SPEAKER_02: Well, good afternoon, church family.
SPEAKER_02: It's so good to see you and such a gift to worship together.
SPEAKER_02: If we haven't met, my name is Jericho and I have the joy of serving as one of the pastors here at Providence.
SPEAKER_02: If you are new to Providence or exploring uh Providence for the first time, our prayer is that you will find uh this place and this people to be those who pursue truth, enjoy community, and seek to exalt the name of Jesus wherever we go.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and if you do not know anything about Providence, we want to go ahead and invite you to our website, it's pray.org/slash info, to learn more about our mission, our vision, and values.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but today we have the joy of continuing our series through the parables of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And our hope and prayer is that you'll see the theme of understanding and knowing the mercy that God has given us.
SPEAKER_02: And so, would you go ahead and stand and let's sing of that mercy now?
SPEAKER_06: Oh my god.
SPEAKER_05: For you and for me, we sing on a hill of colour, take the Jesus set me free.
SPEAKER_05: Look at the life, craze flying from his eye.
SPEAKER_05: No great attack.
SPEAKER_05: What is time to get in our future is a free sky?
SPEAKER_03: God, we praise you simply because you are worthy.
SPEAKER_03: Of our every breath, of our lives, our hearts, our attentions.
SPEAKER_03: Lord, you're worthy.
SPEAKER_03: Lord, would we acknowledge that today, that because of what you have done, would we use the rest of our lives to honor you?
SPEAKER_03: Lord, we pray now that as we transition to worship through word, Lord, would you speak to us and would we be ready to listen?
SPEAKER_03: Lord, we love you, we praise you.
SPEAKER_03: We say this all in your name.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Amen, church.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you for singing, maybe seated Providence family.
SPEAKER_00: I'm away today, but I can imagine the energy in this room as you gather, your willingness to extend yourself to the point of discomfort, to reach people, invite people, and make room for people has been so encouraging.
SPEAKER_00: As we've grown, more than 200 of you moved to our eight o'clock service, more than 400 of you moved to our Saturday service, and more than 100 of you now worship in the harbor.
SPEAKER_00: Your sacrifices have allowed us to welcome many people, provide them a seat, and point them to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If history repeats itself, we will see attendance rise at mid-August when school begins.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I am asking again for your help in making room.
SPEAKER_00: We have 400 people worshiping on Saturdays, and we're looking for 400 more.
SPEAKER_00: We have 700 people worshiping on Sundays at 8 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: And we're looking for 200 more.
SPEAKER_00: We have 100 people worshiping in the harbor on Sundays at 9.30 and 1110, and we're looking for 200 more who would choose to worship in the harbor once a month, but we also need people willing to reduce the number of cars their family or friend group drives by one.
SPEAKER_00: So I ask you to pray about this.
SPEAKER_00: Try it for a month and commit.
SPEAKER_00: And as the Lord leads you to make a change, would you let us know by going to pray.org slash info and hitting the make room button.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for making room in the hope of making disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good afternoon, Providence.
SPEAKER_01: It is so great to see you all.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to our Saturday service.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if we don't know each other, my name is Joe, and I have the joy of serving as uh one of the pastors here at Providence and the pastor of Saturday Ministries here.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh we are thankful that you're here with us.
SPEAKER_01: Uh what a great message from Brian.
SPEAKER_01: That message is one that's similar to one from last year uh that gave birth to where we're sitting right now on Saturdays.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh God uh is is gracious and we believe that he will continue to lavish his grace upon us.
SPEAKER_01: Uh that the one that he was speaking of led to 400 of you guys, 400 of us hanging here every Saturdays, and and we've discovered that uh despite it being a sacrifice, there was actually more of a blessing on the other side of sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: I know if you're like me, that's how I've felt.
SPEAKER_01: I've been so blessed by the community here on Saturdays, and we're just praying that God's gonna continue to bless it as well.
SPEAKER_01: I realize most of us here, as I look out, attend Saturdays regularly.
SPEAKER_01: And so thank you for making that transition.
SPEAKER_01: I realize also some of us are guests with us for the first time.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, just want to say a special welcome to you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're really glad that you're here.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we want to connect with you after the service as well.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, also realize some of us are here because Brian said that same thing last Sunday and you're checking it out tonight.
SPEAKER_01: And so thank you for doing that.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we would love for you to be praying on it.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you're here to try it out.
SPEAKER_01: As Brian said, we would love for you to commit here on Saturdays.
SPEAKER_01: And so if that's you, uh, you can go to pray.org slash info and you can commit online and we'll follow up with you with some information.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh the blessing on the side of sacrifice tonight for you if you're joining us is free pizza because we're having Saturday supper tonight.
SPEAKER_01: So welcome.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we do this monthly, uh it should be a sweet night.
SPEAKER_01: So let me pray for us and we'll dive into our text.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you for today.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you just for the opportunity that it is to just gather in a room like this.
SPEAKER_01: God, we are aware that none of us are blank slates as we walk in.
SPEAKER_01: God, something is going on in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And we know that you know what it is.
SPEAKER_01: So God, would you prepare our hearts to hear your word?
SPEAKER_01: God, as we see the rain today, it reminds us of Isaiah that says the rain comes from heavens and accomplishes a purpose, so does your word.
SPEAKER_01: It accomplishes what it's set out to do.
SPEAKER_01: So would your word speak to us?
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, would you move in us?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, we play and pray that you be glorified through tonight.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: On a cold wintry morning of February 12th, 2014, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, after scanning their key cards to get into the building, uh, the staff at the National Corvette Museum were shocked what they walked into.
SPEAKER_01: A 40-foot wide, 30-foot deep sinkhole right in the middle of the showroom of the museum.
SPEAKER_01: The sinkhole swallowed eight different uh eight different Corvettes, including one that was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
SPEAKER_01: The collapse happened without warning.
SPEAKER_01: Engineers and scientists later would explain that underground limestone had gradually dissolved over time, creating this hidden cavern beneath the floor.
SPEAKER_01: Everything looks stable on the surface.
SPEAKER_01: In life, we accumulate a showroom of relationships.
SPEAKER_01: Friendships, dating relationships, marriage, workplace, neighbor relationships.
SPEAKER_01: And over time, as we feel the strain that certain relationships can put upon us, a heart left unchecked can erode the foundation of any relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Causing you to wake up one day wondering where that relationship goes.
SPEAKER_01: But as we journey through life, sometimes a few relationships can be marked by frustration.
SPEAKER_01: If we're not careful, bitterness, anger, unforgiveness so strong it can erode our heart's ability to live at peace with one another.
SPEAKER_01: The past few weeks we've been walking through a sermon series called More Than a Story, where we've been looking at Jesus' parables.
SPEAKER_01: We've been walking through these parables that use uh metaphor, different devices, hyperbole, and Jesus using his own creativity has an intent.
SPEAKER_01: And his intent is to turn our ears into eyes, to hear truths about our world in hopes of pointing our eyes to the timeless truths of his world, the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, today there's a kingdom principle I want us to grasp, and it's a mercy that leads to forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: The title of our sermon is Too Much Mercy to Keep.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wants to walk by our side, He wants to ask us, He wants to answer real questions that many of us are asking.
SPEAKER_01: Like, how can I forgive him?
SPEAKER_01: How can I forgive that person?
SPEAKER_01: Mercy and a highlighter to the truths about his kingdom and pray that they soothe our soul and our pain.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll be in Matthew 18 today.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to flip there with me, it's gonna be on the screen behind me as well.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna read the parable in a minute, but first I want us to read what actually leads to this parable in Matthew 18, 21 and 22.
SPEAKER_01: So here it is.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him?
SPEAKER_01: As many as seven times?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to him, I do not say seven times, but seventy seven times.
SPEAKER_01: The first truth I want us to see tonight is that Jesus actually expands our understanding of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: We're met here with an encounter between one of Jesus' disciples, Peter, and Jesus himself.
SPEAKER_01: If you look back in the section, maybe the heading before our passage tonight, it probably says something like, if your brother sins against you, Jesus was just teaching on how to be reconciled with someone who inflicts pain upon you.
SPEAKER_01: And so Peter is hearing these words, and you can kind of imagine what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01: He might be looking to his buddies, like, are you hearing this guy?
SPEAKER_01: If our brother continues to sin against us, do we really have to forgive him?
SPEAKER_01: And so he wanders up to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Alright, Jesus, all right, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me?
SPEAKER_01: And I have to forgive him?
SPEAKER_01: Seven times?
SPEAKER_01: Jewish rabbis in this day would say that God's forgiveness extends three times, but by the fourth time, wrath comes.
SPEAKER_01: Peter actually thought he was being gracious in this.
SPEAKER_01: He proposes seven times.
SPEAKER_01: But both the rabbi and both Peter, both of their answers reflect a forgiveness that is limited.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus responds to Peter.
SPEAKER_01: He says, No, I do not say seven times, but seventy-seven times.
SPEAKER_01: In your Bible, it might say seventy times seven.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' intent in this response is to expand Peter's understanding of forgiveness from limited to limitless.
SPEAKER_01: And he does so with a lot of creativity.
SPEAKER_01: He actually reaches back to Genesis four, the fourth chapter in all of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: In Genesis 4, we're introduced to the great, great, great grandson of Cain.
SPEAKER_01: If you remember Cain, Cain killed his brother Abel.
SPEAKER_01: God punished Cain, and Cain complained about God's punishment.
SPEAKER_01: So God protectively promised that anyone who would seek to hurt Cain would be punished sevenfold.
SPEAKER_01: And so in Genesis 4, Lamech, his great, great, great grandson, says, if Cain's revenge is sevenfold, Lamech's revenge is seventy-sevenfold.
SPEAKER_01: Lamech is preaching limitless vengeance.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is turning this concept right on its head and renewing it and preaching limitless forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: He's not saying by the four hundred and ninety-second time you're finally free to not forgive anymore.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying stop counting.
SPEAKER_01: Stop keeping score.
SPEAKER_01: This parable that follows then is that, as one commentator says, is less about our actions, meaning how many times we should forgive, and more about our attitude, about our heart and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: So before moving on to reading this parable, how many of us can resonate with Peter's question?
SPEAKER_01: How many times do I have the forgiver?
SPEAKER_01: How many times is he gonna hurt me?
SPEAKER_01: How many times is my reputation just gonna get dragged through the mud?
SPEAKER_01: The good news for you is that just like Jesus heard Peter's words and heard his question, he hears your words as well.
SPEAKER_01: And he hears you, he comforts you, and Jesus strengthens you to move you as he calls you to limitless forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: So maybe feel his strength tonight.
SPEAKER_01: So as we hold on to that, let's read this parable starting in verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Therefore, this is Jesus speaking, therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
SPEAKER_01: When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents.
SPEAKER_01: And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and his children, and all that he had, and a payment to be made.
SPEAKER_01: So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, have patience with me.
SPEAKER_01: I will pay you everything.
SPEAKER_01: And out of pity for him, the master of the servant released him and forgave him the debt.
SPEAKER_01: But when that same servant went out, he found one of his servant, fellow servants, who owed him a hundred deneri.
SPEAKER_01: And seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, Pay what you owe.
SPEAKER_01: So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me, and I will pay you.
SPEAKER_01: But he refused, and he went and he put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
SPEAKER_01: When his fellow servants saw that what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
SPEAKER_01: Then his master summoned him and said, You wicked servant, I forgave all your debt because you pleaded with me.
SPEAKER_01: Should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you?
SPEAKER_01: And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt.
SPEAKER_01: The second truth I want us to see tonight is that Jesus explains that forgiveness is motivated by mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus sees this as a teaching moment for his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: It's a teaching moment to teach about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so he tells them this parable about this king who had servants who had borrowed money from him, and it was now time to pay up.
SPEAKER_01: One servant in particular owed him 10,000 talents.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in the New Testament, a talent is not actually a coin, uh, it's a unit of monetary reckoning.
SPEAKER_01: If we kind of do some math, it's worth roughly 20 years' wage for one laborer.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is using this hyperbolic debt that's probably worth some like trillions of dollars and saying this is an insurmountable debt before the king.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 25 says that he could not pay it, and so the king ordered him and his entire family to be sold.
SPEAKER_01: And the servant, what he does in response to this, he falls on his knees.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Have patience on me, and I will pay everything.
SPEAKER_01: And out of pity for him, the master of the servant releases him and forgives him.
SPEAKER_01: This entire trillions upon trillions dollars of debt.
SPEAKER_01: This insurmountable debt was paid by the mercy of the king.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Jesus doesn't tell parables for entertainment.
SPEAKER_01: He tells parables because there's something for us about his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Baked within this story here is all of our stories in this room.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible teaches us that we actually have an insurmountable debt before God.
SPEAKER_01: A debt that we are unable to pay, a debt that's caused by sin.
SPEAKER_01: We lie, we hurt, we slander others, we we we wish the worst upon their name.
SPEAKER_01: But not only to others, but we do this to God.
SPEAKER_01: We dishonor God through our actions.
SPEAKER_01: We dishonor God through our attitudes.
SPEAKER_01: We dishonor God with our lips, with our words.
SPEAKER_01: Day by day we're building up a debt that is insurmountable.
SPEAKER_01: It's greater than we could ever put words to.
SPEAKER_01: This debt actually deserves us being sold out of his family.
SPEAKER_01: But God has shown mercy.
SPEAKER_01: God has shown mercy to us.
SPEAKER_01: The definition of mercy is not receiving what you deserve.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're familiar with a mercy rule.
SPEAKER_01: I'm proud to say I've only been mercy ruled once in my at least high school career.
SPEAKER_01: It was one of those games where we should have never been playing that team.
SPEAKER_01: We we probably deserve to lose 17 to 0 in soccer, but uh instead, baked within these this rule book for the state of North Carolina is that if it's at nine to zero at halftime, your mercy ruled.
SPEAKER_01: We deserved double-digit embarrassment.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, we received single-digit defeat.
SPEAKER_01: That's mercy.
SPEAKER_01: That's not getting what we deserved.
SPEAKER_01: Mercy in the Bible is most clearly demonstrated through compassion.
SPEAKER_01: When verse 27 says that this king had pity on the servant, that same word for pity is the same word for compassion.
SPEAKER_01: O'Brien mentioned this last week.
SPEAKER_01: Compassion is this deep feeling.
SPEAKER_01: The verb for compassion, so to have compassion in its noun form means guts.
SPEAKER_01: It means intestines.
SPEAKER_01: Compassion is to be moved so deeply by someone's pain that you see it and you move towards them.
SPEAKER_01: Compassion has led God to take action by sending his son.
SPEAKER_01: And so mercy is clearly demonstrated through compassion, but also mercy is demonstrated through forbearance.
SPEAKER_01: Forbearance is not a word that we often use.
SPEAKER_01: Forbearance usually is the most commonly used as a legal term.
SPEAKER_01: It means delaying our debt, to pay up something.
SPEAKER_01: In the Bible, forbearance means to love someone so much that you have patience towards them.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Corinthians 13.
SPEAKER_01: This is why it says love is patient.
SPEAKER_01: Love is kind.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 5 says it keeps no record of wrongs.
SPEAKER_01: That word for patient there is macrothemia, meaning long-tempered.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've heard long suffering.
SPEAKER_01: Merciful love is able to sustain injury over long periods of time.
SPEAKER_01: So when God shows us mercy, he moves towards us to compassion or with compassion, and he chooses to love us with patience.
SPEAKER_01: That sounds a lot like forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: That's forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: It's compassion and patient love.
SPEAKER_01: This is exactly what Ephesians 2 talks about.
SPEAKER_01: But God being rich in mercy because of his great love in which he loved us.
SPEAKER_01: Even when we were dead in our trespasses, meaning even when the insurmountable debt was piled up, he made us alive in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: By grace we have been saved.
SPEAKER_01: He has shown us mercy, not giving us what we do deserve.
SPEAKER_01: He's also bestowed grace upon us.
SPEAKER_01: Grace is getting something that we don't deserve.
SPEAKER_01: This is the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: As sinners, we deserve a punishment, but by his mercy, Jesus paid it on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And by his grace, he has forgived us and we receive eternal life when we believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: This is the news that is good and unites us.
SPEAKER_01: And so we don't need to work harder for this mercy.
SPEAKER_01: We need to fall to our knees, like this servant did.
SPEAKER_01: We need to surrender to God.
SPEAKER_01: Have you fallen to your knees?
SPEAKER_01: Have you surrendered to him?
SPEAKER_01: If you're here and you say, Well, I don't really need God.
SPEAKER_01: You're not understanding the debt that you have before him.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're you're saying, well, being at church or maybe serving a couple times is good enough for me, you're not understanding, you're missing the inability of our good works to save us.
SPEAKER_01: And so let's surrender our lives to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know Jesus in here, no matter what you've done, no matter what you've done or who you are, if we surrender our lives to Christ and you've placed your faith in Jesus, he's not waiting for you to be clean.
SPEAKER_01: He's waiting for you to fall to your knees.
SPEAKER_01: Let him make you clean.
SPEAKER_01: And so the next truth I want us to see tonight is the third truth, is that Jesus exposes our propensity to forget about mercy.
SPEAKER_01: After the servant who was shown mercy by this king, he was offered a chance to show the same mercy to another servant.
SPEAKER_01: Instead of showing that same mercy that was extended to him, he chose to strangle the servant.
SPEAKER_01: He chose to demand a payment back.
SPEAKER_01: There's a man named Archibald Kennedy.
SPEAKER_01: He's a late professor of Semitic languages at Aberdeen University in the United Kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: He compared these two debts.
SPEAKER_01: He said the debt of the second servant was a debt so small he could carry it in his pocket.
SPEAKER_01: But the debt of the first servant stretched far enough for a whole army to be stretched five miles carrying 60-pound bags of coins to a location to be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: The lesson here that God is teaching us, that Jesus is painting us, is that we all have a decision to make.
SPEAKER_01: When we are sinned against, we can make the other person pay.
SPEAKER_01: Or we can extend the same mercy that we've received on the cross of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Let's not miss that.
SPEAKER_01: Let's also not miss where our hearts so often default.
SPEAKER_01: When we've been hurt by someone else, there's something that feels just so good about getting even.
SPEAKER_01: We become like a caricature artist who intentionally accentuates a flawed feature in another person, and we we fixate right on that flaw, and we paint an unfavorable picture of that other person to others.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if she tore me down, just wait until I tell her friends about what she told me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm confident.
SPEAKER_01: We disguise defamation as care.
SPEAKER_01: Let's not become caricature artists highlighting people's flaws to others.
SPEAKER_01: When we move too fast through life, as we oftentimes do, as long as we're not in much turmoil relationally, we usually feel pretty good about things.
SPEAKER_01: I know for me that that's that's how I felt this week as I was preparing for the sermon.
SPEAKER_01: But I encourage you to slow down.
SPEAKER_01: As I prepared, I was in awe of how much I had to confess relationally.
SPEAKER_01: Of how much I was holding over people without even knowing it.
SPEAKER_01: Is there anyone whose name, when they're brought up, causes an uneasy feeling to arise in you?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe just the mention of their name you tense up?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's not deeply rooted relational hurt, but maybe you're just avoiding texting them back because they took a few days to respond to you and it hurt your pride.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps there's unforgiveness in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Let's confess it.
SPEAKER_01: And let's extend forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: If someone puts you in danger, or they're persistently and unrepentantly hurting you, there's a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness does not mean you need to stay in a relationship with that person.
SPEAKER_01: There are times to walk away, and there are even times to take action and seek justice.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't call us to reconciliation every time, but God does call us to forgiveness every time.
SPEAKER_01: But when we reflect on the mercy that Jesus has shown to us, maybe that freedom from addiction, maybe that forgiveness from your tumultuous past, maybe his mercy just to save you at six years old.
SPEAKER_01: When we reflect on what's been done to us, we can more freely give it to others.
SPEAKER_01: So it leads us to our final point tonight, and it's that Jesus expects us to forgive as we have been forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: This is the point of the parable.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus expects us to forgive as we have been forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: As the parable continues, the king summons the unforgiving servant to himself, and he says, You wicked servant, I forgave you the debt that you pleaded with me for.
SPEAKER_01: Should you not have had mercy upon your fellow servant as I had mercy upon you?
SPEAKER_01: So he throws him in jail, and Jesus concludes with honestly this hard verse.
SPEAKER_01: He says, So my heavenly father will also do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
SPEAKER_01: It's important to understand that Jesus is not saying that you forgiving another person is the basis of your own salvation.
SPEAKER_01: But he is saying that it's evidence of your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: As James said, faith without works is dead.
SPEAKER_01: So what exactly is Jesus teaching?
SPEAKER_01: He's teaching about God and his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 35 clearly explains that our debt deserves a punishment.
SPEAKER_01: This earthly king ended up putting the unforgiving servant in jail until he could pay off the debt.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus isn't teaching the Catholic doctrine of purgatory.
SPEAKER_01: No, he's highlighting the reality that our insurmountable debt before a holy God has an eternal consequence.
SPEAKER_01: No matter how hard we try, we cannot erase hell from the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It's true that our sin deserves punishment.
SPEAKER_01: God is just.
SPEAKER_01: But God is compassionate.
SPEAKER_01: He's slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.
SPEAKER_01: Elsewhere in Isaiah 54, he says, For a brief moment, this is the Lord speaking, I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
SPEAKER_01: In overflowing anger for a moment, I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love, I will have compassion on you.
SPEAKER_01: God has relented from his anger.
SPEAKER_01: Out of compassion, he has forgiven our debt.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus here is calling us to be less like a pond and more like a stream of mercy.
SPEAKER_01: In a pond, the water, the water just sits there.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: There's no current.
SPEAKER_01: It grows murky, it becomes lifeless.
SPEAKER_01: But in a stream, a stream receives water from a higher source.
SPEAKER_01: And that water flows through it downstream.
SPEAKER_01: And it's clear, it's beautiful, it's healthy.
SPEAKER_01: Life thrives within it.
SPEAKER_01: The scripture consistently points us to being the stream, to extending the mercy that we have received.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 4.
SPEAKER_01: This is perhaps the greatest verse on forgiveness in all of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It says, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you.
SPEAKER_01: What we've received should be given.
SPEAKER_01: What's interesting is we extend the same posture to others that we came to God with.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I mean by that.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us came to God out of fear or shame.
SPEAKER_01: So when others hurt you, you create shame in them by gossiping about them, or you create fear in them until you get even.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us might have come to God through religion, doing enough good to get a good standing before Him.
SPEAKER_01: If that's the case when we're hurt, we enact penitence upon someone.
SPEAKER_01: We say, well, if you do this, if you do this, if you do this, if you do this, then I'll forgive you.
SPEAKER_01: Our forgiveness becomes conditional.
SPEAKER_01: If we're in Christ properly, we know that this is not true.
SPEAKER_01: A proper understanding of how God extends his grace and his mercy to us is key.
SPEAKER_01: It's found in Romans 2, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: It's God's kindness that has led you, led us to repentance.
SPEAKER_01: It's his love that has motivated his forgiveness to you.
SPEAKER_01: So when we're hurt by another, remember the root of your of mercy.
SPEAKER_01: It's compassion, it's forgiveness, it's patient love, it's self-controlled love.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the kindness that he's given to you.
SPEAKER_01: This is why Romans 12 cautions us.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible knows how we think.
SPEAKER_01: Paul writing to hurt Christians, he says, Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave it to the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_01: For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
SPEAKER_01: If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
SPEAKER_01: For so by doing you will heap burning coals on his head.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
SPEAKER_01: That's how Jesus overcame our debt.
SPEAKER_01: Let's overcome the debt of others with good.
SPEAKER_01: We can even serve them.
SPEAKER_01: We can even pray for them.
SPEAKER_01: Let's extend a mercy that leads to forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a Christian, forgiven by God, shown mercy, made clean by his blood, forgive.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your spouse.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your roommate.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your father.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your mother.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your ex.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your doctor.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your child.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your former ministry partner overseas.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your current business partner who's cheated you out of money.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your friend.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your current or former life group leader.
SPEAKER_01: If you are in Christ, forgive.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let it pool up in you like a pond.
SPEAKER_01: Extend it like a stream.
SPEAKER_01: A few applications before we close and before we pray together.
SPEAKER_01: First, let's allow our hearts to be gripped by God's mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 35, Jesus finishes with these words.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You must forgive from your heart.
SPEAKER_01: That's where forgiveness begins.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we know in our head that we should forgive, but that 18-inch journey from your head to your heart sometimes feels too far to travel.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes your heart is just a lot slower than your head.
SPEAKER_01: But when God's mercy hasn't adequately gripped your heart, we fall in these two extremes.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that when it comes to forgiveness about God, we don't even need to be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: What I did wasn't that bad.
SPEAKER_01: I encourage you to look at this insurmountable debt.
SPEAKER_01: Consider that.
SPEAKER_01: Or we we oscillate to the other extreme.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's not that we don't need to be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: It's that how could I be forgiven?
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, there's no sin too great that mercy that God's mercy and grace can't wipe away.
SPEAKER_01: Your debt has been paid by his extravagant grace.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus went to a cross on your behalf.
SPEAKER_01: So that your heart could be gripped by him.
SPEAKER_01: So let's remember the cross, let's let it take root in our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: Second, let's experience the for the freedom of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Our pain can only be fully healed by Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He's the one who says, You will face tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.
SPEAKER_01: Only Jesus is the great physician.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes wounds inflicted by others become more defining than the promises of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Someone else, someone else's wound more defining in your life than Jesus' promises.
SPEAKER_01: Your identity is not your hurt.
SPEAKER_01: Your identity is freedom.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe for you, it's not your wounds that are holding you back.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's just a statement like this.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to forgive him.
SPEAKER_01: I want justice.
SPEAKER_01: Slander, avoidance, a cold shoulder is not justice.
SPEAKER_01: It's vengeance.
SPEAKER_01: Just when the scales in your heart feel right, doesn't mean they're right in God's eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Scripture doesn't teach, funny enough, that the offender has to pay for the debt.
SPEAKER_01: Scripture that we hold on to so dearly teaches that the offended pays for the debt.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus did this for us on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And so when someone hurts you and we respond with an insult or slander, it feels good.
SPEAKER_01: But funny enough, you're just still being controlled by the pain they previously inflicted upon you.
SPEAKER_01: See this an opportunity to forgive and experience the freedom that forgiveness brings.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, final application.
SPEAKER_01: Let's take pain to pursue forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is rarely easy.
SPEAKER_01: And I understand as I'm talking, many of us are thinking about a pain.
SPEAKER_01: That again, I'm not asking you to forget, but God is asking us to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: One of those pains that is so hard is one that I'm actually going to encourage you to make.
SPEAKER_01: It's a threefold promise that's common in the counseling world.
SPEAKER_01: As you forgive someone, it's these three statements that you can make.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you make it to them, maybe you just write it down on a piece of paper, maybe you share it with an accountability partner.
SPEAKER_01: But this threefold promise goes as follows.
SPEAKER_01: I will not bring up this offense again or use it against you.
SPEAKER_01: Again, offended pain for the offender.
SPEAKER_01: I will not bring it up to others in gossip.
SPEAKER_01: And I will not bring it up to myself or dwell on the offense.
SPEAKER_01: That's hard.
SPEAKER_01: That's painful.
SPEAKER_01: But that's the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: All of these promises take sacrifice, but the sacrifice is worth it because it is a mirror of Christ's sacrifice for us.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps one of the most moving examples of taking pains to pursue forgiveness is the result of when a young man walked into a Bible study at Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
SPEAKER_01: This young man walked into a Bible study.
SPEAKER_01: He sat in the Bible study for an hour before carrying out a racially motivated attack that took the lives of nine men and women who were studying the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: This unimaginable offense created a storm in the news.
SPEAKER_01: This racial act of violence caused sheer devastation throughout our country.
SPEAKER_01: Brothers and sisters in Christ dying innocently.
SPEAKER_01: It stirred social media.
SPEAKER_01: It stirred even some churches with hatred and revenge and bitterness.
SPEAKER_01: The families of the deceased, the members of this church were horrified.
SPEAKER_01: They were broken.
SPEAKER_01: They did pursue justice.
SPEAKER_01: But days later, at this young man's bond hearing, the grieving family members they lined up.
SPEAKER_01: They looked their kin's killer in the eye.
SPEAKER_01: With tears in their eyes.
SPEAKER_01: As one daughter said to him, I forgive you.
SPEAKER_01: And I have mercy on your soul.
SPEAKER_01: That's mercy.
SPEAKER_01: That's mercy, y'all.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the mercy God has shown you.
SPEAKER_01: So let's believe in it and let's extend it.
SPEAKER_01: As we respond to this parable, I want to take a few minutes just to pause.
SPEAKER_01: I want to reflect on God's mercy and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to have three prayer points in the back.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to guide us through a time of prayer for yourself in your own seat.
SPEAKER_01: At the end, our worship team is going to come up and close us out in prayer and lead us into song.
SPEAKER_01: The first way I want us to respond, the first point I want us to pray through is a time to examine our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: Ask the Lord to search your heart.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know Jesus, have you received this free gift of mercy?
SPEAKER_01: If you do know him, have you extended this gift of mercy as you've received it?
SPEAKER_01: So let's take a moment right now and bow our heads.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll lead us to the second one.
SPEAKER_01: We never outgrow God's mercy.
SPEAKER_01: What mercy do you need this week?
SPEAKER_01: What mercy do you need today?
SPEAKER_01: What do you need forgiveness from God for even this moment?
SPEAKER_01: Let's ask God for it.
SPEAKER_01: Let's finish in prayer.
SPEAKER_03: Knowing that there is nothing we could have ever done to deserve it.
SPEAKER_03: But it is by your love, your kindness that you've freely given.
SPEAKER_03: God, would that be the anthem of our lives?
SPEAKER_03: Lord, would we live and show others the mercy that you have shown us?
SPEAKER_03: Lord, would we never grow numb to it?
SPEAKER_03: Lord, help us now to sing in response of that great mercy that you have shown us.
SPEAKER_03: Lord, we sing to you, knowing that there is no other worthy.
SPEAKER_05: Brought me from the darkness into glorious life.
SPEAKER_03: We continue to respond in singing the testimony that we have because of our Savior and because of his blood, because of his mercy.
SPEAKER_03: We sing this.
SPEAKER_06: Before I encountered Christ, I don't walk like I used to.
SPEAKER_06: I don't talk like I used to.
SPEAKER_06: I've been washed from the inside.
SPEAKER_06: I know it was a flood.
SPEAKER_06: Could it only be the blood?
SPEAKER_06: I know it was a flu.
SPEAKER_06: Could it only be the blood?
SPEAKER_06: I cannot explain.
SPEAKER_06: But nothing so real than this.
SPEAKER_06: In the presence of God.
SPEAKER_06: Oh, with my experience, with my shame to inside.
SPEAKER_06: I've been watching.
SPEAKER_06: I know it was the blood.
SPEAKER_06: Good only the blood.
SPEAKER_06: I knew it was the blood.
SPEAKER_06: Good only.
SPEAKER_06: It's only about It's never been about design.
SPEAKER_06: It's in Lebanon.
SPEAKER_06: It's gone.
SPEAKER_06: I know it was the blood.
SPEAKER_06: Could have only been I know it was the blood.
SPEAKER_06: Could have only been the blood.
SPEAKER_06: Nothing but the I can make me again nothing but the precious is the floor that makes me win as no.
SPEAKER_06: Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: So, church family, before we leave, I want you to continue to ponder the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to see what the rest of Scripture, and these are just a few verses that continue to lift our eyes.
SPEAKER_02: This is what limitation says.
SPEAKER_02: The steadfast love of God never ceases, his mercy never comes to an end.
SPEAKER_02: They are new every morning.
SPEAKER_02: Great is your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_02: Psalm 145, the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
SPEAKER_02: And the pages of scripture are filled with lifting our eyes and our minds and our heart to consider the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_02: What a mercy he has given us.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the question: Do you know this mercy?
SPEAKER_02: Have you received this mercy?
SPEAKER_02: Because you're in the room and you're a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: This is why we can actually sing, praise the Lord, that our sins are many, but his mercy is more.
SPEAKER_02: That our sins can be forgiven.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because of his mercy, and so our future is heaven.
SPEAKER_02: So for the Christian in the room, keep remembering the mercy that God has given you.
SPEAKER_02: And for those who are not a Christian, and you're not a follower of Christ, here's the invitation that Jesus gives you.
SPEAKER_02: You can't save yourself, it's only by his blood.
SPEAKER_02: But guess what?
SPEAKER_02: That's his mercy to you.
SPEAKER_02: And so would you trust him?
SPEAKER_02: Would you follow him and receive the mercy that he extends to all of us?
SPEAKER_02: And if you have questions about this, don't leave this room, don't leave this place without asking someone.
SPEAKER_02: And so, if you want to know more about Providence, you want to actually respond with questions, there's two ways to do that.
SPEAKER_02: You can fill out the digital connect car that's online, you can actually fill out the blue car that's in the seat back in front of you.
SPEAKER_02: Take it to the welcome nest outside, and our team would love to walk you through those questions.
SPEAKER_02: And as we are leaving, here's a few steps that I want you to consider taking.
SPEAKER_02: First, as Joe reminded us, don't forget it's Saturday Supper.
SPEAKER_02: So come back, 6 30 pizza.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't have a life group, go find a life group to be a part of to continue these conversations.
SPEAKER_02: We also want to invite you to come to the pathway classes, uh, which will be be next week at 5 30, where it's to connect and grow, learning what it means to connect and have a relationship with Jesus, but also connect it with others and have a relationship in this community.
SPEAKER_02: So we invite you to come to that.
SPEAKER_02: And then lastly, tomorrow evening, we are gathering as an entire church family to come back into this room to actually pursue the Lord in song and prayer.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to invite you to come back to that.
SPEAKER_02: There's also pelican snowballs at the very end, you're gonna enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02: But church family, thank you for gathering.
SPEAKER_02: We love you.
SPEAKER_02: Continue to think about the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_02: Let me pray, and I'll send you out.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, what a mercy we have been given that we stand guilty before you.
SPEAKER_02: We have sinned from the past, the present, even future that we know we cannot do anything about, but yet you have died on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: You have risen from the dead, and because of your sacrifice, we can be forgiven.
SPEAKER_02: That is mercy.
SPEAKER_02: We deserve the judgment and wrath of God, but instead, God, you poured it out on your son so that we can be forgiven and free.
SPEAKER_02: So every heart in this room, Jesus, would you meet them to remember the mercy of God, to walk out of here as saying, we've received this mercy and now we extend it to others.
SPEAKER_02: And we walk as merciful people because of the mercy that you've given us.
SPEAKER_02: So, God, thank you for these truths and remind us of them this week.
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Church family, you are loved and you are sent.
SPEAKER_02: Have a great week.