Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"
Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made.
So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.'
And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.'
So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.'
But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.
So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.
Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?'
And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.
My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."

This parable of Jesus is a great example on how just God is. This is what God means when he says to forgive. As you can see, the king forgave (pardon) and had mercy on the slave when he was in deep debt. Then the slave turned around and did not have mercy on the other slave that owed him. This shows you why we should forgive, for God spared us from the great debt in our lives that WE owe. How can we expect God to forgive us when we don’t forgive our neighbor?
Another demonstration of God’s mercy and forgiveness was the sacrifice of his son. Back then we had to stone adulterers and now we don’t, because they had no sacrifice to cover their sins. We are now under a new covenant because of Christ’s blood; our sins no longer need any other sacrifice. The Old Testament (covenant) laws were for back then; the ones we need to follow are in the New Testament (covenant).

We no longer need to stone anyone anymore.

1Corinthians 6:11 such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

There are some people that God just gives them over to their sins.

Romans 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.

It makes me sad to know there are some people that might not ever be saved. The ONLY way you can have forgiveness is to repent of your sins and put your trust in Christ, and then your sins will be pardoned.

If you have sinned and still feel wretched after repenting of those sins, know that God has forgiven those sins. Pray that you will not fall back into those sins.