August 23, 2023 • 42 mins
The key to living a life filled with love and peace is hidden within one of Jesus' teachings about forgiveness. Join us as we unlock this secret, journeying through Matthew 18, where we unpack the depth and breadth of forgiveness. The conversation begins with Peter's profound question to Jesus about forgiveness and the ensuing response that creates a transformational tool for understanding forgiveness.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Grainger (00:03):
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
attends you to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, guys, meet time.
Hope you're ready, let's getinto it.
Let's look at our verse of theweek.
Okay, our verse of the week isMatthew 18, 22.
It says Jesus said unto them Isay not unto thee until seven
(00:24):
times, but until seventy timesseven, god.
Go check out that spiritualkickoff.
I'll unpack that one in depth,okay, because it's not a mad
problem.
No, it's forgiveness, and thatforgiveness has no beginning or
end, guys.
It's all about forgiving alwaysand all times, so important.
(00:44):
So today we're going to betalking about how to forgive
your neighbor and why that'simportant, and that's what is
Chris saying about it, becauseit's really irrelevant what I
say about it.
What does God's word say aboutforgiveness?
We're going to use that tolearn, simplify, to apply.
But if you want to get yourBible, go ahead, open it up to
(01:06):
Matthew 18.
That's kind of where we'recamping out at, okay, and
ultimately, we need to know onething fellas Love leads us to
forgive.
You take love out.
You're going to have a hardtime forgiving.
I'm just telling you you'rejust going to have a hard time
as we think through forgiveness.
I want to just kind of startoff with a little bit of a
question that kind of gets yougoing, gets you thinking, as we
(01:28):
work through this materialtogether today.
Well, you're sick, you want agood doctor, right?
You want a good doctor, andthink about what separates a
good doctor from the great ones.
Right, there's a big difference.
There's also a book called GoodDegrees, a phenomenal business
book, by the way.
Check that out.
And what separates the goodones from the great ones is the
bedside manner.
(01:48):
The bedside manner is huge,really huge.
Now we know they got to havethe head knowledge.
Doctors need to know theirmedicines, their diagnosis, the
different types of prescriptions, the different types of
ailments that you have all thesedifferent factors.
They got to have all thisknowledge.
But a truly great doctor has away of connecting with their
(02:13):
patients with compassion.
They just do right, because itcan be scary if you're facing
something serious like physicaldiagnosis or broken bone or
something like that.
If you have that doctor who justhas that equally high EQ, that
can increase overall confidenceand just your outlook on the
(02:34):
situation in general.
Right, because we've all hadthose doctors who are terrible
with their bedside manner.
They're just super awkward.
I mean, they're really smart,but they're just terrible when
it comes to talking with you oryour family and it's just all it
does is it increases stress.
Right, but we need to rememberhere as we start thinking about
Jesus and what he's teaching uson forgiveness and things like
(02:56):
this is Jesus, he's the greatphysician, he's it and he sees
what makes ultimately our heartssick, and Jesus has never
missed a diagnosis.
Y'all, I don't care what yourfavorite doctor is, how great
his bedside manner or herbedside manner is, they are
nothing compared to the greatphysician of Jesus Christ.
(03:17):
Okay, and the awesome part, Idon't always see the great
physician.
He's the cure as well.
Now, how cool is that?
So one of the sickness that hesees, that Jesus sees all the
time, is this disease ofunforgiveness.
I think you guys can admit youdon't have to look very far to
(03:38):
see the unforgiveness is runningrampant.
It's out there.
Hatred everywhere, fellas.
It's such a just an epidemic initself of how much
unforgiveness exists in thisworld.
Right, and what that does, allit does for us.
It robs us.
Was it robbing us?
(03:59):
Two things love, peace, loveand peace.
These are two of the thingsthat we need more than anything
in this world, and unforgivenessjust saps all that out, all
that out.
So we're going to look at God'sWord today together.
We're going to cover someground here Matthew 18.
And we're gonna see how we canapply this to our life.
(04:22):
The lessons, hopefully yeah,it's not about what Chris says
here, fellas Ultimately, theHoly Spirit has gotta do the
heavy lifting and showing youwhat he wants you to understand
and to take away.
Okay, so you gotta take sometime here to really spend some
time in the Word, see what theHoly Spirit is speaking to you,
(04:46):
then apply.
We're gonna start off easy.
Couple of two easy verses, okay.
21, 22, says then Peter came inand said Lord, how often shall
my brother sin against me and Iforgive him?
Up to seven times.
Jesus said to him I do not sayup to you seven times, but to 70
times seven.
Okay, so we can think we canall relate to Peter.
Okay, peter's just sayingwhat's on his mind.
(05:08):
That's why I love old Peter.
He just lets it fly right.
Sometimes there's no filter andhe's probably like bro, do you
really just say that?
I guess I can just relate toPeter.
He's just very direct.
And so Jesus had talked aboutconflict resolution within the
church and the step one was togo directly to that person,
right, because you wanted to godirectly to that person, so with
(05:28):
the hopes of restoration, okay,and you can't get that part.
You can't get that restorationwithout resentment, bitterness
and unforgiveness.
To raise his head right sooften.
That's the reason we can't getthe restoration, because you're
gonna be somebody's resentful,somebody's gonna be bitter or
somebody's just gonna beunforgivable, and when that
happens you're not gonna be ableto have forgiveness carry.
(05:50):
So Peter's asking this question.
Okay, just think about this.
Peter asked this question afterhe experienced so many things.
He experienced Jesus, not onlyJesus himself walking on water,
okay, and he was asking forclarification on parables.
Peter did this a lot.
He was told that Christ wouldbuild his rock, his rock on him.
(06:15):
After he had a slam-dunk answerthat he gave Jesus when he says
who do you think I am right?
He drilled it right, these fourpeople.
I'm gonna tell you what, peter.
He didn't mind stepping in andsharing his opinion, right, and
when he started thinking aboutchapter 18 and looking at what's
going on here in God's Word.
It's pretty cool because it'stalking about what it's like to
(06:38):
be a servant of Christ.
Now, we don't know why Peterasked this one question, right?
He could have just been acurious dude who just really
wanted to know yo, jesus, you'vedone some incredible things.
You're obviously Messiah,you're the Son of God.
So I'll finally forget folks.
It could have just been acompletely innocent question,
okay, but really he wanted toknow how he could restore that
(07:03):
fellowship with a fellowbeliever when there's conflict
and we know we're gonna haveconflict in this world, right?
And he could have known, well,been curious to know what's the
minimal barrier of entry.
We all wanna know thatsometimes.
Right, think about that classin college, like bro, what do I
gotta get, just so I don't haveto take this class again.
I think you guys can all relateto this.
(07:24):
Maybe Peter was doing like that,I don't know, maybe that's what
it was.
And look, think about a concert.
Sometimes you just want.
You want to be in a front row,right, and sometimes you just
wanna be in the building.
So somewhere in between justbeing in the building and being
in the front row, peter justwanted to know.
He just wanted to know nothingwrong here.
Now, rabionic Judaism actuallytaught that you had to four
(07:48):
times that if after that genuinerepentance had not occurred.
So really, what was going onhere is basically you say, okay,
I get that, so if I go seven,that's pretty astronomical
compared to whatever one'steaching right here these days.
Right, and what's going onreally is what we show no mercy
(08:12):
are natural response.
Think about this for a second,guys, when you think about
showing no mercy, our naturalresponse was kind of a big deal.
Right, it's a really big deal.
So Jesus shot this stuff downquickly.
He's saying no, bro, I'm notsaying that you can do this, I'm
saying it up to 70 times seven.
(08:33):
There's a couple other verses Iwanna share with you guys.
You don't have to turn there,you can't even do two.
But let's go and look atGenesis real quick.
Genesis four look at verse 15,it's hanging with me while I
read this one and it says so.
The Lord said to them therefore, whoever kills King, vengeance
will be taken upon him.
Seven pole and the Lordappointed a sign for King so
that no one fighting him wouldslay him.
(08:55):
Now let's look also at Genesisfour 20, 30, 24.
It says Lamak said to his wives, ada and Zilla listen to my
voice, you eyes of Lamak, giveheed to my speech, for I'll kill
a man, wounding me, and thatboy for striking me.
The King is a then seven foldand Lamak 77 fold, all right.
So what's going on here, fellas,as Lamak was bragging about how
(09:18):
much more ruthless he was inKing that's what it was, fellas,
we talked about and how muchmore God would value his action.
This is some ultimate twistedthinking here, fellas.
This is not how we should act.
This is not how we shouldrespond.
So when Jesus is doing, he'smaking a stark contrast right
here, very stark contrast tothese retaliation stories.
We're not called retaliate.
He was teaching mercy, fieldthinking.
(09:39):
That's it.
Not retaliation, mercy, bigdifference, right?
And we need to have extravagantforgiveness as we move forth as
Christian men.
Extravagant forgiveness meansdoing things that no one else
would even consider.
Why would you do that?
Because you're more called todo, we're more to walk in the
image of Christ and to be moreand more like him.
(10:00):
We can't be of the way of theworld.
The way of the world is justlike.
You know what?
Just forgive, maybe, if youwant to.
It's up to you or you couldjust count.
You know, if you don't forgivehim, maybe that's all he's gonna
do, that you're gonna have totalk to this person again.
That's not what Jesus isteaching right here.
He's talking about being anextravagant forgiver, and
sometimes that is hard,particularly when people have
(10:23):
hurt you in meaningful ways orhurt your loved ones or, forbid
even like, killed your lovedones.
It can be hard for us toactually go out and extend
forgiveness.
It's just real.
So it's really important, as wekind of dig into it, to
understand that in order for usto be spiritually whole, we
(10:47):
gotta let some more forgivenessgo, fellas.
We cannot let that ourforgiveness take root and start
growing, because it grows bigand it can get out of hand and
next thing you know it ispulling you down, it is
impacting your walkings,impacting your testimony, and we
cannot have that, fellas.
Okay, so now we'll take ourfirst break.
We're gonna come back and we'regonna unpack some little bigger
(11:07):
piece of scripture here to lookand see what our forgiveness is
all about, how we can actuallyset the bottom part of this in
our life.
We'll be right back, guys.
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(12:16):
All right, guys, we're back now.
So we just talked about Peterhere and asking the question,
and Jesus gives him the answerof forgiving 70 times seven.
Let's pick up and read a fewverses here.
Let's read 23 to 27.
Says for this reason, thekingdom of heaven may be
compared to a king who wished tosettle accounts with his slaves
(12:38):
.
Now again, jesus, is Jesustalking?
When he had begun to settlethem, one who owed him 10,000
tablets was brought to him, butsince he did not have the means
to repay it, his Lord commandedhim to be sold, along with his
wife and children and all thathe had, and repayment to be made
.
So the slave fell to the groundand prostrated himself before
(13:01):
him, saying I have patience withme and I will pay you
everything.
And the Lord of that slave feltcompassion and released him and
forgave him the debt.
All right, fellas.
So what's going on right here?
Jesus is using stories to teach.
I think he's using the storiesto teach because he knows Peter,
just like me.
We gotta break it down forJesus.
Okay, we're a little slow inthe uptake sometimes, so I'm
(13:24):
gonna give you some context tohelp you think about the amount
of money that this sermon owed.
Maybe you listen to sermons onthis, maybe you can.
You already know, but when hesays 10,000 tablets right there,
that was actually about 200,000years worth of money.
Let that sink in.
We're talking billions, punbillions, if not trillions
(13:48):
dollars.
Right, it would just be likesomebody's staying up.
You stood up to work today andsay you know what y'all need to
chill out.
Everybody, calm down, relax.
I'm fixing to stroke me a checkto US government to pay off the
national debt.
I got it, don't worry.
Just maybe you wanna hold thatcheck to a payday.
(14:10):
But other than that, hey, we'regood to go.
Right, this is what it'd be,right, we're kinda going.
It's crazy to think about it,cause we're gonna dig in and
notice how the king didn'taccept this fellow's crazy terms
.
No, this is not what this isabout.
What the king did was heextended forgiveness.
Big, big difference here.
(14:30):
Okay, verse 23,.
For this reason, the king ofheaven may be compared to a king
who wished to have his settledaccounts with slaves.
All right, now it's also insome version.
It begins with therefore, right, that's so.
Whenever you see, therefore,you gotta see what it's there
for.
But Jesus ties this parable tothe life of the king.
(14:51):
Right, that's what he's doing,cause he's teaching us right
here, to all who believe right,you need to settle this, you
need to settle this with theirslaves.
So what's going on is theprinciple he was teaching us
here is a format that Jewishleaders would often pull Kings,
servants okay, kings andservants, and usually, in this
(15:15):
format, king would represent God, servants would represent
believers.
Okay, that's it.
So the part about sellingaccounts that he talks about
right here, that actually isreferred to how, in time, people
were kindly sold in slavery asa way of selling debt.
Now it really listed the way wethink of it so many times.
When we think about slavery, alot of times you would be in
someone's debt, so youtechnically would be their quote
(15:37):
, unquote slave, but you wouldjust work off your debt.
Now, when that debt is workedoff, you're free to go right.
So it's just a little bitdifferent context of what's
going on back then versus what'sgoing on now.
Okay, so this has been a verycommon occurrence and that the
disciples would have very muchrecognized and been able to
connect with.
Okay, and probably even relatedwith.
(15:59):
Probably there's no back andforth on this, but who knows,
some of these disciples couldhave been indebted to slaves at
some point in their life, right,it was just a very common
occurrence, again, muchdifferent than the slave
training that we think of today.
Okay, now, when you look atverse 24 and 25, when he had
begun to settle them, one whoowed him 10,000 talents was
(16:20):
brought to him, but since he didnot have the means to repay.
His Lord commanded him to besold, while his wife, children
all he had and repayment to bemade Now.
Again, the amount of money herewould have been even hard to
imagine.
I mean, just try to put yourmind around the national debt
number.
It's just mind boggling, right?
And when you think about for alittle further context, one
(16:44):
talent was about 6,000 denarii,okay, and denarii was one day's
wages, right?
So just think about it as 16million days to sell this debt.
Okay, so I don't know where oldDave Ranji is at when he needed
him, but that's a debt snowballLike you never see.
That debt snowball would killsomebody around them, right?
(17:04):
So look what the King commanded.
What did the King command Righthere, the King of?
So, right here, in verse 24, hewas demanding everything that
the means be repaid.
So he was saying, okay, I getit, but you repay me.
You're gonna have to pay it all, everything, family possessions
, your kids, your wife,everything you own.
(17:25):
That's what you're gonna haveto do.
Even though, think about thisfor a second you ever thought
about this?
Everything the King was askingfor right here, or what it asked
for, would not even be a dropin the bucket to compare to what
this guy owed.
Okay, think about that for asecond.
Guys, I mean, just think aboutit If they sell everything that
you own, would it even comeclose to selling your national
(17:49):
debt?
Maybe, but most likely, maybenot.
Right, let's just be real,maybe not, and that's what's
going on.
So it's pretty interesting thatthe King would even propose
that.
That's an interesting commentwhen you look at verse 26,.
So the slave fell to the ground,prostrated himself before him,
saying have patience with me andI will pay you everything.
(18:10):
Yo bro, desperate times callfor desperate measures.
I'm gonna say it's Hail Marytime.
Please help me, please help me.
Right, he was broken.
He was absolutely broken, andthe Aramaic word for debt was
commonly used in the Hebrew andthe Hebrew, but it's the same
word for sin.
(18:30):
You guys hear me talking aboutit a lot of times, a lot of the
times sin.
It was thought of.
Just a few generations ago,that debt was actually viewed as
sin.
Okay, think about the Lord'sprayer give us our debts, right.
So it's basically what's goingon.
He was in utter desperation,utter desperation, and he was
also pretty dug on, humiliated.
Think about what he had to do.
(18:52):
One of the boys was doing tokeep my dish much debt.
He must have had one heck of aweekend at Vegas weekend, right,
or maybe Corinth right.
There you go.
So he was basically at theking's mercy.
He was at the king's mercy andbegging was all he could do,
right, and all he could offersaying I can repay.
(19:13):
That was a few times.
I mean, we talked about dropsin the bucket, fellas, and look,
you gotta remember debt and sin.
They go to Gallow.
Guys, I'm not trying to makethis an episode where I'm
talking about why debt is bad.
We need to eliminate it.
But I'm telling you there'sthings, there's wisdom to be
found from God's word.
(19:34):
Now look at verse 27,.
And the Lord of debt and theLord of debt slave felt
compassion and released him andforgave him a debt.
So think about this, the threethings right here you have to
master, pity, cancel.
Okay, the master had all thepower.
He had all the power.
He could do whatever he wantedbecause he was in charge, he was
(19:57):
in control.
The master had pity, right, theverb formula that was actually
used in the scripture right herein the case that he was deeply
moved, right.
So this is not just something.
He just felt bad like.
No, this is a deep within hisspirit, it's in his soul.
Something moved him andcanceled the debt.
Right, the only finnish buts.
(20:19):
It's just canceled, it's gone.
It costed the master everything.
Right, think about that.
It cost him everything.
He was never gonna be able tobe repaid by that servant.
It cost him everything.
Now, make that time, do yoursalvation.
That salvation.
You can't work your way in theheaven King, you can't pay for
(20:42):
it.
So that penalty for our sinscosted Jesus everything,
everything.
Now.
He was thinking about that whenhe was hanging on that cross.
Fellas, I'm here to tell you hewas thinking about you and you
may not think that, you may notbelieve that.
I'm here to tell you that'sfrom the lives, from the pits of
hell, from the evil one, if youget sent back to where it
belongs.
He was thinking on you hangingon that cross.
(21:03):
That's the gospel, that.
This is a picture of the gospelright here.
He couldn't make the payment, sothe master stuck himself in and
took the payment upon himself.
It's beautiful when you startthinking about this right and
seeing how God's word starts toreveal itself to us as we lean
(21:23):
in, as we learn as we listen, aswe let the Holy Spirit guide
and direct us.
Like he look, he feltcompassion, released him,
forgave debt.
I imagine how he felt he owedall this money and all of a
sudden it wasn't there anymore.
That burden wasn't holding himdown.
He didn't have that doomovertop him.
(21:46):
The stress, the anxiety, thepanic attacks probably went away
right.
Just imagine all the debts youhave.
Maybe you have a house, car,you know some personal debts.
Maybe you got credit card debt,student loans.
Think about what that number is.
Maybe it's $100,000.
(22:08):
Maybe it's $500,000.
Or getting close to a million,or maybe a couple million.
Whenever that number is, thinkabout the impact it would have
that number were erased in mine.
How would you feel the next day?
Would you feel a littleencouraged?
Would you feel a little weightlifted off your shoulder?
(22:30):
How many of us would go out andmake some stupid decisions the
next day and probably be rightback in this same situation,
right, you just never know.
But I like to think about it.
What is this man in that momentBefore we get to the next
verses, because we'll find outin the next verses he just
completely screws up everything.
(22:51):
How would you feel?
How would you feel?
Would you have just ultimatejoy and just absolute
thankfulness?
But it'd just be one of thosemoments where it's like you're
shaking because you can'tbelieve it.
(23:11):
I think many of us wouldImagine if you didn't have to
make a mortgage payment anymore.
How good would that feel.
Or a car payment, or a truckpayment, or credit card payment
or anything.
With a payment you don't haveto make them anymore.
Everything's canceled.
Everything would be prettyincredible.
Right?
We're going to see this memory.
(23:32):
This was all canceled.
Everything's taken care of.
Let's see what his response isgoing to be.
Okay, we'll take a quick break,guys.
We'll be right back.
We'll check out his response.
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Alright, fellas, let's just getyou called up.
(25:00):
So Pete is asking look how manytimes I need to forgive somebody
.
Jesus is basically saying yo,bro, you just keep forgiving
until I tell you what it means.
Never.
You always can be forgiving.
And he's given him a story.
Jesus is trying to paint a storyto help Peter understand.
He talks about this dude whoowed basically the national debt
for the United States to a king, and king he was like yo, just
(25:22):
give me a chance, I'll pay itback.
There's no way he could pay itback.
We're talking about years uponyears, upon years of debt.
There's no way he could pay itback.
King was going to take him,take his family, take all his
possessions, even though thatwas a drop in the bucket.
He's going to get rid of him,take it and get him out.
And all of a sudden the kingfelt compassion and forgave the
debt.
Now, now let's see how heresponds.
(25:46):
We're going to read 28-35together and then we're going to
unpack this.
So 28-35 in Matthew 18 says butthe slave went out and found
one of his fellow slaves whoowed him 100 in there and he
seized them and began to chokehim, saying pay back what you
owe.
So a slave fell down to theground and began to plead with
(26:06):
him, saying I have patience withme and I will repay you.
But he was unwilling and wentthrough him in the prison.
He should pay back what he wasowed.
So when his fellow slaves sawwhat happened, they were deeply
grieved.
It came and reported to the Lordall that had happened.
Then, summoning him, his Lordsaid to him you wicked slave, I
(26:27):
forgave you all the debt becauseyou pleaded with me.
Should you not also have hadmercy on your fellow slave in
the same way that I had mercy onyou?
And this, and his Lord movedwith anger, handed him over to
the torturers until he shouldrepay all that was owed him.
My heavenly Father will also dothe same to you Eat, if, if
(26:50):
each of you does not forgive hisbrother from your heart.
Woo, I don't know about youfellows, but that just got real,
that just got real quick.
Now, the servant missed it.
He missed it, he missed mercy,he missed grace, he missed
forgiveness, all the things thatthe King just gave to him.
(27:12):
He missed it.
Forgiveness is a choice andit's a process.
And God fell us.
He knows our hearts, he knowsthem and he will help us with
our forgiveness by his spirit,by his word and with other
believers.
Now we don't want to mess thisstuff.
(27:33):
And when you look at the firsttwo verses 28 through 30, the
first three verses the slavewent out and found one of the
fellow slaves, wrote him ahundred and Mary, right.
And basically what was going on?
He seized him, choked him.
The other guy fell to theground and was basically begging
him, right, begging him, look.
But he was unwilling to admitto prison and take him paying
back.
God expects us to forgive,pretty simple.
(27:56):
This wasn't a lesson onfinances here, guys, don't get
caught up, okay, it was a lessonon forgiveness, particularly
forgiving our brothers andsisters in Christ.
Now notice the parallels here.
You got the guy in charge, whowas the king, and the servant,
right.
In both situations the king wasthe first guy in charge.
The second situation theservant was the guy in charge.
(28:17):
You had the guy in debt, youhad the servant, who was the
first guy that was in debt.
Then you had the fellow servantwho's in the second kind of
debt, right, okay.
Then you have threats made.
So the king was making thethreats originally right, I want
you to repay everything.
And the servant was making thethreats made right.
Basically saying, look, if youwere choking him, right.
Then you had pleads.
(28:39):
Who made the first plead?
The original servant was makingthat plea to the king.
The second plead was the otherservant to the original servant.
I know it's kind of trying totry to follow along with all the
guys that tell me Then we havea shift.
Here's the shift.
So we've had a guy in charge, aguy in debt, threats and pleads
(29:00):
.
Okay, all that's been tracking,all that stuff's been tracking
in both stories.
You can pretty much line themup side by side and you'll get
the same outcome Until you getthe response.
What's the response?
The king, forgiveness, theservant, imprisonment.
Notice how different they are.
(29:21):
He was determined to get his100 in the area.
That's what it said right here100 in the area.
Okay, now, when you think aboutthat, that was about a quarter
of a year worth of work.
Not a small number.
I'm not.
I wanted to diminish it.
It wasn't like he was like 50bucks Now, it was a significant
(29:42):
number, but it wasn't a nationaldebt, the way that he owed
Right, pretty small number incomparison.
But notice just that shift andtheir response.
So think about your one.
What is your response?
Okay, there's an opportunity toextend forgiveness.
Are you gonna put your footdown, keep your foot on their
(30:04):
throat, not let them up, or areyou gonna actually extend
forgiveness and walk them outand show them with mercy, with
compassion, with love?
Very interesting here.
Okay, now let's see how thepeople around him responded.
31 says.
When his fellow slaves saw whathad happened, they were deeply
(30:25):
grieved and came reported to theLord All that had happened.
So what did they do?
They went and touted on him andto summon him, the Lord said
you, wicked slave, I forgave youand all that debt To you not
have also had mercy on yourfellow slave?
Don't forget that one.
In the same way that had mercyon you, the Lord moved with
anger, handed over him to thetorturers until they should have
(30:46):
repaid all that he was owed.
My heavenly father also did thesame to you.
Each one of you does notforgive his brother from your
heart.
Guys, I'm telling you this isso.
Dog on a port, and as we readthis word together, we don't
know if the servant knew theother guys, if we knew about his
(31:06):
debt and the inter-race.
We don't know.
We don't know that right.
He doesn't say that thoseservants actually saw and had,
privy to the understanding, thathis debt was erased.
So we don't know that.
What we do know is that themboys were hot when they saw what
was going on.
They were hot.
They went straight to the manin charge.
(31:28):
Right, imagine it's you sittingright there.
Imagine you're the king.
You're sitting there in yourtrunk, in your throne, you're
chilling, you're eating somegrapes, you're maybe sipping on
some wine, you're chilling outwith all your peasants that are
bringing you stuff that you want.
An old boy comes up and saysyou know what that dude you
(31:48):
forgave with, like you know, thetrading, the dollars, yeah,
yeah, I know that dude.
Yeah, well, he just do.
One of the boys in prison for acouple months worked of money
that he owed him, and just thinkabout this.
How would you have responded?
Would you be, would you?
(32:08):
I'm just gonna be straight up.
Would you be pissed or wouldyou be chill?
Most of us would probably beelevated in that moment.
Right, why?
Because injustice had justoccurred, and we don't like that
.
The king didn't either.
Right, and think about what.
We see this rebuke.
We see it in action, right here, guys.
(32:30):
Right, the first meeting.
You go back to the firstmeeting, the beginning of this,
of this, this part of Matthew.
When a slave left that meeting,he was free.
He was free.
When he left the second meeting, guys, he left with the death
sentence.
He ain't gonna ever pay thisback.
(32:51):
This was a death row sentence.
Right here, okay, and Jesusmakes it very simple for us,
fellas, and this is your way tosimplify and apply this.
Right here, okay, forgettingpeople are to forgive people.
That's it.
Forgiving people are to forgivepeople.
So God has shown us right here,through extravagant forgiveness
(33:15):
.
He gives us and he expects thesame in return.
Right, he knows your heart,guys.
He knows my heart, okay, I'mnot, I'm not excluded here.
He knows my heart, and that'sthe core.
What he desires is that we loveothers.
It says right here in Ephesians4-32 guys be kind to one another
(33:37):
, tender hearted, forgiving eachother, just as God and Christ
has also forgiven you.
Do you walk that out?
Do you walk that verse out?
Because that should be rightthere at the hallmark of us as
believers, right there we haveto walk out forgiveness.
We can't just be walking aroundbitter and then a curmungent
and always got these, these badthoughts going on.
(33:59):
No, walk out forgiveness.
Truly, extend it to others.
Extend grace, mercy, compassion.
We can't afford not to forgive,fellas, we cannot afford to not
forgive.
I'm telling you because if yourheart is sick with our
forgiveness, that's gonna takeyou down.
(34:20):
The good news is you can behealed, you can be restored to
immaculate spiritual health whenyou lean in on the great
physician.
But you have to lean in onJesus, you have to let the Holy
Spirit guide and direct you.
I want you to think about wheredo you need to start extending
some forgiveness?
(34:40):
You know who are you hardest on?
I know a lot of times for meit's for my wife, my beautiful
wife of back.
Well, I can be the hardest onher sometimes because she gets
the worst version.
A lot of times I'm tired, andwhen I'm tired, the worst
version comes out.
So I had to be more intentionalabout extending forgiveness and
(35:01):
asking for forgiveness with her.
So who do you need to forget?
Who do you need to have thatconversation with?
But you know what?
I've been a jerk, I have justbeen a jerk and I've really want
to walk out my Christian valuesand I would really like to ask
for your forgiveness.
(35:21):
Or maybe you need to extendsome forgiveness, right, we all
have those situations in ourlife too, where we need to
extend some forgiveness.
I'm not sure what yoursituation is.
You don't the Holy Spirit'swhispering something to you
right now?
I know you did.
You know that text you need tosend, or that phone call you
need to make, or that person youneed to go visit.
(35:42):
I would highly encourage you todo the last.
This world's the smartphoneshave taken so much out of us.
If you can actually see thatperson.
I bought an eyeball.
There's power with that.
This phone call.
It's the second best thing.
If nothing else can happen,then I guess the text will be
okay.
But primarily, we connectbetter when we see people.
(36:04):
So do you need extensiveforgiveness today?
Most likely, yes.
Are you going to do anythingabout it?
That's your question, becauseif you want to unleash the line
within, if you want to take thisword and simplify and apply it
and understand that forgivingpeople, forgive people, that
means you got to take someaction, fellas.
You got to take some action.
(36:25):
So think about this how canforgiveness extend beyond the
limits that we set?
We put these limits onourselves.
God doesn't put those limits onus, but we do.
We put those limits and when weput those limits, we're holding
us back.
We're holding ourselves backfrom the goodness, from the
(36:45):
beauty, from the wonderfulthings that God has planned for
us.
So, fellas, I pray today thatyou take this opportunity to
forgive others, that you lean,that you ask for forgiveness,
that you extend that forgivenessand that you let that just
permeate all the things that youdo as you try to be the leader
(37:06):
God intends you to be.
Guys, I'm telling you I want topray for us.
I feel the urge to pray.
Follower, just thank you forthe man listening.
I pray that the guy who'slistening right now or the girl,
that they know the steps theyneeded, taking obedience with
you to forgive others the wayyou have called us to God.
I pray you give them couragecourage to step in and forgive
(37:31):
and not worry about what theworld thinks or the wrongdoings
or they owe me more than Ishould forgive.
Put all that to the side toknow that ultimately, what you
gave did for us, what you pouredout your blood for us, and how
you love us, how you forgive usfrom all the things we screw up
and mess up on, how we shouldextend that same grace and mercy
(37:56):
and compassion to others.
I pray these guys take actionand move forward and be the man
you've called us to be.
In Jesus' name amen.
All right, fellas, let me knowif you like this.
We'd love to know your feedbackon these types of episodes.
I know we're doing some thingsdifferently, but I just like to
know what you think about it, ifyou get value from this stuff.
(38:16):
Again, go check out the websiteTheLionWithInus.
We have all our resources there.
Give us a rating, write areview for the podcast, share
the podcast out.
Maybe this could be a goodbridge opportunity for you.
Use this podcast, this episode,as an opportunity for you to
(38:37):
have a conversation aroundforgiveness with someone else,
so you can say you know what I'mgonna listen to this podcast.
This one came across my plate.
I was thinking about you.
I want you to listen to it, andthen I like to have a
conversation, and this could bea natural way for you to open up
the door, to have aconversation around forgiveness
for someone that you've beenputting off.
Maybe guys have been justholding back, or maybe guys have
(39:00):
been nudging you, but youhaven't had that full nudge.
But guess what?
Here's your nudge Take action,use this nudge and move forward.
Okay, move forward, Ask forthat forgiveness, have that
conversation.
I'm telling you don't put itoff.
Don't put it off.
So use this one, hit that sharebutton, center it out to
someone.
(39:20):
Again, hook up with us on oursocials and things like that too
.
I'll try to put some stuff outfor this particular week of
speaking to forgiveness that mayhelp you.
Okay, so hook up with us onYouTube, Facebook, instagram all
those places you know raise,review, help, donations, help.
If you want to be a donor, jointhe Lion Within Us community.
You can visit.
Go to belinwithinus.
(39:41):
We have our spiritual kickoffcommunity.
That's part of the Lion WithinUs as well.
We have our leadershipcoalition.
So if you're a business leaderand you want to find ways to
take lessons just like this,like this right here forgiveness
how can I apply forgiveness inbusiness?
Hey, this is what we're goingto do.
Go unpack guys' word together.
We're going to see how we cansimplify and apply it to our
(40:03):
life and help others you know,just come to have it Understand
what it means to take this, thegood news, god's Word, and there
it works, god, and apply it andactually walk it out.
All right, fellas, come back forour Fun Friday episode.
I got some good dad jokes.
I got some good tips for you.
All the tips are going to kindof resonate around that idea of
forgiveness.
(40:23):
So, prayerfully, you will enjoythose.
They will serve you well.
Now, again, I want your feedback.
Do you like these types ofepisodes?
We're doing things a little bitdifferent throughout the month.
Usually we do this about once amonth.
So once you get your feedback,thank you for all the prayers,
for all the support, all thethings that you guys do for the
Lion Within Us.
It means the world.
Each week, when I get and seehow many people listen to the
show and feedback, I can expresswhat it means to me.
(40:47):
So reach out support at thelionwithinus Again, that support
at the lionwithinus, If I canserve you, if I can help you,
you just need someone to talk tobecause you're having a really
tough day.
Reach out and let me know I'mhere to help.
Okay, all right, fellas, getafter it.
Have a great day.
See you back here on Fun Friday.
Remember Matthew 1822, keepforgiving and don't forget guys.
(41:10):
Look for it the opportunity youcan to unleash the lion with it
.
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
attends you to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, guys, meet time.
Hope you're ready, let's getinto it.
Let's look at our verse of theweek.
Okay, our verse of the week isMatthew 18, 22.
It says Jesus said unto them Isay not unto thee until seven
(00:24):
times, but until seventy timesseven, god.
Go check out that spiritualkickoff.
I'll unpack that one in depth,okay, because it's not a mad
problem.
No, it's forgiveness, and thatforgiveness has no beginning or
end, guys.
It's all about forgiving alwaysand all times, so important.
(00:44):
So today we're going to betalking about how to forgive
your neighbor and why that'simportant, and that's what is
Chris saying about it, becauseit's really irrelevant what I
say about it.
What does God's word say aboutforgiveness?
We're going to use that tolearn, simplify, to apply.
But if you want to get yourBible, go ahead, open it up to
(01:06):
Matthew 18.
That's kind of where we'recamping out at, okay, and
ultimately, we need to know onething fellas Love leads us to
forgive.
You take love out.
You're going to have a hardtime forgiving.
I'm just telling you you'rejust going to have a hard time
as we think through forgiveness.
I want to just kind of startoff with a little bit of a
question that kind of gets yougoing, gets you thinking, as we
(01:28):
work through this materialtogether today.
Well, you're sick, you want agood doctor, right?
You want a good doctor, andthink about what separates a
good doctor from the great ones.
Right, there's a big difference.
There's also a book called GoodDegrees, a phenomenal business
book, by the way.
Check that out.
And what separates the goodones from the great ones is the
bedside manner.
(01:48):
The bedside manner is huge,really huge.
Now we know they got to havethe head knowledge.
Doctors need to know theirmedicines, their diagnosis, the
different types of prescriptions, the different types of
ailments that you have all thesedifferent factors.
They got to have all thisknowledge.
But a truly great doctor has away of connecting with their
(02:13):
patients with compassion.
They just do right, because itcan be scary if you're facing
something serious like physicaldiagnosis or broken bone or
something like that.
If you have that doctor who justhas that equally high EQ, that
can increase overall confidenceand just your outlook on the
(02:34):
situation in general.
Right, because we've all hadthose doctors who are terrible
with their bedside manner.
They're just super awkward.
I mean, they're really smart,but they're just terrible when
it comes to talking with you oryour family and it's just all it
does is it increases stress.
Right, but we need to rememberhere as we start thinking about
Jesus and what he's teaching uson forgiveness and things like
(02:56):
this is Jesus, he's the greatphysician, he's it and he sees
what makes ultimately our heartssick, and Jesus has never
missed a diagnosis.
Y'all, I don't care what yourfavorite doctor is, how great
his bedside manner or herbedside manner is, they are
nothing compared to the greatphysician of Jesus Christ.
(03:17):
Okay, and the awesome part, Idon't always see the great
physician.
He's the cure as well.
Now, how cool is that?
So one of the sickness that hesees, that Jesus sees all the
time, is this disease ofunforgiveness.
I think you guys can admit youdon't have to look very far to
(03:38):
see the unforgiveness is runningrampant.
It's out there.
Hatred everywhere, fellas.
It's such a just an epidemic initself of how much
unforgiveness exists in thisworld.
Right, and what that does, allit does for us.
It robs us.
Was it robbing us?
(03:59):
Two things love, peace, loveand peace.
These are two of the thingsthat we need more than anything
in this world, and unforgivenessjust saps all that out, all
that out.
So we're going to look at God'sWord today together.
We're going to cover someground here Matthew 18.
And we're gonna see how we canapply this to our life.
(04:22):
The lessons, hopefully yeah,it's not about what Chris says
here, fellas Ultimately, theHoly Spirit has gotta do the
heavy lifting and showing youwhat he wants you to understand
and to take away.
Okay, so you gotta take sometime here to really spend some
time in the Word, see what theHoly Spirit is speaking to you,
(04:46):
then apply.
We're gonna start off easy.
Couple of two easy verses, okay.
21, 22, says then Peter came inand said Lord, how often shall
my brother sin against me and Iforgive him?
Up to seven times.
Jesus said to him I do not sayup to you seven times, but to 70
times seven.
Okay, so we can think we canall relate to Peter.
Okay, peter's just sayingwhat's on his mind.
(05:08):
That's why I love old Peter.
He just lets it fly right.
Sometimes there's no filter andhe's probably like bro, do you
really just say that?
I guess I can just relate toPeter.
He's just very direct.
And so Jesus had talked aboutconflict resolution within the
church and the step one was togo directly to that person,
right, because you wanted to godirectly to that person, so with
(05:28):
the hopes of restoration, okay,and you can't get that part.
You can't get that restorationwithout resentment, bitterness
and unforgiveness.
To raise his head right sooften.
That's the reason we can't getthe restoration, because you're
gonna be somebody's resentful,somebody's gonna be bitter or
somebody's just gonna beunforgivable, and when that
happens you're not gonna be ableto have forgiveness carry.
(05:50):
So Peter's asking this question.
Okay, just think about this.
Peter asked this question afterhe experienced so many things.
He experienced Jesus, not onlyJesus himself walking on water,
okay, and he was asking forclarification on parables.
Peter did this a lot.
He was told that Christ wouldbuild his rock, his rock on him.
(06:15):
After he had a slam-dunk answerthat he gave Jesus when he says
who do you think I am right?
He drilled it right, these fourpeople.
I'm gonna tell you what, peter.
He didn't mind stepping in andsharing his opinion, right, and
when he started thinking aboutchapter 18 and looking at what's
going on here in God's Word.
It's pretty cool because it'stalking about what it's like to
(06:38):
be a servant of Christ.
Now, we don't know why Peterasked this one question, right?
He could have just been acurious dude who just really
wanted to know yo, jesus, you'vedone some incredible things.
You're obviously Messiah,you're the Son of God.
So I'll finally forget folks.
It could have just been acompletely innocent question,
okay, but really he wanted toknow how he could restore that
(07:03):
fellowship with a fellowbeliever when there's conflict
and we know we're gonna haveconflict in this world, right?
And he could have known, well,been curious to know what's the
minimal barrier of entry.
We all wanna know thatsometimes.
Right, think about that classin college, like bro, what do I
gotta get, just so I don't haveto take this class again.
I think you guys can all relateto this.
(07:24):
Maybe Peter was doing like that,I don't know, maybe that's what
it was.
And look, think about a concert.
Sometimes you just want.
You want to be in a front row,right, and sometimes you just
wanna be in the building.
So somewhere in between justbeing in the building and being
in the front row, peter justwanted to know.
He just wanted to know nothingwrong here.
Now, rabionic Judaism actuallytaught that you had to four
(07:48):
times that if after that genuinerepentance had not occurred.
So really, what was going onhere is basically you say, okay,
I get that, so if I go seven,that's pretty astronomical
compared to whatever one'steaching right here these days.
Right, and what's going onreally is what we show no mercy
(08:12):
are natural response.
Think about this for a second,guys, when you think about
showing no mercy, our naturalresponse was kind of a big deal.
Right, it's a really big deal.
So Jesus shot this stuff downquickly.
He's saying no, bro, I'm notsaying that you can do this, I'm
saying it up to 70 times seven.
(08:33):
There's a couple other verses Iwanna share with you guys.
You don't have to turn there,you can't even do two.
But let's go and look atGenesis real quick.
Genesis four look at verse 15,it's hanging with me while I
read this one and it says so.
The Lord said to them therefore, whoever kills King, vengeance
will be taken upon him.
Seven pole and the Lordappointed a sign for King so
that no one fighting him wouldslay him.
(08:55):
Now let's look also at Genesisfour 20, 30, 24.
It says Lamak said to his wives, ada and Zilla listen to my
voice, you eyes of Lamak, giveheed to my speech, for I'll kill
a man, wounding me, and thatboy for striking me.
The King is a then seven foldand Lamak 77 fold, all right.
So what's going on here, fellas,as Lamak was bragging about how
(09:18):
much more ruthless he was inKing that's what it was, fellas,
we talked about and how muchmore God would value his action.
This is some ultimate twistedthinking here, fellas.
This is not how we should act.
This is not how we shouldrespond.
So when Jesus is doing, he'smaking a stark contrast right
here, very stark contrast tothese retaliation stories.
We're not called retaliate.
He was teaching mercy, fieldthinking.
(09:39):
That's it.
Not retaliation, mercy, bigdifference, right?
And we need to have extravagantforgiveness as we move forth as
Christian men.
Extravagant forgiveness meansdoing things that no one else
would even consider.
Why would you do that?
Because you're more called todo, we're more to walk in the
image of Christ and to be moreand more like him.
(10:00):
We can't be of the way of theworld.
The way of the world is justlike.
You know what?
Just forgive, maybe, if youwant to.
It's up to you or you couldjust count.
You know, if you don't forgivehim, maybe that's all he's gonna
do, that you're gonna have totalk to this person again.
That's not what Jesus isteaching right here.
He's talking about being anextravagant forgiver, and
sometimes that is hard,particularly when people have
(10:23):
hurt you in meaningful ways orhurt your loved ones or, forbid
even like, killed your lovedones.
It can be hard for us toactually go out and extend
forgiveness.
It's just real.
So it's really important, as wekind of dig into it, to
understand that in order for usto be spiritually whole, we
(10:47):
gotta let some more forgivenessgo, fellas.
We cannot let that ourforgiveness take root and start
growing, because it grows bigand it can get out of hand and
next thing you know it ispulling you down, it is
impacting your walkings,impacting your testimony, and we
cannot have that, fellas.
Okay, so now we'll take ourfirst break.
We're gonna come back and we'regonna unpack some little bigger
(11:07):
piece of scripture here to lookand see what our forgiveness is
all about, how we can actuallyset the bottom part of this in
our life.
We'll be right back, guys.
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(11:30):
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(12:16):
All right, guys, we're back now.
So we just talked about Peterhere and asking the question,
and Jesus gives him the answerof forgiving 70 times seven.
Let's pick up and read a fewverses here.
Let's read 23 to 27.
Says for this reason, thekingdom of heaven may be
compared to a king who wished tosettle accounts with his slaves
(12:38):
.
Now again, jesus, is Jesustalking?
When he had begun to settlethem, one who owed him 10,000
tablets was brought to him, butsince he did not have the means
to repay it, his Lord commandedhim to be sold, along with his
wife and children and all thathe had, and repayment to be made
.
So the slave fell to the groundand prostrated himself before
(13:01):
him, saying I have patience withme and I will pay you
everything.
And the Lord of that slave feltcompassion and released him and
forgave him the debt.
All right, fellas.
So what's going on right here?
Jesus is using stories to teach.
I think he's using the storiesto teach because he knows Peter,
just like me.
We gotta break it down forJesus.
Okay, we're a little slow inthe uptake sometimes, so I'm
(13:24):
gonna give you some context tohelp you think about the amount
of money that this sermon owed.
Maybe you listen to sermons onthis, maybe you can.
You already know, but when hesays 10,000 tablets right there,
that was actually about 200,000years worth of money.
Let that sink in.
We're talking billions, punbillions, if not trillions
(13:48):
dollars.
Right, it would just be likesomebody's staying up.
You stood up to work today andsay you know what y'all need to
chill out.
Everybody, calm down, relax.
I'm fixing to stroke me a checkto US government to pay off the
national debt.
I got it, don't worry.
Just maybe you wanna hold thatcheck to a payday.
(14:10):
But other than that, hey, we'regood to go.
Right, this is what it'd be,right, we're kinda going.
It's crazy to think about it,cause we're gonna dig in and
notice how the king didn'taccept this fellow's crazy terms
.
No, this is not what this isabout.
What the king did was heextended forgiveness.
Big, big difference here.
(14:30):
Okay, verse 23,.
For this reason, the king ofheaven may be compared to a king
who wished to have his settledaccounts with slaves.
All right, now it's also insome version.
It begins with therefore, right, that's so.
Whenever you see, therefore,you gotta see what it's there
for.
But Jesus ties this parable tothe life of the king.
(14:51):
Right, that's what he's doing,cause he's teaching us right
here, to all who believe right,you need to settle this, you
need to settle this with theirslaves.
So what's going on is theprinciple he was teaching us
here is a format that Jewishleaders would often pull Kings,
servants okay, kings andservants, and usually, in this
(15:15):
format, king would represent God, servants would represent
believers.
Okay, that's it.
So the part about sellingaccounts that he talks about
right here, that actually isreferred to how, in time, people
were kindly sold in slavery asa way of selling debt.
Now it really listed the way wethink of it so many times.
When we think about slavery, alot of times you would be in
someone's debt, so youtechnically would be their quote
(15:37):
, unquote slave, but you wouldjust work off your debt.
Now, when that debt is workedoff, you're free to go right.
So it's just a little bitdifferent context of what's
going on back then versus what'sgoing on now.
Okay, so this has been a verycommon occurrence and that the
disciples would have very muchrecognized and been able to
connect with.
Okay, and probably even relatedwith.
(15:59):
Probably there's no back andforth on this, but who knows,
some of these disciples couldhave been indebted to slaves at
some point in their life, right,it was just a very common
occurrence, again, muchdifferent than the slave
training that we think of today.
Okay, now, when you look atverse 24 and 25, when he had
begun to settle them, one whoowed him 10,000 talents was
(16:20):
brought to him, but since he didnot have the means to repay.
His Lord commanded him to besold, while his wife, children
all he had and repayment to bemade Now.
Again, the amount of money herewould have been even hard to
imagine.
I mean, just try to put yourmind around the national debt
number.
It's just mind boggling, right?
And when you think about for alittle further context, one
(16:44):
talent was about 6,000 denarii,okay, and denarii was one day's
wages, right?
So just think about it as 16million days to sell this debt.
Okay, so I don't know where oldDave Ranji is at when he needed
him, but that's a debt snowballLike you never see.
That debt snowball would killsomebody around them, right?
(17:04):
So look what the King commanded.
What did the King command Righthere, the King of?
So, right here, in verse 24, hewas demanding everything that
the means be repaid.
So he was saying, okay, I getit, but you repay me.
You're gonna have to pay it all, everything, family possessions
, your kids, your wife,everything you own.
(17:25):
That's what you're gonna haveto do.
Even though, think about thisfor a second you ever thought
about this?
Everything the King was askingfor right here, or what it asked
for, would not even be a dropin the bucket to compare to what
this guy owed.
Okay, think about that for asecond.
Guys, I mean, just think aboutit If they sell everything that
you own, would it even comeclose to selling your national
(17:49):
debt?
Maybe, but most likely, maybenot.
Right, let's just be real,maybe not, and that's what's
going on.
So it's pretty interesting thatthe King would even propose
that.
That's an interesting commentwhen you look at verse 26,.
So the slave fell to the ground,prostrated himself before him,
saying have patience with me andI will pay you everything.
(18:10):
Yo bro, desperate times callfor desperate measures.
I'm gonna say it's Hail Marytime.
Please help me, please help me.
Right, he was broken.
He was absolutely broken, andthe Aramaic word for debt was
commonly used in the Hebrew andthe Hebrew, but it's the same
word for sin.
(18:30):
You guys hear me talking aboutit a lot of times, a lot of the
times sin.
It was thought of.
Just a few generations ago,that debt was actually viewed as
sin.
Okay, think about the Lord'sprayer give us our debts, right.
So it's basically what's goingon.
He was in utter desperation,utter desperation, and he was
also pretty dug on, humiliated.
Think about what he had to do.
(18:52):
One of the boys was doing tokeep my dish much debt.
He must have had one heck of aweekend at Vegas weekend, right,
or maybe Corinth right.
There you go.
So he was basically at theking's mercy.
He was at the king's mercy andbegging was all he could do,
right, and all he could offersaying I can repay.
(19:13):
That was a few times.
I mean, we talked about dropsin the bucket, fellas, and look,
you gotta remember debt and sin.
They go to Gallow.
Guys, I'm not trying to makethis an episode where I'm
talking about why debt is bad.
We need to eliminate it.
But I'm telling you there'sthings, there's wisdom to be
found from God's word.
(19:34):
Now look at verse 27,.
And the Lord of debt and theLord of debt slave felt
compassion and released him andforgave him a debt.
So think about this, the threethings right here you have to
master, pity, cancel.
Okay, the master had all thepower.
He had all the power.
He could do whatever he wantedbecause he was in charge, he was
(19:57):
in control.
The master had pity, right, theverb formula that was actually
used in the scripture right herein the case that he was deeply
moved, right.
So this is not just something.
He just felt bad like.
No, this is a deep within hisspirit, it's in his soul.
Something moved him andcanceled the debt.
Right, the only finnish buts.
(20:19):
It's just canceled, it's gone.
It costed the master everything.
Right, think about that.
It cost him everything.
He was never gonna be able tobe repaid by that servant.
It cost him everything.
Now, make that time, do yoursalvation.
That salvation.
You can't work your way in theheaven King, you can't pay for
(20:42):
it.
So that penalty for our sinscosted Jesus everything,
everything.
Now.
He was thinking about that whenhe was hanging on that cross.
Fellas, I'm here to tell you hewas thinking about you and you
may not think that, you may notbelieve that.
I'm here to tell you that'sfrom the lives, from the pits of
hell, from the evil one, if youget sent back to where it
belongs.
He was thinking on you hangingon that cross.
(21:03):
That's the gospel, that.
This is a picture of the gospelright here.
He couldn't make the payment, sothe master stuck himself in and
took the payment upon himself.
It's beautiful when you startthinking about this right and
seeing how God's word starts toreveal itself to us as we lean
(21:23):
in, as we learn as we listen, aswe let the Holy Spirit guide
and direct us.
Like he look, he feltcompassion, released him,
forgave debt.
I imagine how he felt he owedall this money and all of a
sudden it wasn't there anymore.
That burden wasn't holding himdown.
He didn't have that doomovertop him.
(21:46):
The stress, the anxiety, thepanic attacks probably went away
right.
Just imagine all the debts youhave.
Maybe you have a house, car,you know some personal debts.
Maybe you got credit card debt,student loans.
Think about what that number is.
Maybe it's $100,000.
(22:08):
Maybe it's $500,000.
Or getting close to a million,or maybe a couple million.
Whenever that number is, thinkabout the impact it would have
that number were erased in mine.
How would you feel the next day?
Would you feel a littleencouraged?
Would you feel a little weightlifted off your shoulder?
(22:30):
How many of us would go out andmake some stupid decisions the
next day and probably be rightback in this same situation,
right, you just never know.
But I like to think about it.
What is this man in that momentBefore we get to the next
verses, because we'll find outin the next verses he just
completely screws up everything.
(22:51):
How would you feel?
How would you feel?
Would you have just ultimatejoy and just absolute
thankfulness?
But it'd just be one of thosemoments where it's like you're
shaking because you can'tbelieve it.
(23:11):
I think many of us wouldImagine if you didn't have to
make a mortgage payment anymore.
How good would that feel.
Or a car payment, or a truckpayment, or credit card payment
or anything.
With a payment you don't haveto make them anymore.
Everything's canceled.
Everything would be prettyincredible.
Right?
We're going to see this memory.
(23:32):
This was all canceled.
Everything's taken care of.
Let's see what his response isgoing to be.
Okay, we'll take a quick break,guys.
We'll be right back.
We'll check out his response.
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Alright, fellas, let's just getyou called up.
(25:00):
So Pete is asking look how manytimes I need to forgive somebody
.
Jesus is basically saying yo,bro, you just keep forgiving
until I tell you what it means.
Never.
You always can be forgiving.
And he's given him a story.
Jesus is trying to paint a storyto help Peter understand.
He talks about this dude whoowed basically the national debt
for the United States to a king, and king he was like yo, just
(25:22):
give me a chance, I'll pay itback.
There's no way he could pay itback.
We're talking about years uponyears, upon years of debt.
There's no way he could pay itback.
King was going to take him,take his family, take all his
possessions, even though thatwas a drop in the bucket.
He's going to get rid of him,take it and get him out.
And all of a sudden the kingfelt compassion and forgave the
debt.
Now, now let's see how heresponds.
(25:46):
We're going to read 28-35together and then we're going to
unpack this.
So 28-35 in Matthew 18 says butthe slave went out and found
one of his fellow slaves whoowed him 100 in there and he
seized them and began to chokehim, saying pay back what you
owe.
So a slave fell down to theground and began to plead with
(26:06):
him, saying I have patience withme and I will repay you.
But he was unwilling and wentthrough him in the prison.
He should pay back what he wasowed.
So when his fellow slaves sawwhat happened, they were deeply
grieved.
It came and reported to the Lordall that had happened.
Then, summoning him, his Lordsaid to him you wicked slave, I
(26:27):
forgave you all the debt becauseyou pleaded with me.
Should you not also have hadmercy on your fellow slave in
the same way that I had mercy onyou?
And this, and his Lord movedwith anger, handed him over to
the torturers until he shouldrepay all that was owed him.
My heavenly Father will also dothe same to you Eat, if, if
(26:50):
each of you does not forgive hisbrother from your heart.
Woo, I don't know about youfellows, but that just got real,
that just got real quick.
Now, the servant missed it.
He missed it, he missed mercy,he missed grace, he missed
forgiveness, all the things thatthe King just gave to him.
(27:12):
He missed it.
Forgiveness is a choice andit's a process.
And God fell us.
He knows our hearts, he knowsthem and he will help us with
our forgiveness by his spirit,by his word and with other
believers.
Now we don't want to mess thisstuff.
(27:33):
And when you look at the firsttwo verses 28 through 30, the
first three verses the slavewent out and found one of the
fellow slaves, wrote him ahundred and Mary, right.
And basically what was going on?
He seized him, choked him.
The other guy fell to theground and was basically begging
him, right, begging him, look.
But he was unwilling to admitto prison and take him paying
back.
God expects us to forgive,pretty simple.
(27:56):
This wasn't a lesson onfinances here, guys, don't get
caught up, okay, it was a lessonon forgiveness, particularly
forgiving our brothers andsisters in Christ.
Now notice the parallels here.
You got the guy in charge, whowas the king, and the servant,
right.
In both situations the king wasthe first guy in charge.
The second situation theservant was the guy in charge.
(28:17):
You had the guy in debt, youhad the servant, who was the
first guy that was in debt.
Then you had the fellow servantwho's in the second kind of
debt, right, okay.
Then you have threats made.
So the king was making thethreats originally right, I want
you to repay everything.
And the servant was making thethreats made right.
Basically saying, look, if youwere choking him, right.
Then you had pleads.
(28:39):
Who made the first plead?
The original servant was makingthat plea to the king.
The second plead was the otherservant to the original servant.
I know it's kind of trying totry to follow along with all the
guys that tell me Then we havea shift.
Here's the shift.
So we've had a guy in charge, aguy in debt, threats and pleads
(29:00):
.
Okay, all that's been tracking,all that stuff's been tracking
in both stories.
You can pretty much line themup side by side and you'll get
the same outcome Until you getthe response.
What's the response?
The king, forgiveness, theservant, imprisonment.
Notice how different they are.
(29:21):
He was determined to get his100 in the area.
That's what it said right here100 in the area.
Okay, now, when you think aboutthat, that was about a quarter
of a year worth of work.
Not a small number.
I'm not.
I wanted to diminish it.
It wasn't like he was like 50bucks Now, it was a significant
(29:42):
number, but it wasn't a nationaldebt, the way that he owed
Right, pretty small number incomparison.
But notice just that shift andtheir response.
So think about your one.
What is your response?
Okay, there's an opportunity toextend forgiveness.
Are you gonna put your footdown, keep your foot on their
(30:04):
throat, not let them up, or areyou gonna actually extend
forgiveness and walk them outand show them with mercy, with
compassion, with love?
Very interesting here.
Okay, now let's see how thepeople around him responded.
31 says.
When his fellow slaves saw whathad happened, they were deeply
(30:25):
grieved and came reported to theLord All that had happened.
So what did they do?
They went and touted on him andto summon him, the Lord said
you, wicked slave, I forgave youand all that debt To you not
have also had mercy on yourfellow slave?
Don't forget that one.
In the same way that had mercyon you, the Lord moved with
anger, handed over him to thetorturers until they should have
(30:46):
repaid all that he was owed.
My heavenly father also did thesame to you.
Each one of you does notforgive his brother from your
heart.
Guys, I'm telling you this isso.
Dog on a port, and as we readthis word together, we don't
know if the servant knew theother guys, if we knew about his
(31:06):
debt and the inter-race.
We don't know.
We don't know that right.
He doesn't say that thoseservants actually saw and had,
privy to the understanding, thathis debt was erased.
So we don't know that.
What we do know is that themboys were hot when they saw what
was going on.
They were hot.
They went straight to the manin charge.
(31:28):
Right, imagine it's you sittingright there.
Imagine you're the king.
You're sitting there in yourtrunk, in your throne, you're
chilling, you're eating somegrapes, you're maybe sipping on
some wine, you're chilling outwith all your peasants that are
bringing you stuff that you want.
An old boy comes up and saysyou know what that dude you
(31:48):
forgave with, like you know, thetrading, the dollars, yeah,
yeah, I know that dude.
Yeah, well, he just do.
One of the boys in prison for acouple months worked of money
that he owed him, and just thinkabout this.
How would you have responded?
Would you be, would you?
(32:08):
I'm just gonna be straight up.
Would you be pissed or wouldyou be chill?
Most of us would probably beelevated in that moment.
Right, why?
Because injustice had justoccurred, and we don't like that
.
The king didn't either.
Right, and think about what.
We see this rebuke.
We see it in action, right here, guys.
(32:30):
Right, the first meeting.
You go back to the firstmeeting, the beginning of this,
of this, this part of Matthew.
When a slave left that meeting,he was free.
He was free.
When he left the second meeting, guys, he left with the death
sentence.
He ain't gonna ever pay thisback.
(32:51):
This was a death row sentence.
Right here, okay, and Jesusmakes it very simple for us,
fellas, and this is your way tosimplify and apply this.
Right here, okay, forgettingpeople are to forgive people.
That's it.
Forgiving people are to forgivepeople.
So God has shown us right here,through extravagant forgiveness
(33:15):
.
He gives us and he expects thesame in return.
Right, he knows your heart,guys.
He knows my heart, okay, I'mnot, I'm not excluded here.
He knows my heart, and that'sthe core.
What he desires is that we loveothers.
It says right here in Ephesians4-32 guys be kind to one another
(33:37):
, tender hearted, forgiving eachother, just as God and Christ
has also forgiven you.
Do you walk that out?
Do you walk that verse out?
Because that should be rightthere at the hallmark of us as
believers, right there we haveto walk out forgiveness.
We can't just be walking aroundbitter and then a curmungent
and always got these, these badthoughts going on.
(33:59):
No, walk out forgiveness.
Truly, extend it to others.
Extend grace, mercy, compassion.
We can't afford not to forgive,fellas, we cannot afford to not
forgive.
I'm telling you because if yourheart is sick with our
forgiveness, that's gonna takeyou down.
(34:20):
The good news is you can behealed, you can be restored to
immaculate spiritual health whenyou lean in on the great
physician.
But you have to lean in onJesus, you have to let the Holy
Spirit guide and direct you.
I want you to think about wheredo you need to start extending
some forgiveness?
(34:40):
You know who are you hardest on?
I know a lot of times for meit's for my wife, my beautiful
wife of back.
Well, I can be the hardest onher sometimes because she gets
the worst version.
A lot of times I'm tired, andwhen I'm tired, the worst
version comes out.
So I had to be more intentionalabout extending forgiveness and
(35:01):
asking for forgiveness with her.
So who do you need to forget?
Who do you need to have thatconversation with?
But you know what?
I've been a jerk, I have justbeen a jerk and I've really want
to walk out my Christian valuesand I would really like to ask
for your forgiveness.
(35:21):
Or maybe you need to extendsome forgiveness, right, we all
have those situations in ourlife too, where we need to
extend some forgiveness.
I'm not sure what yoursituation is.
You don't the Holy Spirit'swhispering something to you
right now?
I know you did.
You know that text you need tosend, or that phone call you
need to make, or that person youneed to go visit.
(35:42):
I would highly encourage you todo the last.
This world's the smartphoneshave taken so much out of us.
If you can actually see thatperson.
I bought an eyeball.
There's power with that.
This phone call.
It's the second best thing.
If nothing else can happen,then I guess the text will be
okay.
But primarily, we connectbetter when we see people.
(36:04):
So do you need extensiveforgiveness today?
Most likely, yes.
Are you going to do anythingabout it?
That's your question, becauseif you want to unleash the line
within, if you want to take thisword and simplify and apply it
and understand that forgivingpeople, forgive people, that
means you got to take someaction, fellas.
You got to take some action.
(36:25):
So think about this how canforgiveness extend beyond the
limits that we set?
We put these limits onourselves.
God doesn't put those limits onus, but we do.
We put those limits and when weput those limits, we're holding
us back.
We're holding ourselves backfrom the goodness, from the
(36:45):
beauty, from the wonderfulthings that God has planned for
us.
So, fellas, I pray today thatyou take this opportunity to
forgive others, that you lean,that you ask for forgiveness,
that you extend that forgivenessand that you let that just
permeate all the things that youdo as you try to be the leader
(37:06):
God intends you to be.
Guys, I'm telling you I want topray for us.
I feel the urge to pray.
Follower, just thank you forthe man listening.
I pray that the guy who'slistening right now or the girl,
that they know the steps theyneeded, taking obedience with
you to forgive others the wayyou have called us to God.
I pray you give them couragecourage to step in and forgive
(37:31):
and not worry about what theworld thinks or the wrongdoings
or they owe me more than Ishould forgive.
Put all that to the side toknow that ultimately, what you
gave did for us, what you pouredout your blood for us, and how
you love us, how you forgive usfrom all the things we screw up
and mess up on, how we shouldextend that same grace and mercy
(37:56):
and compassion to others.
I pray these guys take actionand move forward and be the man
you've called us to be.
In Jesus' name amen.
All right, fellas, let me knowif you like this.
We'd love to know your feedbackon these types of episodes.
I know we're doing some thingsdifferently, but I just like to
know what you think about it, ifyou get value from this stuff.
(38:16):
Again, go check out the websiteTheLionWithInus.
We have all our resources there.
Give us a rating, write areview for the podcast, share
the podcast out.
Maybe this could be a goodbridge opportunity for you.
Use this podcast, this episode,as an opportunity for you to
(38:37):
have a conversation aroundforgiveness with someone else,
so you can say you know what I'mgonna listen to this podcast.
This one came across my plate.
I was thinking about you.
I want you to listen to it, andthen I like to have a
conversation, and this could bea natural way for you to open up
the door, to have aconversation around forgiveness
for someone that you've beenputting off.
Maybe guys have been justholding back, or maybe guys have
(39:00):
been nudging you, but youhaven't had that full nudge.
But guess what?
Here's your nudge Take action,use this nudge and move forward.
Okay, move forward, Ask forthat forgiveness, have that
conversation.
I'm telling you don't put itoff.
Don't put it off.
So use this one, hit that sharebutton, center it out to
someone.
(39:20):
Again, hook up with us on oursocials and things like that too
.
I'll try to put some stuff outfor this particular week of
speaking to forgiveness that mayhelp you.
Okay, so hook up with us onYouTube, Facebook, instagram all
those places you know raise,review, help, donations, help.
If you want to be a donor, jointhe Lion Within Us community.
You can visit.
Go to belinwithinus.
(39:41):
We have our spiritual kickoffcommunity.
That's part of the Lion WithinUs as well.
We have our leadershipcoalition.
So if you're a business leaderand you want to find ways to
take lessons just like this,like this right here forgiveness
how can I apply forgiveness inbusiness?
Hey, this is what we're goingto do.
Go unpack guys' word together.
We're going to see how we cansimplify and apply it to our
(40:03):
life and help others you know,just come to have it Understand
what it means to take this, thegood news, god's Word, and there
it works, god, and apply it andactually walk it out.
All right, fellas, come back forour Fun Friday episode.
I got some good dad jokes.
I got some good tips for you.
All the tips are going to kindof resonate around that idea of
forgiveness.
(40:23):
So, prayerfully, you will enjoythose.
They will serve you well.
Now, again, I want your feedback.
Do you like these types ofepisodes?
We're doing things a little bitdifferent throughout the month.
Usually we do this about once amonth.
So once you get your feedback,thank you for all the prayers,
for all the support, all thethings that you guys do for the
Lion Within Us.
It means the world.
Each week, when I get and seehow many people listen to the
show and feedback, I can expresswhat it means to me.
(40:47):
So reach out support at thelionwithinus Again, that support
at the lionwithinus, If I canserve you, if I can help you,
you just need someone to talk tobecause you're having a really
tough day.
Reach out and let me know I'mhere to help.
Okay, all right, fellas, getafter it.
Have a great day.
See you back here on Fun Friday.
Remember Matthew 1822, keepforgiving and don't forget guys.
(41:10):
Look for it the opportunity youcan to unleash the lion with it
.
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