Should I Always Forgive? is a sermon teaching us about biblical forgiveness, that we should forgive others just as Jesus forgave us.

Key Verses:
Matthew 18:21-35

Let’s take our Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 18. We’ll be looking at the 21st verse. Our title this evening is “Should I Always Forgive?” As we get into the passage here, as we get into the background for this evening, I want us to think this in our minds here quickly. Can it be hard to forgive people? Think about it to yourself, don’t say it out loud. But can it be hard to forgive people?

You probably think, “Yeah, the other day, I thought of this person.” And it could be, especially if they’ve done something really wrong to you. You can probably think of something someone has done to you in your life, and you think to yourself, “You don’t want to know.” This guy, this girl, whoever it was, really did something. “They really wronged me.”

But think of something you would believe you would never forgive someone if they did that to you. It could be, who knows, it could be murder, it could be stealing, whatever it is, think of the thing that you would never forgive somebody for. Would you still forgive them anyway?

Some subscribe to this idea of karma where you do wrong, and they would give wrong back. Someone is going to go after you because it’s going to bite you and all that. Others hold the idea that you should never forgive people when they’re wrong. Rather, they will do worse than the original wrong. “Oh, you stole $100 from me. Okay, that’s nice. I’m going to steal $10,000 from you.” And you think to yourself, “Well, that’s ridiculous.” That’s the mindset of people today, some folks today.

How Oft Should We Forgive?

Tonight, I want us to look at the Bible, and I want us to see what our Savior says about forgiveness. Matthew 18:21, the Bible gives us these words:

Matthew 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?”

I submit to you as we look into the passages this evening that we ought to forgive everyone because Jesus forgave us of all our sins. I want to show that to you through the passages we’re looking at this evening.

First of all, we will look at Peter’s question in verses 21 to 22. As we get into this verse 21, Jesus addresses this fact if someone commits a wrong against you. This is in verses 15 to 20, where we would then say church discipline. If someone does something wrong to you, you go to the brother. If everything is good, that’s it. If he doesn’t hear you, take two or three witnesses and if they don’t listen, take it to the church, and if the church doesn’t hear, then you cast him out as a heathen man, a publican. We have all of this going on here.

But now Peter comes and asks this question. And before that, we have Jesus talking about the lost sheep and the sermon on the child text and how Jesus values children. Then Peter comes here in verse 21, and he asks the question to Jesus:

Matthew 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?”

Was Peter saying that you should tally your forgiveness tab until you get to seven? Image Luke right there, the first name I thought of. Let’s say Luke does something wrong to me, and I say, “Okay, I forgive you.” Check number one. Then he does something wrong again. Check number two. Once he gets to number eight, Luke, you’re done. No more forgiveness. You’re gone. I’ll never forgive you ever again. That’s what some people could think this could mean. Let’s look at verse 22:

Matthew 18:22: “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”

Oh, preacher, this means we have to do it 490 times. How many of you want to count to 490 times? But that’s not what Jesus is trying to imply here. How do you know that? Well, we’ll keep reading on.

Luke 17:3: “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.”

Luke 17:4: “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.”

So, repent, then forgive. Repent means to think differently, to reconsider, to change one’s mind. Rebuking him in this passage here. It talks about showing honor, or to tax with fault, trespasses to miss the mark, to err, or to sin. What is Jesus trying to say here? Luke chapter 17. If he asks for forgiveness and he changes his mind and repents seven times, we ought to forgive. That’s what He is saying.

You’re thinking, “But they’ve done this, and this and this, and they keep doing this, and they keep doing this. How oft should I forgive them?” Let me plant this thought in your mind here, and we’ll highlight this again at the very end of the chapter. How often does Jesus forgive you? How many times do we do something wrong in a day, and He still forgives you? I mean, you asked Him to be your Savior. He doesn’t say, “Oh, you’ve done this wrong, okay, you’re not going to Heaven anymore. He forgives us often. But let’s continue on.

This is Jesus speaking here. Consider that Jesus forgives all sins and continues to forgive all sins when we confess them to Him.

1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We do something wrong against God, but He still forgives us no matter what it is. But we need to go and ask Him to basically say sorry. Let’s continue on here. Peter is told by Jesus that we are to continually forgive. That’s the message Jesus is trying to communicate here, seventy times seven. He doesn’t mean to go to 490 times and forget about it. Besides, first of all, again, why would we want to count that high?

An Impossible Debt Owed

But number two, here is what He is really trying to get at is that He is going to show the magnitude of forgiving by giving us a parable. Parables are heavenly stories with earthly meanings. We are going to look at the parable on forgiveness. Verses 23 and 24 set the setting here.

Matthew 18:23: “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.”

Matthew 18:24: “And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.”

I got curious as I started studying. How much would ten thousand talents be? First, we have two people. They come, and they have a debt to pay. “Reckon” means to make up or commute, trying to figure out what these guys owe. And this particular guy owes ten thousand talents.

Now, according to one website based on today’s currency, it would be the equivalent of 3.48 billion dollars. How many of you had that in your lifetime? You could maybe have that in your lifetime. Here is a more reasonable number. According to another website, it equates to 10 to 300 million dollars. That’s a little better, but that’s still a lot, 10 to 300 million dollars. Or, 60 million denarii or days’ wages, or basically, 60 million days of work. Now, you’re thinking, how many 60 million days of work would that be?

What Jesus was trying to communicate here is that this is an impossible amount of debt to pay. How so? Let’s assume you work 250 days a year and you work Monday through Friday 50 weeks a year. You’ve only worked 13 thousand days of work in your lifetime. You worked when you were 14, and you worked until you were 64. So, that’s 13 thousand. This is 60 million days’ wages.

Let’s go a little higher. Let’s say you worked 70 years. You started at 14, and you retired at 84. Seventy years of work would only yield 18,200 workdays, days’ wages with no vacations at all, and not paying your bills. Is that 60 million? No, it is not. First of all, how could you imagine working for 70 years and not having a vacation one time? It would be difficult. This is a lot of money this person owes. How in the world did he owe that? I don’t know, but let’s continue on. He owed quite a bit of money.

Forgiveness of Debt

Matthew 18:25: “But forasmuch 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.”

“But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold,” – he had every right to do this. Let’s continue on. “His lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.”

You find this in two examples, in Leviticus chapter 25:39-46 shows until the year of Jubilee, they would be bound to that master as a servant. In 2 Kings 4:1, at the beginning of that passage, a creditor comes to take the widow’s child because they did not have the money to pay off the debt they had. Of course, a miracle takes place, and they are able to pay the debt.

So, this is something this person could actually have done. But here is what he does.

Matthew 18:26: “The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”

He would have to have a lot of patience, don’t you think? That’s a huge debt to pay. It would take him his whole life. I’m pretty certain the lottery wasn’t around back then. It’s a lot. I want you to understand verse 27. I want to tie in 27 to 35 later on. But I want you to know the lord’s reaction in verse 27.

Matthew 18:27: “Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”

“Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion,” – knowing he was owed so much money he was moved with compassion. “And loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”

I will tell you this personally. If someone owes me money, I’m generally not going to go after them and say, “Hey, you need to pay up.” I don’t do that. If the person forgets to pay me, okay, that’s fine. Oh, I should borrow money from you and forget. No, don’t do that, okay? But generally speaking, if someone borrows something from me and they forget to give it back, I’m not going to go after that person and say, “You, (whoever you are), you need to give me back all this.” No. Why? I could replace it. You think maybe not. Maybe not. But I also know that my God shall supply all my needs. I do know my God will help me out if I get robbed somehow, some way.

But I want you to notice here that he is “moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.” Ten thousand talents, he forgave every single one of those. He has a 0 balance. Don’t you wish the bank could take away all your debt and you don’t have to pay it off? Maybe you’ll hear some jumping in the streets. Maybe you’ll hear a shout from all the way down the other end of the state. The lord had compassion and forgave him. Don’t you wish the parable ended there? I wish it did, but it doesn’t.

Do Unto Others

Matthew 18:28: “But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.”

A hundred pence were estimated to be 100-150 dollars, according to one website. That’s not too terrible. It’s not that much money. This guy here just got forgiven millions of dollars. And now here comes this guy who owes him money, about a couple hundred. And what does he do?

“But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him,” – notice a difference there. The first one, that lord to the servant, didn’t touch him at all, nothing like that. This guy lays hands on him, and not only that, he took him, laid his hands on him and took him by the throat, like trying to get him, and says, “Pay me that thou owest.”

This same guy who was just forgiving millions of dollars of debt has taken this other guy by the throat and says to pay the money now, the hundreds of dollars owed. And then notice verse 29:

Matthew 18:29: “And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”

The same thing the servant said to the lord. Now this servant says to the servant to give him time to pay it.

Matthew 18:30: “And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.”

He would not listen to him. He would not listen to him at all. What did he do? “But went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.” You think that this guy is so terrible. There was a difference. Aren’t you glad that God does not require us to pay Him back in a sense? He forgave us that sin debt. He doesn’t charge us a single thing. He doesn’t charge us interest rates. Our God forgave all of our sins, and He continually forgives all of our sins. He has, like in verse 27, “Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion.” God has compassion for us.

But sometimes we look at other people, and we say, “Hey, pay up, buddy. My money, give it up now.” And then when they don’t do that, we call them, we text them every day, “When are you going to pay me back.” Does God ever come to you and say, “When are you going to pay me back?” God does not do that to us.

Paying the Debt Owed

So, verse number 31:

Matthew 18:31: “So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.”

Matthew 18:32: “Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:”

“O thou wicked servant,” – that is not good. I hope no one ever calls you wicked. It just doesn’t sound good. I don’t think they could ever call you wicked and smile. No, you can’t even say wicked and smile at the same time. It’s just not a good term to be associated with. If I call my wife wicked, guess what’s going to happen? I am not going to be in there, not tonight. Never would call her that.

But he says to this servant, the one who did not forgive the 100, 200, 300 dollars, “O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:” – because you wanted me to forgive that and so I did. But now, in verse 33:

Matthew 18:33: “Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?”

He’s saying [paraphrasing], “As much as I forgave you, you should have forgiven him. You owed me more. He owes you a percentage of that amount. And what did you do with him? You threw him off into prison. I could have done that and more because you owed me more.”

Matthew 18:34: “And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.”

He never got out. There is no way.

Always Forgive People

Matthew 18:35: “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”

How do we know Jesus was saying forgive people every single time? Verse 35, “Forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” God wants us to forgive. If you don’t think that’s a common theme in scripture, we are going to look at some verses here as we finish off that show some of that. God wants us to forgive all. Peter asks, “How many times should I forgive? Seven times?” No, 70 times 7. Verse 35, “Forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”

“But you don’t know what they’ve done to me.” You could list something bad that someone has done to you. But consider what Jesus did for you. I think that every single time someone does something wrong against me, that I should still forgive them. It doesn’t matter what the crime is. Heaven forbid, I hope this never happens. If someone were to kidnap my wife or kill her, they should have the due justice that should be given to them, but I should still forgive them.

“There’s no way you can do that.” Well, what did Jesus do? He forgave everyone their trespasses. He forgave all that sin that was accumulating in our debt. Jesus wiped it free because of His blood.

The Unforgiveable Sin

Now, there could be something that Jesus, that God, couldn’t forgive.

Mark 3:28: “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:”

Mark 3:28: “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:”

There is one sin God cannot forgive, and that’s the sin of unbelief. When that person does not trust Jesus Christ as their Savior, and they breathe their last breath, and they pass away not knowing Christ, that’s the one sin God cannot forgive because they rejected Him. He cannot forgive those who reject Him. Other than that, He forgives all sins. They reject God until they die, and God cannot forgive them. He allows many chances for people to trust Him. Once they are gone, He can’t forgive them because they rejected His Son, the Savior.

Forgive Those Who Wronged Us

In conclusion, I want us to understand that first of all, by way of application, we ought to always forgive people no matter what they do to us. God forgave us of our sins, and that’s the biggest transaction we have in debt to God. But in conclusion, I want to encourage us to forgive. We ought to forgive. We should forgive others who have wronged us. God wants us to forgive others who have wronged us, no matter the offense.

Can people be punished for wrong? Sure, yes. If they do something wrong, the law can handle that. There are laws in place to protect us from harm or affect us. As much as we should forgive when people wrong us, don’t hold a grudge against that person. Let’s look at some verses here as we finish.

Ephesians 4:32: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

We see the term “forgiving” – forgiving each other.

Colossians 3:13: “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”

Matthew 6:14: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:”

Matthew 6:15: “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Jesus is speaking here on the sermon on the mount. And the last one:

James 5:16: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Maybe your prayer life is a cinder because you haven’t prayed for somebody. You should pray for them. I’ll tell you this, I told it to the Kings Kids group on Wednesday night, but I generally don’t like conflict. I don’t like having an issue with somebody and not being able to resolve it that same day. I really don’t.

There was an instance years ago when I was being pressured by a manager to tell somebody something, and the way I wrote the letter should have been better. I was 20, 21, and not that smart. Still not that smart today. But wrote that letter, and then I got a nice little note saying, “You don’t tell me what to do.” It’s a nice note. For that night and the next couple of days, until I saw him again, I could not sleep. Why? Because I felt that I had done something wrong. And I had. I hadn’t talked to the person, I hadn’t said something, I’m accusing, or whatever the case is. I needed his forgiveness.

So, I finally got the chance to interact with the gentleman. It took a few days, but I explained to him what was going on, and in the heat of the moment, we were just frustrated with what was going on. We both had the run of the department over the holiday. The person who normally would do it was out with surgery. He wasn’t there, it was new to all of us, and we were just both heated.

But we forgave one another. It took a while. I had to swallow my own pride and really just say I was wrong. Sometimes we have to admit that we are wrong. God wants us to forgive others. That is what the scriptures teach us.

James 5:16: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Maybe there is someone you need to call and ask for forgiveness this evening. Maybe you need help being able to talk to that person. Come to an old-fashioned alter and settle that time with God and have God help you out with it. Maybe your relationship isn’t right with the Lord because you’ve been sinning against Him, and you haven’t confessed your sins to Him. Come to the Lord tonight and confess that to Him. Will you?

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Father, we come, we pray, and we thank you for the time you have given to us. We thank you for the opportunity you give, and I pray that as we look now to finish and conclude the service this evening, I pray that you just help us examine ourselves. Help us to see where there are those that we can help out. Maybe there is someone that we need to call tonight, someone you need to talk to, someone we need to help settle a dispute with. And that you would just help us to have the courage, the boldness, and the faith to be able to do that. As Christ forgave us, we ought to forgive other people. It can be hard to forgive. Our nature, our sin nature, causes us to have grudges and regrets, and jealousy toward people.

Father, I pray that you would just help us at this time, that we can just know that you are always the same and you never change, that you want us to forgive, and you would help us to forgive others. Father, bless and move in this invitation time we pray.

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