Do Christians Have To Forgive?

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Alright, if you would open your Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew. Gospel according to Matthew chapter 18, it's your first book in your

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New Testament. Gospel according to Matthew chapter 18, this is a powerful section of Scripture and a challenging section of Scripture.

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I want to encourage everybody right now to ask the Lord to open your heart to this today.

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I think so often all of us struggle, of course, with our own sin, our own pride, when we read the text of Scripture, often times we're thinking about the person that this describes, in other words, not us.

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And so, I want to encourage you as we touch on this story that the

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Lord Jesus tells to ask the Lord, is this me? Is this me?

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Am I the unmerciful servant? Ask the Lord to touch you today, to speak to you through His Word.

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Gospel according to Matthew chapter 18, I'm gonna start in verse 15, so I'm gonna read a good chunk here to get context.

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Hear now the words of the living and the true God. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.

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If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

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If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a

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Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

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Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it'll be done for them by my

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Father in heaven for where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

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Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him?

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As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

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Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

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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.

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So the servant fell on his knees imploring him, have patience with me and I'll pay you everything.

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And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.

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And seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, pay what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me and I'll pay you.

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He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servant saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.

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Then his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

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And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt.

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So also, my Heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

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As far as reading God's holy word, let's pray. Father, we come to you, Lord, and we plead with you to speak today through your word, by your spirit.

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Lord, teach us. Lord, we need to be taught and challenged.

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We need to be cleansed of sin and we need to be convicted of our sin.

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And Lord, that cannot come through an unworthy servant like myself. Lord, I don't have the ability to convince anybody of anything divine.

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It has to be, Lord, by your spirit. And so I'm pleading with you now, Lord, to speak to your church by your word.

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Lord, allow me to get completely out of the way and I pray, Lord, that you would touch the hearts of your people today through your word.

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The challenges as a church, God, there's been so much that you've done through us. Lord, in this body, around the world, you have done so much, but Lord, I know that we all struggle with being unmerciful, unforgiving, and Lord, fake, fake, hypocrites, pretending

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Lord to serve you and harboring bitterness, anger, hostility in our hearts.

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Lord, we've wounded each other and Lord, we hide our sin of unmercifulness.

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We hide our lack of forgiveness and we need you to challenge us, God, to break us. Lord, allow us to be the church that is shaped into the image of Christ.

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Give us the heart of Jesus with one another. I pray, Lord, you create a culture, an atmosphere in this body of forgiveness, peace, reconciliation, joy.

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I pray even now, you expose our hypocrisy, our lies.

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Take the shell and break it, God. Expose our hearts. Speak to us, God, as your, as your church, as your people.

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We desire to serve you. We long for you. We ask you to cleanse us of sin and get our feet on the rock.

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I pray, Lord Christ, would increase, I decrease. Speak to your church today, in Jesus' name, amen.

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So Matthew chapter 18, I wanted to read what we did two weeks ago in terms of the issue of church discipline.

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I wanted to read that in tandem with this because it is possible to take this story that Jesus gives about the unmerciful servant, about forgiving over and over and over, seventy times seven.

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It's possible for somebody to proof text that, to grab that text and to say, you see, there's never any time to confront sin because Jesus just says, forgive, you just forgive.

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And so, this has been, this actually leads to some forms of abuse. There have been women, married women who have been abused in churches, abused by their husbands, whether physically, emotionally, whatever the case may be, and people have abused these texts by saying, well,

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Jesus says just to forgive. And so many women have been terrorized by a misinterpretation of this text in terms of you just keep on forgiving.

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There's no recourse, ultimately, because you just need to have the heart of Jesus and just forgive. It's possible to proof text in such a way as you ignore the full context of Scripture that says you do deal with sin, you do call to repentance, you do work towards reconciliation and peace.

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So reading these together, you see two things happening here. On the one hand, the Lord Jesus tells

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His people, how do you deal with situations where there is genuine sin and hurt between a brother and a brother, or sister and sister, brother and sister?

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How do you deal with situations where Jesus has saved sinners, amen? Let's acknowledge that right now.

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This needs to be stated and needs to be embraced because I think we forget it, and that's how churches divide and split and relationships tear apart, is we forget the nature of this circumstance.

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Jesus saves the unrighteous. He comes not to seek the righteous, but the broken, the sinners, the lost.

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And so when Jesus saves a huddle of sinful people, when they get together and indwelt by God's Spirit, begin failing each other and falling short and sinning against each other, oftentimes we act shocked by that, that there's sin going on in the body, that relationships break down that we never expected to break down.

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And so our first human response, our fleshly sinful response, is to behave like the world.

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And that's to say this relationship broke down, there was sin here, I can't believe what's happened to me, and so what happens is churches divide and factions build and people separate, dishonoring

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Jesus and being unmerciful servants. Why? Because we don't anticipate the fact that we are going to sin against each other and the body of Christ, indwelt by God's Spirit, God is going to allow as He sanctifies us particular sins that we are hiding,

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He's gonna allow them to spill out and be exposed so that that gets worked on within the context of the body of Christ, the local church.

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It is, brothers and sisters, the way of the unbeliever to fail one another in relationship and then to abandon one another and to say that's it.

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It is the antithesis of Christ, it is the antithesis of His message, His Gospel.

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The Bible calls us to live together in unity and love and affection and peace, and when we sin,

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Jesus teaches us, here's how you deal with it. And notice the affection and grace of Jesus, that when

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He tells us to deal with sins that are truly destructive, that are damaging relationships with a person,

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He wants to protect even the sinner. The guilty one,

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Jesus says here, protect the guilty one. How? Keep it quiet, preserve as much as possible your unity and your peace, so He says go and tell it to your brother alone.

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You keep it quiet, you contain it so there can be forgiveness and peace and grace and that situation doesn't blow up into more trouble.

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And then Jesus says if they will not listen, to what? That plea to repent.

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This is what's critical, the Bible says this, to restore one another with a spirit of gentleness.

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You see, the whole calling of coming to a brother or a sister who may be in sin that's destroying them or destroying somebody else or destroying you, the whole purpose is not to win the argument.

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It's not to make yourself feel more righteous and holy and better. The whole purpose is to restore that person into right relationship and affections with God and with one another.

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It is never to win, and that's why Jesus of course teaches us when we're confronting sin in another,

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He says beware of the log that is coming out of your own eye. Deal with that log first before you try to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

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You examine yourself when you go to confront another brother or sister, and it's always for the purposes of restoration, not destruction.

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So I have to be cautious when I go to approach another believer. Is this something that is truly sinful, defined by God?

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Or is this a personal preference, am I being irked by this person? Is this really in the end about me?

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Is an issue of pride, or is it truly tearful and broken in desperation, wanting this person to be right with God?

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What's the motive behind my coming to a brother or sister? Am I being a nitpicker, am

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I disobeying the Scriptures by not actually bearing with one another?

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Am I disobeying the Scriptures that teach love covers a multitude of sins? Is this an issue that love can just cover?

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Is this something I can just love this person through and offer gentle encouragement, or is this something

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I actually must confront? And so Jesus tells us, you go to the person in private, then

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He says if they won't listen, you bring two or three others. Why? Because Jesus upholds

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God's standards of justice. Jesus loves the law of God.

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He says in Matthew 5, 17 through 19, don't even begin to think that I've come to destroy the law of the prophets.

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I have not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. And Jesus teaches us here His commitment to the law of God, meaning if there's an accusation, their sin, you must have witnesses.

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So Jesus says you bring the witnesses, and if they won't listen to the witnesses, you bring them before the church. If they won't listen to the church, then you treat them as an unbeliever.

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A Gentile and tax collector in this context is somebody who doesn't know God. They don't know the Lord. They're not in the right relationship with God.

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So what is our, what is our pursuit of that person now? It is a pursuit for their soul.

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It is a call to repentance and faith in Jesus. The assumption is, is this person may not know

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God truly because they're living unrepentantly. And so the call is for the church to actually exercise discipline to say you must depart from the body until you repent of this sin.

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And the hope is that they return, they return out of that. That's the overview of the church discipline.

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And it's critical and key because in our day, so few churches actually practice church discipline.

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So many churches are unhealthy because they don't practice church discipline. They act like Paul describes the church in 1

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Corinthians chapter 5. They're boasting. What? In their grace? We're just a gracious, gracious community.

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And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, you have to actually take this person and cast them out.

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Loving the person is actually exercising discipline on the person. The Bible teaches us that that's the call.

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Discipline ought to be a part of the life and body of the church. But I want to point you to more texts here in terms of the discipline because again, you can proof text the verses on forgiveness to the point that you erase the point of discipline and confrontation when necessary.

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Jesus has them stacked on top of each other. One, deal with sin. Call to repentance.

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Two, you forgive to an unlimited degree. Unlimited forgiveness.

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The way that God forgives you and I. The Bible teaches this issue of discipline.

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I'll give you a couple examples. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we did it when we talked about church discipline. I'll just point you there quickly.

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1 Corinthians chapter 5, there's the account of somebody sexually immoral in a church.

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Somebody who refuses to repent of sexual immorality. They're with their father's wife and Paul says, listen, guys, the

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Gentiles, they've got higher standards than y 'all. They don't accept this in their own ranks and now you are the body of Christ and the person sleeping with his own father's wife and you are boasting.

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You are acting like this is okay. Paul says, I've already made the decision. I've already made the decision. When you gather together, he says what?

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You cast this person out. You deliver them, verse 5 of chapter 5, this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the

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Lord. Your boasting isn't good. He says this in verse 9, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

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Not at all meaning the sexually immoral of the world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters since then you would need to go out of the world, you gotta leave the world.

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He says, but now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater or a viler, drunkard or swindler, not even to eat with such a one.

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Bible teaches in Titus, move over to Titus now. The apostle Paul giving pastoral instruction,

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Titus, chapter 3, remind them, sorry, verse 10 through 11.

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He says, ask for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him.

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After warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self -condemned.

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So what's the point here? You see from these texts in Scripture that the Bible does tell the church to keep unity in the faith, to uphold

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God's law, his standards. And when there is somebody who is unrepentant of these kinds of acts, then of course the call of the church is to actually exercise discipline.

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In 1 Timothy chapter 5, 1 Timothy chapter 5, just go to the left, verses 19 through 20, the apostle

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Paul says this, do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

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Another example, by the way, of the apostle post -resurrection and ascension standing on the law of God and God's judicial standards there.

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It hasn't gone away. He says in verses 19 through 20, don't admit the charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

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As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear.

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So here's the apostle Paul talking, listen, about dealing with unrepentant elders.

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Unrepentant elders. The elders of a body are under shepherds, under the chief shepherd, amen?

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He is the primary shepherd, his word is the standard, the elders are shepherds under the great shepherd.

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And Paul is saying here, don't receive an accusation against an elder unless it's on the basis of two or three witnesses.

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However, if there is an elder, a shepherd who is in persistence in, who will not repent, the call is to rebuke that pastor in front of everybody for their unrepentant sin so that fear may fall on everybody so that everyone realizes that God's standards ought to be elevated above even our affections for one another.

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God's word. So there's the example of actually dealing with sin. So move back to Matthew chapter 18 now, and I want to point something very important out that we often neglect.

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This is powerful. It's powerful thought. So come with me here, guys. This is a powerful thought. In Matthew chapter 18, it's interesting.

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When somebody is brought up on church discipline in Matthew 18, they're not actually being disciplined for the sin primarily.

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So for example, if there is somebody who is an adulterer, they've left their wife and five kids,

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I use that example a lot because I was in a church once where they had to exercise discipline on a man who had abandoned his wife of,

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I think, almost 20 years, and he had left his five children with his wife to go be with a younger woman.

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Horrible situation. So you have a situation like that, a person's committing adultery and they refuse to abandon that adulterous relationship.

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Why are they brought up on church discipline? Is it for the adultery, primarily? Not according to Jesus here.

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People are brought up on discipline because of a refusal to repent.

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It's the unrepentant nature of the situation that leads to the discipline.

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You see, all of us can be forgiven of every sin, amen? It doesn't matter where you're from,

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I don't care what your background is, I don't care what you've done, I don't care how low you've gone, I don't care if you've disappeared from your wife for days and if you've done drugs and alcohol, if you've, if you've, if you've abandoned the faith at one time, if you've been engaged in homosexual acts, if you've had an abortion, whatever the case may be,

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God has forgiveness for His people, Jesus paid it all. It is erased, it will never be brought up again.

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It's not a matter of the sin and what level of sin, it's a matter of unrepentance.

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The impenitent, those who will not turn from their sin. So in this case, the call is to repent of sin and to being brought before the church and exercising discipline has to do with unrepentance, not being repentant.

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That is the sin that leads somebody to church discipline. But note that Jesus does say there is to be discipline, and notice also this famous portion of this text, you ever have somebody say,

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I think I mentioned this last time, you ever have somebody say, oh look, there's two or three of us gathered here at this

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Bible study so you know Jesus is here with us and you know that whatever we ask of Him, He'll give to us, right?

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Because we're having a little Bible study here, Jesus is with us because there's two or three of us here. Actually, the text is speaking directly to the issue of church discipline.

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God is telling you, I will be covenantally present with you. When you have to exercise discipline on the unrepentant and have to put them out of the church,

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Jesus is encouraging His people, just know that I am there in the midst of you, I will be with you,

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I will walk with you through that, I will give you what you ask for. And that's specifically in the area of discipline.

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It's a powerful, intimate moment, I believe, because if you've ever been a part of a circumstance where you've had to exercise church discipline, you know how much it hurts.

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We had an issue many years ago of somebody who actually was engaged in a homosexual lifestyle for many years.

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They actually had AIDS, were dying of AIDS, preached the gospel to them and he had a profession of faith, looked like his life was transforming.

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He was with us for a long, long time and then he came to us one day and he told us that he was going back to his life of homosexuality and that he had abandoned the faith.

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I can tell you that that night, many of you guys were there for that night, that night was awful.

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It wasn't in any way a joy, we were so broken as a church.

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It was hard to even speak because of how much that hurt. It wasn't in any way something to celebrate, it was so unbelievably painful.

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We were confused, we were scared for him, we were hurting as a church body over somebody that we loved deeply.

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But I can tell you there was a sweetness and a peace and a gentleness and a presence of God that was unique, that was different, that was palpable.

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It was something that was hard to put into words. Jesus is there in those moments.

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I want to highlight something before we go to the forgiveness aspect of this, because it's important we talk about church discipline.

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People can go one of two directions, and one of those unhealthy directions is you can hear the Bible talking about church discipline and then you can take it upon yourself to be the leader of church discipline, meaning that you start to view every relationship and every person within the body of Christ as an opportunity for you to lord it over them and to tell them how sinful they really are.

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Let me tell you, if you interpret Jesus' words here on church discipline as an invitation for you or I to be nitpicking and to constantly be poking at each other in our sanctification, then it is you that needs work on your hearts.

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You do not recognize your own sinful condition. But the

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Bible teaches love covers a multitude of sins that ought to be the standard all of us stand on.

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Now to the text, Peter comes up to Jesus and says to Him, Lord how often will

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I, will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times, Jesus said to him,

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I do not say to you seven times but 70 times seven. Powerful. And I gotta say this, of course

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Jesus talks like that because that is His relationship with us every single day.

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When you and I hear Jesus telling us, forgive them 70 times seven, 490 times, not literal by the way, that means you just keep on forgiving.

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Sometimes we think about a relationship that we're in or somebody that's hurt us and we think how can I possibly forgive this person over and over and over again?

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It doesn't even seem like it's right to do so. And I want to say, flip the script brothers and sisters.

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He said 70 times seven because that's His relationship to you and I every single day of our lives.

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And if you and I think about our brother or sister who's in sin against us and we think I can only do five or four,

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I can't tolerate this person any longer, then brother and sister, your heart is not right.

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You do not recognize your own brokenness and sin and the holiness of God and how every day you and I offend

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Him constantly and He forgives and He loves and He has sacrificed everything for you to know

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Him. He's the pursuer. He chased you. You did not seek for God.

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You didn't chase God. You didn't come to God pleading for mercy and for forgiveness on your own.

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God chased you. He sought you. He pursued you and continues to pursue you.

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The Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ goes on continually cleansing us of sin even to this day.

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Imagine if you will, if you could put down on a record the amount of sin that you and I have committed against our

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God even in the last 30 days. So when we think about the brother or sister and we say 70 times seven, how can

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I continue putting up with this person? How can I keep forgiving them and keep doing this?

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How is it possible? How could you be asking me to do such a thing, God? Just reflect on the fact that you are the servant who has been washed, who has been freed and let go and continually washed.

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The only way that we can have a proper and righteous and loving, horizontal relationship first is if we recognize the vertical relationship.

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First and foremost, what God has done in me. But notice how Jesus just said you must confront the sin, exercise discipline.

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But Peter says, okay, got it. So we forgive them. We go through this process of confronting and then we forgive them.

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But how many times exactly do I gotta do this? How many times? And Jesus says 70 times seven, not seven.

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Now watch, this is important in terms of reading the Bible like a Jewish person. To a

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Jew, seven is a very significant number for a reason, right? It should be obvious to all of us.

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Seven's very significant because God created in six days and He rested on the seventh.

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So from the very beginning of our Bible, that number seven's a big deal. It gives the symbol of perfection and completeness, right?

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It's this perfect time period of completion. And so seven, and so Peter's saying, all right, so we bring it to its completion, right?

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Like you've tapped it out. You brought your sins to completion. I've had enough, seven.

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And so Jesus says not seven times, but 70 times seven.

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And that's seven times 10, 70.

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And then He says, and then times seven, you keep going. That stream goes. Ten's also a significant number in scripture.

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Ten gives the idea of quantitative perfection. If you have all 10 fingers and 10 toes, you can work properly.

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You can labor. Everything's complete. It's quantitative perfection. So seven times 10 times seven, you keep going and going and going.

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And this is important because, I was going to say this later, I'll say it now.

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You can have a church like Apologia Church. We're all a work in progress.

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We're all being sanctified, every one of us, each and every single one of us. That God is doing incredible things through.

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It's not because we're special or mighty or powerful. It's not me. What God is doing through this church is not me.

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It's to His glory and His boasting, and He's doing this unique thing for this body, powerful things.

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And yet, a church like Apologia Church may not be under threat to be destroyed by the enemy from the outside, because what

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God has done in us as a body. For example, I mentioned it at the beginning, it's funny to us.

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This Saturday at the abortion mill, you had the Planned Parenthood death squirts out there celebrating outside the abortion mill, having cupcakes and cake and celebrating the death that they're supporting.

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And then the camera moves over and they've got — they must have paid a pretty penny for this thing, it's amazing — a cardboard cutout of Jeff Durbin with a silly hat on, making fun.

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Now I'm going to ask the question, did any one of you see that? And let me ask you this, did it bother you in the least?

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In terms of, oh my goodness, I'm in the wrong church, something's really wrong with us.

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Or when we've been attacked in the media as a church, people have slandered us online or in the media.

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When the world has attacked our mission, has it ever had the effect of disrupting us as a body, as a church?

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It has had no effect. It does not, because God has done something in this body to shape us and strengthen us as a body, where the attacks of the enemy on the outside do not have an effect.

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However, a church like ours can be attacked from the enemy, from the inside.

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How? This. A lack of mercy for one another, a lack of forgiveness and grace.

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The enemy can attack a church just like this, from the inside. How? Sowing seeds of discord, a culture of unmercifulness.

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Not being forgiving, not being gracious, tapping out and saying, I've had enough.

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This is a tool of the enemy, the lack of forgiveness. But the only way we can actually heal from this and change ourselves is not for your pastor today to give you a moral code that says, everybody, here's the key, ready?

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This many times, we forgive this many times. There's the moral code, obey.

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The only way we can be transformed in this area to be able to give forgiveness that is constant, that is always there, that is pursuing the other, is if we first recognize our own broken condition.

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My own sinfulness, my own fallen -ness. And so we have to look up first and see my condition before God.

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And by the way, that's exactly what Jesus does here. In the story that Jesus tells, He puts you and I in the story.

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To cause us to reflect on whether or not we have recognized the great debt that has been forgiven us from our master that we could never repay.

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The only way you can have this kind of forgiveness that is a stream that does not end is if you first recognize that you are the servant before the master who owed a debt you could never repay.

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You cannot offer forgiveness that is ongoing if you haven't first tasted and seen

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His love and forgiveness and mercy. It all starts with Him. So what does the

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Bible teach about our condition and what God has done? I'll just point you to the text.

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I want to keep this simple today in terms of us thinking about things together in small sections.

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So just do this. Romans chapter 1. I want to just show you what the

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Bible says about our condition. Romans 1. Many of you are very familiar with this text, but I want to point to just how devastating the sin is.

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Look what it says. And again, you're all familiar, but I want you to think about it in terms of what we are all guilty of. In Romans chapter 1, after it talks about how

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God gave them over to do what is against nature, He lists homosexual acts there.

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That's one example of fallenness leading to an exchange of God for an idol, not wanting to know

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God. And so we switch God for the idol and we engage in things that are against nature.

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Then Paul says, then Paul says, verse 28, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge

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God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, ready?

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Watch this malice. Every one of us is guilty of this malice.

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They're full of envy. Stop. Guilty? Yes.

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Murder. Oh no, not me. Guilty? Yes. Have you ever hated somebody from your heart?

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Have you ever hated somebody? This week, did you hate somebody in your heart?

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You are guilty before God, violating His law. You are, from the heart, a murderer. Strife.

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You ever been involved in that? Every one of us, guilty at some point, maybe today, of strife.

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Deceit. Ever lied? Maliciousness.

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They are gossips. Anybody guilty of gossip in here? Yes. All of us.

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Slanderers. You ever lie about somebody's character? You ever lie?

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You ever try to take down somebody's dignity and their character? You ever try to make somebody look bad with somebody else?

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Haters of God. Insolent. Haughty. Any prideful people in here? You ever struggled with pride?

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Boastful. Inventors of evil. Here's one. Disobedient to parents.

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Any children in here know what that's like? Amen. That was from God right there.

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Good job. That's right. I'm guilty too. Disobedient to parents.

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Foolish. Faithless. Heartless. Ruthless. And we go, okay, you got me.

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Yes, I'm guilty of those things. That's a full -on display of the fall. You got me. Here's, here's the condition.

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We can't minimize it and say it was just gossip. It was just a little malice.

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It was just a little slander. It was just a little lie. This is what the Bible says about you and me.

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You and me. We are in this text. We thought this was the homosexuality text. That's one version of the fall itself and what happens.

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We are all in this text and the text says this. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

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Here's how I can understand the 70 times 7. First and foremost, putting myself in Romans chapter 1 and recognizing that God is the thrice holy

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God, holy, holy, holy, and that I come apart at the seams in His presence.

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I cover my mouth and I say I'm a man of unclean lips coming apart at the seams. Woe is me when

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I recognize the infinite holiness of God.

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And I recognize my own fallenness. I see what God has done in my life to wash me and to restore me to right relationship with Him, to give me the gift of eternal life and therefore

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I can now extend that grace and love to others. Let me just say this. If you are an unforgiving person, if we are an unforgiving people, it means, it identifies this, we have not tasted and seen

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His forgiveness. Here's what you need to ask yourself.

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If you are struggling with mercy, if you are struggling with being forgiving to others, you need to ask yourself, brothers and sisters, have you tasted and seen?

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Have you been forgiven? Has God washed you? What does the

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Bible say about our sins? They make us worthy of what? Death.

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That spiritual death, yes, of course, separation from God, but it's also physical death. The Bible teaches those who commit these acts deserve to die and yet, here's what the

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Bible says in Romans chapter 4, you must see it with your own eyes. What does it say? Romans chapter 4, verse 3.

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For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Legitimai, charged to his account as righteousness.

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Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

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Brothers and sisters, who does God justify? The ungodly.

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God declares righteous the ungodly, the wicked, the Bible says. He counts us as righteous.

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And it says this, and to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

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Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.

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Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

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Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Can we all just pause for one moment together and really reflect on this?

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It just said in Romans 1 that we deserve to die. And then in Romans 3 and 4 it says

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God loves us. And He's put Jesus up as a propitiation, a diversion of His wrath onto Jesus in our place so He'd be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

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And it says that God counts you righteous even though you're not. He takes the ungodly person, you, me, and He charges up your account with the righteousness of Jesus.

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And He'll never remember your sins again. He'll never ever count them against you.

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Here's watch, this, this, this. Are you the blessed man? Are you the blessed woman?

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The blessed man whom God counts righteousness apart from any of your works. The blessed woman whom

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God will never ever count your sins against you. You stand before Jesus every single day, every single day despite any circumstances, despite failing with your wife last night, despite sinning against your children this morning, despite your sinning against God this afternoon, you stand before God covered in the righteousness of His Son, hiding in Him.

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God never bringing your sins up against you, ever, never counting them against you. That's where you and I stand before God, cleansed of all sin and unrighteousness, given the gift of God, given the gift of Him, His presence,

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His love, His life. God, you get God, that is the Gospel, you get

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Him. And God has forgiven you of all your sins. Brothers and sisters, how could you and I ever walk with no mercy and no forgiveness for the brother or sister who sinned against us?

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I have a word for the person who abandons the church because of personal conflict and a lack of forgiveness.

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I have a word, faithless. I have a word, unmerciful.

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I have a word, unbelieving. Jesus teaches here, this body, this unique body, loves, pursues, forgives, seeks peace, and doesn't depart.

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And then here, of course, I need to say this, can I, I don't want to forget this, it's important I don't forget this because it gets lost.

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Matthew 18, this forgiveness and forgiveness and forgiveness and forgiveness does not mean to be abused.

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That's so important. I'm gonna say to any women in here right now, women, moms, ladies, if you're in a relationship with a man who's abusive to you, he's abused you physically, assaulted you, hurt you, is continuing to be abusive to you in your marriage, it's a secret.

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He's hiding it, you're hiding it for him. I need you to not allow this text to be abused in your life, where you hear 70 times 7, maybe your husband says, you need to forgive me again,

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I've already asked for the forgiveness. This text does not teach, does not teach unlimited abuse.

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How do I know that? How do we know that? Because just above it, Jesus says, you confront sin and you call for repentance.

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That's very important. Somebody might say, yes, but Jesus on the cross, He was on the cross and He said to people who didn't ask for forgiveness,

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Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Brothers and sisters, that was a unique moment that teaches that we do have the right to unilaterally forgive somebody if we choose.

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It does not mean as a standard that all forgiveness is always unilateral, it only goes one direction.

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The text teaches that people must repent of their sin and be reconciled. Very important.

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Now the unmerciful servant. This will go rather quickly, brothers and sisters. This story speaks for itself.

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I just want to give you some details that are interesting. Matthew 18, 23, therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wishes to settle accounts with his servants.

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When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10 ,000 talents. Really important talent at the time that Jesus spoke this, the talent itself, a single talent was an insane amount of money.

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One talent. If you were carrying a talent around in your pocket, you were wealthy, you were powerful, you could get a lot with a single talent.

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One talent was worth a huge amount of money. So when

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Jesus says this person owes 10 ,000 talents, it would have been a sum of money that no servant would ever in numerous lifetimes ever be able to pay back.

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As a matter of fact, to show you how large an amount of money this was, Herod's kingdom,

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Herod's kingdom when Jesus spoke this, only collected about 900 talents a year.

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The entire kingdom only produced in that economy about 900 talents a year.

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This whole kingdom, 900 a year. Jesus says this servant who owes a debt, he owes 10 ,000 talents.

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That is over 10 times the amount of money brought into the economy in Herod's kingdom.

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That's how much money. Got it? It's a lot of money. And you know what that is? That's you before God.

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It's you. You owe a debt to God. I owe a debt to God that couldn't be repaid for all eternity.

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You'd never get it. You'd never get it because God requires in His holiness absolute righteousness and perfection.

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And the only place that is found is in Jesus, His son. So you either have that righteousness or you've got a debt you can never repay.

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So what happens is this man could not pay his master. And since he could not pay his master, ordered him to be sold with his wife and children.

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His wife and kids sold off because of what he owes. It says, so the servant fell on his knees imploring him, have patience with me and I'll pay you everything.

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And out of pity, pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

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But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants, slaves, who owed him a hundred denarii.

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And brothers and sisters, nothing. Worthless amount of money. It is like a penny.

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It means nothing. Jesus is giving you a stark contrast, an amount you could never repay to something that is so worthless it's not worth you even speaking about.

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It means nothing. And so note something here, watch. Two accounts here.

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The first guy owes an amount he can never repay, right? And what's he do? He falls on his face and what's he do?

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He pleads for mercy and he says, I'll pay you what I owe you. Give me time and patience.

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But now when he goes to the fellow slave, what's he do? The person says the same exact thing.

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Be patient, be merciful, I'll pay you what I owe you. And it says that he seized him and began to choke him.

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He's abusing a fellow slave for nothing. So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me and I'll pay you.

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He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. Can I ask you?

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At the beginning, I said this. I said it's tempting for us at times, and all of us read the

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Bible because of our own sin, because of our own pride, because of the sin we try to hide from God and ourselves.

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It's tempting to read these stories, these passages, and to try to, in your mind, think about who that person might be.

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Can I ask you this? And I have to ask myself the same thing. Is that part of your experience now in Christ?

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You walk as a forgiven person and you walk in such a way as to be loving and gracious to your brothers and sisters around you.

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But can I ask you a question? Has somebody offended you? They owe you a debt.

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They've hurt you. And maybe it was just a little thing that irked you, just something that bothers you.

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They said something to you a certain way, they looked to you a certain way, they did something, they failed you in some way.

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Can I ask you a question? Could you take the mask off for a second? Are you harboring bitterness and a lack of forgiveness that you've been carrying with you, maybe for weeks, maybe for months, maybe for years?

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Is there somebody in this body that you've avoided? You actually avoid them because you felt hurt by them, and so in your mind, you're still in the process of choking them.

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In your mind, you're still in the process of seizing them, hating them. You have the mask on, you have the

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Christian face on, you put the God face on when you walk through the door, you put the God face on when you talk to them.

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But truthfully, in the heart, you're still bitter, you're still unmerciful, you still kind of hate them.

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Are you the unmerciful servant? Or have you had a conflict with somebody in the body, and the way it worked out is, you came to attack, not to forgive.

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You came to crush, and not to release. When you think about other people in the body around you, are you thinking about all the ways they've wronged you?

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Are you thinking about them through Christ's eyes? Are you thinking about them as a forgiven sinner and slave like you, a person who owes a debt that you can never repay and it's been erased?

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When you walk into the body, are you remembering that past conflict and you're still harboring it, holding it against them?

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Or are you releasing them? Are you releasing them now? Are you letting go?

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Are you repentant over your unmerciful heart? How do you think about people around you?

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Do you think about them in light of their sin? Do you think about them in light of all the ways that they've failed you as a believer?

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Or do you think about them through Christ's eyes as a forgiven person loved by God and commanded to be loved by you?

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How do you walk in this body? Because watch what Jesus says. This is where it gets heavy. And this isn't the first time

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Jesus has said it. He said it before. Watch what he says. He refused and went out, put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

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When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed.

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And they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked slave, you wicked slave,

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I forgave you all that debt because you pled with me.

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And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt.

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So also, and here it is, brothers and sisters, this is the final word here in the text. So also, my heavenly

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Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother, here's the words, here's the words.

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From your hearts, from your hearts. Not the first time

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Jesus has had this discussion. You'll be familiar with it because we were there. In Matthew 6, 14 through 15, he says this, if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly

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Father will also forgive you. I'm gonna say that again, listen closely to it. If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly

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Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your heavenly

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Father will not forgive your sins. What's the Lord's prayer, brothers and sisters?

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread as we have forgiven those who trespass against us.

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Jesus says, pray like this, in your prayers you talk to the Father and you say, Father, may your name be hallowed everywhere, holy everywhere, let your kingdom come, your will done here on this earth as it is in heaven.

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Lord, give me my daily bread and Lord, forgive me my trespasses as I have forgiven those who sin against me.

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If you notice how Jesus intimately connects, connects the forgiveness that God has for us with the forgiveness we have for others, which means

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Jesus teaches if you're the person who does not forgive others their sins, here it is, watch, not pretend, not the

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God face, not the Christian show, not the hoopakrite, pretend play acting that we do often.

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He says if you don't forgive them from where? The heart that's truly, deeply, down, real, foundationally, if you don't forgive them, if you're that kind of person, then

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God says He will not forgive you. So those who have tasted and seen

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God's grace, who are children of God, who have been forgiven, they will forgive others because they've tasted that forgiveness from the

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Father. And so Jesus teaches so clearly, if you do not forgive from the heart, then you are not a forgiven person.

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I'm gonna say it again, if you do not forgive from the heart, then you are not a forgiven person. We talk about fruit of how do you know someone's a

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Christian? And so what people do is they have these acid tests, right? Like well, what shows do you watch on TV?

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How are you dressing? How's she dressing? How modestly is she dressing? Okay, how's his language been? What's coming out of his mouth right now?

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Let's try to figure out, like, how does this person serve or love others? Here's an acid test, ready? An acid test for whether you know that someone truly knows

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Jesus. Here's the acid test, do they forgive others? That's the acid test.

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And Jesus says here from the heart, and it's amazing because He's already had that conversation.

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The Pharisees, they love to pray on street corners, they love the long prayers so people praise them.

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Jesus says they got their reward, it's all for the show, it's outside. They fast so people see them fasting.

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They do all these things, they give so people see them give. And Jesus says they got their reward, enjoy it.

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Jesus says this is all true, this is the true God. Stop pretending, stop faking.

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If you want to talk to God, you talk to God. Not as a show, not for praise, if you want to give to God, you give to God in such a way that it's for God's glory and not so people see you.

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If you want to fast, you pray because you're hungry for God and you don't do it in such a way as people see you doing it to praise you.

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And the key point here on forgiveness is this, you do not pretend to forgive others.

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You forgive from the heart. If it's not real, God's not buying it. If it's not real, it's not true worship.

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This cuts. It cuts. It has to cut all of us because you have to confess to a lack of forgiveness or unmercifulness in your life.

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Every one of us is there. I'm not saying as a Christian it's not a struggle. I'm saying this, as a

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Christian it's a command. It's a command. I already mentioned, how can the enemy destroy a church like ours?

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Not from the outside. God's done too much to make you strong against that kind of enemy.

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How about adultery? Church going to get destroyed because of adultery? Nah. We recognize it for what it is, that kind of sin.

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We see it for what it is. We call it sin. No problem. Homosexuality? No. Didn't destroy us before.

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Drugs? No. Abandoning the faith doesn't destroy a church when that enters the church.

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We see it for what it is. How can God destroy a church like Apologia Church? Strife, gossip, unmerciful hearts, a lack of forgiveness.

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Not having a culture of grace and forgiveness and mercy among us.

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How do you destroy a church like this? Here it is. Gut mercy and forgiveness.

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Gut it from us. The very thing that unifies us, the mercy of God in our lives and the forgiveness we received in Christ, that very thing can be used as a tool of the enemy against us by making us not a people that forgive, not a people that give mercy.

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Gut mercy and forgiveness from us. How do we change here?

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Remember your master, remember your sin, and brothers and sisters, put to death the unmerciful servant in you.

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Okay, let's get intimate for a second. So what? How's it work? I'm gonna challenge you right now to think, please, us, all of us as a church.

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God change us right now, please. I'm gonna challenge you to think about your heart right now, your mind.

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Think about the last week, the last month. Think about how someone offended you.

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Maybe it was your wife, your husband, your kids, maybe it was someone right here in this room.

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I want to ask you to consider whether you have forgiven from the heart or whether you are right now walking as the unmerciful servant.

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Who in your life has offended you? And you're hanging on to it. You keep it.

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Please, you keep it. You don't let it go. Maybe you've pretended to forgive.

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Jesus says if you don't forgive from the heart, neither will my Father in Heaven forgive you.

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Have you pretended to forgive? Are you the unmerciful servant? Who in your life do you need to forgive even now in this service, in this moment?

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What have you been hanging on to? I challenge you with that now.

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Ask God even now. We break for prayer here. Before you come to this table, ask the

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God who spilled His blood and broke His body if you have to repent, if you're unmerciful.