Matthew Ch 18 Vs 21-22 - What is the Limit of Forgiveness (Episode 489)

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What is the Limit of Forgiveness.

I.        Introduction.

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the tortures, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”  (Matthew 18: 21-35)

II.        The Human Reaction to and Offence Against Us.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.  (Ephesians 4: 30-31)

III.        Wrestling With Forgiveness.

Clearly in this passage being bitter full of wrath and anger clamour and evil speaking and malice and an attitude of wanting to get even is the opposite of forgiveness. It just seems to me that this passage reflects what I have just said that we get hurt we get angry we speak out and then we want revenge we want to get even we want it now, we might try and sugar coat it and say we just want justice, but what we really want is revenge, which is the opposite of forgiveness. The Greek word forgive translates as to send away, forgiveness involves sending away something, so the question now becomes what do you want to, what do we need to send away?

If you’re wrestling with forgiveness that’s the critical issue, because the thing you need to banish is any hurt or anger or resentment you feel and definitely any desire to retaliate or seek revenge.To grapple with the forgiveness from a biblical point of view means you reaching a point where you are

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