Three? Four? Seven?
Moving Through Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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This morning we will conclude chapter 18 of Matthew’s gospel.
Now this morning as we look at these final verses from Chapter 18, Matthew continues to record Jesus’ words about forgiveness.
>>>>Creed<<<<
Read: Matthew 18:21-35
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
In the verses before this, Jesus had just told his disciples how the future church should handle unrepentant members. He gave them steps. We talked about those step last week:
One-One-One Correction
Small Group Correction
Bring that person before the church
Ask them to leave the church (consider them a Gentile or Tax Collector)
But the goal wasn’t to push them out and tell them not to return, the goal for for that person to see their sin, repent of their sin, and come back into fellowship not with just God, but with their church family.
Jesus state the goal before with the first step:
Matthew 18:15 (ESV)
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
So as Jesus is finishing this teaching about forgiveness he reminds them that when the church follows what he has said concerning unrepentant Christians within the church, that he will stand by the decision, he has given them the authority.
And, he shows that when the church does this, as they gather to pray and agree on the guidelines that Jesus has provided for them, he will be with them.
In verse 21, there is a voice, a question from one of his disciples. And it is a familiar voice, the one that we have heard from many times over the last two chapters....it is Peter. And Peter asks a question.
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Now I titled my message: Three? Four? Seven?
You know where I came up with seven in the title? Yes? Because Peter asked should I forgive my brother seven times? In other words, seven is enough, I don’t have to forgive eight times?
But where did I come up with with Three and Four?
It was a tradition in the Old Testament by the rabbi’s or the teachers of the Jesus Law that taught to only forgive three times and there. Not even to forgive four. Stopping at three times. Let me show you an example of this:
6 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.
The Lord, speaking through the prophet Amos told them three was the most, and he would not forgive them the forth time for taking his people.
So back to this question from Peter.
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
He never says anything about three or four, only seven times. Maybe Peter was trying to show himself better by offering more forgiveness than the Lord had said. He probably thought this would make his look good in the eyes of Jesus.
Can you imagine what Peter thought when Jesus said...
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
If you are reading from a KJV:
King James Version (Chapter 18)
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
So the translator of the ESV translated it 77 times, but the translators of the KJV translated it 70 X7 which is 490 times.
Whether it is 77 or 490, it doesn’t matter…the point that Jesus is making here is that there is always room for forgiveness. We should always be ready to forgive someone because they had done something against us.
Why? Because as a child of God, he is our model.
David wrote these words in Psalms:
Psalm 51:1–2 (ESV)
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
One of the characteristics of God is his abundant mercy. He is long suffering, not wanting anyone to perish but to come to salvation. That’s why we know that when we come before him, we can ask for forgiveness, and he is there to forgive. And he takes those sins
Psalm 103:12 (ESV)
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Because of that we always look to forgive those who have done us wrong.
Now before we go onto to the parable here about the unforgiving servant, I want us to see something about forgiveness.
Today, after church, if me and Mom and Amber were walking up the road to my house and as we enter my gate, there was a man coming out of my house with a TV. I chased him down, and put him on the ground. We tied him up and took him to the police.
It would be very hard. It would talk time, but eventually I would forgive that person. But even if I forgive him, there are still consequences to his actions as he lives in this society. He will have to pay.
Jesus then shares a parable to help them understand the importance of forgiveness.
Read Matthew 18:23-35
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Jesus begins this parable by saying “the kingdom of heaven .” Matthew uses this phrase 32 times in his writing. In fact, he is the only gospel writer that uses those words....”the Kingdom of Heaven.” The other Gospel writers, Mark,Luke and John used “the Kingdom of God.”
But as he uses this phrase, the kingdom of heaven, he points to a people and a place. The people are those who believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and the place is their eternal place where they will dwell with the spirit of God.
The king extends a great amount of grace. This servant could never pay back what he owed. In todays economy, this would be billions and billions of naira. This servant would never be able to pay back that much. So the sing, had compassion, and forgave his debt. The servant stood up a free man. He walked away free, with his own life and the life of his family.... free. no debt. Forgiven.
That servant is you and me. We stand before Jesus with a huge debt of sin. Sin sin has built up over our lives. It has weighed us down. Even our family bears the weight of that sin. The time comes when we have to pay for our sin, but we can’t.
But, there is a master that can say… you are forgiven. Get up. You are forgiven.,
We go away, and come to someone who owes us small, yet we don’t have compassion and forgiveness for them.
The great, excessive passion that our master showed to us is forgotten. It is pushed to the side, and we hold to unforgivness for another.
In the parable, the Master hears of this, calls for the man and in verse 34 it says:
Matthew 18:34 (ESV)
34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
He wasn’t just thrown into jail. The greek word for jailers here is tormentors. He would be beaten and receive punishment everyday because of the debt he could not owe.
Three things from this parable:
You and I have a debt to pay that we could never pay.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
The debt of our sin is big! Dangote with all of the naira he has could never pay this debt. Because what Jesus is referring to here is not a debt that can be paid by transferring money from your bank account, but the debt of sin that we all have. This debt separates us from our master, the Lord God. It separates us from being in the Kingdom of Heaven. That debt of sin includes our own unforgiveness of other people. Only God has the power to forgive the debt through his Son Jesus Christ.
2. This seperation because of our sin is only forgiven by a belief and following of God’s Son. Think of it this way. The only way you can pay a debt you could never pay is to come before the Master, fall on your knees and ask for forgiveness. And when we do, he looks at you and says, you are forgiven.
5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
And when we do, when we confess, he looks at you and says, you are forgiven.
3. Now as a part of the kingdom of heaven, you begin to show a heart of forgiveness. The same forgiveness you have been given, as a child of God we are expected to do the same.
Earlier in Matthew, he wrote the words of Jesus when he said...
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
What I want you to remember fro these verses this morning is the importance of forgiveness. Forgiveness is an essential part of the life of a Christian.
Forgiveness is there in the moment when you receive salvation. Forgiveness is there when we have sinned and come before God to make it right. God forgives! Bit it is essential for his children to extend forgiveness as well.
Because maybe you forgiving someone of something they did to you, may be the difference between heaven and hell for that person.
How? What if your compassion and forgiveness showed them the love of Christ through you, and that forgiveness opened their heart to see what God did for him through his Son Jesus Christ.
That’s what God wants! He wants a heart of forgiveness in his children, that opens up opportunities to come to the Savior.
Peter started with the question, how many times should I forgive? Even though Jesus answered 77 or Seventy times seven, his intention wasn’t a number by an action...
Matthew 18:35 (ESV)
35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
How many times should you forgive? There is no number. There is no amount of times and then we stop. Jesus simply says… that we should forgive from the heart.
Paul says it this way to the church in Collose:
13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
***BOW YOUR HEADS