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Man, the title of my sermon this morning is The Punishment for Failing to Forgive. The punishment for failing to forgive. Now my main text this morning is actually going to be over in Matthew chapter 18. But first I want to talk about something over here in Romans chapter number 2 because a lot of people have this attitude that everything that you do before you're saved, well that's all forgiven and it's under the blood because that was before you were saved, but then they don't realize that after you're saved that same forgiveness still applies because Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins over 2,000 years ago. And so, or excuse me, approximately 2,000 years ago. And here's the thing, all of our sins were future at that point. So when Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and make no mistake, he died for my sins, he died for your sins personally even about 2,000 years before you were born. So Jesus Christ died for all of our sins, past, present, and future. And people make these dumb statements like, well everything you did before you were saved is under the blood. Folks, that's garbage because everything I did after I was saved is under the blood too because every sin that I did period is under the blood because Jesus Christ died for all of our sins. You know, we don't want to get this weird view of salvation like the Roman Catholics have had or like Constantine the Great had who in some ways is like a founder of the Catholic Church. Constantine the Great was told that when he gets baptized that's going to wash all his sins away. And you know what he said, well I'm going to wait to do that at the last minute. And so he literally waited until he was about to die, he was like a week before he died, he got baptized, and then for that last week he wore all white. He didn't wear any colors. He wore all white and just tried his darndest not to sin because he'd already taken care of everything in baptism and now he can just ride, folks that's ridiculous, that's insane. Get saved immediately. And by the way, you don't get baptized to get saved, you get saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. You get saved by faith, which Constantine, nor his Catholic advisors, didn't understand that obviously. But the point is, you want to get saved immediately and not be like, well I'm going to wait until the last minute, that way all my sins are covered. Folks, when you get saved, all your sins are covered, period. The sins that I'm going to do two weeks from now or a month from now are already paid for. So don't get this weird demarcation where, hey, everything before you're saved is forgiven and everything after you're saved, well you're taking a test. Okay, so we talk about that with salvation, but here we see human beings judging people because of sins that they did after they were saved when they themselves have a super raunchy, disgusting, horrific, filthy past, but, oh that was before I was saved, that was before I was saved. But then they're ready to come down like a ton of bricks on anybody who sins after they're saved. Folks, that is wrong, okay. And I'm not saying hang things over people's head from before they were saved. I'm saying don't hang things over people's head that they did after they were saved because sin is sin. Now let's see what the Bible says. Look at Romans chapter 2 verse 11. It says, For there is no respect of persons with God, for as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. So here's what the Scripture is teaching. It's saying that unsaved people, worldly people, heathen people, no matter where they come from, have the law of God written in their heart and they do by nature the things contained in the law. What did you say? They are a law unto themselves because they have the law of God written in their hearts. That's talking about all of mankind. And so therefore, you will never convince me that unsaved people when they committed murder, oh, they didn't know better. I didn't know. I wasn't saved so I didn't know. Everybody in this world knows murder is wrong. Everybody knows stealing is wrong. Everybody knows adultery is wrong. Everybody knows drunkenness is wrong, period. And so if you went out and did those things before you were saved, guess what? You did those things because you were sinful and wicked, not because you didn't go up in a Christian home. No, you did those things because of the sinfulness and wickedness of your heart. Okay, so don't, and let me tell you something. The biggest holier than thou's that I've ever met were people who have the most horrific past and they're overcompensating because they lived a super raunchy, filthy, wicked past but now all of a sudden that they're done with all that, now all of a sudden every Christian kid better walk on water. Everybody who grows up in a Christian home better be perfect, you know, because I didn't have the privilege that you had. Hey, folks, you grew up in this green earth that God created and God sent rain on you too and God reproved you of sin and God wrote the law on your heart and you're without excuse for everything that you did before you were saved, period. So don't go around justifying your wicked past, well, that was before I was saved. Hey, look, why don't you just come to terms with the fact that you did those things? You did them, you were bad, you did bad stuff, you broke God's laws, you said, especially you grew up in America, you've never heard of Christian morals or something, that's insane. You did those things and here's the thing, you say, well, why would you even bring this up, Pastor Anderson? Because I don't want you to misunderstand me, I'm not, I don't want to hang anybody's past from before they were saved over their head, don't misunderstand me. I'm pointing out the hypocrisy of someone with a super wicked past turning around and judging and condemning people for stuff they did after they were saved because they were saved. Okay, that's stupid and hypocritical, but you say, well, why even bring this up? I'll tell you why. Because here's the thing, when people get this worldview that says, oh, well, all the bad stuff I did, that was only because I didn't grow up in a Christian home. They become a super judgmental holier than thou and here's why. Because they are making an excuse for their actions by saying, oh, that was just because I didn't grow up in a Christian home, I didn't know, I didn't know better. Because of that worldview, now, you know what they have to assume now? Well, everybody who grows up in a Christian home is automatically going to walk on water because they believe that about themselves. They believe, it's just, you know what, it's like these rebellious wives who's, well, if I had a good husband, I'd be the perfect wife. I find a nickel for every time I heard that, I'd be a wealthy man. Boy, if I had one of these godly Christian wives, I'd be so submitted, I'd be so loving, I'd be the ideal wife. No, you wouldn't. You'd be a rotten wife right now, you'd be a rotten wife no matter who you were married to. Okay? To sit there and just always blame others and people want to blame their parents and they want to blame their grandparents, they want to blame their upbringing, they want to blame their spouse. No, folks, we need to take responsibility for our own actions, okay? And if we take responsibility for our own actions, we won't get this weird perverse view that says, oh, you know what, if you grow up in a Christian home, you're not allowed to sin, you're not allowed to screw up because I didn't have that privilege and the only reason I did all these bad things is because I grew up bad. No, you did those bad things because you were bad. I'm glad you're living right now, but don't try to pretend that you have an excuse for the stuff that you did. And look, confess it and forsake it and move on, but you know what, why don't you have grace with other people who are making mistakes that are literally a hundred times smaller than the stuff you did. How about that? Condemning Christians when they've done things a hundred times worse, but then, oh, that was before I was saved, they think they just get a pass. Well, the whole Romans chapter 1, 2, and 3, the whole thing is that nobody gets a pass. That's the whole context of Romans 1 through 3 is that no one gets a pass and God's explaining in Romans 2 that unsaved people actually do know better. Now, I've got to hurry for sake of time, but let me just skip forward here for sake of time. Go, if you would, to Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter number 12. Here's what I'm, and remember, this is all introduction. I'm not into the sermon. The sermon is called The Punishment for Failing to Forgive, and right now I'm telling you that from my observation, the people who typically are the ones who don't want to forgive, they want to be a holier than thou, not let things go. When people are punished and repent, they don't want to move on and give those people a chance to live it down. They usually have the most super wicked, raunchy past, literally worshipping Satan, practicing literal witchcraft, fornicating, drunk, adultery, all this stuff, and then, yeah, but I didn't do that though. Stupid and ridiculous. It's insane is what it is. And you know what, I'm sorry, excuse me, but you know what, I'm not impressed with your raunchy testimony. And you know what, by the way, if you have that filthy life, why don't you keep that yourself and just preach Christ crucified. You know what I mean? Some people, it's like they almost want, I remember in the old IFB, this was a big thing. You get preachers almost just bragging about how super wicked they used to be and just telling all the wild stories and stuff. Folks, the preaching of the cross is the power of God unto salvation. Make the gospel about him, not you. Okay. But it's like, but I just want to say right now, you know what, I'm not impressed by those raunchy testimonies anyway. I'm more impressed by people who actually lived a clean life throughout. You know, I'm glad for both to get saved. I'm glad for both to live for God. But let me tell you something, I'm not impressed with somebody who's gone out and slept with 50 different people and all of a sudden now they're as pure as the driven snow. Well, I guess you got it all out of your system because you already went out and did all that and realized how vain and worthless and stupid that life is and now all of a sudden you decide to turn over a new leaf when you're 30 or 40. Well, you know what, I'm not impressed by that. Sorry, that's a shameful thing. You shouldn't even bring that up. It's embarrassment. And then you're going to turn around and judge somebody who's a virgin because they committed sin or screwed up or did something. You're a mega hypocrite. Now here's the thing, obviously whenever there's a false doctrine or a lie, there's some kernel of truth in it. Every lie is the truth twisted. So obviously there is a biblical truth that says unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required. And so God is going to judge us more harshly if we've heard more preaching and if we've had more handed to us. Look what the Bible says in Luke 12, 47. And that servant which knew his Lord's will, Luke 12, 47, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes, he gets a pass. Is that what it says? He gets a free pass. No it says he shall be beaten with few stripes for unto whom so ever much is given of him shall much be required and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask them more. So we see here that yes, God will hold people more accountable who've been given more opportunities and heard more preaching and given more truth. But does it say that people who didn't know quote unquote are off the hook? Or just that they get less punishment from God? And does this scripture teach that we as Christians are only required to forgive things that people did before they were saved? Is that what the scripture says? Say anything like that? Or does the Bible teach us over and over again, if thy brother trespass against thee, forgive him? That's what the Bible actually says. It doesn't say, well I did that before I was saved, but they did it after they were saved and after that. No, no, no. It says forgive your brother too. What does the Bible say? Luke 17 verse 3, you don't have to turn there. Take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. There's nothing wrong with confronting someone with sin. There's nothing wrong with telling someone, you've sinned, you've done wrong, you're wrong. This is something that you need to fix. There's nothing in the world wrong with that. But how about the next part? It says if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him and if he repent, forgive him. That's what the Bible says. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent, thou shalt forgive him. The Bible teaches an extreme level of forgiveness for us to give to God's people. Not just, well let's forgive everybody of everything they did before they were saved. No, let's forgive people for what they did after they were saved too. That's what the Bible actually teaches. Let's forgive our brother in Christ also, not just forgive the unsaved. Now look at Matthew chapter 18 and this is really the crux of the message tonight. This is one of my favorite parables. This I think is one of the most powerful parables that Christ taught and it's one that I go back to frequently and I think it's very important that we understand this and this is where I get my title for the sermon this morning, the punishment for failing to forgive. You know, the Bible said, thou shalt forgive. The Bible commands this and the Bible says, look, none of us has an excuse. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God and if somebody sins, if they're punished and they repent, guess what? You're required to forgive that person. This is not optional. Now what's the punishment if you don't? Well let's see what the Bible says. Then verse 21 of Matthew chapter 18, then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents but for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. So this guy owes an incredible amount of money, right? It says at the end of verse 24, ten thousand talents. This is an astronomical amount of money. If you study the Bible, one talent, this is a heavy piece of metal. A talent is a lot and ten thousand talents, this would be, you know, I don't know what the exact dollar value would be in our economy. I don't think it really matters except to say that it's like he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions of dollars. Those are the kind of numbers that we're talking about here when we talk about owing ten thousand talents, okay. So this guy begs for mercy and he's forgiven, great, right? Now you'd expect this guy to be super thankful, super loving, ready to extend grace unto others, but what does the Bible say? It says in verse 28, but the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence. Now this is a considerably smaller amount of money. This is maybe a few thousand bucks, okay, as opposed to owing this incredible amount of money, ten thousand talents. The talent is much greater than the pence. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Does that sound familiar? Now what do we see here? We see here a parable, okay. A parable is an illustration where things stand for different things, okay. So obviously the guy who forgave the debt is God. The one who owed the great debt is somebody who had committed a huge amount of sin in their life, right. Like how about one of these people has a super wicked past, super raunchy, filthy past, right, committed all kinds of horrific sins. Hey, is God, and there's a lot we can learn from this parable, will God forgive huge amounts of sin? Folks, I don't care how wicked your past is, I don't care how sinful your past is, I don't care how much fornication, murder, theft, adultery, drunkenness. Hey, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved and he will forgive all of it. It's all forgiven. And when you get to heaven, guess what, it's not even going to be mentioned to you, the Bible says. Your sins won't even be mentioned to you. As far as the east is from the west, so far as God separated you from your sins. But you know what the sermon's about this morning. Don't go out of here and say, well Pastor Anderson wants to blame people for stuff they did before they were saved. No, here's what I'm saying, I want you to extend the same courtesy to other people that God extended to you. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm preaching. If you come out of here and say I'm trying to hang unsaved people's past over their head, you know what, well I'll get to you in a minute, but that's not what I'm teaching, okay. Let's keep going here. It says here, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Now look, is this guy spitting in his face and saying nuts to you, no. This guy, because remember this is a parable. So this pictures, the guy who owes him money is someone who has sinned against him. And when he says, Lord have mercy with me and I'll pay thee all, you know what that's a picture of? It's a picture of the guy being repentant and saying I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did. So this guy is not some unrepentant, just wicked person. This guy apologizes and says hey, I'm sorry for what I did. Is that good enough for him? No. Because even though he said have patience with me and I will pay thee all, verse 30, he would not. It means he didn't want to. But went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So basically, again, what's the parable mean? We're interpreting the parable. He's saying no, you're going to be held accountable for every single little thing that you've done. But I'm sorry. I repent. You're going to be patient with me. Nope. You're going to prison and you're going to be held accountable for every little thing you've done. And this is the same guy who'd done way more and God let him off the hook for this huge amount of sin. But then he's ready to take everybody to task for their sins. And it'd be like if this guy, it'd be like if this idiot said, well yeah, sure, I owed 10,000 talents but I didn't know 100 pence though. I never did that. I mean I know I fornicated, took drugs, committed murder, stole, but I never did that. It's stupid. It doesn't matter how many, oh, oh, oh, that's right, you didn't owe any pence because you owed all talents. Pay me that thou oest. He would not but cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee? Now let's get to the punishment. What's the punishment for not forgiving? When his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay off all that was due unto him, so likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you. Don't miss that. So also, so likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you. Is that a maybe? That's a for sure. He will do this to you if you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. Now look, if you're smart, you'll take that pretty seriously. You'd say, you know what, that's a pretty scary thought. I don't want to spend the rest of my life being tormented. I don't want God taking me to task for every bad thing I've ever done in my life. Do you want God taking you to task for every bad thing that you've ever done in your life? And look, this isn't about salvation. We're not talking about salvation. I don't want people to try to twist this and teach a workspace salvation, that hey, if you don't forgive everybody from your heart, you're not going to heaven. That's not what this is saying. When the Bible talks about forgiveness, okay, there's a forgiveness of just making things right with other people, making things right between you and the Lord. We're not talking about salvation. You know, for example, when I got saved, when I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, as I talked about earlier, all my sins are forgiven. But yet, I would still approach God and say, Lord, I'm sorry for what I did yesterday. I'm sorry for this thing that I did. And I want God to forgive me of that. We're not talking about my salvation standing here. We're talking about the relationship. Okay. Now, let's say my children, for example, because the Bible likens being saved unto being a child of God. It calls it being born again. You're born into God's family. If my children sin and I punish them, okay, they're still my kids, right? I'm still going to love them. Now, what if they commit sin and they have a bad attitude about it and they're not sorry? Well guess what? They're going to get a worse punishment. And there's going to be a rift in our relationship. Whereas if they have a good attitude, they admit it, they say they're sorry, then fellowship is restored. There's still chastisement, there's still chastening, but fellowship is restored. And obviously, if a kid just said to you, I did it and I'm glad I did it, you know, they're going to get a way worse punishment than the one that says, Dad, I'm sorry. That's just common sense, isn't it? The Bible says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Nobody's without chastisement. You're not going to go through the Christian life without ever being chastised by God. But I don't know about you. I want God to go easier on me and not to come down on me like a ton of bricks. Well let me tell you something. Here's the number one surefire way to get God to come down on you like a ton of bricks. Don't forgive other people. Because he'll say, okay, well then I'm going to torment you until you've paid the uttermost farthing. Oh, you won't forgive your sibling? Well then you know what? You're going to get the maximum punishment. Think about even in the court system, sometimes there will be a range of punishments. Typically for a crime it's a range, you know, six months to five years. That's a pretty big difference, isn't it? Going to prison for six months or going to prison for five years. And guess what? The judge is going to determine that and part of the determination has to do with what? How sorry you are. Or what were the circumstances or whatever. And here's the thing. If you want God just giving you the maximum sentence every time, maximum sentence every time, then you know what? Just don't forgive other people. Just expect them to walk on water and never let anything that they do go and just forgive yourself all day long because I mean none of that was even your fault, you know? I mean I just, it was just my circumstances. You know what? That's a guaranteed way to have God give you the maximum sentence on everything you do. And not only that, you know, if we take this parable as a reference, he'll even pull out old stuff and start punishing you for it. I mean think about this because he's already been let go here of his debt, right? God let him go for that debt but then he says, nope, I changed my mind. Now you're going to pay for that stuff. So how would you like not only for God from here on out to hold you accountable for every mistake you make. And listen, if God came down on us for every mistake, folks, we make mistakes every day. The thought of foolishness is sin. And we commit sins all the time. Would you like God to just be up there, just ready, every single mistake you make, just maximum sentence, maximum punishment, just bam. And then not only that, he'll start pulling out the back catalog. Oh, you want to condemn people for doing this stuff? Okay, well let's see what you did. Alright, well guess what? The punishment that you're trying to dole out, well you know what? Let's dole that out on you for stuff you did five years ago because you know what? That's what the Bible teaches here. And let me just read it again if you're skeptical. It says in verse number 34, his Lord was wrath. Wrath means wrath. Wrath is the adjective, wrath is the noun. So you want God's wrath kindled toward you? Delivered him to the tormentors. These are the worst kind of prison guards. You know, if you're going to go to prison, hopefully the guards aren't colloquially referred to as tormentors. That sounds like a rough prison. This isn't the Tempe jail, you know, which is pretty nice. This is a rough prison when the prison guards are called tormentors. Delivered unto the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. That is a pretty chilling warning. Go if you would to Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter number 7. Let me show you a positive example. So we have the negative example here. What are we talking about? People have sinned a lot in their lives. Now look, if that's you, maybe you're a person that says, Pastor, I've lived a super wicked life. You know, I didn't grow up a Christian and I did some horrific things. Or maybe you even did grow up Christian and you still did a bunch of horrible things. Folks, if that's you, you know, number one, I would give you the advice, do not become a holier than thou Pharisee hypocrite. Because I'm telling you, people who have lived a super wicked life have a tendency to want to overcompensate and then in the process of making excuses for why they did all those things, it basically creates a mindset that says, well, because I'm not accountable for what I did because I wasn't a Christian, now everybody who's a Christian better be perfect. Because I would have been perfect. I would have been a perfect teenager had I grown up in church. I would have been perfect. No you wouldn't have. You would not have been perfect. You would have been you and that's the way it is. Because you know what, I grew up in Christian school and saw all kinds of people growing up in Christian homes, being taught the Bible, doing all kinds of super wicked things. And then other kids doing right. And I guarantee you if we went down to Tempe Public High School, we could find a bunch of kids who've never been to church, never read the Bible, not Christian at all, who are virgins, who've never drunk alcohol, who are getting straight A's and who are good respectful kids. But see that flies in the face of this thing of, well, you know, I just want to say, well what about all the millions of people who go to their wedding altar a virgin and don't get drunk and don't do drugs and they've never been a Christian. Can you explain that? I can because the law of God is written on their hearts. And again, I'm not trying to beat up on anybody. What I'm trying to do is get you to face reality and get you to admit to yourself, hey, what I've done in my life is what I've done in my life. And I'm going to take it to the cross and leave it there. But you know what, I'm not going to forget the fact that God has forgiven me a lot and so now I'm ready to forgive other people. If you don't understand this message that I'm preaching to you right now, then you don't belong in this church, okay? Because what I'm preaching right now is not complicated. This is basic Christianity 101. This is not some radical, controversial sermon that I'm preaching right now. And if you, if this is going, if you're like, well I just don't get it, well you know what, you need to go find a teacher that can explain this to you. Because apparently I can't. You know, I'm up here explaining it. If you don't get it, then go find someone who can teach you how to act like a Christian. Okay. But this is what the Bible teaches. Now so the, the advice to people who've had a super wicked past is to understand that you know, don't become this holier than thou, uber spiritual, overcompensating type, okay? But now here's the positive example of what you should be like if you've been forgiven a lot. Look at Luke chapter 7 verse 36. And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him and he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meet in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself saying, This man if he were a prophet would know who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. The one owed five hundred pence and the other owed fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. Then he turned to the woman and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I say unto thee, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at me with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgaveth sins also? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace. Now I want to point out something to you about this passage that you may have missed. Because a lot of times when we hear things or read things that conflict with our preconceived idea, a lot of times our brains will just kind of rearrange them. You know, sometimes I'll hear something and here's what they meant. You know, you just kind of like rearrange things in your brain. And sometimes we'll do that with the Bible. You know, reading the Bible and something looks a certain way and our brain will just kind of automatically flip it over to be what we think it should say or what we think it really means, you know. But in reality, the Bible means what it says here, okay. So look what the Bible says in verse 47, don't miss this. Because this should stand out to you as being a little bit backwards maybe. But guess what? You're backwards. The Bible is not backwards. Look what the Bible says. Wherefore I say unto you, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much. Now wouldn't you think, let's go, you know, no, no, no, Jesus, you got that wrong. Here's what you meant to say, Jesus. What you meant to say is that she loves much because she was forgiven much. That's what you meant to say, Jesus. You meant to say that because she got forgiven of so much, now she has so much love. That's what you meant. Well, here, Jesus did say that. He did teach that in this passage, but is that what he said in this sentence? No, in this sentence he actually said the reverse. He said her sins which are many are forgiven because she loved much. You see that? That's what it actually says. You can flip it around in your brain if you want to, but is that what the Bible says? No, what the Bible says is that her sins are forgiven for, which means because, for she loved much. That's why her sins are forgiven. Now what does this mean? Why is this? Here's the thing about that, is that this woman has lived a very sinful past, but she believes on Jesus and is forgiven. How do we know that she believes? Because what did Jesus say in verse 50? And he said to the woman, thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace. So why is this woman saved? How did she get saved? By believing, by having faith, right? She's saved by faith. That's how everybody gets saved. So this woman is saved by faith. Now she's been forgiven a lot by God, am I right? She's been forgiven a lot. Now according to what Jesus just told the Pharisee a few verses ago, because she's been forgiven a lot, we should suppose that she's going to love God even more than the one who's been forgiven little. So is it possible for a person with a very wicked, very raunchy past, even like a prostitute or something like this, where, you know, in the Bible we have these prostitutes and publicans coming to Jesus, is it possible for that person to love Christ in a great way and even love him beyond what some of the people who grew up Christian love God? Yeah. Oh yeah. And in fact, that's the way it should be. That would be the supposition. Because when the Pharisee said, well I suppose, I suppose that the guy that was forgiven 500 is going to love more than the one who was forgiven 50, I would think so. And Jesus said, well you've rightly judged. Now is that always going to be the case 100% of the time though? No, because didn't we just read in Matthew 18 about a guy who was forgiven a lot more than 500 pence, was he loving? No, he wasn't. And I'm going to prove that in a moment. But the point is that the supposition would be, the assumption would be, what should fit is that the person who's done the most sins and been forgiven of an incredible amount of sin should be the most loving, the most gracious, love the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. And there are many people like that. So I'm not here to discourage you if you have a wicked past. I'm here to tell you, be this woman. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Be a great Christian. Be the one who's been forgiven the 500 pence and loves God in a profound way that many other Christians will never reach. Great. But you know what the Bible actually says, if we actually read the text here. Jesus said, her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much. And you know what that's basically saying, the exact same thing that we saw in Matthew 18. What if, what if she didn't love much? Her sins which are many are forgiven because she loved much. Well then what if she didn't love much? What does that mean? It means that she's not going to be forgiven. Folks, that's what the Bible teaches. That is the punishment for not being forgiven. If you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven. That's what the Bible says. And again, we're not talking about salvation. We're talking about God punishing you on this earth and taking you to account for every bad thing that you do. Okay. Now, go to 1 John chapter 4. And if you don't believe me, what does the Bible say in Matthew chapter 6? This is all over the Gospels. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Could that verse be any clearer than what I just read? Hey, if you forgive, you'll be forgiven. You don't forgive other people their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Just like the parable where the guy delivers them to the prison, delivers them to the tormentors to be exacted. Every bad thing he's ever done to be exacted from him and to be in there for a temporary period of time just until he's paid everything. Be tormented and punished. Well, you know what? Is that what you want to spend the rest of your life doing? Just being taken to task for every wicked, filthy thing you've ever done in your life? Because the surefire way to get there is to be unloving and unforgiving toward your brother in Christ who has sinned and repented. That is how you get there. That's what the Bible says. And if the Bible says, well, her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much. You know, if you flip that over, what that's saying is, hey, if this woman turned into some holier than thou hypocrite like Simon the Pharisee here, she's not going to be forgiven because Matthew 18 teaches that she'll be delivered to the tormentors and she's going to have to pay for all the things that she did now and live a worse life and go through life getting beat up on by God and under the wrath of God. Now did I have you turn to 1 John? Well let me just explain this to you. It's impossible, it is impossible to love God without loving your brother in Christ. That's what the Bible says. Anybody who says that they love God and hates their brother is a liar. Look at 1 John chapter 4 verse 20. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen, and this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. Now first of all the Bible says it's impossible to do the one without doing the other. You cannot love God without loving your brother also. If you say you do it, you're lying. But then when we roll into 1 John chapter 5, this same thought is actually continued because it says whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and look at this last part, and everyone that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. So if I claim to love the begetter, I have to also love the begettee. And the begetter is God, and the begettee is everyone who's born of God. We've been begotten of God by the Holy Ghost, the Bible says. And in the context here, he said you can't love God if you don't love your brother. And brother isn't talking just about your physical brother. It's like oh, I'm only required to love one person. Clint Anderson. You know that's the only person I'm required to. No when the Bible says to love my brother, we're talking about all of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Everybody who's born of God, everybody who's a child of God, those who are saved, the Bible is saying it's impossible to truly love God if you don't love your brother. Now let me ask you this, if you're the person who has a super wicked past, and you've been forgiven of all these things, and now all of a sudden, you know, you want to grab your brother by the throat, who's repentant, who said, I'm sorry, who said, you know, hey have patience with me, and I'll pay thee all. Pay me that thallows. Is that love? Or is that the reverse of love? Because the Bible says be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. The Bible says as Christ has received us, so receive ye one another. That's what the Bible says. And so if you want to know what the punishment for not forgiving is, it's that God will dredge up all of your past sins, and he will beat you up for them because that's what you want to do to other people. That's what he'll do to you. He'll pull up all of your past sins, and he will rub your nose in it, and he will torment you, and he will punish you with the maximum sentence. That's what he said he'll do if you don't forgive everyone, his brother from his heart, their trespasses. He said it in Matthew 18. In Luke chapter 7, if we actually read what the text says, instead of transposing it in our mind, he says, well the reason that she's off the hook is because she loved much. Now her faith saved her as far as taking her to heaven. But you know what? Why is he willing to hang out with her? Why is he willing to spend time with her? Why is he willing to allow her to have a good life from here on out and live a good Christian life and go and sin no more and live a blessed life? Why? Because she loved much. And so you know what? If you, and so, you know, everybody wants to pull out, well unto whom much is given of him shall much be required. Okay, I got a new one for you. To whom much is forgiven of him shall much be required. How about that? Because you know what? The Bible teaches that too. That's what Matthew 18 teaches, that's what Luke chapter 7 teaches, that's what Matthew 6 teaches. This is what the Bible says. Now go to Matthew chapter 7 and we'll see this reinforced even more. I mean this is a very key concept in the Bible when it comes to judgmental, holier than thou's. And look, obviously is it possible for someone who grows up in a Christian home to be a Pharisee and a holier than thou? Sure. Of course that's possible. But you know what I've noticed though, 99% of the time it's people who've done a lot and they're overcompensating. You know, 99% of the time it's the people who've done a lot of horrible things in the past and it just makes them such a big hypocrite, you know. But yeah, is it possible for someone to grow up in a Christian home, become a hypocrite, a holier than thou, a Pharisee, somebody who refuses to forgive? Absolutely. That's absolutely possible. But you know what, in my lifetime I've seen it work the other way a lot more. I've seen a lot more of the 10,000 talent guys going around and grabbing the 50 pence guys by the throat than I've seen the 50 pence guys going around and grabbing the 10,000 talent people by the throat. That's just what I've seen. But obviously this is something that we all need to be aware of, amen? You know, it's something that we should all be careful of. But especially if you've had a really bad past, stop and think about all the things you've been forgiven by Christ and now are you ready to extend that grace to other people? You better be or else God's going to revoke, he's not going to revoke your salvation but you know what he will revoke though? Your hall pass on this earth and you're going to detention, okay? And it's going to be, it's going to be a detention the likes of which you've never seen. It's going to make the corona lockdown seem like a picnic. I mean it's going to be a major detention, friend. You don't want to go there. You know what? You want God to be nice to you. Well then you know what? You better extend grace and mercy to other people because the Bible says, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. And you know what? Hey, I can go all day with biblical quotes on this because this is kind of a big subject in the Bible. There's a lot of Bible. Look at Matthew chapter 7 verse 1, judge not that ye be not judged and this is prophetic my friend for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure you meet it shall be measured to you again. So whatever measure you dole out where you're ready to thank God that you're not like other men and you're going to pull that out, folks, just be ready to live by that standard. If you're going to sit there and say, well how dare so and so do X, Y, and Z, well you better not have ever done X, Y, and Z and you better not ever do X, Y, and Z because otherwise the same measure that you meet, it's going to be measured to you again. Now obviously we don't want to abuse this and say, hey, we can never judge anything, we can never condemn anything. Folks, obviously there are other scriptures in the Bible that balance what I'm teaching right now, but this morning we're talking about this. We could go to other scriptures that talk about, hey, there are times when people need to be thrown out of the church. And obviously when the Bible tells us to throw out the fornicators, the drunks, the railers, the extortioners, he's not saying that they can fornicate with their girlfriend seven times a day and seven times a day say I repent. That's not what, obviously that's not what we're talking about there, okay. There are obviously teachings in the Bible that certain people are reprobates and they can't be saved. We believe that. We don't understand that. Romans 1 teaches that. We get it. There are teachings of people being reprobates. There are teachings where certain people need to be thrown out of the church. There are certain Judases or infiltrators or heretics or whatever that need to be permanently removed, okay. That's what we believe, false prophets, whatever. That's a different situation. What are we talking about here? We're talking about people who sin and do wrong and they repent. Do we forgive them or not? Do we move forward or not? Do we let it go or not? And I'm not, and again, I'm not saying that sin shouldn't be punished. Hey, if my kids came to me, if my kids committed some sin and they came to me, Dad, I'm so sorry, you know, and they just gave me like the ultimate apology, they're still going to get punished. They're still going to be disciplined, right. It's not like, it's not like you just go into a courtroom and just tell the judge how sorry you are and he's like, well, you know, grand theft auto, but you're really sorry, so case dismissed with prejudice. It's not going to happen. But you know what he might do though, if that's your attitude? He might say, okay, you know what, I've got a range here. I can give you one to ten years, I'm going to give you one, or I'm going to give you three, right, or if you come in and give him attitude, then he might just throw the book at you, you know. And look, recently I committed a traffic violation, recently, and it was totally my fault, it was my bad, and I basically just, I basically just told the officer, I said, hey look, I, I did this, you know, this was my fault, I screwed up, and you know what happened? You know, he let me off really easily because of the fact that I took responsibility because I was at fault, you know, I had done wrong. And so that's what I'm talking about. Now that cop could have just thrown the book at me, am I right? He could have just said, hey, let me just haul you off right now. And sometimes that happens, you know, where people, but you know, sometimes somebody could be speeding like 50 miles above the speed limit, and no, I wasn't doing that, okay, I don't do that. But let, you know, let's say somebody's out speeding 50 miles an hour above the speed limit or whatever, right? And somebody's out doing that incredible speeding. You know what, I guarantee you there are a lot of times where the officer said, here, I'm just going to put 19 over. You're like, yeah, I've been there, you know. I don't think I've ever gotten that high, but like, you know, I've had it, I've had it where I was, you know, younger and I was going like 30 above, and they're like, hey, we'll put 19. We're going to put you in this other bracket, right? Does everybody see what I'm saying? Or if he actually put down that you're going 35, then it could become like criminal speeding and stuff. I mean, isn't there, somebody help me out, aren't there some really extreme traffic violations that you could get where it could even be, is there anything that's a felony? Criminal speeding. Say what? Reckless driving, criminal speeding. Look, there are speeding infractions where the cop could literally just put the handcuffs on you, have your vehicle towed, take you straight to jail, put you in jail, bring you for a judge, throw the book at you, six months in jail, license revoked, or he can write 19. Now I doubt if you're doing that kind of level of speeding, I really doubt he's just going to say, hey, it's a warning this time. Giving you the 19 in a sense is kind of giving you a warning in that sense. So here's what I'm saying to you folks. I'm saying that when I sin, I want God to write 19 when I was doing 35 over. But you know what, if I don't forgive other people, if I'm holding everybody accountable for everything and not forgiving, not showing grace, not showing mercy, you know what he's going to do? I'm going to say, well, you know what, you're such a stickler for holding everyone accountable for everything that they do, every mistake that they make, even after they're sorry, you still want to hang it over their head. Well then, you know what, since you're such a stickler, I'm sure you want me to write 36 on here because, I mean, that's what you did and I'm sure you'd hate for me to fudge the number, right? So let me just write 36 because guess what, that's what I clocked you at. And you can take it up with the judge and the bailiff and guess what, right now, I'm taking you to jail right now. Now folks, that's what we're talking about. We're not talking about zero punishment for sin, that's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is forgiving. Somebody screws up, they get it right, you move on and you be patient with them and give them a chance to live it down. And you know what, if you don't, hey, God is going to come after you. That's what the Bible says. So he says, look, with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, verse 2, and with what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that's in thy brother's eye, but consider'st not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold a beam is in thine own eye, thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. And let me just end again on this note, Matthew 6.14 is where we'll end. The punishment for not forgiving, Matthew 6.14, for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. That's a promise. Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your forgiveness, Lord, and just everything that you've done for us, and all the things that we've done, Lord, that have been forgiven and forgotten. And I just pray that you help us to extend that mercy and grace unto others who sin and repent, Lord, that we would extend them that same grace and not be like that wicked servant who has plenty of sin in his own life but wants to grab everybody else by the throat and take them to task, Lord. Help us to be merciful that we might obtain mercy and forgive that we might be forgiven. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Amen. Let's turn our songbooks to song number six.