The Goal of Forgiveness Matthew 18:21-35 The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

 The Goal of Forgiveness

Audio  Youtube

Matthew 18.21-35

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?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 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. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet[d] and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’[e] 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 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. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

Introduction

      Because of the twenty-four hour news cycle and the internet we are constantly exposed to the evil things that people are doing in the world and in our own neighbordhoods. This constant exposure can make us cynical and suspicious. It can harden us in our attitude toward others. The worst thing that it can do is to stop us from looking for the evil that exists in our own hearts and dealing with it according to God’s will with repentance, forgiveness, and new obedience. When evil constantly surrounds us we can be tempted to think that we aren’t so bad ourselves, and we can lose sight of the grace of God in our lives. 

Why Does God Forgive Us of Our Sins?

     Many do not believe in sin. But everyone recognizes bad human behavior. The question is: What is the cause? If we know the cause or causes, we might be able to cure it or restrain it. Those who don’t believe in God or the devil or good or evil often blame bad behavior on animalistic traits still remaining in the evolutional process, poor education, poverty, and racism. I spoke of this last Sunday, and pointed out that this popular view of evil has only led to a five-fold increase in crime in the past hundred years, and I would add to that today: a great increase the breakdown of marriage, family, civil discourse and civility in general. If we continue in this direction, the world will become more and more savage and unloving. This is its natural state of the world apart from the kingdom of God. 

     God tells us a much different story. Bad behavior arises from the problem of sin. Sin is not biological, it is spiritual. It is not something we can understand. It is rebellion against God. When you catch a child taking a cookie that they were told not to eat and ask: Why did you do this? What is the most common answer: “I don’t know?” Jeremiah 17.9  said: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperate wicked, who can understand it?” Paul calls sin lawlessness and a mystery in 2 Thessalonians 2.7. In the Book of Revelation John describes the world in opposition to God as a harlot who has the word “mystery” written on her forehead (17.5). 

     Human solutions to the mystery of sin have never worked and never will. The problems just get worse. But God counters the mystery of sin with another mystery: The mystery of love. Paul describes that mystery in 1 Corinthians 13. “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels… If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries… If I have faith to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing… Faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” If you really want to understand that chapter, then reread it again, and in each place that Paul uses the word “love,” read “Jesus.” This is what John was saying in his first letter: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4.10). Why does God forgive sins? Because He wants to deliver us from the slavery of sin and the consequences of eternal death. 

How Does God Forgive Us of Our Sins?

     God forgives sins by paying the impossible debt.  The first man had debt of ten thousand talents.  A “talent” was a weight of silver or gold. One talent was the equivalent of 6,000 denarii. A denarii was the average wage for one day of work. Therefore a talent was worth 20 years of work. Multiply that by 10,000 and he owed 200,000 years of work. This was an impossible debt. Jesus used the word “debt” in the Lord’s Prayer to refer to this massive debt of sin that all people owe to God. One of the most common ways that the Bible describes this forgiveness is with the word “redeem.” God redeems us from our debt of sin by paying it for us with the innocent blood of Jesus. Peter teaches us this when he wrote: “…you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1.18-19). Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20.28). 

What Is the Goal of Forgiveness?

     Forgiveness brings us to the goal that God has for us – the goal of holiness and perfect fellowship with Him and with one another. In Jesus’ day the preaching of forgiveness was absurd both among the Jews and the Gentiles. Many of the Jews in Jesus’ day thought of themselves as holy by virtue of their own self-righteousness and their outward obedience to the Law of Moses. To say they needed repentance and forgiveness was an offense to them. Among the Gentiles, forgiveness was seen as weakness. You don’t love your enemies or forgive them, you crush them. Both problems still are alive and well in our world today. But we now have third problem when it comes to the teaching of repentance and forgiveness. 

     Today we live in a post-Christian world. What I mean by that is that Christianity is not a new teaching as it was in the first centuries after Christ. From the devil’s perspective, if you cannot defeat this teaching with self-righteousness or vengeance, then he raises up a third perspective. This is the perspective of “acceptance.” Many people today reinterpret forgiveness to be acceptance. They say that Jesus accepted everyone regardless of their behavior. This is hardly the case if you would just read the Bible. Jesus went to everyone and sent His disciples out to everyone to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sin. But when people refuse to repent and insist on continuing in what the Bible calls sin, Jesus told His disciples to “shake off the dust from your feet” and warn those who reject repentance and forgiveness that they will be worse off than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 10.14-15). 

     The goal of forgiveness is a changed life – a life so changed and so filled with the love of God that a person could forgive his brother seventy times seven times for sinning against him. Only a person who has realized how God has paid his impossible debt through the death and resurrection of His own Son could do that. The goal of forgiveness is to be so filled with the love of God that you begin to look at everyone around you in the same way God does. The goal of forgiveness is to go to people not to cancel them or hold grudges that last for years. 

Conclusion

     Dave was coming to the end of his life. He had grown up on a farm not far from here and had led a long and colorful life. He was our snowplow man for many years at our church. As I visited him to help him look to God in his last days, I could see that he was ready. One day Dave pulled out a yellow sheet of paper. On it he had written a list of the seven or eight times that God had clearly saved his life. The first was when his ship was blown to bits in the Pacific Ocean in World War Two. He was thrown into the sea and miraculously rescued. But it didn’t stop there. As a heavy equipment operator there were a number of other close calls with death in his life. Yet God had saved him. People who relized how God has saved them are the most peaceful people I’ve ever met. 

     Joseph was one of these men. This afternoon I encouarge you to read the story of his life in Genesis thirty-seven to fifty. He was sold by his jealous brothers into slavery. He was unjustly thrown into prison. If there was ever a man who had an excuse to become angry with God and angry with his brothers, it was Joseph. But Joseph had the gift of being able to see the hand of God in his life. “How could he sin against God who had saved him so many times,” he once said. At one point Joseph the opportunity to put his own brothers into chains and to pay them back for all they had done to them. Instead, he led them to repentance and forgiveness and salvation. This is the story of God, and I hope that everyone who hears me today will find themselves in that story. Amen. 

The Christian Approach to the Problem of Crime

 The Christian Approach to the Problem of Crime

Romans 13.4 and Ezekiel 33.14

 

     When I was in college I had an unusual opportunity to take a psychology class at a state prison in my hometown of Vandalia, Illinois. My mother was teaching a child development class there for a local community college (Lakeland College, Mattoon, Illinois). It was through her that I was able to take the psychology class. Each night that the class met I was given a pass through the front gate of the prison. I waited by myself in the classroom until the prisoners arrived. After that, the class was just like any other college class – lecture with questions and answers. However we were given a break, and it was during that time that I got to know some of the prisoners and their stories. One of the constant complaints they all made was that they had been framed for their crimes and were being treated unfairly. Yet, as they talked another story almost always emerged. They began to talk about all the crimes they got away with. One man, in particular, complained about being framed for holding up a Pizza Hut restaurant with a sawed off shotgun. But he bragged about getting away with four previous holdups! 

 

Misunderstanding Crime

 

     That experience taught me a few things about criminology. First, most of the crimes are committed by a small group of people. Second, most of these criminals are pretty hard-boiled and unrepentant. I did meet a few who I think were repentant, and they wanted to start a new life after they got out of prison. My mother had some of those guys in her child development class. She said they were really interested in that subject because most of them were fathers, and they wanted to be better fathers. I also wondered if some of them were learning something about their own child development.

 

     The problem of crime has ballooned in America in the past one hundred years. Since 1930, the incarceration rate per capita has increased five-fold; the number of police per capita has doubled; the number of private security guards has increased three-fold. Today we spend five trillion dollars a year on the problem of crime. What could be the cause of this increase? Part of it is certainly a misunderstanding of the causes of crime. Many criminologists and politicians blame the problem of crime on guns, poverty, racism, and the justice system itself. I have been reading new articles for decades about crimes and criminals, and I rarely see anyone examining their beliefs, their upbringing and their education. What has changed in the past one hundred years regarding these things?  Much has changed. One hundred years ago a new religion was being inculcated in American schools. It wasn’t called a religion, so most people didn’t see it that way. It was called a philosophy – the philosophy of humanism. It slowly became the dominate view human beings. Humanists taught that we are all animals, and that the problem of crime could be solved by getting rid of the animalistic traits still lingering in the “evolutionary” process. Humanists removed God from the discussion and attempted to solve the problems of humanity themselves. Humanists have ended up chasing their tails for the past one hundred years while the sins and evils of society have doubled.

 

The Biblical Approach to Crime

 

     God’s approach to crime employs governments as His servants. The Apostle Paul taught good criminology in Romans 13 when he said:

 

“For [the government] is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (Romans 13.4).

 

     I once had a discussion with a liberal pastor who said the death penalty is “unchristian.” I reminded him of this verse and said, “They don’t use swords to spank people.” He had no response. I do not enjoy seeing harsh measures meted out against criminals, but I recognize the necessity. Governments are called to “execute wrath on him who practices evil.” This is God’s way of “curbing” evil, and hopefully in some cases “curing” evil. But the cure comes from Jesus, not from the government. Do you know that a hundred years ago many prisons were called “penitentiaries”? Even the prison at Vandalia was once called a penitentiary, then a “state farm,” and now a “correctional center.” The word “penitentiary” comes from the word “penitence,” which means “repentance.” The idea was that men who committed crimes would be forced to think about what they had done and hopefully be brought to repentance and renewal. Thankfully, in some cases, this really does happen. 

 

     This happens when we accept the love and grace of God shown to all of us sinners – even to those whose sin has led them to commit violent crimes. All sins are abominable to God, and we must not think ourselves as better people just because we haven’t committed a terrible crime. Sin is like a seed that will grow if it is not killed. It may not grow to full fruit in our lifetime, but it will be passed on to others who may well take it to its full development. Ezekiel the prophet spoke of the need for harsh warnings given to the wicked, and above all the blessings of forgiveness. These words apply to each one of us:

 

Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live” (Ezekiel 33.14).

 

     Notice the beauty of the last part of that verse: “None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him.” That is the way God looks at a repentant and forgiven person. There is really nothing more beautiful and wonderful than that. “He shall surely live.” 

 

Only the Cross Can Restore

 

     God showed us how He deals with crime in the most famous case of crime and punishment the world has ever seen. This was the arrest, trials, conviction, and execution of Jesus along with two other criminals. These three crosses that stood at The Place of the Skull are a powerful testimony to God’s approach to sin and crime. At the center is the cross of Christ. We can call that cross the cross of Redemption. Jesus died, not for His own sins or evil, but for the sins and evil of the whole world. Next to him were two criminals who were both mocking Jesus. But one repented and believed in Jesus. We can call his cross the cross of Repentance. To him Jesus said, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise.” The other hard-boiled criminal mocked Jesus to the end. His was the cross of Rejection. What did he hear from Jesus: Silence. Dead silence. (Luke 23). 

 

     With this truth in our hearts and minds we can do something that is helpful and constructive when it comes to the problem of crime. First, we ourselves can listen carefully to the warnings of God’s judgment against sin and take it seriously. We may think that our sins are little and not that bad. But all sin works together with other sins to destroy. Many years ago, a member of my church was murdered in his driveway in Edwardsville two days before Christmas. As I drove to the home to help comfort the family, I was very angry about the criminals who did this. But I then began to remember how I have sinned and that my sins certainly contribute to the overall problem of evil in this world. Perhaps I failed to be a watchman like the prophet Ezekiel and to warn someone about their sin? Perhaps I thought badly about a wicked person instead of praying for them? Perhaps I had failed to show the love of Christ when I could have? Neither anger nor sentimentalism is going to help solve the problems of evil in this world. The first and best thing is for each of us to remember the good proverb: “But for the grace of God, there go I.” With that we also seek God’s forgiveness in Christ, and to strive for faithful living.  Secondly, we should pray constantly for our government and its efforts to keep justice. This is a difficult task, and we must pray that God will bring justice through soldiers, police officers, prosecutors, judges, prison workers and parole officers. Thirdly, we should support the ministries of the church that try to prevent the growth of evil and to help those caught up by it. That would include children’s Bible studies, youth ministries, Christian education, family ministries, and prison ministries just to name a few. 

 

Conclusion

 

     Today, in our Sabbath worship, we can give thanks that once again that God’s word has come into our life to renew our thoughts with the truth and our hearts with grace. We know bad beliefs when we hear them. Human beings aren’t making the world better when they avoid the truth of God and the harsh realities of evil, they are making it worse. Don’t listen to those who throw shade on the Christian faith and try to shame Christians. They have nothing to show for their beliefs about crime and evil than failure. Instead of letting sin grow and destroy, we constantly put it to death in repentance and forgiveness. Christians are always living in spiritual penitentiary and a hospital of mercy in Christ. We can leave this day knowing that God has restored us to a good life and that He wills to restore others through the cross of Christ. Amen. 

The Book of Life (Bible Study)

 The Book of Life

Thursday Bible Study, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Mt. Olive, Illinois
September 3, 2026

In 1893 James Milton Black wrote the song “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” He wrote the song because one of the students in his Sunday School class was absent. He visited her home and called a doctor to attend to her pneumonia. After that the thought of someone not being in attendance in heaven haunted him, and this inspired the song.

What is the Book of Life and how can I be sure that my name is written in it?

1. Exodus 32.32 – Moses uses the phrase to describe earthly life. 

It is most likely that Moses is asking for the LORD to end his life as he did in Numbers 11.15. He doesn’t use the expression “Book of Life.” There is nothing we can do to put our names in or take our names out of the Book of Life. As one pastor said, “The names in the Book of Life are not written in pencil.”

2. Psalm 69.28 – David prays that his enemies be blotted out from earthly life like Exodus 32. As unbelievers their names are not in the Book of Life with the righteous.

Some suggest that everyone’s name is in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world and that if they reject Christ, they’re names are removed (Universal Inscription). The Hebrew word m-ch-h means “to wipe out, annihilate.” This fits better with his enemies being killed rather than removed from the Book of Life.

3. Daniel 12.1-3 Describes those who are delivered to eternal life.

Daniel is clearly speaking about the resurrection and eternal life. 

4. Luke 10.20 Jesus urges us to rejoice knowing our names are written in heaven. 

ἐγγέγραπται “written” is in the Perfect Middle Tense. The core meaning of the Perfect Middle is “a present state resulting from a past action.”

5. Philippians 4.3 Here it is equivalent to those who are saved.

John uses the phrase more than any other in the Book of Revelation.

6. Revelation 3.5 Again equivalent to those who are saved.

7. Revelation 13.8 Emphasizes that the names were written from the foundation of the
world See also Revelation 17.8.

8. Revelation 20.12-15 Describes other books used for judgment that record our works
    as well as the book of life. 

9. All in all, the Book of Life is an expression used as an equivalent to “those who are
    saved.” What is the significance of using the image of a “book”?

The image of a “book” adds the sense of “permanence.”

10. When are the names written in the Book of Life? The Bible clearly says: From the foundation of the world. 

Three schools of interpretation
1. Names are written in the Book of Life when Jesus is accepted. (Wrong)
2. Names are written from the foundation of the world but are “sealed” at conversion. (Wrong)
3. Names are written from the foundation of the world. Accept it at face value. (Correct)

The first two interpretations stem from the idea that we participate in our conversion in some way if only that of “acceptance.” [“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Colossians 2.6) Ephesians 2.1 says we were dead in trespasses and sins and made alive.] 

Those who hold to this view are afraid that the doctrine of election will lead to a lack of holy living if people think they have nothing to do with their salvation. “Why evangelize if salvation is predestined?” “Why strive to live a holy life if salvation is predestined?” Human beings feel they must have some control over their salvation. They think this gives them assurance. But this also leads to bad outcomes. How will I ever be sure of my salvation if somehow it depends partly on me? How terrible I must feel if I think that the salvation of my neighbor depends on my zeal to share the gospel with him? Synergism leads to pride and presumption or doubt and fear. 

Why is the Lutheran (Face Value) interpretation more consoling? It consoles us because we know that God’s work is the only reliable work. It consoles us because we know that our salvation is not an accident, a coincidence, or a work we finished. God started it, continued it, and will finish it. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1.6). It was planned by God from the beginning. I’m sure that in the heart of a hypocrite this would disincentivize a person’s spirituality. But in the heart of a true believer it actually motivates. Consider how this truth motivated the apostle Paul when he came to the spiritually corrupt city of Corinth. God told Paul, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18.9-11). 

What is happening when we evangelize and when people come to faith in Christ? Neither the witness or the converted person is putting their name in the Book of Life. It is already there! It is the Lamb’s Book of Life! What is happening is this: They are being awakened to the fact that they are saved! This is highly motivational. It tells us not to look at the outer person to see if they could become a Christian. We should witness to the worst criminal as well as to the most refined gentleman. God will determine the outcome since “Salvation belongs to the LORD” (Psalm 3.8). 

But what about personal responsibility? Don’t confuse personal responsibility with God’s work in us. Something is happening. The heart is brought to repentance and filled with faith. Good works will result. But this does not come from personal responsibility, it comes from God. “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12.3). Ask yourself this question: Are we saved because we accepted Christ? Or, Do we accept Christ because we are saved? Which view gives all the glory to God? “By grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2.8-10). 

10. Martin Luther said on several occasions that the Book of Life is Christ Himself and
      to be written in it is to be in Christ by faith. 

11. The Formula of Concord (SD XI.13) states:

¹³ Hence if we wish to think or speak correctly and profitably about eternal election or about the predestination and ordering of the children of God to eternal life, we should accustom ourselves not to speculate concerning the absolute, secret, hidden, and inscrutable foreknowledge of God. On the contrary, we should consider the counsel, purpose, and ordinance of God in Christ Jesus, who is the genuine and true “book of life” as it is revealed to us through the Word.

Conclusion

Our hymnal contains the hymn “The Day Is Surely Drawing Near” (LSB 508) that accurately describes the Day of Judgment. It is drawn from an older poem known as the Dies Irae or “Day of Wrath.” The hymn pulls no punches as it describes the fright which will engulf the world at that time. It also offers great comfort to believers assuring them: “My Savior paid the debt I owe And for my sin was smitten; Within the Book of Life I know My name has now been written. I will not doubt, for I am free, And Satan cannot threaten me; There is no condemnation.” 

 

1 When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, 
and time shall be no more,
and the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather 
over on the other shore,
and the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Refrain:
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

2 On that bright and cloudless morning 
when the dead in Christ shall rise, 
and the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather 
to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there. [Refrain]

3 Let us labor for the Master 
from the dawn till setting sun;
let us talk of all His wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over, 
and our work on earth is done,
and the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there. [Refrain]