“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldst not thou also have bad compassion on thy 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 unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.” ―Matthew 18:21-3521Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. 23Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 28But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. (Matthew 18:21‑35).
IT is a great thing to see that the dealings of God with man today are in absolute grace, upon the ground of righteousness―grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life. There is no limit to God’s forgiveness of a guilty sinner. Peter, having heard what the Lord has preached, says, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against a me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” I have no doubt that Peter thought he had done uncommonly well when he forgave seven times. The Lord replies, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” You ought to show in your ways with others how absolutely boundless is My grace. Forgive, not seven times, but seventy times seven.
It is a very important principle which the Lord brings out here, viz.: ―You will have to do with others as I have done with you, if you are to enjoy My grace. What has the gospel done? It tells you, if believing in Jesus, that God has forgiven you. You are a forgiven man. The man that knows the gospel has the happy sense in his soul that the Son of God has come, and that the work of redemption is accomplished, and hence he knows that he is saved. Yes, “The Son of Man is come to seek, and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)). All are lost, but the Son of Man has come to save.
Now Peter was a converted man, and so are all who believe, they are on the same footing as Peter―eternally forgiven. We have received God’s pardon on the ground of His Son’s death, for the gospel comes out now upon the basis of the work of the Lord Jesus, by which God has been glorified, and all His claims fully met. Thus God is able to reveal His heart, and to come out to a world full of sinners, like you and me, and He can do it righteously. To lay this righteous basis, the Son of Man was judged by God. It cost the Lord Jesus His life; He had to give up everything. God comes out on that ground, and proclaims to the whole world the sweet news of the forgiveness of sins. I quite admit that an erring or backsliding Christian cannot get his sins forgiven till he confesses them; but grace anticipates this action in the case of a sinner, and proclaims pardon to him just where he is. Until touched by God’s Spirit a sinner does not confess, because he does not know what grace is. What changes the whole moral being is the discovery that God is able righteously to forgive all your sins. He comes and whispers, “Thy sins be forgiven thee” (Matt. 9:22And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. (Matthew 9:2)). The Lord Jesus commanded, “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem,” the worst spot of all (Luke 24:46, 4746And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46‑47)).
The heart of the Lord yearns over you, my unsaved reader, and I am free to tell you that “through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38, 3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)). We have all sinned against God, sinned deeply against Him; but before the day in which He has to judge that sin, He comes out in the activity of His grace, His Son dies for the sinner and his sins, atonement is made, and thus God is able by the Holy Ghost to proclaim the sweet news of pardon. The man that finds out this is arrested, and his heart is charmed to learn that God can forgive him. He finds then that all Christians are his brethren, and he has to walk in relationship to them, in the same spirit of grace which God has shown to him, otherwise he cannot enjoy that grace. It is this point which the parable before us illustrates.
“Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.” One owed him ten thousand talents. He could not pay his lord, so his wife and children and all that he had were to be sold. It was an immense sum, and how could he pay it? It was something like two million pounds in our money. The parable has a meaning. I do not doubt that the servant, who owed the ten thousand talents, was the Jewish nation. They had broken the law, persecuted God’s prophets, slain the Messiah’s forerunner―John the Baptist, ―and they were plotting to murder the Messiah, Himself. Oh, the fearfulness of their guilt! Could God forgive a nation as guilty as the Jew was? Yes, He could. You know what the prayer of the Lord Jesus was, when on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That prayer converted the thief, I doubt not. But what was the answer of God to it? I believe the second and third chapters of Acts give us the answer. In chapter two, Peter says, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (vs. 38), and, again, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (3:19). He calls on them as a nation to repent. To the Jew first, and then to the Gentile, is God’s order, but the Jew would have neither. There was a provisional pardon presented to the nation through the preaching of Peter. It was a national pardon. It was really the forgiving of the servant that owed the ten thousand talents. When Peter preached the nation had consummated their guilt by slaying Jesus, their Messiah and King, whom God raised up, but they would not have Him. The apostles are put into prison in the fourth of Acts for preaching Christ, and the Jews sum up all their sins by slaying Stephen, and in his person resisting the Holy Ghost. All was over with Israel, and their future history is an interpretation of the parable.
No sooner has the forgiven debtor got outside than he meets one of his fellow-servants who owed him “a hundred pence.” “Pay me that thou owest,” is his urgent demand. His cry for patience is unheeded, and the luckless debtor is cast into prison till he should pay the debt. On hearing this his lord was wroth, and delivered the unfeeling servant to the tormentors, “till he should pay all that was due unto him.” What is the meaning of that? You know the Gentiles had treated the Jews very badly, but what was the treatment that the Jews had got at the hand of the Gentiles compared with the treatment that the blessed Son of God had received at the hand of the Jew. God had sent His own blessed Son, and they slew Him. The Gentile had opposed the Jew, but the Jew opposed God. “Pay me that thou owest” is what the Jews practically said to the Gentiles after God had provisionally forgiven them. The Jews would not have grace themselves, and would not let the Gentiles have it.
When Paul was converted it was specially to the Gentiles that he was sent (Acts 22:2121And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. (Acts 22:21)). When he was telling the Jews about his conversion, and his commission to the Gentiles, they cried; “Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live” (vs. 22). The Jews would neither have the gospel themselves, nor would they let Paul carry it out to the Gentiles. This is really the wicked servant taking his fellow by the throat. Paul describes their actions fully in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16: “For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”
The lord accosts the hard-hearted and unfeeling debtor as “Thou wicked servant,” and pronounces his sentence. Where is the Jew today? Cast off by God; cast out of Palestine. They have murdered their Messiah, and refused grace in every shape. As a consequence they have been cast off by God “till they pay all.” Will all be paid? Read Isaiah 40:1-2,1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:1‑2) “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” That is a very striking scripture. By and by the Jews will wake up to find who has paid their debt, the blessed Lord Jesus Christ Himself. They have received double from God’s hand in chastisement, and then Christ becomes their Saviour, because He has borne the sins of His people. He bore their iniquity. The Scripture is exceedingly plain. God has been wroth with Israel and delivered them to the tormentors, till they should pay all that was due.
It is important to see that our Lord then passes on to say, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.” Now, beloved friend, I believe this to be a principle of immense importance. I frequently find souls that have not peace, and people that say they are anxious to be saved, yet they never seem to get on. What is the reason of it? I believe there is some hidden root that has never been laid bare before God. Some secret sin, or personal feeling. If this is the case, that soul never really knows the Lord’s forgiveness. I find many Christians who are not happy. They do not enjoy the Father’s love. Why? Somebody hurt them, and they have a grudge against that one. Such souls will never enjoy the Lord’s forgiveness. To enjoy His forgiveness I must act similarly towards others. “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:2525And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:25)). It is a vital principle. If I have a grudge against another, I cannot get on. I am perfectly certain that the want of real peace and Holy Ghost joy among the people of the Lord often depends on this matter. The application to you and me is, I believe, more important than we have thought. How often must I forgive my brother? Till seventy times seven. How has the Lord forgiven us? Absolutely. We must act on the same lines to others if we would enjoy His grace.
But probably you say, How can I get forgiveness? Well, the gospel comes out to you and proclaims forgiveness through faith in Jesus’ name. You receive that forgiveness, as a sinner in your sins, and start on your way to glory. But, you say, What about my sins day by day? There must be confession to the Father (see 1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)). There is where you start. If you through grace are led to believe in God’s dear Son, you will come under the benefit of all the work that He has done, and He cleanses you from every sin. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:88If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)). A perfectionist says that, and only shows that he is deceived. But, you say, I thought a Christian was a person who did not sin. Well, he ought not to sin, but he has the flesh in him. It is folly, in fact it is a delusion of the devil, to say we have no sin in us. The flesh is still in us, and it is nothing but sin. If we let the flesh act and thus sin, we have to confess to the Father. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (vs. 9). That is an erring Christian’s resource. If as a child I find I have sinned, what must I do? Go to the Father, and simply confess my sin, and get forgiveness, not as a lost sinner, but as a child. He is faithful and just to the One who has died. All my sins were in the future when Christ died on the cross. If you are in a backsliding state owing to unjudged flesh, and consequent sins, you will never get right until you have confessed them. You will never get clear of the cloud your sin has brought in till you go to God and make a clean breast of all.
The Lord Jesus Christ made propitiation when He bore our sins, and now He is an advocate on high. Christ died to make me clean, and He lives to keep me clean. If I have sinned the Spirit will touch my conscience. When I have confessed, God forgives, communion is restored, and I again get the joy of the Father’s love. To live in its enjoyment, however, I must forgive others, as I have been forgiven-yea, even “till seventy times seven.”
W. T. P. W.