Sunday First Service | Parables: Mirrors of the Soul #4 | Pastor Rob Thomas

The easy thing would have been for Jennifer to just walk away in shame and let it go or for Ronald to to harbor bitterness for over a decade of his life that was lost. But they both ended up choosing a different path. Jennifer ended up reaching out to Ronald when he was released and asked to meet. When they sat face to face, she looked him in the eyes through tears and said, I am so so sorry. Ronald completely forgave her and he is quoted to say, I forgave you because I knew god had forgiven me. Holding holding that against you would have kept me in prison long after I got out. [01:19:40] (41 seconds)  #ForgivenessHeals

And then it's interesting how we see the king respond. You know what the king doesn't do? He doesn't come up with a payment plan. He doesn't he doesn't take go ahead and take the guy's wife and children as slaves. He doesn't repo their donkey. I I don't know what they they use. Didn't take their house. He doesn't even demand in this a partial payment. The king looks in an impossible at an impossible debt and out of sheer compassion, he forgives it all in a moment. Guys, every last denarius, all of the 10,000, it's gone. It's wiped clean and was it because the servant deserved it? Not at all. [00:56:28] (55 seconds)  #GraceWipesDebt

Mary said that she wanted to kill Oshea herself. She hated him. She carried that hate like a weight for years. She said it choked her. It choked out her joy and her peace and her ability to move forward. But Mary was a woman of deep faith. Through prayer, counseling, and the relentless work of the Holy Spirit, she began to see something that no one could have ever imagined. She saw that she had been forgiven a debt that she could never pay. Jesus had wiped her slate clean, every sin, every failure, every moment that she fell short. And if God could forgive her that that much, how could she keep holding Oshea in prison over what he owed her? [01:02:43] (38 seconds)  #ForgivenSoForgive

Instead of mercy, the bible says that he goes on to grab this guy by the throat and choke him and demands immediate payment. The man begs for patience. The servant refuses, throws him in prison until every penny is paid. Guys, this wasn't just a bad day for this guy. This just wasn't like a lapse in judgment. His heart this is a a heart that had received unimaginable grace yet did not allow it to change him. Did not allow it to transform him. How have you know? You can sit in church every single time the doors are open and not allow the spirit of god, the word of god to change your heart and life. [01:08:22] (41 seconds)  #UnchangedByGrace

And when his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that happened. Then after he had summoned them, his master said to him, you wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn't you have also had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. So also my heavenly father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from his heart. [01:15:01] (28 seconds)  #ForgiveFromHeart

It's impossible that you could ever repay it. And yet because of Jesus, God didn't just come along. When you said yes to Jesus, God didn't just come along and reduce the debt. He didn't set you up with a payment plan. He canceled it completely. He wiped it out. Paid in full at the cross. Right? Forgiven. Not because you deserved it, because he's rich in mercy. How many are thankful that we serve a God who's rich in mercy? That's the heart of God. His mercy is lavish. His mercy is unearned. It's it's it's shocking. It's far beyond anything that we could ever pay. [00:59:29] (40 seconds)  #PaidInFull

What is the jailer? The jailer is the unforgiveness, guys. And the torture is what you walk through as you harbor that and you walk in bitterness. Guys, a heart that refuses to forgive again doesn't truly understand the mercy and grace that's been extended. Forgiven people, forgive people. The call is clear. Forgiveness comes from the heart, not just in words. So and it says, as he said there, he says it comes from the heart and that emphasizes genuine, like, in internal transformation. [01:16:10] (44 seconds)  #UnforgivenessIsJail

Have you ever really sat down and thought about how massive your own debt was? Man, we love counting up other people's offenses against us. But have we ever stopped and really sat with that? How massive our own debt was? I'm talking about not just the obvious engine in life, but I'm talking about every bad attitude, every quiet moment of rebellion, every selfish moment, every way you chose every time you chose your way over god's way. Guys, that's the 10,000 that's being talked about in this parable. It's impossible that you could ever repay it. [00:58:50] (44 seconds)  #RememberYourDebt

Guys it's easy to say I forgive or I've forgiven. It's another thing to allow your heart to be transformed and changed. It's not It's not something superficial. It's not it's not just being tolerant. Forgiveness is something that is not optional. It's the evidence that God's mercy has taken root in your life, that you're willing to forgive. Ephesians four thirty two says, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another just as God also forgave you in Christ. And so here we've got Paul and he's echoing this parable. He's echoing what Jesus said. Forgive as you have been forgiven. That is the heart of the kingdom of God. [01:16:54] (45 seconds)  #ForgiveAsYouWereForgiven

Guys, the Greek word is translated compassion. It says the the king had compassion on him. It literal translation of that Greek word means moved in the bowels. Now that may mean some different things to some of y'all sitting here today. Like, what? But but it's talking about of, you know, the innermost part, and it's it's not like some polite empathy that the king is having toward this servant in this moment. It's this gut wrench, gut wrenching, like deep to the core kind of mercy that stirred the king's innermost being. As he's hearing the servant cry out for patience. [00:57:40] (37 seconds)  #DeepCompassion

The measure of mercy you give is the measure you receive. The measure of mercy you give is the measure you receive. So the question is, who are you still choking with unforgiveness? Who are you still holding in prison? I encourage you to let it go today. The king has forgiven you of everything. So I encourage you to release them in his name. Amen? Guys, I want us to stop and I want us to close this. I want us to take just a moment like we've done the last couple weeks and I want us to allow this parable to search our hearts. [01:21:22] (48 seconds)  #MeasureOfMercy

Guys, if the holy spirit has shown you somebody, just say it right now. Say, I release them right now. Just whisper it. Say the name. Like I said, maybe it's yourself. I release them. I release them right now in Jesus' name. Make the declaration. I will no longer allow resentment and bitterness and unforgiveness to place my heart and life. I refuse to be so selfish that I would stand by and hold someone else, choke someone else when I've been extended such grace and mercy. Keep saying it to yourself. Say, I release them. [01:30:47] (47 seconds)  #ReleaseThemNow

But may I say, there comes a point where we have to stop looking at ourselves and the pain that we choose to hold on to, and we gotta put our eyes on the grace and mercy that's been extended to us. My question from the beginning, when's the last time you really sat and considered how great a price you were forgiven of? When's the last time you just sat with that for a few? Guys, it'll cause your heart to soften. You'll see the depths of love and mercy and grace of our king. Guys, forgiven people Forgive people. Who do you need to forgive? [01:25:33] (53 seconds)  #FocusOnGrace

Some of gotta you forgive yourself. Some of you have walked with shame for a long, long time. God says you're forgiven. He loves you. He's not looking at that stuff you're focusing on. You gotta forgive yourself. Well, you just don't understand. You don't know what I did. You know what I did to my spouse. You don't understand I wasn't a good parent. You don't understand. You've got to forgive yourself. And in forgiving yourself, you may have to take some steps. You may have to step out, and you might have to make some restitution. You might have to ask somebody to forgive you. Wow. Imagine that. [01:29:12] (54 seconds)  #ForgiveYourself

I want some of you. You know this is affecting you. I want you to come down either see one of our prayer partners or maybe as we're worshiping, maybe you just wanna come down to the front. Guys, you've wondered why you're not getting your breakthrough. I will tell you unforgiveness. Forgiveness is the first step. That's why we see too every great revival, every great move of God started with an act of repentance of God's people. Guys, let him do a work in your heart and life today. You have been forgiven a great unimaginable debt. Don't continue to hold on to that. If you wanna be used by God, you've gotta release it. You've gotta let it go. Forgiven people forgive people. [01:32:05] (46 seconds)  #ForgivenessUnlocksBreakthrough

Unforgiveness doesn't just hold a grudge. It actively suffocates life both in the person that's being choked and the person doing the choking. It suffocates the life out of both. The servant is strangling his own freedom that he's just been given by the king by refusing to give what he has freely received. Think about people in your life that owe you something. And we don't tend to forget, that person owes me an apology. It's been four years. I still haven't apologized. [01:09:47] (36 seconds)  #UnforgivenessSuffocates

When they sat face to face, she looked the young man looked at the young man who had taken her son's life and she said, I forgive you. It wasn't because he deserved it, not because the pain was gone, but because she had been forgiven of so much more. They cried together. She hugged him. From that moment, something beautiful began. She would go on to petition to have him released from prison early. Eventually, he was released, and when he got out, she helped him begin rebuilding his life. Mary and O'Shea became close friends. [01:03:31] (32 seconds)  #ForgivenessRestores

And that last verse, those last two verses seem pretty heavy, and and and and they are because, really, Jesus ends with this with this sobering warning. The king, like, revokes the forgiveness at in the hands and hands the servant over to torment is what it looks like until the the debt is paid and and which we know is an impossible task. And, guys, I'm not sitting here arguing that because you're struggling and and and and working because you have unforgiveness towards somebody, I'm not saying that it's God taking back your your salvation or anything like that. But guys, I want you to understand that when you look at this, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured. [01:15:30] (41 seconds)  #ThornsOfUnforgiveness

You can pray a prayer to receive Jesus all day long and not receive the grace that he has freely given. This guy had just been set free from eternal prison, and yet he immediately becomes the jailer. The grace he received stayed on the surface. It never reached his heart. And it says that he choked him. The the word we translate choke here is like it's like a brutal word. It it talks about it it it means to throttle or to strangle or to suffocate. It's actually the same word that was used to describe the thorns and from week one, the thorns that would suffocate and choke out the the plant from the from the seed and kill it. It's the same word that's used from the parable of the sower. [01:09:03] (44 seconds)  #WhoAreYouHoldingInDebt

You may have carried that debt for years and years and years, and you may replay it. Usually, when we're walking on forgiveness, we replay these things over and over and over again in our mind. Right? We replay the scenario until we justify it. Like, I deserve blank. I deserve justice. I deserve an apology. I deserve restitution. These different things. You play it over and over again. You feel justified in your anger. Hey, you the Bible says, be angry but do not sin. Jesus is holding up a mirror and he's asking, how much have I forgiven you? How are you still choking a person over what they owe you? [01:10:49] (43 seconds)  #WhoOwesYou