FBC Daily Devotional – Feb. 23, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, a good Tuesday to you. I hope your week has gotten off to a good start, and as we're winding down the month of February, we're winding up our week, aren't we?

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I hope yours is going well, getting off to a good start. Well, today in our reading for the day, we're reading in Matthew chapter 18, and I just want to point out an interesting comment of our

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Lord's as this passage begins. He's talking about, he's been asked, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

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And then that causes the Lord to respond and say, a child. A child is great in the kingdom of heaven.

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And of course, he's emphasizing the fact that children will have a simple childlike faith and an implicit trust, and he's honoring that.

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And those who have that kind of childlike faith and childlike trust in Christ are really the greatest, the greatest.

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They're humble, they're trusting and faithful to the Lord. But then he says this, and this is what

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I wanted to kind of zero in on. He says, he says at the end of verse 6, he says, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

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Cause him to sin or cause him to stumble or cause him to turn away from Christ. You know, that puts a tremendous responsibility on those who in some way care for children, whether they're a parent or a teacher, a daycare provider, even a ministry leader, some kind of a church leader, a pastor, a

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Sunday school teacher, or some kind of a ministry leader. Anyone who has a responsibility or an opportunity of influence, influencing a child, and he encourages that child in any way to sin, to violate

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God's word, to turn away from Christ and the Bible, Jesus issues a pretty harsh statement of judgment upon those people.

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And I don't know if you've ever known of anyone like that who's behaved like that, but I certainly have.

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I've known of cases where a mother, for example, will do all she can to see that her child or children are reared to know

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Christ and to love God and to love the Bible and to seek to obey the

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Bible. And yet a cantankerous, agnostic father who's developed an attitude of hostility even toward his wife or former wife will undermine those efforts of the faith on the part of that child.

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Woe be to such a parent. Woe be to such a parent, or anyone else for that matter, who would cause a child to turn away from Christ, cause them to sin.

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It'd be better for a millstone to be hanging around their neck and have them thrown into the sea than for the judgment they're going to face.

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Well, I wanted to zero in on another section in this passage that we read because it's often lifted out of its context and then is used or misused to much damage.

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And it's the question that Peter asked Jesus in verse 21 of Matthew 18.

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Peter comes to Jesus. He says, Lord, how many times will my brother sin against me and I forgive him?

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Seven times? And Jesus responds and says, no, I don't say you seven times, but 77 times.

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In other words, an indefinite number of times. You don't worry about the number of times. If your brother sins against you, forgive him.

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Now, here's where that question and answer have been, I think, interpreted wrongly or used wrongly and caused harm, caused damage.

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The implication that some have drawn from this is that no matter what somebody does to me,

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I need to just forgive them. I need to forgive and forget. I need to just let go of it.

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And it doesn't matter if they do it time after time after time, repeatedly, then, you know,

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I still have to forgive them. I still have to forgive them. Even if they do it, you know, 70 times, seven times, you know, 490 times or whatever, you know, however many times they do it.

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Well, context is always critical when you're interpreting scripture.

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And if you look at the context, immediately preceding that question, there is an outlined procedure where in verse 15,

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Jesus says, 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've gained your brother. Now, what would be involved in that kind of confrontation?

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Okay. So notice how the Lord used the word your brother. If your brother sins against you, and then later

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Peter asks the question, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him?

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So what would be involved in that confrontation? You go to that brother and you say, hey, listen, I gotta tell you, you sinned against me in this way.

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Here's what you did. Here's how you wronged me. And the brother, if he listens to you, that means he in some way expresses repentance.

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He acknowledges his wrong, you know. Oftentimes it would be, oh, oh man, you know, kind of a hanging the head, a feeling embarrassed, a kind of kicking the feet, saying, man, you know,

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I'm sorry. I did not intend to hurt you or, you know what, you're right,

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I did sin against you. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me for that?

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So in the context that Peter brings up his question, there is a process involved that leads to the forgiveness.

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The process is the person has been confronted about his sin, he has acknowledged his sin, he has repented of his sin, he's turned from his sin.

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He says, you know, I put that behind me. I acknowledge it, I put it behind me, I don't want to do that again.

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And Peter's question then comes in, well, you know, what if he does it again? What if he does it again?

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And I go to him and I confront him with his sin and he can, you know, he acknowledges it, he confesses it, he repents of it, turns from it.

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Do I have to forgive him again? And then the Lord says, yes. Yes.

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There's no limit to how many times this process needs to be employed.

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And I, yeah, and this really dovetails well with what

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Paul later tells us is to forgive one another even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us.

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How many times have you needed to go to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm sorry,

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I've sinned, I've sinned again. You know, that sin that I committed last week, here I have,

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I've fallen into that thing again. I've sinned against you again. Please forgive me. Does the

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Lord say, oh, nope, you've reached your quota. Sorry. Can't do it. No, he forgives.

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And so that's the that's the sense of that question and answer. It does not allow for someone to just repeatedly abuse you or do you wrong and get off scot -free and you just say, oh, well, you know,

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Jesus says I have to forgive him an indefinite period number of times. So, okay, I got to forgive him, let go and go on.

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Now, context. Context is important. And I realize there's so so much more that can be said about that, but I wanted to at least put that bug in your ear, if you will, to realize that that that question and answer does not exist in isolation.

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There's a process involved and the context tells us about that process. All right.

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Well, I hope that's in some way helpful to you and will be a blessing. Father, I pray,

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I praise you for your forgiveness, for your patience with us, your kindness to us.

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I'm thankful that when we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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I pray that we would have that kind of a heart. And Father, please protect us from in any way, any way, discouraging children from following Christ, from obeying

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Christ, may we be encouragers in their righteousness, may we be encouragers in their receiving of the gospel, their trusting

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Christ, we pray. We ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.

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All right. Well, have a good rest of your Tuesday and trust that God will bless you in it. Have a good day.