Hebrews Lesson
210 September 2010
NKJ Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there
is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Just for a quick review, we've been looking at Hebrews
12:14 which mandates that we are to pursue peace with all people. This isn’t
just related to believers. This is related to all. There are other passages
that we have looked at to demonstrate the use of the term “all” here that
distinguishes it from just other believers.
We are to pursue peace with all, but that is not a
peace that compromises with truth. It is a peace that is based upon objectivity
and humility. Otherwise it's not pursuing peace; it's just a capitulation for
the sake of avoiding conflict. That’s not the purpose at all. There has to be
objectivity. There has to be humility on our part.
As I keep emphasizing there are always people who are
so willing to say, “Oh, I'm sorry. Forgive me,” taking ownership or taking
blame for something they have not contributed to just for the sake of restoring
peace. That is not fair to the situation or to the other people involved
because when someone is guilty of some sort of infraction, they have somehow
offended us or they have abused others or whatever the problem might be and
what we do when we just sort of act as if it really didn’t happen, we take
blame that is not ours, and then that person just continues in that behavior. We
basically aid and abet their sinful arrogance. So there has to be that genuine
objectivity there.
Pursuing peace brings in a series of different
important doctrines related to reconciliation, forgiveness and love. All of
these intersect and interact with each other. The pattern is, as I've stated
again and again, how God has forgiven us. The conflict that developed between
God and man at the garden of Eden is resolved by God on the cross. God is the
one who took the initiative. He is the one who loved man in such a way that He
would provide the solution. There's a solution that pays the penalty so that
we’re not covering over sin as if it didn't happen. There's a penalty that’s
there that is paid for by Christ.
Then there is the need for each individual to apply that through faith
in Christ.
Ephesians 4:32-5:2 states this. We are to be kind to
one another. The word there for kind is the word chrestos meaning that which causes no discomfort, meets a high
standard of value. It’s benevolent, kind, pleasant. It’s used in several
passages in the Scripture and it is a corollary to being gracious and to dealing
with somebody not on the basis of what they've done but on the basis of a
higher standard. That higher standard is God's character. We love people not on
the basis of who we are because we're not that good either; but on the basis of
who God is. It's His integrity that’s at the focal point when we forgive
others. We’re kind to one another, then tenderhearted. That word eusplagchnos indicates compassion:
genuine compassion, not pseudo compassion. And we’re kind to one another by
forgiving one another.
The participle there of charizomai tells us how we are to be kind to one another by
forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore we are to be
imitators of God as dear children. So forgiveness, the Greek word charizomai, has a root meaning of the
idea being gracious. That is what forgiveness is; it is an act of grace toward
those who have offended in some way.
That passage took us to a reference to Christ in
Ephesians 5:2, His offering as a sweet smelling aroma. It took us back to Leviticus
3 where you have one of the various sweet smelling or sweet savor offerings in
the Old Testament. The peace offering we looked at as a picture of fellowship
because it's only in that one offering described in Leviticus 3 that the
worshiper sits down and has a meal indicating that whatever the conflict was
between him and God that it has been resolved.
From there we looked at the whole doctrine of reconciliation
over in Romans 5:1, 9, 10; that even though when we were still enemies or at
hostility with God we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Reconciliation
is through the payment of a penalty. I'm emphasizing this for a very important
reason. That is, that too often people think of forgiveness without recognizing
that forgiveness in the Bible is always predicated on admission of guilt or the
payment of the penalty. Now that payment of penalty or admission of guilt may
then be removed as it was when God or maybe reduced as God reduced the penalty
for David. But it’s not like you’re just covering something over as if it
didn’t happen. There is a penalty that is paid. There is an honest recognition
of fault and responsibility. It's not aiding irresponsibility or ignoring the
fact that there is someone one at fault who has caused offense. The payment is
done through Christ.
NKJ Romans 5:10 …we were reconciled to God through the death of His
Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
So there's a pattern in Christ’s life that is the
pattern for the spiritual life.
From there I went to the next passage which is central
to understanding reconciliation and 2 Corinthians 5:17–20 which tells us
(especially in verse 20) that we are ambassadors for Christ.
NKJ 2
Corinthians 5:20 Now then,
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we
implore you on Christ's behalf, be
reconciled to God.
That’s the application of reconciliation that takes
place objectively at the cross, but subjectively when a person trusts in Christ
as Savior.
Now as ambassadors for Christ our mission is to
proclaim the gospel that reconciliation has been accomplished at the cross, and
therefore unbelievers (all mankind) are to be reconciled to God. How can we be
messengers of reconciliation in a salvation message if in terms of personal
relationships there is no reconciliation? That's why there should not be a
conflict there.
Then I went to Colossians 2:13-14 talking about the
fact that we are reconciled to God because the penalty has been paid. The sins
are wiped out; and forgiveness here recognizes that aspect that it's canceled.
Colossians 2:13 in a revised, sort of expanded
translation here translates:
And you when you were dead in your trespasses in the
uncircumcision of your flesh He has made alive together with Him.
He makes us a live together with Him at the instant of
salvation; but He makes us alive together at the instant of salvation because
He's already done something in the past. That is indicated by the next clause
– by having already forgiven you. It is an aorist participle there, which
means the action of forgiveness precedes the action of the main verb, which is
to be made alive. So He forgave the trespasses before regeneration took place.
When did He forgive the trespasses? When you trusted in Christ? That is not
what the verse says.
NKJ Colossians
2:13 And you, being dead in your
trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together
with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
Again the word there for forgiven is charizomai. It is being gracious to us
by canceling out that debt. We will see that in another passage in Luke 7
tonight that forgiveness (charizomai)
has the same ideas as aphiemi. It’s
removal of a debt. Both are used in economic contexts to indicate the
cancellation of a debt. It’s just wiped out as if it had never been. So we are
made alive together by already having been forgiven. That’s the forensic
cancellation of the debt of sin that took place at the cross, which is what’s
indicated in the next phrase “because He wiped out the handwriting of
requirements.”
Now what's interesting is that the word that’s
translated (I think this is the New American Standard I have out here) “He
wiped out.” In the ESV it is
translated cancelled, which is also how they translate charizomai. The Greek word that’s used for “wiped out” is the
synonym of charizomai. He uses these
two synonyms to stress the point that the trespasses are forgiven or canceled
because He has cancelled out…
NKJ Colossians
2:14 having wiped out
or eradicated
the handwriting of requirements
That’s the indictment for sin.
Or, the certificate of death as the King James read.
that was against us, which was
contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the
cross.
That’s where it occurred: at the cross, not when you
trusted Jesus, not when I trusted Jesus; but at the cross historically. That's
when the indictment against us is nailed to the cross and eradicated. That is
why I called that forensic or legal forgiveness.
There are four kinds of forgiveness in the Bible. The
first kind is this legal forgiveness that occurs at the cross where our sins
are eradicated. That is why we say sin isn't the issue. When you hear preachers
get up and they start harping on sin and focusing on sin as if sin is the
issue, then they are already into a legalistic gospel. Sin isn't the issue any
more. Now we have to recognize we’re spiritually dead. That’s going to bring in
some discussion about sin. We are born spiritually dead but that sin has
already been paid for at the cross. He wiped out that sin, that indictment
against us, so that the issue is now just faith in Christ. That occurred at the
cross. Now that’s where I ended last time.
Now I want to go to Luke 17, Luke 17:3-4. Let’s just
start off in verse 1 to get the context. This is Jesus talking to His
disciples.
NKJ Luke 17:1 Then He said to the disciples, "It is impossible
that no offenses should come, but woe to
him through whom they do come!
2 "It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his
neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these
little ones.
This is a summary of more expanded context that we’ll
look at a little later on in Matthew 18. Luke just shortens the account.
NKJ Luke 17:3 "Take heed to yourselves.
In other words, watch yourselves.
If your brother sins against you,
rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
This is the abridged version of what Jesus talks about
in Matthew 18, that if your brother offends you then you go to him in private
to talk to him and try to smooth things out (pursuing peace). But if he doesn't
admit the fault and deal with it, then you go back to with 2 or 3 witnesses
that by their mouth whatever is conducted is seen with a witness and is
verified and validated. This is just a summary of that where he says:
NKJ Luke 17:3 "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins
against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
The reason I wanted to go to this verse is because
many people will say, “Well, see what Jesus is saying here is that I don't need
to forgive that person unless they repent.”
And we all know circumstances, people, and situations
that we may have had in our life or that others have where someone does
something. They either break a contract or they are guilty of some sort of
horrible abuse or some other situation where they have done something wrong and
they have offended us in a great way; but they don't admit it. They act as if
they're completely justified in whatever they did. There's no admission of
fault on their part.
Some people will go to this passage and say, "See,
what Jesus says is that I only need to forgive them if they repent."
I’ve been pointing out that there are two aspects to
repentance, a subjective aspect and an objective aspect. The subjective aspect
has to do what goes on in you or me as the one who is forgiving, the subject of
verb forgive. Objective forgiveness has to do with what's going on on the part
of the person who's being forgiven, the object of the verb. That forgiveness in
its root meaning and part of its root meaning in English is to remove any sort
of mental attitude sin of hate or bitterness or anger or resentment towards the
person who has offended us.
That is what we should do even if they don’t admit any
guilt or any responsibility; we are to forgive them objectively. We are not to
harbor mental attitude sins, bitterness, resentment, anger – any of those
things toward them because all that does is wipe out our own spiritual life. But
that doesn't mean that in terms of how we treat them in terms of letting them
back into perhaps a position of trust or where they could perhaps offend us
again; we don't do that. There are
consequences to their offense and their actions. That means that that person
has to deal with those consequences. We may remove them from our live for a
while or for good depending on how serious the infraction might be.
But here Jesus is talking about what we are to do if
that person or under the condition that that person does repent. And by the
word repent simply means they change their mind.
This is a situation where it’s talking about the
condition where someone comes and says, “You know I was wrong. I got very angry
at you, I did this, I did that and I was wrong; and I ask your
forgiveness.”
They have repented; they’ve changed their mind. Jesus
says if they repent forgive him.
NKJ Luke 17:4 "And if he sins against you seven times in a day,
and seven times in a day…
This is where we say, “Wait a minute I heard you say
‘I’m sorry,’ fifteen times already today. I'm not going to let you; I don’t
believe you anymore.”
But Jesus says:
NKJ Luke 17:4 "And if he sins against you seven times in a day,
and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive
him."
That’s what this is talking about. You take him at his
word. And the pattern’s I pointed out last time is how many times in a day do
we commit the same sin – anger, arrogance, whatever it might be –
you fill in your favorite sin of the day and afterwards we say, “Lord, I just
committed XYZ sin again for the 15th time today. Forgive me.”
And what does God do?
He says, “Well, wait a minute. Fourteen was okay.
Fifteen is too many. I’m not going to forgive you anymore.”
No, He doesn't do that. So the pattern is how God
forgives us every time we commit that same sin even though we have committed
that sin 85, 692 times in the last 25 years. Every time we go back to the Lord
and admit that sin, He instantly forgives us, wipe the slate clean, and that
sin removed is removed as far as the east is from the west. It's not an issue
any more. Even though God in His omniscience knows that we’re going to commit
that sin 90,392 more times before we die. He forgives us at that point. That is
the pattern. Somebody gets mad, angry, whatever it is. They come to us, admit
their guilt; we forgive them.
Let's take a situation that might not quite be so
personal with many people. Let’s say you're involved in a business deal in a
contract and this person breaks the contract.
They come back and they say, “I was wrong. Forgive
me.”
“Okay. I forgive you.”
Does that mean that I enter into another contract with
them? That's a different question. I’m not going to enter into another contract
with them, especially if this has happened 7 times in the day because they have
to demonstrate a level of consistency, maturity and trustworthiness; but that
doesn't mean I haven't forgiven them. It just means there are still
consequences to their failure.
The same thing happens with us in terms of our
forgiveness with the Lord. There may be consequences to our sin. Just because
God forgives us and the fellowship is restored doesn’t mean that the
consequences don’t still come into effect.
We used the example with David. David committed the sin
of adultery with Bathsheba. Then when it was discovered that she was pregnant,
he entered into a conspiracy with Joab (his general) to make sure that her
husband was at the front of the lines when they assaulted the city so that he
would be in a place where his life would probably be forfeited in the battle. Then
they would come off without having actually committed an overt murder. But they
had conspired to make sure that he would die. David is guilty of conspiracy to
commit murder, cover up of the pregnancy and adultery, all of which were capital
crimes under the Mosaic Law. God commuted the sentences of capital punishment. God
often does that for us.
When we confess our sins God’s going to do one of
three things. He's either going to remove the punishment completely or He's
going to discipline us in a lesser intensity or He may let us feel the full
force and impact of the divine discipline for the sake of teaching us and
training us. The same thing happens in our relationships with people. Sometimes
when we confess our sins or somebody comes to us in forgiveness, everything's
fine and we just move right on. Other times it's a more serious nature and
there are certain consequences that have to be put in place because we need to
protect ourselves.
I often get questions when I talk about forgiveness
that have to do with abuse, whether it has to do with abuse of children, sexual
abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, abuse that occurs in marriages where
women have gone for some sort of trauma. Usually I get the response, “Well,
does that mean I just constantly make myself a doormat to get beat up on?”
No, you don't. There are consequences to sinful
behavior and experiencing those consequences is not contradictory to
forgiveness. We have real problems in our culture because we're so permissive
with saying that if you forgive somebody and you still want them to suffer
consequences that that's contradictory. It's not contradictory. The
contradiction would occur if we are really if we put ourselves in a position of
vulnerability and every time we just let somebody take advantage of us and
defraud us or abuse or whatever each time. There has to be a place where
consequences come into play even though you’ve forgiven the person. That calls
upon us to go a step further in making sure they understand that there's
forgiveness, but there are boundaries and there are limitations within the
relationship because of past failures simply for the sake of personal
protection.
Now let's go to another passage in Luke that also
focuses on forgiveness. This is in Luke 7, Luke 7. We'll begin in verse 36. One
of the Pharisees invites Jesus home for dinner. He goes to the Pharisee’s
house. They sit down and prepare to eat.
NKJ Luke 7:36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him.
And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat.
And while they're eating, the woman in the city is
identified simply as a sinner. There's usually a certain amount of speculation
here as to the nature of her sin. Usually she's identified as one who has been
a prostitute but that is not the inherent in the identification of the word
sinner here. But that’s probable, but we can't say that with certainty.
Some others want to identify here as Mary Magdalene.
There is nothing that I think that identifies her as Mary Magdalene.
NKJ Luke 7:37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner,
when she knew that Jesus sat at the
table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil,
The oil that she's bringing is extremely, extremely
expensive.
NKJ Luke 7:38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and
wiped them with the hair of her head;
and she kissed His feet and anointed them
with the fragrant oil.
NKJ Luke 7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself,
He is down there muttering to himself in his self-righteousness.
saying, "This man, if He were a
prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."
Jesus who
knew what he was thinking said to him:
NKJ Luke 7:40 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I
have something to say to you." So he said, "Teacher, say it."
In other words, “Simon, this is a teachable moment. We’re
going to learn a little bit about humility and see if you really have humility
here or if you are still an arrogant self-righteous Pharisee.”
He's going to tell a little story. Jesus had a great
way of telling these kinds of stories or parables because they brought the
point home.
NKJ Luke 7:41 "There was a certain creditor who had two
debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
The difference in this is 50 denarii was about
equivalent to a days wage. I played around with some numbers this afternoon. I’m
never very good when I play around with numbers, but if somebody is making
around $50,000 to $60,000 a year, then a days wage would be somewhere between
$25-$30 an hour. So this is going to be equivalent to about $200-$250. I mean
the 50 denarii would be equivalent to about $200 - $250 a day; maybe a little
more, a little less but just in that ballpark. 500 denarii would be ten times
that, so you’re looking at $2,500 to $3,000. You have one person who owes
approximately let’s say $3,000 and the other owes $300.
NKJ Luke 7:42 "And when they had nothing with which to repay,
he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?"
He has one person who owes him about a day's wages and
the other person owes him 10 days wages or a third of a month. He freely
forgives both of them.
In some translations like the ESV charizomai is used here and it is translated as “cancelled”, which
gives the thrust of this. This is an economic term. We always have to go back
with forgiveness. It is an economic term just as our redemption is the payment
of a price. The forgiveness is the cancellation (the eradication) of the debt. These
are economic concepts. He freely forgives or cancels the debt for both of
them.
Think about this. If you owe the bank something, let’s
say you owe the bank $50,000.
The bank comes along and says, “I'm going to cancel
the debt.”
The bank doesn't come back a week later say, “Ah! You
owe to it me again.”
Once that cancellation has been finalized; then it's
not brought up again. It's forgotten; it’s history. It’s in the past. It’s over
with. That's what is part of forgiveness: that when that debt is canceled (when
somebody is forgiven), it is forgotten. It's not brought up again. You don't
keep a running list and the next time they make the same mistake you say,
“Okay. Let's bring out the list with the last 50 times you did this.” That’s
over with. That's what forgiveness is.
Here the one who’s owed the debt forgives both of
them. Jesus asks them a question.
NKJ Luke 7:42 "And when they had nothing with which to repay,
he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him
more?"
Who's going to have a greater love for the one who
forgives? The one who is forgiven a little or the one is forgiven a lot.
NKJ Luke 7:43 Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He
said to him, "You have rightly judged."
Then Jesus turns to the woman and said to Simon:
NKJ Luke 7:44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon,
"Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My
feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.
NKJ Luke 7:45 "You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not
ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in.
NKJ Luke 7:46 "You did not anoint My head with oil, but this
woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.
NKJ Luke 7:47 "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven,
Forgiven, wiped out, cancelled!
for she loved much. But to whom
little is forgiven, the same loves
little."
This may be one part of the application in terms of
how we ought to understand how sinful we are because it makes us realize even
more how grateful we should be for our forgiveness and that we’re not any
better than anyone else.
NKJ Luke 7:48 Then He said to her, "Your sins are
forgiven."
NKJ Luke 7:49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say
to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
NKJ Luke 7:50 Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved
you. Go in peace."
This isn't talking about just phase 1 salvation. Remember
we talk about phase 1 salvation as justification; phase 2 is our spiritual
life; and phase 3 is glorification. So it’s really important when we study this
to keep the distinction between what we do to be justified and what we do in
terms of forgiveness in our spiritual growth. That's what Jesus is talking
about here. This woman already understands He's the Messiah. In terms of being
an Old Testament saint, she is already trusted in Him. And this is just her
gratitude now in expressing that. It has to do more with her ongoing phase 2
spiritual life faith and forgiveness, not her justification forgiveness. So
saved here is used in a forgiveness sense – phase 2 forgiveness
sense.
NKJ Luke 7:50 Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved
you. Go in peace."
What’s the result of forgiveness here? Conflict resolution,
reconciliation, peace. Peace comes as a result of forgiveness of sin. This
exemplifies that in this transaction.
Let's go to another passage. Turn back one more or two
more books in the Gospels to Matthew.
We’ll go back to a passage we looked 3 or 4 lessons back in Matthew 18. In
Matthew 18 is the expanded version of the passage we looked at in Luke 17
earlier. Now I want to go back and pick up the context again.
NKJ Matthew
18:15 " Moreover if your brother sins
against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
That’s what we read in Luke.
If he hears you, you have gained
your brother.
NKJ Matthew
18:16 "But if he will not hear, take
with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every
word may be established.'
It’s going to take witnesses to confirm things.
NKJ Matthew
18:17 "And if he refuses
Notice, in this telling of it I think there are two
different episodes between the one that Luke is explaining and one that Matthew
is explaining because some of the key terminology is a little different. Just
because Jesus talks about something in one place (in one Gospel) and it’s
similar in another gospel doesn't mean it's the same episode. He taught the
same thing in different contexts many different times. Over in Luke He used the
word repent. Here He just says, “If he hears you.” But it's similar
circumstances.
to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even
to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
In other words, treat him like an unbeliever. He may
not be, but treat him as if he’s an unbeliever.
Then he goes on talking to the disciples as disciples.
He says:
NKJ Matthew
18:18 "Assuredly, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
Or, release. That's another word for forgiveness
there.
on earth will be loosed
Or released.
in heaven.
This was typical rabbinic terminology. It doesn’t have
to do with binding the devil or anything like that which you’ll hear in
Pentecostal circles. It has to do with pronouncing a decision or a judgment
because they're the ones who are in authority (that will be in authority) in
the church.
NKJ Matthew
18:19 "Again I say to you that if two
of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for
them by My Father in heaven.
This is not a prayer verse. The “two” are talking
about the two or three witnesses that come in the context of this conflict
resolution. It’s not talking about prayer here. Prayer hasn’t even entered into
it.
NKJ Matthew
18:19 "Again I say to you that if two
of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for
them by My Father in heaven.
NKJ Matthew
18:20 "For where two or three are gathered
together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."
What are the two or three gathered to do in the
context? To make a decision about this individual who is recalcitrant in
admission of his guilt that he has offended the other believer. It’s not talking
about prayer here at all. This verse is one of those verses everybody quotes
for a prayer verse, and it has nothing to do with prayer. You just have to read
the context.
NKJ Matthew
18:20 "For where two or three are
gathered together in My name,
For a discipline decision.
This would be like if somebody were causing trouble
with in a local congregation; and there needed to be an action taken as to
whether or not you would allow that person to continue to associate or to come.
That's happened on occasion here, and other churches were somebody causes
trouble. Then the deacons meet to talk about the situation and decide whether
or not they're going to allow that person to come or if they need to exercise
some level of discipline and ask the person not to come back.
NKJ Matthew
18:20 "For where two or three are
gathered together
For the purpose of making this kind of disciplinary
decision.
in My name, I am there in the midst
of them."
You have the authority to make that decision.
Here's a problem with one believer who offends,
abuses, defrauds another believer and refuses to admit it, refuses to be
reconciled.
So Peter catches on to this and Peter says in verse
21:
NKJ Matthew
18:21 Then Peter came to Him and said,
"Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to
seven times?"
He's looking at the other side of this. He says, “If
this brother sins against me and I go to him and he responds to me, then I’ve
got to forgive him. How many times do I have to forgive him?”
Leave it to Peter to want to get down to the real
issues here.
NKJ Matthew
18:22 Jesus said to him, "I do not
say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Now within Scripture, seven is a number that
represents completion, based on the seven days in the week, in the creation
week. So “seventy times seven” is just an the idiom for expressing never-ending.
Even if he does it 490 times, he’s not talking about literally 490 times. It’s
like an infinite number is what that represents.
NKJ Matthew
18:22 Jesus said to him, "I do not
say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
In other words, as many times as he comes to you and
asks forgiveness, you forgive him.
Then he gives a little illustration starting in verse
23.
NKJ Matthew
18:23 "Therefore the kingdom of
heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 "And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him
who owed him ten thousand talents.
Now 10,000 talents is a huge amount of money. A talent
was a measure of gold, which was equivalent to somewhere between 60 and 80 pounds
of gold, and would be worth several million dollars today. So he has someone
who owes him $6 or $7 million dollars, let’s say, and he is unable to pay.
NKJ Matthew
18:25 "But as he was not able to pay,
his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children
..all of them sold into slavery, debt slavery.
and all that he had, and that
payment be made.
He's going to recover his money that is owed him.
NKJ Matthew
18:26 "The servant therefore fell
down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you
all.'
“I can't work and make it and pay it back to you if
I’m in prison. Give me time and I will pay it all back.”
NKJ Matthew
18:27 "Then the master of that
servant was moved with compassion,
This is splanchnon
again. It’s that same kind of word that we saw with heartfelt tenderness back
in Ephesians 4:32. It’s a shortened form of the word.
It's an expression of grace.
released him, and forgave him the
debt.
Now the word here for released is the Greek verb apoluo which is a synonym for
forgiveness. So it says he released him and forgave him (aphiemi). That's the same verb that we have in 1 John 1:9 for forgiveness.
forgave him the debt.
He's moved with compassion. He releases him and
cancels the debt – millions of dollars.
NKJ Matthew
18:28 "But that servant went out and
found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii;
Now he has somebody under him. This servant that's
just been forgiven of millions of dollars of debt then goes out, finds another
servant who owes him a hundred denarii. This is about two days worth of wages. I
pointed out 50 denarii in the previous parable was about a days wage so this is
two days wage. This would be $500
-$600. So he goes out and he finds one of his fellow servants who owes 100
denarii.
and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what
you owe!'
He gets a little violent with him, a little physical
with him.
NKJ Matthew
18:29 "So his fellow servant fell
down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay
you all.
He says basically the same thing that the other
servant had said to the king.
NKJ Matthew
18:30 "And he would not, but went and
threw him into prison
He went to prison for this paltry sum.
till he should pay the debt.
NKJ Matthew
18:31 "So when his fellow servants
saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master
The king
all that had been done.
NKJ Matthew
18:32 "Then his master, after he had
called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt
because you begged me.
NKJ Matthew
18:33 'Should you not also have had
compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'
NKJ Matthew
18:34 "And his master was angry, and
delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
Now that's the story. Jesus is not saying if you don't
forgive your brother God’s going to deliver you over to the tortures. See,
that’s not the application there; that’s the story. It’s not the doctrine.
But there is a principle there, verse 35.
NKJ Matthew
18:35 "So My heavenly Father also
will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his
trespasses."
Every time we ask for forgiveness (every time we
confess our sins) and then we in turn, turn around and somebody does something
to us and we want a harbor it, we want to be angry, have resentment and not
forgive them when they when they ask forgiveness. We are ungrateful. We haven't
learned the lesson, and Jesus draws a point here that if we’re not willing to
forgive others when God forgives us, then we remain out of fellowship. Oh, you
might get back in fellowship for a nanosecond but as soon as you fail to have
forgiveness towards others you're not applying the principle that you've
learned and there's no spiritual growth. You’re just operating in
carnality.
So there's a connection between our forgiveness, our
relationship with God, and the peace that we have experienced there because of
forgiveness of sins and that which we apply in terms of our relationships with
other human beings.
Forgiveness isn’t an option, as I pointed out; it's
mandatory; it is part of our spiritual life and reflects how grace oriented we
really are. Because if you we don't forgive others, we’re not charizomai –ing others. We’re not
being gracious to them. And because we're not being gracious to them, we
haven't lived up to the standard that God has established for members of the
royal family of God.
This takes us back to our passage in Hebrews 12:14. So
I think we're actually going to move forward tonight in Hebrews. All of this is
to help us understand what is about to be said in verse 15.
NKJ Hebrews
12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness,
That is our spiritual growth or spiritual advance.
without which no one will see the
Lord:
That has to do with special privilege for maturing,
overcoming believers in the kingdom.
The participle that begins 12:15 is a participle of
means. We are to pursue peace by looking carefully—self-examination. It
is the Greek word episkopeo. We have
a noun episkopos where we get our
word Episcopal. It is translated bishop. It is a word for someone who takes
oversight or care for something. The
idea of looking carefully is that we're to take oversight and carefully look at
our lives, our motives, our thoughts, our actions. We pursue peace by looking
carefully (by self examination) lest anyone falls short of the grace of God.
NKJ Hebrews
12:15 looking carefully lest anyone fall
short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause
trouble, and by this many become defiled;
That is an unfortunate translation because it looks to
people at first glance that if you don't pursue peace, then you fall short of
God's grace and you’re not saved. Remember he's not talking to unbelievers; he's
talking to believers here. He's saying that your job is to pursue peace because
that is the grace- oriented thing to do. If you don't, you fall short of the
standard. You've just come short of God’s standard. God’s standard is for you
to be gracious to all, to forgive everyone just as God for Christ's sake has
forgiven you. When you don’t do that, when we don’t forgive others; we harbor
anger and resentment and revenge motivation, all these other things. We want to
get back at them. Then what happens is we have fallen short of the standard. We
haven't lived up to the standard that God has established for the believer in
the royal family of God.
We are to examine ourselves regularly to make sure
that we don't let anger, resentment, these mental attitude sins receive a
toehold in our soul so that they can then as a small seed of sin grow into
something that is much more destructive. That's what is referred to by the term
"root of bitterness". We let this root develop from the seed, and
before long bitterness, anger, resentment begins to grow and engulf our
thinking. We are out of fellowship and in carnality all the time because we
have failed to deal with the situation on the basis of grace and grace
orientation. As a result it becomes self destructive to our spiritual
life.
And it not only affects us, which is the point: lest
any root of bitterness by springing up cause trouble; but by this many become
defiled.
As a person gets into bitterness and anger and
resentment, it's not long before that starts manifesting itself in sins of the
tongue: angry statements, lies, slander, gossip. Then this spreads among other
people and so it defiles others.
The Greek word that is used here is miaino, which was a word that was used
for spiritual defilement. It was also used of various other forms of becoming
filthy in different ways in the ancient world, but it has a spiritual usage of
being spiritually defiled or becoming carnal and being covered in sin.
NKJ Hebrews
12:15 …lest any root of bitterness
springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
All of a sudden it begins to infect the body of Christ
around this person.
So we are to pursue peace with all people and
sanctification by careful self-examination. That's how you pursue peace is by
looking first inside yourself.
That goes back to the principle we looked at in Matthew 7 that we to
first take the log out of our own eye before we deal with the mote or the grain
of sand in the other person's eye.
NKJ Hebrews
12:15 looking carefully lest anyone fall
short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause
trouble, and by this many become defiled;
Now we see this same idea expressed in the Old Testament
in Deuteronomy 29:18. There Moses warns:
NKJ Deuteronomy
29:18 "so that there may not be among
you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD
our God, to go and serve the gods of
these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or
wormwood;
It’s the same idea is that when we get involved in
carnality that can begin to affect all of those around us in various ways.
I want you to notice something else that I pointed out
here in 12:15. You have 3 “lests”. In the Greek it's indicated by a phrase me…tis but it comes across good in this
translation. By careful examination there are 3 problems that can develop.
NKJ Hebrews
12:16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel
of food sold his birthright.
NKJ Hebrews
12:17 For you know that afterward, when
he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for
repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
Does that mean he committed an unforgiveable sin when
it says that he could find no place for repentance? No, not at all. But what it
does mean is that once Isaac gave the blessing to Jacob, it was irreversible
decision. So there are irreversible decisions that take place in our lives in
terms of carnality. We can reach a point where we do certain things. We get
away from the Lord for certain amount of time and there are missed opportunities
and missed privileges. It hurts our spiritual life.
But before we go into some of that, let me just go
back to Hebrews 12:16 for just a minute.
NKJ Hebrews
12:16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel
of food sold his birthright.
Now the word translated fornicator here is the Greek
word pornos, which in almost every
use in the New Testament refers to a literal, physical, sexual fornication or
immorality. But there's no real record of that in the life of Esau that we
have. However in a non-canonical book in a book called The Book of Jubilees, which is what's referred to as the
Pseudepigrapha. Pseudo meaning false,
and grapha, meaning writings. These
are false writings. They were never ever considered to be part of the canon.
It’s not like the Apocryphal. They were false writings, and they do have some
value historically but they're certainly not on the level of Scripture or
anything you would want to read for devotional purposes or anything like that.
But they do give insight into history and traditions among the Jews. In the
Book of Jubilees 25:1 it states:
And in the second year of
this week in this Jubilee, Rebekah called Jacob her son and spake unto him
saying, “My son, do not take thee a wife of the daughters of Canaan as Esau
your brother who took him two wives of the daughters of Canaan. They have the embittered my soul with
all their unclean deeds for all their deeds are fortification and lust. There's
no righteousness with them for their deeds are evil.
In the Torah there’s a prohibition of Jews marrying non-Jews,
marrying unbelievers. That was considered to be immoral or fornication if they
married someone outside of Israel. That is what is referred to here. It is not
that Esau was a fornicator in the classic sense of the term but that he married
outside of the clan unlike Jacob who went back to the cousins back in Haran and
married there within the clan. Esau is following his own lusts as to whom he is
gong to marry and he has rejected as it were the spiritual heritage within the
family.
Now when we studied Genesis a number of years ago, I
pointed out that there's this period of Esau’s’ rebellion occurs when he is
young. I want to go and look at the passage at the passage in Genesis 25 just
as we close out this evening in Genesis 25. This has to do with the family
inheritance. This doesn't have anything to do with poor old Esau’s eternal
destiny. I think he's gotten a lot of bad rap by people who haven't understood
this passage correctly. If we’re dealing with him as an analogy for how a
believer is to live, if he’s an unbeliever there's no comparison. There's no
analogy. You have to compare apples to apples. So what we're talking about is
how a believer should live. So the illustration is of a believer who lived
wrongly and lost something. He lost his inheritance. But he didn't lose
everything. And he didn’t lose his position within the family.
Look at Genesis 25:27. The boys have grown up. Esau is
a hunter. He's a man of the outdoors and he loves to hunt. Isaac loves to eat
the food that Esau prepares for him. He loves to eat the wild venison. But
Jacob is more of a homeboy. Jacob cooks a stew. Esau comes in from the field. In
verse 30, Esau comes to Jacob. Jacob realizes that Esau is just starving to
death. He didn't have a good time hunting that day. He missed whatever he shot
at or he didn't see anything. He’s tired and he's hungry and he smells this red
lentil stew that Jacob has cooked. He's begging for it.
He says, “Give me some of that red stew for I am
weary.”
The redness is the root meaning of the word Edom,
which is red. That’s where Edom comes in as another name for Esau.
And Jacob says, “Okay. I’ll feed you,” but he’s going to
finagle the situation here. Jacob knows the story that when they were born
there's the prophecy that the older will serve younger, the older being Esau. He
knows that God has already said he's the one is the designated heir but he is
going to try to manipulate it.
He says, “Sell me your birthright as of this
day.”
And Esau said, “Well, I'm about to die. If he doesn't
give me food I’ll die, so what is a birthright worth to me?”
Jacob has him sign it off. This is legal within their
culture. The birthright is then given up and treated profanely, treated lightly
by Esau as if it has no value. So
he willingly gives it up for just a bowl of red lentil stew. This is the focal
point here. Just for a morsel of food he gives up his inheritance.
Later on he will get a second blessing from his father
Isaac; but it's much less. It’s not like he lost everything. But he lost his
firstborn inheritance rights because he gives them up here in this
transaction.
NKJ Hebrews
12:17 For you know that afterward, when
he wanted to inherit the blessing,…
He goes to his father and says, “Can’t you reverse
this?”
“Well, no.” Isaac said, “This was an irreversible
transaction. Once it’s set in law, I can't back up. I can't change. There's no
change here or repentance possible.”
It’s not talking about the fact that Esau isn’t
repenting. He’s weeping and begging the father to reverse the transaction but
because of the codes and laws of inheritance rights Isaac’s hands are tied. He
can’t make a change. So what we see here is the principle that there are
consequences to sins in our life and to rebellion against God that will result
in loss of rewards and loss of inheritance or God will not distribute certain
rewards or inheritance to us that we would have had if we had walked in
obedience. That's the point here. No matter what Esau did, he couldn't reverse
the situation. There's no opportunity for change.
So as we come to the end of this little study here in
Hebrews 12 the emphasis has been on the importance of the application of
forgiveness and not harboring these mental attitude sins toward someone and not
forgiving them.
The reason is because when we continue in that path of
carnality then because we're not walking by the Spirit, because we're not in
spiritual growth. We are losing opportunity to serve the Lord, to grow
spiritually, and to where divine good and the fruit of the Spirit would be
produced in our lives. That's just lost opportunity and failure to receive any
possibility of rewards or inheritance related to that lost time and lost
opportunity.
NKJ Hebrews
12:12 Therefore strengthen the hands
which hang down, and the feeble knees,
In other words don't get tired in the race but keep
pressing on to the finish line.
Now next time we’ll come back to another interesting section
in verses 18 to 24 as we move forward in Hebrews. Does anybody have any
questions on forgiveness? Tinker?
Tinker: The lesson on this is that Esau this may keep
us from inheriting our rewards?
Right. At the judgment seat of Christ there are those
who are going to have everything burnt up. They enter heaven and they’re saved
but they have no rewards, no gold, silver, precious stones. We won’t achieve
that. Now some people will have more; some people will have less. The point
here is not that the person who fails loses all rewards. But there are some
believers who won’t have any. There are some who could have had more but
because of carnality and lost opportunity they won’t have much. Then there are
those who've been faithful overcomers who pressed on and they will have more. So
inheriting the blessing has to do with rewards and inheritance for post
salvation blessing that will come at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
That’s why forgiveness is important because when we
just out of fellowship all the time because we won’t forgive other people then
that just wipes out our spiritual life and spiritual growth in the meantime. It
hurts us; it doesn’t hurt them.
Alright.
Let’s bow our heads in closing prayer