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Previous Lesson -- Next Lesson MATTHEW - Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!
A Bible Study Course on the Gospel of Christ according to Matthew
PART 2 - Christ teaches and Ministers in Galilee (Matthew 5:1 - 18:35)
D - The Unbelieving Jews and Their Enmity to Jesus (Matthew 11:2 - 18:35)
4. Practical Principles of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 18:1-35) -- The Fourth Collection of the Words of Jesus
e) The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:23-35)MATTHEW 18:28-35 Always remember that God enabled you to experience His forgiveness of all your sins, once you experienced the second birth of the Holy Spirit. This forgiveness enables you to live by your Lord’s mercy every moment of your life. Jesus’ blood makes intercession for you and purifies you from within. From the cross of Golgotha the rivers of grace, purification, and justification flow. Without the sea of His grace, no man can ever live reassured in the presence of God. How will you respond to God’s great love with respect to your relationship to other people? Do you love all people as God loves you? Do you forgive your enemy and forget his sins as God forgave you and wiped off your sins from His records? Or do you mercilessly and violently demand your rights from your enemy? Your enemy may have harmed you by word and deed, or neglected you, insulted you, mistreated you, and oppressed you. If you cling to the right of retribution you will fall into hell. If God had judged you according to his divine right, you would have become guilty a million times more than the one or two offenses of your offending fellow. If you condemn him according to your right, you will be destroyed and perish because you withheld mercy. Our God is love. This is the secret of the New Testament. He who rejects divine love falls under the penalty of His justice and the wrath of His judgment. If you do not give God’s love the opportunity to change your hard heart, and you do not love your enemy but grow harder and condemn your enemy according to your rights, you will deprive yourself of the privilege of turning back to God. Woe to him that does not forgive the one who offends him, for God will not forgive the unforgiving. Every forgiveness that had gone before becomes meaningless, and he will be subject to the penalty of hell. God wants to change your hard heart and evil mind. He offers you, if you are prepared, reconciliation with your brother. Go back quickly to your adversary and be reconciled with him. Pray for him and his family, love him as your intimate friend, serve him, and bless him with your supplications, for the love of God does not tolerate hatred. Love your enemy even if he has mocked you. Maybe he does not know God. But the love of God has touched you and changed you that you may forget vengeance and overcome the bitterness in your heart. By the strength of your Lord you can love your worst enemy and forgive him not once or twice or seven times, but infinitely as God forgives you. If we do not forgive our brother wholeheartedly, our forgiveness will be weak and not acceptable. It is the heart that God looks into. Neither malice, nor grudge, nor spite against anybody should remain in the heart. No plots for vengeance should be sought after or planned, as is the case with many who often appear peaceful. Nevertheless, we should wholeheartedly pray for those who did wrong to us and seek their benefit. PRAYER: O Mighty Father, forgive my slow heart and inactive mind. Dissolve the hardness of my will, and change my thought that I may forget the sins of my enemies and love them without hypocrisy. I ask You to bless them and save them together with all those who did harm to us. Fill them with Your Holy Spirit, create the spirit of reconciliation in our country, and change the minds of everyone that we will be able to love the enemy in Your power and wisdom. QUESTION:
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