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2 Forgiveness, the Key That Unlocks the Secret Place Wednesday Night Bible Lecture by Rev. Len G. Broughton, D.D., of Christ Church, London 4 ' 1 ■i ISSZ A RwlliiilMßl CHRIST CHURCH, LONDON. THE ANAL YSIS The section presents three lines for teach ing; A. Teaching concerning reconciliation —Vs. 15-18. B. Teaching concerning Symphony in prayer —Vs. 19-20. C. Teaching concerning Forgiveness—Vs. 21-35. 1. Peter’s Question —V. 21. 2. Jesus’ Answer —V. 22. 3. The Illustration—Vs. 23-25. (1) The Forgiving Master —Vs. 23-27. (2) The Unforgiving Servant —Vs. 28-30. (3) The Application—Vs. 31-35. i i Matt. 18:15-35. N order that we may get the teach ing of the present section, it is necessary that we shall remember that it is a part of the same conver sation of our last study, where the disciples had raised the question, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” It is also necessary to remember I that this lesson, like the two preceding ones, is a part of the immediate aftermath of the Transfiguration. Following the Transfigura tion, Jesus came into the valley, and there He healed the demoniac boy. After this, come the disciples to Jesus saying: “Who is great est in the Kingdom of Heaven?” And Jesus answers their question by setting a little child in their midst, and saying: “Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Now, it would seem that there had developed some bitterness among His disciples. Doubt less, it had grown out of the presence of Peter, James and John with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration. It was, perhaps, due to this, that the disciples raised the question concerning position in the Kingdom of Heaven. And our present study seems to be a continuation of the teaching of our Lord, growing out of that ques tion. It is in three parts: First, He teaches a lesson concerning recon ciliation. And it will be helpful for us to ob serve the fourfold manner of dealing with a brother who has trespassed against us. The first step is this: To go to such an one, and talk it out with him alone. A very important thing to remember. If we all observed that, it would be a great deal easier to settle differ ences. He didn’t say that we were to go around and talk it over with our neighbors, and then go to him. We ought to go straight to him and talk it out with him alone. Then the next step is this: If he will not hear you, take with you one or two others. Then, if he will not hear them, take it to the ---•*’ ■ ' t. . * The Golden Age for January 16,1913. Reported for The Golden Age by M. I. H.—Copyright Applied for. Church, or the assembly. Then, if he will not hear them, let him be unto to you as an heathen and a publican. Now, by this, He does not mean, in any sense, that you are to turn your back upon him forever, and never have any more concern about him. He meant simply what He said, That if after taking these steps he should refuse to hear you, you are to assume an attitude to him like you would assume to the heathen as a Christian man. That attitude is not one of unconcern. You dont say of the heathen, Well now, he won’t come my way, let him go his way; I don’t care. No. We treat them in a different way, we treat them in a compassionate way we think of them, we labor for them, and pray for them. And so our Lord says that if a man who has trespassed against you, refuses all these overtures that you make, then you are to assume an attitude to him as toward the heathen, and there is no ques tion but that He means here that we are to pray for him, and that not only ourselves, but get others to join with us in prayer; for in the very next verse, He is talking about symphony in prayer. “If two of you shall agree. .. in my name” —literally—“sound together ” a symphony, a “concord of sweet sounds.” And it is a very beautiful word used by our Lord, in a very beautiful and suggestive sense. If any two of you are agreed, in harmony, if there is symphony in your desires, and your agreement, and it is accordin gto my will, it shall be grant ed unto you, that thing which you desire. Then He comes to the lesson concerning for giveness. Here we must stop and observe Peter’s question: “Then came Peter, and said to Him, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Until seven times ? ’ ’ And our Lord answers: “I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven.” And then He gives them the parable of the Master and the debtor. If we study this parable, we will find that it falls into three parts. Let us look first at the forgiving master. His servant owed him ten thousand talents, an immense sum, far beyond what he is able to pay. And he so states to his master. Whereupon, his master command ed him to be sold, and his wife and chil dren, and all his possessions, in order that he might be able to meet the obligation. The ser vant then fell down and worshipped him, say ing, “Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee! ’ ’ Whereupon, the master has com passion on him, and freely forgives him all his debt. Then the second part, as you will see, is the account of the unforgiving servant. This same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a pittance of a sum. Those who figured it out, find the amount was less than a millionth part of his debt, from which he had been cleared. But he demanded payment to be made. Then his fellow servant fell down on his knee and besought him, saying, “Have patience with me and I will pay thee all.” And he would not; but went out and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. The lord and master of that unforgiving ser vant then comes upon the scene, and has a reck oning with this servant, whom he had so gra ciously and mercifully forgiven, and he says, “Oh, thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all thy debt because thou desiredst me; should not thou also have had compassion on thy fel low servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And he delivered him to the torment ors, to those who would ill treat him, until he should pay what he owed. Then follows the application of our Lord in the 35th verse, * ‘ So, likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you, if from your hearts ye forgive not everyone his brother their trea passes. ’ ’ This brings us directly to the subject of for giveness. I want first that we shall see the meaning of the word forgiveness. It is a word we use very frequently, without stopping to understand the full force of its meaning. There are two Greek words, translated for us in English “forgiveness.” They are very dif ferent words, however. I do not know why the translators have translated both of them “forgiveness,” without some explanation, but they have. The first of these words refers to the forgiveness of condonation, or toleration. The other refers to the forgiveness of displace ment, the forgiveness that puts away, out of sight. There is a vast difference between the sort of half-hearted form of forgiveness —the for giveness that most people, however, practice— and the forgiveness that puts away. Most peo ple forgive by tolerating; they say, “Oh, well, I will forgive, but I can not forget; I will hold it against you; I will not be able to trust you any more, though I forgive you. ’ ’ That is the forgiveness of condonation, or toleration; but that is not the forgiveness that our Lord teaches. It is not the forgiveness He exercises over us. His is a forgiveness that comes from the other word; the forgiveness of displace ment, that puts clean out of sight and hides away the thing forgiven. We have a splendid illustration in the Scrip tures, of this. You remember on the day of Atonement the two goats are brought out; one of them is slain. On the head of the other the priest puts his hand, and as he does so, confesses the sins of the people, and then in the hand of a fit man, this goat is led off into the wilderness, and is there lost. There never was anyone in the world that saw that goat after wards, he was lost to sight forever. This is a picture of our Lord’s forgiveness. When He takes our sins away, they are taken away for all time and for eternity; no man afterwards will be able to see them —not even the angels of heaven! Not even the patriarchs of heaven. God himself, will never see them again! They are put clear out of sight; lost in the wilder ness of forgetfulness, these sins that God has put away. He is the fit Man; our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our Anglo-Saxon word, “forgive” itself properly studied, conveys the same idea. It means literally to forth give or give forth. And you find a splendid illustra tion of it in the case of Lazarus when he was raised from the dead. You remember he was bound about with grave clothes his mouth was tied; his hands and feet were tied. There he laid, unable to walk, or talk and our Lord said, “Loose him and let him go.” Now the word, “loose” there is the same in meaning as the word “forgive,” that we are talking about now. It means forgive him and let him go. Let him loose from his grave clothes, forth give him from his grave clothes so that he can walk and talk like a live man. We want now to see the application, first to salvation. In order to get this, we must go back and review the story. In this story of the forgiving master, and the unforgiving ser vant, we have set forth, salvation attempted by law, and salvation accomplished by grace. Ev ery man born into this world owes God a debt which he can not pay. When this is recognized, and Jesus’ forgiveness is sought, He wipes away the debt, and sets the sinner free. What is the attitude of Jesus Christ in re spect to a Christian man who sins? It is well for us to face that! What is His attitude? In our daily life His attitude to our sin is exact ly the same as His attitude to the sins that lie in the past when we come to Him first for salva (Continued on Page 14.)