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But that slave went out and found one of his • Principle number two, refusing to forgive
fellow slaves who owed him a hundred creates inner torment.
denarii; and he seized him and began to Look at Matthew 18:34.
choke him, saying, “Pay back what you
owe.” So his fellow slave fell to the ground And his lord, moved with anger, handed him
and began to plead with him, saying, “Have over to the torturers until he should repay all
patience with me and I will repay you.” that was owed him.
Note this second slave, who owes only around We usually draw a line at the end of this verse
1,200 dollars, uses the same words as the first slave. and think, “Well, isn’t that terrible? That would
Look at Matthew 18:30-31. never happen to us.” However, read the next verse,
Matthew 18:35.
But he was unwilling and went and threw
him in [debtor’s] prison until he should pay My heavenly Father will also do the same to
back what was owed. So when his fellow you, if each of you does not forgive his
slaves saw what had happened, they were brother from your heart.
deeply grieved and came and reported to Uh-oh. He is knocking on our door now. We
their lord all that had happened. cannot toss this one out and read explanations where
it does not apply to us. This verse says,
Timeless truths concerning forgiveness My heavenly Father will also do the same to
you . . .
Now the Lord will, in effect, give two principles
that can be applied today. So we had better go back and take a look at the
word “torturer”. It is the same word that appears in II
• Principle number one, refusing to forgive is Peter 2:8. This verse talks about Lot, who was
grossly inconsistent with the fact that we have surrounded by immorality. We read that he,
been forgiven.
. . . felt his . . . soul tormented . . .
Look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:32-33.
Note, in Matthew 18:34, the word is not a verb,
Then summoning him, his lord said to him, but a noun. The servant will be handed over to
“You wicked slave, I forgave you all that “torturers” – those who torment.
debt because you pleaded with me. Should
you not also have had mercy on your fellow What is the point? When we carry unresolved
slave, in the same way that I had mercy on conflict; when we carry bitterness; when we carry
you?” anger toward others, God, in a sense, says, “You will
be handed over to all the torments of your soul.”
Have you ever read this story on your own and
felt the hair on the back of your neck get ruffled at the “In bitterness we become,” as one man wrote,
actions of this ungrateful, unforgiving servant? He “victims of our own venom.”
owed 1.2 billion dollars and was forgiven, yet he goes So if we refuse to forgive when we are offended,
to another servant and throws him in debtor’s prison who is the victim? We are.
because of a 1,200 dollar debt. It is infuriating.
Why? Because the first servant has been forgiven Application –
such a great debt, yet he cannot forgive such a little
one.
How Can I Know
The point, ladies and gentlemen, is the answer to I Have Really Forgiven?
the question, “Why should we forgive other people?” How do we know that we have really forgiven
The answer is, because Jesus Christ has forgiven all; someone? Let me give some points that may be
the entire load of our sin. All of the heinous, gross helpful.
sins against His character, He has wiped clean in a 1. Number one, we will know that we have truly
judicial act of forgiveness. So when someone forgiven someone who has offended when we
commits one sin against us and we cannot forgive can accept God’s plan of pain in our lives.
them, it is grossly inconsistent with the way Jesus
Christ has forgiven us.
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Genesis chapter 50 is a beautiful illustration of that person, do you put that thing on automatic pilot
this. You may remember this story, even though we and view the whole scenario again? If so, you have
do not understand all of the agony. not forgiven.
Joseph had been forsaken by his brothers, who If we can come to the point where we make a
sold him to slave traders. He was taken into another commitment never to replay the offense again, more
country and never thought he would see his family than likely we are in the process of truly forgiving.
again. If there was ever a guy who had a grudge to Webster defines “forget” as, “to intentionally
carry, it was him. If there was anyone who could overlook”. He hit the nail on the head. He says, “to
have licked his wounds in Babylon, it was Joseph. If intentionally overlook; to refuse to remember”. That
there was anyone who could have been angry, it was is the point.
him. He had every right!
3. Number three, we will know we have really
Finally, his brothers came to him. They were forgiven when we can practice kindness to the
afraid that Joseph would retaliate. However, in offender.
Genesis 50:20, he said,
If I can find myself motivated by the grace of God
. . . you meant evil against me, but God to practice kindness to the offending individual; if I
meant it for good . . . can put into process the steps by which I can be
Joseph had come to the point in his life where he gracious to them, and I am practicing these other
could accept God’s sovereign plan, even though it points as well, then perhaps I have reached a state of
involved pain. forgiveness; perhaps I have really forgiven them.
One of the points to recognize when people offend 4. Number four, we will know we have truly
us, is that God has allowed that pain to sift through forgiven an offender when we remember that
His sovereign hand and touch our lives. He has us in we ourselves have been forgiven.
mind because He wants to reshape us; He wants to The beautiful thing about forgiveness, ladies and
sand the rough corners of our character. He will even gentlemen, is that, although we are the forgiver, we
use people for that purpose. If we refuse to forgive, are not the source of forgiveness.
we have lost the benefit of what God wants to do in
our lives. In Jesus’ parable that we read, we are so irritated
with the first servant because he should have found
2. Number two, having forgiven someone who the energy and the power in the fact that he had been
has offended, make a commitment to never forgiven to forgive someone else.
bring up the offense again.
When we come to a point at which we do not
This is harder, perhaps. You have talked to the want to forgive, we am missing this fourth ingredient
offending individual and have reached a state of – we are forgetting that we have been forgiven.
reconciliation, but this point is one which you can
know whether or not you have really forgiven. So, we forgive. And what is the source of our
forgiveness? The fact that Jesus Christ has forgiven
In your own mind, not just to someone else, are us.
you still replaying that old offense? When you see