FBC Daily Devotional – Feb. 25, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, here we are in Thursday already of the week, the last week of February, and our week is slowly winding down, and thankful for all that the

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Lord has allowed us to accomplish in this week. I trust you can look back over the last few days and see just some ways that the

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Lord has used you. You say, well, I haven't done anything really spectacular, I haven't accomplished a great deal.

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Well, have you been faithful at your job? Have you, maybe you're a mom, and teaching your kids at home, you're staying at the stuff there, what an investment you're making.

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Even preparing meals, whether you're a husband or wife preparing the meals, some husbands or wives do that together, sometimes the men do a lot of the cooking, whatever the case.

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Even those little seemingly insignificant things are expressions of faithfulness when they are part of the calling that God has given us to fulfill.

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I trust that you see, you look at those things, even the little things, as expressions of the

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Lord's faithfulness in using you in your day -to -day life. In our scripture reading in Matthew 18 today, it kind of picks up where it left off a couple of days ago.

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Remember, we zeroed in on that question that Peter asked, how often do I have to forgive a brother if he comes and says, he's sorry, do

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I have to do it seven times? And the Lord says, no, 70 times seven. I pointed out that you need to interpret that question and Jesus' answer in the context that it occurs in, when there's been this process that's been followed, that the one who needs to be forgiven has been confronted with his sin, he's listened, he's repented of it, he's confessed it, and he's asked for forgiveness.

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He said he's sorry, he wants to be forgiven. You grant that forgiveness, even if it's time and time again that needs to be granted.

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But that same context then leads Jesus to share this parable, tells a parable about this servant that is an unforgiving servant, and it's a servant who has been himself forgiven a debt that he could never, ever pay.

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That parallels you and me. That parallels us. We owe a debt to God that we could never, ever pay.

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The wages of our sin is death. And yet, if we have come by faith to Jesus, and we have called upon God to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of our unrighteousness, and we have trusted

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Jesus to be our Savior, then God in his grace has forgiven you this sin debt that you owe, and you'll never have to pay it.

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That's an incredible debt that you owed and have been forgiven. So, when

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I realize this sin debt that demanded an eternal payment, and yet God has graciously forgiven me, how then can

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I not forgive a brother for his relatively insignificant offense?

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Now, it may have been a very great offense in terms of human relationships, but in terms of eternity, and the eternal debt that I've owed

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God, who has forgiven me of my debt, whatever that offense is that my brother has sinned against me, it's a relatively insignificant offense.

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So, if we've gone through that process, again, remember the context.

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Remember the context. There are some parallels, even in this parable, with that earlier teaching that Jesus offered in verses 15 and following, where he says, if a 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've gained your brother. If he doesn't listen to you, then he gives a process for dealing with that.

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If he doesn't listen to you, he doesn't repent, he doesn't turn from it, then there is a penalty to be paid, and he talks about that penalty.

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But notice how the parallels here in this parable between the servant, servants both, and the brother who listened.

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So Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a king who's wanting to settle debts, he comes to this guy who owes him this eternal debt that he can never pay, and the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, have patience with me.

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Later on, when that same servant, who's been forgiven, goes to somebody who owes him $20 and demands payment of that debt, it says his fellow servant, or his servant, he pleaded, he fell down and he pleaded with him.

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He pleaded with him, forgive me this debt, is what he was saying. And there's a parallel.

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These servants plead with the one to whom they owe the debt.

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And in verse 15, the brother who's confronted with his debt listens to you.

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It's his way of saying he's pleading with you to be forgiven. And the parable, pay what you owe, parallels, go and tell him his fault.

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So the one to whom the debt is owed, he goes to the debtor and he says to him, pay what you owe.

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You've committed an offense against me. The offense is you owe me this debt. Pay what you owe.

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You go to the brother who has wronged you and you say to him, pay what you owe. In other words, you have sinned against me.

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You have wronged me. So the whole point is that these passages all tie together.

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Jesus teaching about the brother who sins against you and you need to go tell him his fault and what to do about that.

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If he hears you, if he repents, you forgive him. If he doesn't hear you, there are processes to go through in trying to rectify that wrong.

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And ultimately, that relationship may need to be completely cut off. Then Peter's question, well, how many times do

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I have to do this? As many times as it's necessary. As long as the brother is repentant, you forgive him.

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Well, what if I don't have a forgiving spirit? Well, then you're like this servant who has been forgiven so much.

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How can you not forgive a brother? How can you not forgive a brother? Well, I hope you'll be encouraged to have a forgiving spirit and especially encouraged to interpret these passages.

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The parable, Peter's question, instruction to the church and to the believers in the church.

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Interpret it all together. Tie it all together because that's really how it needs to be interpreted. All right, well, let's pray and ask

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God to continue to be forgiving of us and, you know, we have in that Lord's Prayer, forgive us our trespasses, even as we forgive those who trespass against us.

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Let's pray. And so, our Father, to that end, we pray. We are all a needy people.

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We all need forgiveness. And as we come before you and we confess our sins, we're repentant of our sins.

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You are faithful and just to forgive us. Oh, Lord, give us that same kind of forgiving spirit toward a brother who has wronged us and is repentant of it and wants to be restored in that relationship.

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Help us to have a forgiving spirit, we pray. And we ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake.

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Amen. All right, well, have a good rest of your Thursday and I trust the