PT-10 "The Example of Forgiveness" (Matt. 18:23-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/31/2023 9:40 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  PT-10 “The Example of Forgiveness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 18:23-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24  "And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 “The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.’ 27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 “So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 “He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’ 34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.’”

 

            I want to begin this SD by talking about the fellow slaves of this slave who had been forgiven such a great debt by the king as seen in this parable that Jesus is giving to His disciples as He still has this small child on His lap which represents the truth that we are all in a sense little children in need of many things from our heavenly Father. ““So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened” (V-31). 

 

            What can we as believers learn from verse thirty-one?  True born-again believers should be deeply grieved when a fellow believer is unforgiving because his hardness of heart not only tends to drive the offender deeper into sin but also caused dissention and division within the church, and this tarnishes its testimony before the world, and also it deeply grieves the Lord too.  Remember that we are in Christ, and thus when we sin it does grieve His heart greatly.

 

            MacArthur writes “The other slaves went to the king with the awful story, expecting that proper action would be taken against the unforgiving creditor.  This feature of the parable forms an interesting insight into the believer’s responsibility not only to go through the steps of disciplining a sinning brother but to petition the Lord Himself to act in chastening and purging the ungracious sinning child of God.”  I like how MacArthur ties this section with the former sections on church discipline that we have already gone over.

 

            Now we see what probably is expected that the king would do:  “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?” (Verses 32-33).

 

            Again we will look from MacArthur’s commentary to read “When a Christian allows remaining sin to control an attitude or action, he is being wicked, because sin is always sin, whether committed by a believer or unbeliever.  The sin of unforgiveness is in some ways even more wicked in a believer, because he has infinitely greater motivation and power to be forgiving than does a person who has never experienced God’s redeeming grace.  How can a person accept God’s mercy for all his sin, an unpayable debt, and then not forgive some small offense committed against himself?  I would say that that is a good question, but I realize that the flesh, when it is allowed to rule will cause a believer not to be forgiving.

 

            Here is what should have happened and this is something that I believe that is in the plan of God:  The slave should not only have forgiven the slave under him, but he should have had mercy on him and forgiven the debt all together just as the king had done for him.  “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32).

 

           

            “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him” (verse 34).  Now on an earlier occasion, the first slave’s plea for patience had moved the king to compassion and forgiveness, however now the man’s refusal to forgive his fellow servant moved the king to anger as seen in verse 34.

 

            Now as we look at where we are in this parable and see that there is only one more verse to look at you may think that we are nearly done looking at the parable, but  we still have over three pages to look at in MacArthur’s commentary so we will continue to keep going, as we look at this very important parable, remembering that Jesus gave this parable to His disciples, and if you are a believer you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire to keep a very short list with the Lord remembering Psalm 139:23-24 “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

 

            My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember to use the spiritual armor when tempted.

 

Spiritual Armor

Putting on the Spiritual Armor is an important things for believers to do each day in preparation for their time of prayer.]  I desire to put on the different pieces of the Spiritual Armor as found in Ephesians chapter six, and that by doing this as an act of faith I believe that it will please the Lord and bring glory to His name. I know that when I put these on that I am putting on the Lord Jesus Christ as described in Romans 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” 

 

(1) I now take up the belt of truth, knowing that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, knowing that His Word is truth and I desire to be protected by His truth as I use it in the power of the Spirit today.  

(2) I put on the breastplate of righteousness thanking God for the righteousness that I have in Christ Jesus, and it is my desire to be protected by Your righteousness and live before You in righteousness and holiness today.

 (3) I put on the shoes of the Gospel of Peace, thanking You for Your provision of peace that I have with You through the blood of the cross, and also thanking You, who provides the peace that passes all understanding. 

(4) I take up the shield of faith to stop all of the fiery darts of Satan, and I ask You to make sure that I don’t add fuel to those fiery darts that Satan shoots at me.

(5) I put on the helmet of the hope of Salvation, knowing Jesus Christ will soon come again, and therefore I am not to have my roots in this world.  I am to be living as if the Lord were to come back today. 

(6) I take up the first of the two offensive weapons: the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, as it is to be used to combat the devil with its Truth as I use it like Jesus did in Matthew chapter four. 

(7) I take up the second offensive weapon: which is prayer, Lord lead me as I pray.  Help me to live in Your Power.

 

1/31/2023 10:16 AM

PT-9 "The Example of Forgiveness" (Matt. 18:23-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/30/2023 9:55 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-9 “The Example of Forgiveness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 18:23-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24  "And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 “The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.’ 27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 “So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 “He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’ 34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.’”

 

            We begin this 9^th SD on the parable that Jesus spoke to His disciples about forgiveness by once again talking about the slave who was forgiven all, but with unimaginable callousness, this forgiven slave was unwilling however, but went and threw his subordinate in prison until he should pay back what was owed (v-30).  One wonders why this slave would ask for repayment after he himself had been forgiven so much, as this was grossly insensitive; to abuse and imprison his debtor for failure to repay so little was, in the words of one of the commentators who said that it was a “moral monstrosity,” to say nothing of foolishness, because in prison the man could never earn money in order to repay his debt.  MacArthur adds “Such unforgiveness not only is morally unthinkable and bizarre but irrational.”

 

            When a non-believer comes to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, especially if they are older like I was, (almost 27) and if that person led a sinful life in the past, I believe that it is difficult for that person to forget all of their past right away.  Now because of this it is not as difficult to do some things like this salve was doing to his slave which was under him.  This higher ranking slave was use to dealing with money, probably mostly in a corrupt way, and so it would have been natural for him to treat the salve under him this way.  With that said it was very wrong for him to do what he did, and unfortunately that is the way that believers treat other believers then and today.  This parable is an unflattering picture of the sinful flesh that still resides in every believer and that has caused great conflicts and damage within the church since the church began.  An example of sinfulness in the early church was the sin of Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, who sold a piece of property and gave the proceeds to the Apostles to help the poor, but held some back and did not disclose that so the Lord took them to heaven earlier than they thought would happen.  This story is seen in Acts chapter four, which is when the church was very young.

 

            The church at Corinth was really not typical of early congregations, however it shows clearly the extremes to which the flesh can lead those who belong to Christ and who possess His own nature and Spirit.  In this church we can read in Paul’s letter to them, and I am talking about his first letter, we find rich people who had no sensitivity for their poorer brethren, eating their own food at the Lord ’s Supper and leaving nothing for and embarrassing those who had nothing (1 Cor. 11:22).  Another thing that they did described in 6:1 is that they did not resolve their differences between each other but actually took them to court.  Paul gives them a stern warning about this later on in chapter six.

 

            In Paul’s letter to Titus he wanted him to remind the believers under his care “to malign no one, to be, uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.”  He then gives the reason God commands those virtues of His children:

 

“1 Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, 2 to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. 3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4  But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5  He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men” (Titus 3:1-7).

 

            MacArthur writes “Jesus point in the parable is the same as Paul’s here:  Those who have been graciously, totally, and permanently forgiven by God for their immeasurable sins against Him are to act like the divine children and heirs thy have become by reflecting the love and compassion on their heavenly Father.  They are to ‘be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven [them]’” (Eph. 4:32).

 

            I have been trying for some time now to memorize verses in the 6^th chapter of Romans, as these verses speak about believers being dead to sin.  Believers still have the flesh to contend each and every day of their lives while on earth.  It is my belief that when a person is born-again that the nature that we are born with is taken away from us, however we still have to contend with the flesh, and that is what we do battle with each and every day.  Let us conclude by looking at Romans 6:11-12 “11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Remember that it is the flesh that I battle each day and that can cause me to fall into sin, can cause me to be unforgiving to other believers.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to work on my memory verses from Romans chapter six.

 

1/30/2023 10:59 AM

 

PT-8 "The Example of Forgiveness" (Matt. 18:23-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/29/2023 7:48 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: PT-8 “The Example of Forgiveness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 18:23-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24  "And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 “The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.’ 27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 “So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 “He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’ 34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.’”

 

            The next part of this parable that we are studying has caused me to have to think about it and ask the Lord to help me through it, and the reason is because I realize that this parable is talking about believers, and yet it is difficult for me to believe that right after this slave who has been forgiven his dept then goes out and finds another “lower” slave, one who may have been working under him, and then he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ MacArthur adds “According to ancient Roman writers, it was not uncommon for a creditor to actually wrench a debtor’s neck until blood ran from his nose.”

 

            He goes on to write: “The kind of behavior seems unthinkable, even bizarre, and it is hard to believe someone could act in such a way.  And that is exactly the Lord’s point to Peter and the other disciples.  For Christians to be unwilling to forgive one another is unthinkable and bizarre.”  This is something that I don’t totally understand, and although I have never done anything like that I suppose that there are other sins that I have committed that cause me to wonder if I am really a believer, but then as I look back on my story of when the Lord saved me I realize that yes I am a true believer who is at times controlled by the flesh, which is the next thing that MacArthur talks about in his commentary.

 

            “The self-deceptive nature of the flesh is such that sometimes anger and vengeance override even greed, and self-will overshadows even self-interest.  A person who is severely strangled or beaten, not to mention imprisoned, is put in a poor position to earn money to repay a debt.  Even from a purely practical standpoint, such debt-collecting practices are foolish and counterproductive, but they have persisted throughout history and even into modern times.”

 

            I think that one of the first things that I have to believe is that knowing the background that was before Jesus gave this parable on forgiveness, that as mentioned He was talking first of all to Peter and the rest of His disciples, and another thing is that this parable is answering a question that Peter was asking about how many times I must forgive someone who has sinned against me.  Perhaps Peter got more of an answer than he wanted.

 

            This subordinate official would make his plea to the superior slave as he says the same thing to the slave who had been forgiven an un-payable debt used before the king:  “Have patience with me and I will repay you” (compare verse 26).  That really should have shocked the forgiven slave’s memory into a right response, but those familiar words evoked no sympathetic reaction in him, and even though the debt he had been forgiven would have, as mentioned, unpayable in a lifetime, whereas the debt that he owed to him was payable by a few months’ work.

 

            The flesh is very deceptive and can be destructive.  Paul speaks of this in the sixth chapter of Romans, verses that I am again trying to memorize.

 

1/29/2023 8:17 AM

             

 

           

 

PT-7 "The Example of Forgiveness" (Matt. 18:23-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/28/2023 9:54 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-7 “The Example of Forgiveness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 18:23-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24  "And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 “The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.’ 27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 “So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 “He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’ 34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.’”

 

            I mentioned in our last SD, that after looking mostly at the parable of the prodigal son that today we would go back to the parable in Matthew 18 today, and so what happens next in this parable seems inconceivable—until we realize that each one of us are guilty before the Lord.  We are guilty in various ways, of doing what that forgiven slave did.  I realize that in are humanness that there are times when we can make excuses and therefore not believe that we are guilty in not forgiving others.  Jesus then goes on to say that he “went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’”

 

            I have to say that this is the part of the parable that I am confused about, that is the timing of when all of this happened. John MacArthur writes “The implication is that the first thing the forgiven slave did after he left the king’s presence was to search out a fellow slave who owed him some money and violently demanded repayment of a mere pittance compared to the vast amount he himself had just been forgiven.

            “The second man’s being described as one of his fellow slaves suggests that he represents a fellow believer and that the principle Jesus teaches here primarily relates to believer’s treatment of each other.  Although Christians should be forgiving of everyone, they should be especially forgiving of one another, because they are fellow slaves who serve the same King.”

 

            I have mentioned in other SD’s that a denarii was the amount that most people in that day earned in one day, and so this was 100 days of money that this other slaved owed to the slave who had been forgiven and unpayable amount of money.  As mentioned the ten thousand talents amounted to some eleven years of Roman taxes from the providences of Idumea, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee combined.

 

            Although this second debt was very, very small by comparison to the first, it was nonetheless a real debt and so it represents a real offense committed by one believer against another.  Now if the offense was not real, then it would need no forgiveness.  Here Jesus was not teaching that sins against fellow believers or against anyone else are insignificant but that they are minute when we compare them to the offenses every one of us has committed against God and for which He has freely and completely forgiven us.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The power of the sinful flesh that remains in a transformed believer is seen in the first servant’s hardheartedness against his fellow servant, who perhaps was a low echelon official responsible for collecting taxes from a small village within the providence governed by the first servant.  Even so, the first man was much further removed from the king in status than he was from the other servant.  Those two facts should have made the man not only especially grateful but especially merciful.  His inclination should have been to search out his fellow slave to forgive him rather than condemn him.  There is no indication, however, that his own experience of mercy made him grateful, and it clearly did not make him grateful.  Instead, he became proud, presumptuous, and hardhearted.

            “Unfortunately, as Christians we sometimes reflect a similar arrogance and insensitivity. Although we have been totally and forever forgiven of all offenses before God, on the basis of His grace, we often act as if we were forgiven on the basis of our own merit.  We may even look down on our brothers and sisters in Christ with disdain and a sense of superiority.”

 

            My guess is that we are almost half way done with this parable.

 

1/28/2023 10:48 AM

 

           

PT-6 "The Example of Forgiveness" (Matt. 18:23-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/27/2023 9:31 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-6 “The Example of Forgiveness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 18:23-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24  

"And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 “The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.’ 27  "And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 “So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 “He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32  "Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’ 34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.’”

 

            I mentioned that we would look at the word “dept” as we begin this section:  MacArthur writes “Daneion  (dept) literally means ‘loan,’ implying that in his graciousness the king considered the embezzled fortune a loan and then forgave it.  Even more graciously does God forgive the sinner who confesses his sin and trusts in Jesus Christ.  The moment a person acknowledges the sinfulness of his sin and turns to the only Savior for sin, his mountain of debt to God is paid in full forever.”

 

            Think for a moment about the prodigal son and what it took him to get to the “bottom” of himself to realize that he could go home and once again live with his father.  He knew that he had forsaken his father and his family and lived an utterly selfish and debauched life in a foreign and pagan land.  Then after all his money was gone, and also his so called friends who only liked him because of his money, and after feeding pigs for a while the man finally realized how he had sinned against his father.  Let us look at what his father was doing when his son finally came home : “17 “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 18 ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."’ 20 “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; 23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

 

            MacArthur writes:  “One commentator suggests that when the father ran out to meet his son he must have had to gather up his long robe under his arms and thereby expose his undergarments, a great shame for an older, dignified man of that day.  But the father had no concern but to reunited with his beloved son whom he had given up for dead.”

 

            Now as we think about the meaning of this parable from Luke 15 and we must realize that in an infinitely greater way that God allowed Himself to be humiliated as He came to earth, “emptying Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant” (Phil. 2:7).  He did this to redeem fallen men back to Himself as He willingly and lovingly “endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2).

 

            Lord willing we will continue to look at the parable from Matthew 18:23-35 in our next SD, but it was nice to be reminded of the parable of the “Prodigal Son,” and even get some new meaning from it.

 

1/27/2023 9:55 AM

PT-5 "The Example of Forgiveness" (Matt. 18:23-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/26/2023 8:27 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus: “The Example of Forgiveness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 18:23-35

 

            Message of the verses: I continue to write that we will look at these verses in this parable that Jesus spoke as we go through it.

 

            The slave realized the inexcusable guilt and as he was sensing the king’s goodness he then did what we see in verse 26b “The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him.”  John MacArthur believes that this was a different kind of submission that this slave usually gave to the king, as it was an act of total submission, of throwing himself completely on the monarch’s mercy.  “The man was guilty, condemned, devastated, and genuinely penitent.  He had no defense and offered none.”

 

            Now remember we are talking about a parable that the Lord is giving to His disciples, and the parable has to do with forgiveness, so we have to understand that the slave represented a sinner who was now asking for forgiveness, so in the same way of this slave, the sinner who was confronted by the Holy Spirit with the gospel, which was the same way that the Holy Spirit confronted me 51 years ago today, as I too was confronted by the Holy Spirit acknowledging my sin and standing guilty before the Lord accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.  I have to say that I was truly a new-born believer in Jesus Christ and all I knew was that He had changed me completely and I had a new life.  Now this slave went through the same thing in this parable as he cast himself upon God’s mercy in Jesus Christ.  MacArthur adds “Every sinner should be overwhelmed by his sin as that man was overwhelmed by his debt.  He should have the attitude of the tax collector who ‘was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me, the sinner!’ (Luke 18:13).  The Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-12) express the contrite attitude of this repentant sinner, who in spiritual bankruptcy mourns over his sin and cries out for the righteousness of salvation.”

 

            In this parable we see that as the man lay broken at the feet of the king, he did not realize that he could never have repaid the debt no matter how long and hard he worked.  However his terrible plight prompted the desperate plea, “Have patience with me,” and then this unrealistic promise came from his lips, “I will repay you everything.”  This task was impossible, but he nevertheless begged for a chance to make good on his debt.  He, at this time had a faulty understand, but his attitude was right.

 

            The way this man acted is similar to the way that new believers sometime act, as they will say things like “it is my desire to turn over a new leaf,” or perhaps “I had better shape up.”  What we see in this parable is that the man acknowledged his sin and sincerely wanted to make amends, but the truth is that he would never be able to make amends, as he did not realize it at the time that he could not do it.

 

            MacArthur writes:  “Commenting on the servant in this parable, Martin Luther wrote,”

 

            “Before the king drew him to account, he had no conscience, does not feel the debt, and would have gone right along, made more debt, and cared nothing about it.  But now that the king reckons with him, he begins to feel the debt.  So it is with us.  The greater part does not concern itself about sin, goes on securely fears not the wrath of God.  Such people cannot come to the forgiveness of sin, for they do not come to realize that they have sins.  They say indeed, with the mouth that they have sin; but if they were serious about it they would speak far otherwise.  This servant, too, says, before the king reckons with him, so much I owe to my lord, namely ten thousands talents;…But now that the reckoning is held, and his lord orders him, his wife, his children, and everything to be sold, now he feels it.  So, too, we feel in earnest when our sins are revealed in the heart, when the record of our debts is held before us,…Then we exclaim: I am the most miserable man, there is none as unfortunate as I on the earth!  Such knowledge makes a real humble man, works contrition, so that one can come to the forgiveness of sins.”

 

            It is true that the king well knew that, despite his good intentions, the servant could never do the thing that he promised, paying back the dept as he promised; but he did not chide the man for being foolish for his worthless offer.  Rather. “The lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt” (v. 27).

 

            This pictures an extraordinary picture of God’s compassionate love for the genuinely repentant sinner who throws himself on His mercy.  This man only asked for patience so that he might try to repay the king, but instead the king “released him and forgave him the dept” (v. 27b).  This is what God does with the sin debt of those who come to Him in humble and sincere patience.

 

            MacArthur e explains:  “It must be noted that this parable is not intended to present every aspect of salvation.  Obviously the Person and work of Christ and the essence of saving faith in that work are not portrayed.  The purpose of our Lord here was to illustrate the matter of forgiveness between believers, and the story is limited to that idea.  It simply depicts a man with an unpayable dept, who sought mercy and was given it abundantly. 

 

            In our next SD we will first of all talk about the word “dept” as that word is important for us to understand as we go through this parable.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  Looking at this parable, at least the part that we have seen so far, reminds me of my salvation, and as mentioned that took place 51 years ago today.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As we get into the last portion of this parable, it is my desire that I do not act like this new believer did and not forgive others who have wronged me.

 

1/26/2023 9:21 AM

PT-4 "The Example of Forgiveness" (Matt. 18:23-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/25/2023 9:39 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-4 “The Example of Forgiveness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 18:23-35

 

            Message of the verses:  These verses will not be on this SD in total as I will look at them as I study through this passage.

 

            I want to put a few verses on this SD that has to do with the incalculable, unpayable debt that is before all human beings, and only because of Christ can that debt be taken care of.  We will see that all of these men understood about this great debt.

 

Romans 7:13 “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

 

Job 42:6 “Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.’”

 

Ezra 9:6 “"O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.’”

 

            John MacArthur writes:  “Life is a stewardship from God to be used for His glory.  Unbelievers take life from God, and, rather than returning it to Him wisely invested for His glory and making the most of what used to be called ‘gospel privilege,’ they squander it on themselves.  They are like the prodigal son and the slave who buried his talents in the ground, both o whom Jesus used to illustrate wasted ‘gospel privilege.’” 

 

            When anyone commits a sin they are committing it against God as David wrote of in his penitential Psalm 51, a psalm that was written after he committed adultery and murder.  “Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge” (Psalm 51:4).  It did not take David too long to realize this, sinning against God, while he was writing this psalm.

 

            MacArthur writes “The slave, then, represents the unbeliever who has been given the knowledge of God (Rom. 1:18ff.), life from God (Acts 17:25), and the opportunity to give God what is due Him (cf. Rom. 11:36; Col. 1:16) but squanders God’s property in sin.”

 

            We see that the man in our Lord’s parable “did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made” (v. 25b).  We can see that this man not only embezzled what belonged to the king but he also consumed it on himself until there was nothing left.  I realize that this would have been impossible for a man to squander this much money, but this is a parable and as we see what he squandered was his sinful life before God as MacArthur writes about in the quote three paragraphs above this one.  So what is seen here is the case of a bankrupt sinner!  This is the state in which all people are born into this life on planet earth as “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  We see that the payment to be made (v. 25) from the proceeds of selling his family into servitude and redeeming all his personal possessions would not have paid a tiny bit of what he owed to the king, but it was exacted as a punishment and so the king could get at least a small portion of what was due to him.

 

            We will conclude this SD with one more quotation from MacArthur’s commentary:  “Just as the unpayable amount of money in the parable is a picture of man’s unpayable debt for sin, the punishment mentioned here makes us think of hell, where condemned men will spend eternity paying for the unpayable.  The glory stolen from God by man cannot be repaid by man, and therefore, even after spending an eon in hell, a person would be no nearer paying his debt and being fit for heaven than when he entered.  The utter spiritual bankruptcy of every child of Adam makes it impossible for him to pay the limitless debt he has incurred because of his sin.

            “By the standards of that day the king in the parable had been gracious just by his not demanding an accounting earlier.  In an infinitely greater way God is gracious to the most hardened sinner just in allowing him to go on living.  Life itself is a great gift of divine mercy.”

 

            The problem is that most people today do not believe in God, and certainly do not believe that life is a precious gift from Him, and so they squander life on themselves, whereas a believer is to live his life for the glory of God, but at times believers also squander life on themselves. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I must remember that life is a gift from God and that I owe everything to Him.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to trust the Lord to keep me from sinful things in my life, and by memorizing certain verses it will help.

 

1/25/2023 10:20 AM

 

PT-3 "The Example of Forgiveness" (Matt. 18:23-25)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/24/2023 9:42 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-3 “The Example of Forgiveness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 18:23-35

 

            Message of the verses:  As we go through this parable that Jesus spoke to His disciples, and remembering that in this entire 18^th chapter Jesus is speaking to children,  we will look at the verses at that time, but I am not putting all the verses on each SD.

 

            As we ended our last SD yesterday morning I stated that in today’s SD we will look at what the value of the ten thousand talents were in different time periods.  It is because monetary values change so widely from one point in history to another, it is never possible to calculate accurately how much a given coin of that ancient society would be worth in modern currency, so what we will be doing is taking our best effort here.  Actually we don’t need to figure out what this means because the point in the story is that it is an un-payable amount of money.  At this time I want to quote from the sermon that John MacArthur preached back in 1983 as in that sermon he gives more information about the value of the ten thousands talents.

 

            This provincial governor in the parable owed ten thousand talents.  As a fascinating comparison, you might want to know that at the same period of time, the time around the life of Jesus, the total revenue collected by the Roman government from Idumea and Judea and Samaria, the total revenue was 600 talents.  The total revenue collected from Galilee was 300 talents.  So if this guy had collected, embezzled, and wasted 10,000 talents, that is an astronomical figure.  If it’s taken just as a fact that it was actually 10,000. 

           

            You might want to know that when the tabernacle was built, the Lord said to them, “I want you to overlay all these elements in gold.”  You know, the Ark of the Covenant and many other things had to be overlaid in gold.  You might want to think back on that and imagine all of that precious gold that overlaid all of those factors in the tabernacle, and if you’re curious about4 that there were 29 talents of gold.

           

            And then when the temple was built, there were 3,000 and the whole place was overlaid in gold, and that was only 3,000.  Ten thousand talents is astronomical.  People have estimated anywhere from 16 million to 2 billion and everything in between.  You might want other comparisons.  The Queen of Sheba, she came to visit Solomon one time, and she wanted to give him a gift that was commensurate with his incredible wealth, and so she gave him 120 talents, .  The king of Assyria laid upon Hezekiah 30 talents of gold as a magnanimous amount. 

 

            I think that we get the point about how much money that this man owed the king and that is that it would have been impossible for him to pay that amount of money back, as we will see the king forgave him of this magnanimous amount of money.

 

            I think that I have mentioned that in the Greek language the word for ten thousand is murias, and that word is the highest number in Greek.  There was no billions or trillions around at that time, and this is important for us to know this for this servant of the king owed the king the highest amount it that there was.

 

            MacArthur writes “In that sense it has the same connotation as the English myriad, which is derived from it.  Murais is therefore sometimes translated ‘countless’ (1 Cor. 4:15) or ‘myriads’ (Rev. 5:11).  Jesus’ point in this parable, therefore, was that the man who owed the king ten thousand talents owed an incalculable and unpayable debt.”

 

            The point of the parable is that incalculable, unpayable debt represents the debt for sin that every man owes God.  In John 16:8 we see the following “"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.’”   When this happens to a person he is faced with the fact that the extent of his sin is beyond comprehension and humanly unpayable.  Paul saw this and wrote about in Romans 7:13 “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.”  It was in the 9^th chapter of Acts when the Lord saved Paul he realized that he could not keep the Law of God when the Lord Jesus saved him.  Paul was going to Damascus, in order to either kill believers or put them in jail, both men and women when the Lord stopped him in his tracks with a bright light, brighter than the sun and asked him “why are you persecuting Me?”  When Paul was persecuting believers he was persecuting Jesus, and the same is true today.  We will look at this some more in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In just two days from now I will celebrate my 49^th spiritual birthday, and there are some similarities with how Jesus stopped me in my tracts on that warm January 26^th in 1974 while visiting a friend in Florida. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I remember that Jesus paid it all and all to Him I owe because He paid that impossible payment of sin for me when He died on the cross almost 2000 years ago.

 

1/24/2023 10:26 AM

 

PT-2 "The Example of Forgiveness" (Matt. 18:23-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/23/2023 11:17 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus: “The Example of Forgiveness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 18:23-35

 

            Message of the verses:  As mentioned in our last SD I will not be putting all the verses on at the beginning of these Spiritual Diarys as it is quite lengthy and also we will be looking at the verses as we move through what will take many days to get through this important parable that Jesus spoke to His disciples.

 

            When we were looking at the 13^th chapter of Matthew we saw that much of the Lord’s teaching was about the kingdom of heaven, and in that chapter He also used parables.  I have mentioned before that in the 22^nd verse of the 12^th chapter of Matthew we see the turning point in the ministry of our Lord as beginning with that verse Jesus cast a demon out of a man and then the Scribes and Pharisees said that He did this in the power of Satan (Beelzebul) and so Jesus told them that they could never be saved because they were saying that the devil was the one doing this and actually it was the Holy Spirit working through Jesus that did this.  At Jesus’ baptism is when we see the Holy Spirit working through Jesus doing this. These evil leaders of Israel did not understand it.  What Jesus was telling to them was what we call the unpardonable sin, something we discussed when we went through that section in chapter twelve.  After that event Jesus began to teach in parables so that those who were hearing would not understand, but He did explain the parables to His disciples. 

 

            Ok back to looking at the parable that is in Matthew 18:23-35.  Sometimes I start talking about things that take me down a different road, but a road that does have something to do with the passage that I am looking at.  I guess that is because I listen to too many of John MacArthur’s sermons. 

 

            In the parable we are looking at now our Lord is teaching about forgiveness, and the certain king, represents the attitude of God concerning forgiveness of and by His subjects, the slaves.  Now the citizens of God’s kingdom are also children in His heavenly family, and the parable speaks of Him both as Lord, represented by the king, and as heavenly Father seen in verse 35.

 

            MacArthur writes “Slaves is here used in the broadest sense of those in submission to a sovereign, as all subjects of ancient monarchies were, regardless of their rank or wealth.  All citizens of an ancient kingdom were slaves in the sense that they owed total allegiance to the king, who typically had life and death power over them.  In the sense, noblemen were as much the king’s slaves as were the most menial servants.  Those extremes are suggested in the parable, indicating that its truth applies to every believer, every citizen of the kingdom of heaven.  The first slave was obviously of high rank and probably possessed considerable personal wealth, whereas the fellow slave whom he refused to forgive the debt was perhaps relatively poor.”  I think that this paragraph that I just quoted from MacArthur’s commentary gives us a pretty good kind of introduction to these verses which consist of a parable.

            In the book of Esther we see the kind of government that Jesus is talking about in this parable as the king appointed governors, or satraps, over the various provinces of his kingdom, and their primary responsibility was to collect taxes on his behalf.  Now as we look at this parable we can see that it was probably in regard to such taxes that the king…wished to settle accounts, and the man who owed the king ten thousand talents may have been the taxes that were owed to the king.  In any case, he was a person with great responsibility who was the one who owed a great amount of money to the king.  As we go along we will see that the number of what was owed to the king is something that is impossible to pay.

 

            We don’t really know as to why this man was brought to the king to give an account, but perhaps it was the time that was set aside for this kind of thing to happen, to settle accounts with all the king’s governors.  MacArthur writes “The idea of an ultimate end-of-life accounting, representing God’s final judgment, does not correspond to the way a ruler normally collected taxes from his officials.  Nor does it fit the fact that the forgiven man went on with normal relationships with other men.  The accounting could not represent God’s final judgment, because, after he was judged, the man would have had no more opportunity either to forgive or to be forgiven.

            “Just as ‘seventy times seven’ (v.22) represents a limitless number of times, ten thousand talents represents a limitless amount of money.”  In our next SD we will begin to talk about how much money this ten thousand talents could represent.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What I can see in this parable is that the money, which represents my sins, are far too many for me to ever pay for, and that is why I need forgiveness from God which comes through grace.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to get back to memorizing the verse in Romans chapter six to help me in the battles I face.

 

1/23/2023 12:19 PM