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
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