Faith Walk / William Carroll
We will be talking about the word of God and how he moved in my life as I stood on his word. His signs and wonders that I have seen during the last forty years praying for my needs and the needs of others. I hope to encourage a new generation of believers to pray the word of God and to believe that He will move on their behalf. God answers prayers!
Faith Walk / William Carroll
Ep 71 Forgiveness: The Kingdom's Currency
Forgiveness stands as perhaps the most challenging spiritual discipline we face in our faith journey. Through the powerful parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18, we explore what it truly means to forgive "from the heart" as Jesus commands.
The story is striking in its contrasts: a servant forgiven an impossible debt (think millions of dollars) turns around and violently demands repayment of pocket change from a fellow servant. When the king discovers this hypocrisy, his response is severe - reinstating the original debt and delivering the unforgiving servant to "tormentors." Jesus concludes with the sobering warning that this is exactly how our Heavenly Father will treat us if we fail to forgive others.
What makes this teaching so challenging is how it confronts our natural desire for justice. We often cling to being "right" in a situation, feeling justified in our anger or resentment. Yet true Kingdom forgiveness transcends the question of who was right or wrong. The goal isn't winning an argument but restoring relationships. Sometimes, as I've experienced personally, God may even call us to ask forgiveness from those who wronged us! In those moments, our pride fights hard against God's command.
The hardest part? Real forgiveness includes forgetting. Just as God puts our sins "as far as the east is from the west" and remembers them no more, we're called to truly release offenses rather than repeatedly recalling them. This doesn't mean pretending harm never occurred, but rather choosing not to define relationships by past hurts.
Have you been holding onto unforgiveness? Is there someone you need to reconcile with, regardless of who was "right"? Your own forgiveness from God depends on your willingness to extend that same mercy to others. Take that difficult step today - your spiritual freedom depends on it.
Well, welcome to Faith Walk. And we're going to start back in Matthew, chapter 18, where we left off. I started to read it, but I'm going to read this parable, matthew, chapter 18. Get your Bible, get you a cup of coffee, get you some iced tea, or get you one of those what is it? Starbucks, brown sugar, oatmeal, expressos? They're pretty good now, and I don't even like Starbucks. But listen, just make yourself comfortable and let's just do a little study. Today we're in Matthew, chapter 18, starting in verse 23. Now I'm going to read quite a bit. I may stop in between, but let's just go, okay.
Speaker 1:It says we were talking about forgiveness. You know, we had just been talking about how many times should we forgive my brother, and it was 70 times 7. And anyway, this is a parable to point out forgiveness. And it says Therefore, the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought to him which owed him 10,000 talents, but for as much as he had nothing to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold his wife and children and all that he had in payment be made unto the Lord. Now, the servant therefore fell down, worshiped him, saying Lord, have patience with me, I'll pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servants was moved with compassion, loosed him and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of the fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence and he laid his hands on him, took him by the throat, saying pay me what you owed. And the fellow servants fell down his feet but saw him saying have patience with me and I will repay you all. But he would not. He went. He cast him to prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what he's done, they were very sorry and they came and they told the master all that was done. And then the master, after that he had called him, said unto him you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you desired me. Should not you have also had compassion on your fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee, and his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due to him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do unto you if you, from your hearts, forgive not every one of his brother the trespasses. So this parable Jesus is telling us how the kingdom of heaven is.
Speaker 1:You know, you've got a business owner. Let's just put it in modern day terms. We've got a business owner and he has somebody that works for him that owes him lots of money. The first one owed lots of money and so it was brought to his attention. You know, he stole lots of money, embezzled you know $10 million from you. And he brought him to him and the business owner said okay, so let him be sold, let his wife and let his kids be sold, and let payment be made on his account. The servant fell down and said no, not so, and began begging him, asking him to have patience, to have mercy. I'll pay everything, forgive me. And the business owner said I forgive you, I forgive you, don't worry about it, and forgave his debt.
Speaker 1:Then that servant turned right around and went and found somebody that owed him, say, $100. Took him by the throat and said you're going to pay me right now what you owe me or I'm going to throw you in jail. And he said look, I'll pay you. I'll pay you every bit, just give me time. So over time he didn't get his money. He got impatient. The guy went, grabbed him, throwed him in prison until he could pay everything.
Speaker 1:Now the servants of the other boss the servants of the servant's boss, who had forgave him the debt heard about it, was grieved and went and told the master or the owner. The owner then said bring him to me. And the owner was very disappointed and he said I had compassion on you and forgave you your debt. Shouldn't you have had compassion on your fellow servant, just like I had for you? And the Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentor. Shall he should pay all that was due.
Speaker 1:And then Jesus ended it and says Likewise, my heavenly Father, he will do also to you if you, from your hearts, forgive not every one of their brothers, their trespasses.
Speaker 1:So listen, the moral of the story is that we all sin. We all have sin in our life, we all trespass. And if we ask people to forgive us and we want to ask people to forgive us of our sins, forgive us of our trespasses, forgive us where we wronged them, and we go and we ask them and they forgive us. And then other people come to us and say, hey, I need you to forgive me for this, whatever it is, you need to forgive them. But sometimes, sometimes we have righteous indignation.
Speaker 1:But I was right, they were wrong. I was right, you know well. Okay, you were right, they were wrong. They came and asked forgiveness from you. You know, I found it in times in my life that I was right, the other person was wrong. But when the scripture laid upon my heart, I had to go and ask for forgiveness from the person who had done me wrong. And then that person turned right around and said I knew you would come to your senses and man the temptation to say hey, buddy, you were wrong, I'm doing this because God told me to do this. You know, welled up in me. Have you been in that situation? Well, listen, it happens, but I didn't do it because I knew it was right, because it doesn't matter who was right or who was wrong. To you it matters. To them it may matter, but in the whole picture of things, it doesn't matter who was right and wrong, as long as that relationship between, whoever it is you and your brother, you and your wife, you and your mother, whatever that relationship is is restored. It doesn't matter who was right or wrong, as long as you stand up and you forgive them and they forgive you. That's just simple. But you say, no, it does matter. To me, it's a matter of principle.
Speaker 1:Well, listen, what God wants? God wants us to be in unity and not to be out of unity. God wants us to see each other, to ask for forgiveness of each other, to forgive each other and to forget. Listen, if you say, well, I have forgiven them and I've forgiven them many times, but I hadn't forget, then that's not godly forgiveness. I mean, it's hard for us not to forget, it's hard for us to not forget those things that people hurt us. But if we have godly forgiveness, then we have to forgive those hurts. We have to let those hurts go. We have to forget them and put them away from us, not dwell upon them. Just like god puts our sins as far as the east is the west, into the sea of un, uh, in the sea of unforgiveness I mean unforgetfulness where he won't remember them anymore. You see, that's what we got to do. I kind of got tongue tied there. But listen, we have to learn to forgive.
Speaker 1:People forget and then the next time and I know, I know there's instances it gets hard, you're not telling anybody that don't know you say well, william, you hadn't been in my situation. Well, you hadn't been in my situation. I've had to forgive some things that were, you know, not easy to forgive at all. And then I had to forget, because when I remember them, I keep bringing them up over and over and making me mad, and, in other words, I'm not really forgave them yet. So I have to forgive, I have to forget and I have to go on.
Speaker 1:Listen, somebody in your life may need forgiveness. Well, reach out to them. Somebody may think that you're mad at them, or you may be mad at somebody. Ask them to forgive you. You know, maybe they think that you're the one that sinned against them. See, it doesn't matter. Like I say, it doesn't matter. The matter is that you restore that relationship, that you can be right with God, because God says if you don't forgive others, then he's not going to forgive you your sins. There's a condition to forgiveness we have to forgive others, like God forgave us, and God's not going to forgive us if we hold things against others. Until next time, god bless you.
