NOTES
Biblical Forgiveness
Matthew 18:15-35
I want to speak this morning on a vital subject that is often misrepresented.
I want to remind you that Satan is a great counterfeiter.
Yes, he deals in lies, but the best and most effective lies have a ring of truth to them.
I think his game with most Christians is not to make them reject Biblical truth, but rather to corrupt that truth or replace it with a counterfeit truth.
This reminds me of something I have noticed in the automotive world.
There has been a push, a misguided one I believe, to get people to drive electric cars.
I have no issue with electric cars at all – I think the technology is fascinating and if I were independently wealthy, I’d love to have a Tesla to play with all the geeky stuff in it.
But this political push behind the electric vehicles is questionable at best.
I am not convinced at all that they are better for the environment, they just move the pollution from your car to a power plant.
Anyway, I have noticed that many car companies in attempt to market these new vehicles are using classic names – The Ford Bronco is a good example of this.
The electric Ford Bronco and OJ’s Ford Bronco are two totally different things!
But their marketing appeals to your nostalgia and you associate the new with the old, even to the point of replacing it.
Today’s subject – FORGIVENESS – is one that I am convinced Satan has influenced in modern Christianity.
He has taken a very good thing and twisted and stretched and manipulated into something resembling its former self but is in essence something different entirely.
This is similar to what he did the “Judge Not”.
That is not a Biblical command at all.
The Bible teaches us to not be judgmental but it also tells us that you can judge a tree by its fruit – just keep reading Matthew 6 beyond the first verse.
What I often hear today is that Christians are commanded to forgive no matter what.
Along with that we are told that we must forgive and forget.
Now on the surface, those sound righteous and noble.
The problem is that these ideas do not necessarily align with Scripture.
They are also quite dangerous – many abusers use these lines to keep their prey in check
My goal this morning is to lay out a Biblical understanding of what forgiveness between two humans truly is.
I believe the greatest passage of Scripture on human forgiveness is our text in Matthew 18.
We did not read the entire chapter, but it is important to note for context and the development of thought.
The chapter begins with the disciples arguing about who was the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
A lot of pride is found in that discussion.
Christ calls a little child over and uses him as an object lesson.
Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
He continues in vs. 7 by addressing the temptation to offend – not in the modern sense of hurt someone feelings, rather to lay traps for and attack others to cause them to stumble and fall.
We have a bad enough time stumbling over our own sinfulness in our daily lives that it is a high crime before God to make it harder for others to live the Christian life.
In vs. 10 Christ addresses the value of the child of God.
He came to this world to save us.
He is the Good Shepherd that will leave the ninety and nine in search of the one.
Peter nails this idea when he wrote:
2Pe_3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
What we have seen from vs. 1 to 14 primarily deals with relationship of the individual believer with God – the nature and value that we have to Christ.
Because of that value, we must be careful not to hurt or harm or otherwise discourage others in their own Christian walks.
But a question naturally arises here.
We understand that we should not offend another believer, but what if another believer offends us?
It is no longer a question about being the perpetrator of harm, but rather the target of it.
How are we supposed to react?
Do we turn the other cheek?
Do we pray for fire and brimstone to rain down on our attack?
Christ lays out first a practical method to deal with redress against harm.
Then He gives us the spiritual foundation for forgiveness.
I want to examine these in turn and also bring in some other relevant Scriptures on these matters.
I believe when we are done with our examination of this passage we will all be challenged in what it truly means to forgive.
I. Restoration Is the Goal of Forgiveness
I have one very important observation about his passage that is often neglected when analyzing the subject of forgiveness.
Both of these sections, practical and spiritual, are founded on cases of brother-on-brother wrongdoing and forgiving.
Mat 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee…
Mat 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me….
The question is not about what to do when an unbeliever attacks a believer – this is conflict management inside the body of Christ.
I will deal with that situation later…
In the first section of our text we have the practical plan for restoration.
If a brother offends you, go try to make it right.
If they refuse, take a third party along.
I do not think this means to bring along someone to just back you up.
Practically speaking having an unbiased third party to facilitate restoration is extremely important.
If that does not resolve the matter, then got to the church body itself.
If the wrongdoer still does not repent of their evil, they should be treated like the outsider that they are acting like.
The ultimate goal of this procedure is to bring the wrongdoer to repentance and restore them.
It is not to punish them or make them perform some sort of penance for their actions.
It is to bring sheep #100 back into the fold.
Too often we treat the idea of forgiveness as righting wrongs against us, but Biblically speaking forgiveness should be a catalyst to bring an error child back to God.
II. Repentance is the Basis for Forgiveness
The modern, counterfeit forgiveness preaches that we should people forgive no matter what.
If that were true, there would be no need for the three-step restoration process we just looked at because you would just forgive and forget somewhere along step one and go along your way.
You will hear an appeal to a Scripture such as:
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
You will hear someone say, “Well, God forgave you so you must forgive others.”
This misses a key ingredient to the process of forgiveness.
Look again at what Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:32 – forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
This begs the question – How did God forgive you?
First, God forgives THROUGH CHRIST and THROUGH CHRIST ALONE.
God’s holiness and righteousness does not allow Him to simply dismiss our sins and our shortcomings.
It is only through the sacrifice of Christ God can even consider forgiving our sins!
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Second, God forgives on the condition of repentance.
Such was the cry of the Old Testament prophets to wayward Israel.
Such was the cry of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles.
Such is the cry of Matthew 18.
It is God’s prescribed plan that to seek forgiveness or to grant forgiveness the wrongdoer must repent of their actions as a condition for restoration.
I will be so bold as to say that to guarantee forgiveness without repentance is to make a mockery of the Gospel – Forgiveness is not Benevolence.
III. Redundancy is the Beauty of Forgiveness.
Note Peter’s question and Christ’s response beginning in vs. 21 of our text:
Mat 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Mat 18:22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Evidently some of the Jewish rabbis taught that after forgiving someone seven times you were off the hook for forgiving them and could then hold a grudge and hate them.
Christ responds with hyperbole – a number so exaggerated as to be impractical.
I mean, who has time to wrong you and repent and seek forgiveness 490 times?
We see here one of the most remarkable elements of Biblical forgiveness.
It is limitless in its application when properly executed.
I add that qualify because of the parable that closes the chapter.
A scoundrel begs forgiveness (to the tune of around $500 million) by feigning repentance.
We know his repentance is not true because he does not carry on the same spirit of forgiveness to the one that owed him about $500.
We who truly have repented our sins before God and have found His forgiveness should so graciously model that same forgiveness to our fellow man.
We are forgiven by God so we repeat forgiveness to others.
We offer not only once, but continually as God’s forgiveness is granted to us.
IV. Representation is the Witness of Forgiveness
The passage in Matthew that we looked at primarily applies to the handling of offenses and forgiveness between believers.
It addresses the need and character of Biblical forgiveness that we are to show.
But what about when it is someone from outside the faith that has harmed you?
The three step plan we looked at earlier fails because you cannot take them to the church!
I am going to leave you this morning with a few quick observations about forgiving those outside the faith.
First, we should model Biblical forgiveness to all.
Luk 6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
Christ prayed for forgiveness to those that crucified Him.
By modeling God’s forgiveness we are acting out an object lesson on the Gospel.
Second, we should not bear ill-will to those that have wronged us.
Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
This does not mean that we should not seek for justice.
I have to remind myself often that God said that vengeance is His, and not mine.
Our goal with interacting with unbelievers is to bring them to see the Light of the Gospel.
Third, we should not allow ourselves to be abused or cheated in the name of forgiveness.
Let no man or woman or institution convince you that you must forgive their wrongdoing and harm just because you are a Christian.
We are called to stand for the truth and the right, not to be taken advantage of by unbelievers.
Fourth, let goodness draw people to forgiveness, not retribution.
Romans 2:4 – the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
If we err, let us err on the side of kindness and goodness and gentleness and meekness.
We should seek reasons to forgive and not excuses to withhold forgiveness.