive people.
12:41-12:43
Those who wronged me.
12:46-12:47
I feel bad for them.
12:50-12:52
I want to restore the relationship with them.
12:54-12:58
I want to show mercy to them by forgiving them.
13:01-13:02
Like, but they sinned against you.
13:02-13:03
Yeah, yeah, they did.
13:05-13:05
They did.
13:06-13:08
But you know, I don't want to retaliate.
13:10-13:12
I don't want to hold a grudge.
13:14-13:18
And I don't wanna spend my life being bitter towards someone.
13:21-13:25
I wanna show mercy by forgiving, right?
13:27-13:35
A great example of that is Stephen in Acts chapter seven, martyred for his faith while he was being killed.
13:35-13:36
Do you remember the story?
13:36-13:37
We went through the book of Acts.
13:37-13:38
This was years ago.
13:38-13:42
But while he was being killed, what did Stephen do?
13:43-13:46
He prayed for his attackers.
13:48-13:57
Acts chapter seven, verse 60, it says, "And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice." These are people that were pelting him with rocks, by the way.
13:59-14:07
He cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." Why would Stephen say such a thing?
14:10-14:12
Well, first of all, doesn't that sound kind of familiar?
14:14-14:21
Can you think of anybody else that said something like that while he was being killed, praying for forgiveness?
14:22-14:23
Can you think of anybody else?
14:24-14:25
Oh, Jesus, right?
14:27-14:30
You see, Stephen, like his Lord, knew.
14:32-14:35
These people, they're lost.
14:37-14:39
These people are blind.
14:40-14:47
And these people are literally, they're literally mad with sin.
14:47-14:49
And when I say mad, I don't mean angry.
14:49-14:51
I mean the right sense of the word.
14:52-14:57
These people are literally crazy because of their sin.
14:57-15:00
And he says, "I pity them." That's what our Lord cried out on the cross.
15:00-15:02
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
15:03-15:05
Stephen, I pity them.
15:05-15:06
God have mercy on them.
15:07-15:08
Forgive them.
15:08-15:09
Don't hold this against them.
15:13-15:15
Sin has blinded them and they just, they don't know what they're doing.
15:17-15:18
I feel bad for them.
15:22-15:24
And you see that falls onto our laps, my friends.
15:27-15:55
When people lie to you, or people lie about you, or people are out slandering you, spreading stories about you that aren't true, making up what they don't know, when people steal from you, when people lose their temper and you become the brunt of their rage.
15:58-15:59
Do you know who the merciful are?
16:01-16:12
They're the people, like Jesus Christ, like Stephen, that say, you know, they're mad with sin right now, I feel bad for them.
16:13-16:15
I want to show mercy.
16:17-16:18
That's who the merciful are.
16:21-16:23
Like, all right, so why are we congratulating them?
16:25-16:26
Why are we congratulating the merciful?
16:27-16:29
Well, what does your Bible say?
16:30-16:40
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." Like, hang on, time out, time out.
16:40-16:52
Is Jesus saying here that if I, that if, if I give mercy or forgiveness, then, then, then, and only then will I receive it.
16:52-16:54
Is that what, is that what Jesus is saying?
17:00-17:04
Well, you can't earn salvation.
17:05-17:07
We already talked about that, poor in spirit.
17:08-17:10
You are guilty and helpless.
17:11-17:12
You can't earn your salvation.
17:13-17:14
You can't do a thing.
17:16-17:29
And when it comes to mercy, when you think about it, mercy isn't even something you could technically earn, because mercy is when you don't get what you actually do deserve.
17:31-17:34
So that's not really technically something you can earn.
17:36-17:46
But when you go through the New Testament, there's a theme about mercy and forgiveness.
17:47-17:49
This is all through the New Testament.
17:49-17:51
Let's see, let's play a game here.
17:51-17:53
Let's see if you can catch the theme.
17:53-17:54
You ready?
17:54-18:01
Matthew 6, 12, Jesus teaching us to pray Give us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
18:01-18:02
Matthew 6, 14.
18:03-18:07
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you.
18:08-18:09
Luke 6, 37.
18:09-18:10
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
18:11-18:21
Ephesians 4, 32 says, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you." Colossians 3, 13.
18:22-18:26
Forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you.
18:26-18:29
So you also must forgive.
18:30-18:31
Did you see a theme?
18:31-18:32
There's more by the way.
18:34-18:35
But did you see a theme?
18:37-18:46
There's a definite connection between forgiveness from God and forgiveness to other people.
18:49-19:04
And Jesus is teaching in this beatitude consistent with the rest of the New Testament, that if I give mercy, it's evidence that I've received mercy.
19:07-19:10
In other words, forgiving people, forgive.
19:14-19:17
See, mercy isn't the plan of salvation.
19:19-19:20
Mercy is the proof of salvation.
19:23-19:26
So now it makes a little more sense celebrating, right?
19:27-19:33
Because people who are merciful are just simply demonstrating that they know God.
19:34-19:36
And what bigger thing would there be to celebrate?
19:37-19:41
You know your Creator, your Savior, your Lord.
19:41-19:42
You know Him personally.
19:42-19:44
You've been forgiven by God.
19:44-19:45
Well, congratulations.
19:49-19:50
Blessed are the merciful.
19:51-20:00
Therefore, on that day, When the merciful stand before God, they'll receive mercy.
20:00-20:03
That's why we're congratulating the merciful.
20:04-20:09
So, let's bring it home here.
20:09-20:11
How can I be merciful?
20:15-20:20
I want you to turn over to Matthew chapter 18.
20:21-20:22
(congregation laughing)
20:24-20:26
The question is, all right, all right.
20:27-20:28
How can I be merciful?
20:28-20:34
Well, that's not a hard question to answer because we already saw this.
20:36-20:40
God's love produces mercy and mercy produces forgiveness.
20:40-20:42
So if you wanna be merciful, do you know what you have to do?
20:43-20:44
You don't wanna say it.
20:47-20:49
If you wanna be merciful, Do you know what you have to do?
20:51-20:52
You still don't wanna say it.
20:54-20:56
I'm gonna give you one more chance.
20:59-21:01
If you wanna be merciful, do you know what you have to do?
21:03-21:04
You have to forgive.
21:06-21:18
When you've been sinned against, no matter by who, no matter how they did it, no matter why they did it, you, you have to be ready and willing to forgive.
21:19-21:19
(audience laughing)
21:21-21:34
Yeah, many years ago I was teaching a high school boys, we're doing a purity class, and I was on my way to the church, and I was driving past Dunkin' Donuts.
21:35-21:38
I thought, I'll get a couple dozen donuts for the boys.
21:38-21:39
Like, who doesn't love donuts, right?
21:40-21:42
I mean, really, who doesn't love donuts?
21:43-21:53
So I pull into Dunkin' Donuts, and I was kind of in a hurry, So I go through the drive-through and I said, I'll just, I want two dozen donuts, any kind.
21:53-21:54
I don't care what kind, it doesn't matter.
21:54-21:56
I don't want to get into the, okay, you have three left.
21:56-21:58
All right, a Boston cream, okay, you have.
21:58-22:00
I don't want to get into all that stuff, all right?
22:00-22:02
Just two dozen donuts, whatever.
22:03-22:06
Okay, so that's it, just two dozen donuts.
22:06-22:07
So I'm sitting at the drive-through.
22:08-22:14
I tell them that and they're silence, like waiting, waiting.
22:17-22:31
And finally, the guy comes back on the speaker, he goes, "Hang on." He says, "I have to see if we have that." So I lean my head out the window.
22:33-22:40
I'm like, "I'm not in Taco Bell, am I?" I'm like, "No, Dunkin' Donuts.
22:40-22:48
No, I'm in the right place." Like, you have to see if you have that.
22:51-22:56
Like, look, pardon my ignorance, but isn't this a donut store?
22:58-23:01
Shouldn't you have, I don't know, donuts?
23:05-23:09
We laugh at that because we're like, well, how foolish is that?
23:09-23:11
Like Dunkin' Donuts, donuts is their thing.
23:12-23:12
You got donuts, right?
23:14-23:16
Like they should understand donuts more than anyone, right?
23:18-23:24
And I would say, we laugh at that, but Christians, what's our thing?
23:26-23:27
You're like, still donuts.
23:27-23:29
No, no.
23:31-23:32
What's our thing?
23:33-23:34
Our thing is forgiveness, right?
23:35-23:40
Didn't we just stand and sing to the God who forgave us in Jesus Christ?
23:40-23:41
Isn't that why you're here?
23:41-23:43
Isn't that why you go to small group?
23:43-23:44
Isn't that why you pray?
23:44-23:46
Isn't that why you're in his word?
23:46-23:52
Because we're all about this God who I have sinned against has forgiven me in Jesus Christ.
23:53-23:54
Doesn't that change your life?
23:55-23:57
Isn't like forgiveness our thing?
24:01-24:08
But sometimes, church, if we're honest, we're a lot like the donut store that day.
24:11-24:16
If someone sinned against us and all of a sudden, we don't know a thing about forgiveness.
24:19-24:20
That should be our specialty.
24:23-24:34
I have to ask you, is there someone in your life right now that if they were here in this room, you would try to avoid them when church is over?
24:35-24:37
You're making your exit strategy.
24:37-24:39
If I walk this way, I won't run into them.
24:40-24:41
Is there somebody like that?
24:44-24:45
You're like, yeah, they're sitting over here.
24:47-24:48
It might be for someone.
24:49-25:02
Is there someone in your life right now that if they tried to call you and you pick up your phone and you see their name on your phone, you immediately send it to voicemail?
25:02-25:03
Is there somebody like that?
25:06-25:17
Is there anyone that I would go to that would say about you, yeah, we have issues.
25:21-25:28
Matthew 18, Matthew 18, look at verse 21.
25:28-25:43
It says, "Peter came up and said to him, to Jesus, 'Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him as many as seven times.
25:44-25:49
You see in the previous verses, Jesus was addressing how to forgive someone.
25:49-25:54
Now Peter comes and asks, how often do I forgive someone?
25:55-26:00
Because you see the rabbis in this day, they taught the three strike rule.
26:01-26:04
I always wondered if that's where like baseball got it from.
26:05-26:06
I don't know, somebody looked that up.
26:06-26:10
Not now, but they had a three strike rule.
26:10-26:17
If somebody's sinned against you three times, you were only on the hook to forgive them three times, but strike three and you're out, pal.
26:19-26:26
So Peter, I think Peter here probably thought he was being pretty, he was going to impress the Lord with his righteousness.
26:27-26:29
Like, hey, Jesus, how often?
26:31-26:32
How about seven?
26:32-26:34
Boom, mic drop.
26:34-26:39
He's probably looking around at the other guys like Jesus about to pat me on the back.
26:40-26:43
Jesus about to give me a yogi button.
26:44-26:45
So what did Jesus say?
26:47-27:00
Verse 22, Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but 70 times seven." I don't think Peter was expecting him to say that.
27:02-27:05
70 times seven, don't worry, I did the math ahead of time.
27:05-27:07
That's 490.
27:09-27:10
So is that the magic number?
27:12-27:14
Is that the magic number, 490?
27:17-27:18
Oh, Jesus didn't stop there.
27:19-27:27
He says, "Therefore the kingdom of heaven "may be compared to a king "who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
27:28-27:33
"When he began to settle, one was brought to him "who owed him 10,000 talents.
27:34-27:47
And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had in payment to be made." Stop there.
27:48-27:51
Now, you know how much a talent is worth?
27:53-27:55
A talent's worth about 20 years wages.
27:57-28:03
And this man owed 10,000 talents.
28:04-28:06
So again, we'll do the math here.
28:08-28:14
So a talent is one year's wage times 20 years, we already said, right?
28:15-28:17
And this man owed 10,000 talents.
28:18-28:24
So this man owed the king 200,000 years wages.
28:25-28:29
Now this is math you can do on your own, not now, but write it down.
28:29-28:30
This is math you can do on your own.
28:30-28:36
just calculate how much you make in a year and multiply that times 200,000.
28:37-28:38
That's what this guy owed the king.
28:41-28:46
I think it's safe to say it was an unpayable debt, right?
28:47-28:50
You're like, how does that even happen?
28:52-28:54
How does somebody get that far into debt?
28:54-28:58
Like, at what point did you put away the credit card?
28:58-28:59
Come on, man.
29:00-29:10
200,000 years wages, that is so irresponsible and that is so unpayable, and that is so much like every single one of us before God.
29:11-29:16
We have before God an irresponsible and unpayable debt.
29:21-29:22
Look at verse 26.
29:24-29:47
He says, So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, "Have patience with me, "and I will pay you everything." I want you to listen to this statement really closely.
29:49-29:57
A person who needs forgiveness can never properly calculate what is really owed.
29:59-30:01
I'm gonna say that again, you need to write that down.
30:04-30:12
A person who needs forgiveness can never properly calculate what is really owed.
30:13-30:15
I want you to think about that.
30:17-30:30
Moving on, verse 27, "And out of pity," ding, ding, ding, "out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
30:32-30:33
Do you see that?
30:33-30:34
We've been talking about that.
30:35-30:38
Pity, mercy, forgiveness, right?
30:38-30:39
That's the flow.
30:40-30:42
And he released him from the debt.
30:45-30:47
Oh, we don't need to read the rest of this story, huh?
30:47-30:49
We can probably guess what happens next, right?
30:49-30:53
This guy went out and he was doing back handsprings all the way down Galilee.
30:54-30:54
Woo-hoo!
30:55-30:55
Can you believe this?
30:56-30:59
I was just forgiven 200,000 years wages.
30:59-31:01
I was just forgiven of all that.
31:02-31:06
He was probably high-fiving and hugs and handshakes.
31:06-31:10
And he was probably, probably had a big congratulations party, right?
31:17-31:19
No, not in this story.
31:19-31:20
Look at verse 28.
31:21-31:29
It says, "But when that same servant went out, "He found one of his fellow servants "who owed him a hundred denarii.
31:30-31:41
"And seizing him, he began to choke him, "saying, 'Pay what you owe!'" What?
31:42-31:45
Oh, you're like, well, hang on, Pastor Jeff, let's not pass judgment so quick.
31:46-31:47
How much is a hundred denarii?
31:49-31:51
That's about three months' wages.
31:53-31:57
The denarii was a day's wage, so 100 days wages, that's about three months wages, right?
31:58-31:58
Is that payable?
32:00-32:00
Yeah.
32:02-32:10
Yeah, and compared to what this man owed the king, it was pennies.
32:12-32:13
But what did this servant do?
32:16-32:17
Says he choked him out.
32:17-32:19
I need a volunteer to come up here, I wanna demonstrate.
32:20-32:21
(congregation laughing)
32:23-32:25
No, I don't wanna demonstrate.
32:30-32:31
But look at verse 29.
32:36-32:45
He says, "So his fellow servant fell down "and pleaded with him, "have patience with me and I will pay you." Does that sound familiar at all?
32:47-32:48
It's kind of ironic, isn't it?
32:49-32:53
Now this man is hearing the same speech that he just gave.
32:53-32:54
Same speech.
32:59-33:04
It says, "He refused, went out and put him in prison "until we should pay the debt.
33:05-33:10
"When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, "they were greatly distressed.
33:11-33:13
"And they went and reported to their master "all that had taken place.
33:15-33:23
"Then his master summoned him and said to him, "You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt "because you pleaded with me.
33:24-33:39
"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.
33:40-33:51
"So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you "if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." Like, what's the point of Jesus' story here?
33:51-33:52
It's a pretty clear point, isn't it?
33:55-34:05
I show mercy by forgiving, listen, not because people deserve it, not because I think they're really sorry this time.
34:08-34:10
The story has one point, and that's this.
34:10-34:14
I forgive because I am forgiven.
34:17-34:19
And if you're someone that says, you know what?
34:20-34:22
I can't forgive that person.
34:22-34:25
I can't do it, I can't forgive.
34:26-34:31
Then I have to respectfully ask, do you really understand the gospel?
34:33-34:37
Do you really understand the death that you've been forgiven?
34:38-34:41
for you to not be willing to forgive someone else.
34:45-34:47
This is where it hits us all.
34:49-34:56
But you know, even Christians think that they've found personal loopholes.
34:56-34:58
'Cause I know how this goes right now.
34:59-35:12
That there are people that are like, "I hear what he's saying, I see what the Bible says, "but honestly, if Jeff really knew, I mean, if Jeff really knew my situation, he would understand why I can't forgive.
35:13-35:20
Like if we were like at Pantera Bread or whatever and talking about this and I explained, Jeff would be like, yeah, I can see why you can't forgive.
35:26-35:28
I don't see loopholes in this.
35:30-35:31
But even Christians give 'em.
35:33-35:35
Write these down, five excuses people give for not forgiving.
35:39-35:40
Here's one.
35:40-35:41
People say, "You know what?
35:41-35:42
"They have to come to me.
35:44-35:49
"They have to come to me." Well, jot these verses down.
35:50-35:54
Matthew 5, 23 through 24.
35:54-35:55
Just jot that down.
35:55-35:58
And then jot down Matthew 18, 15.
35:59-36:03
Also two passages very close to the two passages we looked at today.
36:03-36:06
Jot them down, but here's a paraphrase of the passages.
36:08-36:24
In the Matthew 5 passage, Jesus says, "If you have sinned against someone, you need to go to them." And in the Matthew 18 passage, Jesus says, "If someone sinned against you, you need to go to them." So whether you did the sinning or you've been sinned against, both times Jesus says go, so you're not off the hook either way.
36:25-36:28
You have a responsibility either way.
36:31-36:33
Second excuse people give for not forgiving.
36:33-36:35
Number two, I'll forgive, but I won't forget.
36:38-36:41
I'll forgive, but I won't forget.
36:44-36:48
That is such a backward statement.
36:50-36:54
You can't forget if you won't forgive.
36:55-36:57
You know why you can't forget?
36:57-37:00
Is because you're making a choice to dwell on the offense.
37:01-37:07
And forgiveness means, you know what, I choose to stop thinking about it.
37:08-37:13
Didn't God in the gospel promise, "I will remember their sins no more"?
37:13-37:15
God is willing to forget.
37:18-37:18
Why aren't we?
37:23-37:24
Another excuse people give for not forgiving.
37:27-37:30
Well, they'll just do it again, right?
37:31-37:33
"Oh, I'll forgive them, but you know what?
37:33-37:41
They'll just do it again." Like, "What do you think about that, Pastor Jeff?" "They'll just do it again." And I say, "Yeah, you know what?
37:41-37:45
They might." That's their problem.
37:46-37:47
Don't make it yours.
37:50-37:51
70 times seven.
37:52-37:54
He's really counting at that point.
37:57-38:01
Number four, excuses people give for not forgiving.
38:02-38:03
They don't want to reconcile.
38:05-38:16
I would forgive them, you know what, I would, but they don't wanna reconcile, so I'm not gonna, you know what, that's their problem, don't make it yours.
38:19-38:30
You need to see it like, you ever stayed in a hotel where there's the two doors joining the rooms?
38:30-38:38
You know, like if a bunch of people are staying, you need two rooms, and then like, you have your side of the door that you can open, but then there's another door.
38:38-38:39
Have you ever seen that?
38:40-38:41
You know, I thought that was a closet.
38:42-38:43
I'm like, I can't fit anything in here.
38:44-38:45
(congregation laughing)
38:46-38:48
My shoes are too big.
38:48-38:51
No, it's to join the rooms, right?
38:51-38:53
Like a big family or whatever.
38:54-38:59
You need to have your side of the door open, right?
38:59-39:01
To say, "Look, my side of the door is open.
39:01-39:08
When you wanna talk, I'm ready to talk." You can't kick their door down, but you can ask them to open theirs.
39:09-39:10
But regardless, yours has to be open.
39:13-39:15
They don't wanna reconcile.
39:15-39:19
They don't want to, oh, by the way, by the way, they don't wanna reconcile.
39:20-39:22
Are you sure about that?
39:26-39:27
Have you seen their heart?
39:28-39:29
Have you been in their mind?
39:30-39:39
Maybe they are just so hoping that you'll reach out to them because they're afraid.
39:42-39:43
So let's not make assumptions.
39:44-39:46
Five excuses people give for not forgiving.
39:48-39:53
last and maybe most used, maybe least amount of substance.
39:54-39:54
I just can't.
39:56-39:57
I just can't.
39:58-40:02
Like I hear what you're saying about all this, but look, I just can't.
40:03-40:06
And here I have to remind you that forgiveness is a matter of the will.
40:08-40:17
And I want to lovingly say to you, if that's where your heart is, if your heart is like, you know what, I know I need to forgive, but I can't, I would lovingly say to you, You need to get with God on that.
40:18-40:21
You need to get with God on that and confess that to him.
40:22-40:24
Say, "God, I know I'm supposed to forgive, "but I'm not there.
40:25-40:30
"God, I need you to get me there." Do you think the Lord wants you to get there?
40:30-40:31
Do you think he will help you get there?
40:32-40:33
Get with God on that.
40:36-40:41
Because I can tell you by the authority of his word, he's expecting you to forgive.
40:46-40:52
So Christians, how many sins have you been forgiven?
40:54-40:54
Anybody know?
40:55-40:59
Could you ballpark how many sins you've been forgiven?
41:03-41:04
You're like, oh, it's at least a dozen.
41:07-41:08
What, this morning?
41:13-41:14
How many sins have you been forgiven?
41:16-41:20
Oh, by the way, in Christ, you're forgiven of the sins that you haven't even committed yet.
41:20-41:21
So you gotta count those.
41:23-41:24
So how many sins have you been forgiven?
41:27-41:36
So how in the world can we hold one or two or even 490 sins against someone else?
41:39-41:53
Because not only were your sins more in number, but your sins were greater in kind because you sinned against a holy, perfect God.
41:57-42:07
The only way you're going to be merciful is to live in the understanding and freedom of Christ's mercy on you.
42:09-42:14
So today, today I would encourage you, Send a text.
42:18-42:20
You can do it right now, I won't even care, go ahead.
42:24-42:24
Send a text.
42:29-42:31
Or if you're older, send that email.
42:35-42:39
Or if you're really old, make that phone call.
42:39-42:40
(congregation laughing)
42:41-42:42
Get on your rotary phone today.
42:43-42:44
(congregation laughing)
42:44-42:45
Send that pigeon.
42:53-42:55
However you get word out.
42:56-43:01
Can you send a text today to whomever you have unfinished business?
43:03-43:05
Look, you're like, I don't even know what to say.
43:05-43:06
Well, I'll tell you what to say.
43:06-43:07
Write this down.
43:08-43:16
Look, I know we had some problems and I'm sorry something has come between us and I would love to have everything be okay between us." Something like that.
43:18-43:19
Start the process.
43:22-43:23
Start the process.
43:24-43:31
We are called to show the same mercy that we have been shown.
43:33-43:40
And when you truly understand what God has done for you, the mercy he's shown you in Jesus Christ.
43:41-43:49
Now, I'm sympathetic towards lost people, towards people who sin against me.
43:50-43:58
I'm understanding towards people who sin against me because I've sinned against people.
44:00-44:05
And I'm willing to forgive because I've been forgiven.
44:06-44:16
So, based on Jesus' definition and explanation, are you merciful?
44:19-44:35
Well, for those of you who are, I would say again, on behalf of our Lord, on behalf of the elders of Harvest Bible Chapel and our AV team, I would like to say, congratulations to the merciful.
44:37-44:37
(congregation applauding)
44:44-45:02
And I gotta tell you, this could be the most heartfelt congratulations of this whole series so far for me because if you're merciful, someday you are going to stand before God and you are going to receive mercy.
Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:7 and Matthew 18:21-35
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Is Jesus teaching that receiving mercy (from God) is contingent on giving mercy (to others)? Why or why not?
What does it mean that the word “mercy” is associated with feelings? In other words - what role do feelings play in being merciful?
Give a short summary of the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35). What’s the main point of the parable?
How would you respond to someone in your small group who says “I will never forgive that person for what they did.”?
Breakout
Pray for one another. Who do you need to forgive? Hold each other accountable to pray for that person and reach out to them.