The Measure of Forgiveness
Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/c6O_hZCcEBM?list=PL4ByrircmXL5UosnbsJhG1f_BnZUXmR6P
We are not forgiven because we forgive, but as we forgive.
The pardon granted by this king represents a divine forgiveness of all sin. But the teaching of this parable should not be misapplied. God's forgiveness toward us lessens in no wise our duty to obey Him....sin is not to be lightly regarded. Sin is to be called by its right name,...But the great lesson of the parable lies in the contrast between God's compassion and man's hardheartedness; in the fact that God's forgiving mercy is to be the measure of our own.
But the teaching of this parable should not be misapplied....If they cannot pay, even though this may be the result of unwise management, they are not to be cast into prison, oppressed, or even treated harshly; but the parable does not teach us to encourage indolence. The word of God declares that if a man will not work, neither shall he eat. (2 Thess. 3:10.) The Lord does not require the hard-working man to support others in idleness. With many there is a waste of time, a lack of effort, which brings to poverty and want. If these faults are not corrected by those who indulge them, all that might be done in their behalf would be like putting treasure into a bag with holes.
In the prayer which Christ taught His disciples He said, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12