Mark: Good morning. How are you doing? Good. How are you? Good? Yeah. How many of you guys started or sent your kids back to school this week? No one. Next week. It's next week. Why did I feel like it was this week? Hashtag homeschooled. You know what I mean? We started like a month ago, you know. How many of you is there any parents in the room that like you are going to be an empty nester for the first time? Is there one? Woo-hoo! Woohoo! Look at you. You almost made it. One more week. It's good. Hey, if you got your Bibles, ⁓ why don't you turn to Matthew chapter eighteen? Matthew chapter 18. Wasn't worship so good this morning, guys? Yeah. Would you give a round of applause to the sound people in the slides? Come on, the unspoken heroes. Well, we are continuing our series through the parables of Jesus. And ⁓ today we are gonna look at a parable that deals with something that, man, honestly, I believe that probably every single one of us at some portion of our lives has to walk out. ⁓ and for many of us, maybe walking out currently, we are going to talk about forgiveness. Forgiveness. Hmm. The title of today's message is The Forgiven Become Forgiving. The Forgiven Become Forgiving. And here's the thing, like when I say the word forgiveness, I know that maybe some of us like some be some of us bring something different to that to that conversation. And ⁓ we're maybe feeling different things in the room, even when I mention the word un or forgiveness or unforgiveness. for some of us it's an offense. ⁓ for some of us it could be a disappointment. It could be something that somebody has said or has done. Or maybe for some of us a a face comes to mind. And there's somebody who may have betrayed you, abandoned you, or maybe has wounded you deeply. and so I want to say this right out of the gates today. My goal this morning is ⁓ to not give us ⁓ some cheap Christian good answer and then just say, let's just go ahead and move on. ⁓ I'll say this. Sometimes forgiveness can be incredibly difficult. Like incredibly, incredibly difficult. Because sometimes like wounds are really deep. And some healing like takes legitimate time. And I and here's the thing, and here's what I would encourage you to think about. Jesus doesn't pretend, doesn't ask you to pretend otherwise. He does not ask you to pretend otherwise. But with that, in the same set of hands, Jesus also takes unforgiveness incredibly serious. Not as many as amens on that one. That's okay. And so tonight this morning, we are going to hold those things together. We are going to hold truth and love together. We are going to hold forgiveness and the seriousness of unforgiveness in the same set of hands. Can you do that this morning? Because here's the truth. Matthew 18 is really just Jesus talking to his disciples about what life in the kingdom of God looks like together when relationships get really difficult. Cause here's the thing, like look to your neighbor and say, you're messy sometimes. Wow, you guys actually did that. I was, I did not think you would. Right? Like the church is full of people. And here's the kicker. Here's my encouragement. You're there. I'm here. So, like, mess is gonna be a part of the deal. And so Jesus shows us how kingdom people handle sin. How they handle offense, conflict, and forgiveness. And towards the end of the chapter, Peter asks Jesus a question about forgiveness. And so I want to read this parable together. So Matthew chapter 18, starting in verse twenty one. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times? It's a ridiculous number. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy seven times. Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children, and all that he had and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, have patience with me, and I will prepay you everything. And out of pity for him the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant, you know, the one that was just forgiven, when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. And seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, Pay me what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him: have patience with me, and I will pay you. He refused. And went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all the debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I have had mercy on you? And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all of his debt. So also, get this, so also my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. I could just walk off the stage right now. Let's pray. Jesus, I just Lord, I thank you for being with us here this morning. I thank you that your presence is here in this room. Holy Spirit, would you come and would you open the eyes of our hearts this morning? Jesus, I thank you that we are able this morning to hold truth and love. And as we hold that truth and love, Lord, would you not allow us to hide anything? Would you not allow us to hide or justify unforgiveness or bitterness this morning? We ask that you do a deep work this morning. We do not want more information, Jesus. We want transformation. We ask for your mercy and your grace in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So before we unpack Peter's question ⁓ and the parable, I want to back up because ⁓ Peter didn't just ask this question randomly. ⁓ like and I think sometimes when we read a parable or maybe for any portion of scripture, ⁓ we can pluck that piece of scripture out of the understanding and the context from which it lives in. And so I wanna I wanna reverse back a little bit and I'm gonna read everyone's favorite Bible verse. Matthew eighteen verses fifteen If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. Church. We need to sit here for a minute. Like how often is this practiced? When it comes to conflict, I want you this morning to imagine two roads with me. There's one road in the middle. Sorry, sorry, back up. One road, two ditches. We're all on the same page? Okay. One road, surprise, spoiler, that's Jesus. And then there's ditches on the side. Ditch number one. When it comes to if your brother sins against you, go and tell him your fault between you and him alone. I think a if we're honest, I think a lot of us would like to avoid conflict at all costs. Anybody here? Just kidding. Don't raise your hand. Like hey, I like it. It's good. Participation is great. But when conflict feels uncomfortable, threatening, or even like emotionally risky, or I think like the people who like to avoid conflict, like their instinct is often to avoid the person, avoid the conversation, avoid the awkwardness, avoid, avoid, avoid. Because we don't want to upset anyone. We don't want the relationship to get weird when you see him in Walmart the next day or wherever. Mama Jeans, you healthy people. And so instead of going to the person, we may go to everyone else. And in church, sometimes we can even spiritualize this. Hey, listen, I just need you to pray for this person. This this just would you just keep them in your prayers? Like, honestly, like, do you? Or do you just want to tell me what they did to you? Right? Like, sometimes we'll we can add pray for them to the end of gossip and somehow think we've baptized the conversation. Right? And a prayer request does not simply sanctify gossip. Alright? Jesus gives us a much better, healthier, simpler option. Go to them. Church, go to them. Do not go to everybody else. Not the people who already agree with you, not to the group chat. You, the offended, go to them. This is the word of the Lord. No matter what your bias may be. And so there's an important distinction here as well. Proverbs 19 also says it is for a person's glory to overlook an offense. So what is that saying? It's saying that not every irritation needs a meeting. Not everything that upsets you needs a confrontation. It is for the glory, it is for a person's glory to overlook an offense. We are not the sin police, and some things actually do require maturity, grace, and simply letting go. And so, but here's the thing, and here's the tricky thing, and and we here's the question I want to ask. Do you actually overlook it? Did you actually overlook it? And did you actually extend grace, or did you just bury it? Or did you sweep it under the proverbial rug? Because these things are not the same. And if you say, no, no, no, I'm good, but their name still kind of changes your mood, you get a little. You know what I'm talking about 'cause you're laughing. Do you assume the worst about that person? Do you replay that conversation over your over and over again in your head? And do you maybe keep on telling other people, listen, you did not overlook it out of your maturity, you buried it. And then when you realize that you haven't actually overlooked it and you're not burying it, Jesus' path remains the same. Go to them. You go to them. And I think and if we don't want to address the person, sometimes we bury it and then we decide the easier path is maybe just to leave. I'm just gonna like this is the avoidant, this is ditch number one. Like I'm just gonna we're gonna run to a new friendship, a new group, a new church, a new relationship. But eventually you discover that there are sinners there too. And unfortunately you came with you. And so whether we bury it or we run from it, avoidance cannot be the way of Jesus. That's ditch number one. Ditch number two, aggression. Some people just like run at conflict like a bull. They just like these people get like excited about it in some weird way. You ever know anybody like this? Like all of a sudden you offend them, and then like suddenly they have Bible verses, screenshots, dates, and a whole case ready to go against you. And listen, this is what I have found. You can be completely right about what somebody did and yet completely wrong in the spirit in which you confront them and be completely in error. You can tell the truth without love and see how far that that actually gets you. You can actually weaponize scripture, gossip, recruit other people to your side, take little passive aggressive, joking shots, and damage somebody's reputation and call it justice. And at some point, I think if we're honest, this is not about justice anymore. You want them to hurt. So one ditch is avoidance, bury it, run from it. And the other ditch is aggression, attack, punish, make them pay. And the way of Jesus is neither. And we can go back to Ephesians 4, and we can find that Jesus gives us, Paul gives us an example. We have to speak the truth in love. And notice that the goal of Matthew 18, 15 is this: if he listens to you, you have gained your brother. That is the goal. The goal is not winning an argument. The goal is not proving you were right. And the goal is not to make sure that they get what they deserve. The goal is you have gained your brother or sister. But here's what I'll say: biblical confrontation is not about winning an argument, it is about pursuing the person. And if your goal is to punish them, or if your goal is to win, you are not ready for that conversation. Allow Jesus to work and have grace. Biblical convers confrontation may look like, man, listen, I don't I don't necessarily want to do this. I don't want to enjoy doing this. And it may be uncomfortable, but I care too much about you and this relationship and about what bitterness could become if I just let this go. So I need to I need to say this. And then Jesus says, if they'll not listen, bring one or two others. Not a team of people who already agree with you. But mature, independent people. Because here's the reality, humility has to exist on both sides. And here's then also the truth. Maybe they do need correction. But also maybe you need correction too. The only person in the room that is a hundred percent right is my wife. No team needed. No brothers needed. Yes. ⁓ sorry, and Pastor Josh, he's my boss, sorry. I'm just saying. Jesus is kidding. But here's what I want to say like too. We can preach, I can preach an entire message on this, but this is why it matters today. The Jesus who tells you to forgive is the same Jesus who tells you to confront. This is an important piece. Biblical forgiveness cannot mean pretending sin does not matter. Jesus stands for truth, accountability, confrontation, consequences, and he stands for forgiveness. Matthew 18:15 tells us how to pursue someone. when sin damages a relationship, but yet Matthew 18, 21 tells us what kind of heart we must carry while we do it. And you can almost imagine Peter like hearing Jesus talk about like biblical confrontation. He's like, he's like the wheels are starting to turn a little bit. He's like, okay, Jesus, so somebody sins against me. I go to them. We deal with it. We pursue whatever reconciliation looks like. How many times? Listen, this is a fair question. How many times do I keep have to do this? At what point can I just cut him out of my life? And so he asked the Lord, How often will my f brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Peter thinks this is an incredibly generous number. Like seven is like a Hebrew word for like completion, right? It's like complete, like right, it feels really good. And I'm like, I may be thinking two times, like, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, kind of a thing. Like But Jesus says not seven but seventy seven. Here's the thing, Jesus isn't giving, you know this, Jesus isn't g isn't giving Peter a tally. Like this isn't saying, okay, Peter, 74, 75, 76, 77. Like that's my cutting analogy. I don't know. Let me know. Like, please don't do that. but what Jesus is getting at, he's saying he's like, listen, stop keeping a ledger. Stop counting. And this number seven and seventy seven actually appears one other time in scripture and this is fascinating. It it appears earlier together in Genesis chapter four. Do you remember Cain and do you remember Abel? I think that's what VeggieTales showed me. When Cain killed his brother, he threw a rock on his head or something like that. Right, I don't know. But this is where Cain kills his brother, and then from there, violence begins to multiply through humanity because of the sin of Cain. And several generations later, we meet a man named Lamech. And Lamech makes this statement. It's the only other time here in scripture. If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold. In other words, you hurt me, I will hurt you worse. You took from me, I will take more from you. And that is the story of the fallen humanity since sin entered the world. You hurt me, and something in me wants you to feel what I felt, and the spirit of Lamech would multiply vengeance, but yet the spirit of Jesus would multiply grace. And Jesus, what Jesus is getting at here in Matthew chapter 18, he says, at some point this has to stop. And it will stop with my people. It will stop with kingdom people. Because the forgiven become forgiving. And then Jesus tells the parable. He says the kingdom is just like a king settling account. One servant owes him 10,000 talents. Now you may have heard about this before, and that sounds like a lot, right? 10,000 talents. The answer to your question is: no, that is not a lot. That is an absurd amount of money. A talent could represent roughly anywhere from 15 to 20 years of wages for a worker. One talent. And this guy owes 10,000. thousand talents. Like this is basically saying the man owes an impossible debt. Like he is bankrupt. There is no Dave Ramsey envelope system that is going to be able to get this servant out of debt. It's kinda like the national debt. ⁓ no, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. ⁓ But what does the servant say? Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything. If you were a disciple and you were listening to Jesus say, tell you this story, that would be a punchline. Have mercy with me, I will repay you. No, you won't. Like that's impossible. And I think that's part of the point. The servant could never fix this. In verse twenty seven he says, Out of pity, the master released me and him and gave him the debt and forgave him the debt, and just like that, the debt is gone and the man is free. We cannot move too quickly right here to the second servant. This is a pause point. Before this parable ever asks, who do you need to forgive? It asks, do you understand how much you have for been forgiven? Do you remember Ephesians Ephesians chapters one through three? We can go back if you want. Three chapters dedicated to what Christ has done for you and me and how undeserving that we are. And Christianity, just as this parable is saying and the rest of the Bible would confirm, Christianity never begins with do better, be nicer, forgive people. It begins with look at what Jesus has done for you. You and I stand before God with a debt that we could ever replay. And you were, here's the thing: like you were not mostly good. You were not like halfway decent. You were dead. Dead in sin. You cannot clean. You would never have been able to clean yourself up, just like as that servant would never have been able to repay his master. And yet Jesus stepped into our place. He took our sin, he took our debt and our judgment, and only, only by mercy he forgave us. And if we give this, get this part backwards, the forgiveness you try to extend to others becomes fake or it becomes crushing. Because you do not understand this part first. We have received an unimaginable mercy. And for some of you, maybe that's actually the hardest part right there. And we talk about forgiveness, and you believe God may forgive other people, but when it comes to your own past or your own failure or your own sin, the truth is, is you may be holding yourself in a prison that Jesus never put you in. And hear me, if you are in Christ, what you have done is not more powerful than what Jesus has done. That's the that's the simplest way that I can put that. You do not honor Jesus by continuing to punish yourself for something he has already paid for. Receive the mercy of God. The forgiven become forgiving. And that begins by actually believing you have been forgiving yourself. Verse 28. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. Now, a hundred denarii is about two to three months of wages. ⁓ this is what I want to say too, with this. I think it's important for us not to overlook this. The second debt is a real debt. It is a real debt. He owes him two to three months of wages or about a hundred denarii. Jesus doesn't say the a the guy actually owed him nothing and the other guy was just being cruel. He was saying, like, no, there was a debt. Something has been lost, and this was legitimately owed to him. Because I think that's important as we begin to discuss what forgiveness means. Forgiveness does not mean nothing happened. Forgiveness does not mean that like something done, like it didn't happen to you or that something wasn't taken away from you. Like when there is a debt and when there is unforgiveness and you have to forgive, there is something that is taken. Maybe that's trust, maybe that's safety, maybe it's innocent, maybe it's years of a relationship, or maybe it's a reputation. Maybe it was the childhood you should have had, or the marriage you thought you were going to have. Maybe it was the relationship with the parent that you deserved as a kid. Or maybe it's an apology that you have been waiting on for about 15 years and it hasn't come. The debt is real. And Jesus never asks you or I to pretend it's not. I think that's important for us to note. But this man who has just been forgiven in an impossible debt finds someone who owes him. He finds someone who owes him. Seizing him, he began to choke him and saying, Pay what you owe. Hands around his throat, he says, pay me what you owe me. And the man says the exact same thing that he had just said to the king. Have patience with me. And verse 30 says, he refused, so he throws him in prison. Which is, which you think about it, which is kind of irrational. If you want to be paid back, I am going to throw this man in prison. It's not the highest place to earn a great income. I don't know. Like, like it's like. But here's the point here, I think there's like he throws him somewhere he cannot work to pay him back. And this so at some point this isn't about repayment anymore, it's about punishment. And I don't want things made right, I just want you to hurt because you hurt me. And this this is where justice quietly turns to vengeance. Just like Lamech. And there is a question here that I think would expose a lot in us. For the people who have done something to us, do I want them made right or do I want them to just hurt? Because sometimes we can call it justice, but if we're honest, we don't want restoration. We want the other person exposed. We want the other person to struggle. We want them to hurt. We want them to hurt in the way in which they maybe made us hurt. And what Jesus does, this is how Jesus reveals our heart. Because this is not the only time Jesus teaches about this. If you look at Matthew chapter six, Jesus is teaching what ⁓ to his disciples how to pray, right? You're you're probably forgiveness with or your forgiveness, you're probably familiar with this passage. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and then forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. Think about that. Jesus puts forgiveness into our regular prayer life. He apparently thinks that this is something that we are going to need quite literally all the time. Like we need bread, we need guidance, we need deliverance, and we need mercy, and we need to become people who give mercy as well. And I think here's what's fascinating, after Jesus just goes through and prays all of those things, he only picks out one thing to further explain and further clarify, just so that we don't miss the boat at all. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. If you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Those are massive words. And I can't stand here today and just try to like Do some jujitsu out of the meaning of this word, these words. I can't explain those words away just as much as I would like to, just as much as it would make me feel more comfortable. The parable itself will not allow us to say this, say that because mercy comes first. The king forgives first. And while you were still sinners, Christ gave his life up for you. And Jesus is exposing a serious contradiction. How can I claim to have received the mercy of God while permanently refusing mercy to everyone else? Something is wrong there. The mercy of God was never meant to stop on you, it was meant to travel through you. Every day I pray, Father, I need mercy, but every day I am reminded, so does everybody else. So I want to define forgiveness here. At its simplest, I'll say forgiveness is releasing the offender from my personal demand to make them pay in entrusting justice to God. Relis forgiveness is releasing the offender from my personal demand to make them pay and entrusting justice to God. There was a debt, and we are not pretending otherwise. But what I'm saying is I I am not going to spend my life trying to collect it through vengeance. Romans 12 19 says, Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Forgiveness is not saying justice doesn't matter. Forgiveness is saying justice belongs to God. And at the heart of unforgiveness, I want you to hear this, is the heart of unforgiveness is often something deeper. At the heart of unforgiveness is often a refusal to release justice into the hands of God. We hold on to the debt because somewhere inside of us we're saying, God, I don't trust you to deal with this rightly. I'm going to hold on to it myself. I need them to pay and then I need to make sure that they suffer. And God says, release them to me. Because God will deal rightly with what you and I simply can never deal rightly with. Like, if someone is in Christ and genuinely repents, I want you to understand this. The sin does not simply vanish into thin air. It's not just gone. The offense isn't just like poof. Jesus bore the judgment for sin on the cross. And earthy consequences may still remain, and trust may still need to be reestablished. Restitution may still be owed to you. But if a person rejects Christ and never repents, Scripture says final judgment still belongs to God. Either way, you do not have to become the one who makes the No sin escapes God. Not one. This is the story of Jonah. God tells Jonah, Go to Nineveh. Right? You remember he got swallowed up by a fish? And what does Jonah do? He runs in the opposite direction. And sometimes we picture Jonah as just being afraid. But actually, scripture tells us quite clearly why Jonah ran. Jonah chapter 4. Nineveh repents. The city of Nineveh repents. God extends mercy. And Jonah is furious. He is angry. And he tells God, This is why I fled. I knew that you were a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. You can almost hear the sarcasm. Like do you hear what he's saying? He's like, God, I knew you were merciful, like I n and that was the problem. Jonah did not want Nineveh Nineveh forgiven. He wanted Nineveh to burn. And yet you we find Jonah somehow, this is like reminding me of my six year old, he find Jonah outside of the city wall, pouting. And like this long dialogue about how life is unfair like almost hoping God was changed his mind. But God showed them mercy. And Jonah is offended by God's mercy. And so here's the question I think we need to sit in. What happens in me when God shows mercy to someone I believe deserves judgment? What happens inside of you? 'Cause I think sometimes we'll say, Fine God, you deal with them But what we're really meaning is like Drop the hammer. I release them, but I'm hoping they feel the same way at some point in their life, how they made me feel. And so forgiveness not only means trusting God with justice, but it also means trusting God with mercy. What if God changes them? Like what if they actually genuinely repent? I think we need to address a few things about forgiveness. Forgiveness is not saying forgiveness is not saying that this wasn't hurtful and it wasn't a huge deal. If it wasn't a big deal, there would be nothing to forgive. Forgiveness tells the truth. This was wrong, this hurt me, and this cost me something. Number two, forgiveness is not excusing sin. Understanding why somebody did what they did is not the same as calling it okay. Sin is still sin and that needs to be dealt with. Number three, forgiveness is not immediate trust. Trust is built over a period of time, and when people walk out the fruit of forgiveness, and if trust has been destroyed, then it may take a long time to rebuild it. Lastly, forgiveness is not automatic reconciliation. There has to be truth. There has to be ownership, repentance, participation. You can forgive someone who is not sorry, but it's difficult to reconcile with someone who refuses to tell the truth. Does that make sense? Forgiveness is not automatic restoration. Here's what I'll say: forgiveness takes one, reconciliation takes two, restoration takes time, and trust is rebuilt. And I wanna say this as clear as I can too, like If you find yourself in an abusive relationship in any way, shape, or form, forgiveness does not mean continually placing yourself back into harm's way. The wisest and most loving thing that you can do is to involve other people and to get safe. Because I want you I want you to see, Jesus teaches confrontation, accountability, consequences, and forgiveness in the same chapter. You can genuinely forgive someone and still say you cannot have access into my life. Jesus ends the parable by saying, And in anger his master deliver him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. I think that phrase matters. Have you guys ever heard of the phrase harbouring unforgiveness? Harbouring? Okay. Good. This point would have fell flat if you didn't. And think that's an interesting word, harboring. To harbor something means to actually give it a protective place. When ships are out on sea, there's the rockiness of the sea. And it's oftentimes it can be when a storm comes, it becomes unsafe. But a harbor is a safe place for the boat to come in, tie itself off, dock, and to replenish. And so when we say that we're harboring unforgiveness. What we're actually doing is we're giving bitterness a safe place to rest. What am I doing when the hurt comes back? And I'll say a pain of remembering something is not the same as unforgiveness. The question is, what are you doing with that pain? You could have forgiven somebody over here and yet still remember the pain. But you have to understand what you're doing with that pain. Are you allowing that pain to take root? Am I feeding it? Am I rehearsing vengeance? Am I keeping the dead alive in some way? Am I allowing bitterness to have a safe place in my life? I've heard Pastor Gary say this. I don't know who actually says it, but he's the one that says it the most. So I j it it's his quote, you know. It says holding on to unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. That is good. The offense may have happened in the past, but unforgiveness can actually keep us, or we can actually just keep giving the authority of our lives over to it. Forgiveness doesn't change what happened to you. It changes how much power that wound is allowed to have inside of you. That's what for un that's what forgiveness is. Let me make this really simple. Cause I think Jesus makes it simple. Like I said, not easy, but simple. How do we do this? Number one, tell the truth about the wound and what it cost you. Be honest. Number two, remember the mercy that you have received. Number three, release your personal right to revenge. And entrust the person to God. Finally. Jesus, this hurt. Like this is what it cost me. Not but because of the mercy that you have shown me, I release my demand to make them pay. And I trust you with justice and I trust you with mercy. I think it's I think it's one thing to talk about this, but I I was r as I was writing this I was remembering I have had a front row seat to what this could look like. This has been my wife's story. And I'm not going to share the details of her story because that's her details to share. But I can tell you this there are things in her upbringing that could have absolutely defined the rest of her life. There were wounds that could have hardened her, and that could have made her cynical and bitter and untrusting. And I think if you were to ask her, has the has it ever been easy? Shh, she would probably say, heck no. And has it happened overnight? No. And are there still scars that feel a little bit tender when they're pushed on? Absolutely. I have watched this woman continually yield those places to Jesus. I've watched her do the difficult, extremely difficult work of sometimes extremely painful work of choosing freedom. And again and again and again, she takes freedom over bitterness. And if you have the joy of knowing her today, you know what she's actually dedicated her life to doing. Day in and day out, she sits with hurting people. She helps them walk out some of the darkest seasons and situations of their entire lives. The very kind of wounds that could have destroyed her adult years, Jesus is now using as a place from which she can carry hope to someone else. My friends, this is redemption. We serve the great Redeemer, and this means that evil does not get the final word over our lives. Not now and not ever. Would you stand with me? I'm gonna ask the ministry team to come to the front. Ministry team, if you're in your in the room, could you make your way to the front? Would you close your eyes with me? This morning you may be hearing this and you realize that maybe you're that first servant in the parable who has an enormous debt and a weight of sin that has never been forgiven. Here's what I can say is like the best decision that you could ever make is to allow the person who took the sin and the weight of the world, invite him into your own life. Give your life to him. Let the grace of the Lord just kind of wash over you and let your debt be forgiven. If that's you, would you be so bold and would you raise your hand so I can pray with you? Yeah. Thank you. See ya. Number two. Secondly, this morning you've you may have had a nudge from the Holy Spirit. It could have been really subtle or it could have been glaringly obvious. Maybe it was a face that has popped up. Maybe it's a debt that you're still holding or bitterness that you've been harboring. And maybe it's maybe it's a wound that actually just still hurts. Or maybe it's you that needs to forgive you. If that's you, would you raise your hand? Yeah. All across the room. We have an amazing team up here that would love to pray for you if you raised your hand in any way this morning. Whether you'd like to receive Jesus or you just need someone to help pray with you. It may not mean that you're ready to forgive, but it could just mean that like, hey, listen, I am willing to like become willing. And so Jesus, thank you for this morning. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for the cross, Jesus. Jesus, thank you for the cross. Thank you for the mercy that you have bestowed upon us. Ungrateful, unjust undeserving in every way, Jesus. Thank you that you you poured your life out for a ransom for many. Lord, I pray that this morning wouldn't just be information or some parable or that we just read and we just move on. But Lord, I pray that there would just be an internal work that would happen with inside of us right now. And as we exit this room, that we remember, we remember Jesus, what you did for us, and then we are just become so quick to forgive because of the great debt that we were forgiven of. Jesus, we love you. We thank you. Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.