In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the parable of the unforgiving servant from the Bible. He emphasizes the need for healing in the church, specifically in the area of past wounds and hurts. The preacher warns that an unforgiving spirit can hinder one's relationship with God and the ability to worship Him. He urges the congregation to let go of grudges and wounds, and to truly forgive from the heart in order to please God.

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge PO Box 260, Linville, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. First the kingdom of heaven, like unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. When he began to reckon, one was brought unto him that owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be so, and his wife and children, all that he had repayment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I'll pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence, and he laid his hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me with thy earnest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and he saw him saying, Have patience with me, and I'll pay thee all. He would not. He went out and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw that it was done, they were very sorry, and came and paid unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that, he called him, and said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgive thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou have also had compassion on thy fellow servant, even if I had pity on thee? And his lord and his wife were angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you, if you from your heart forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. All right, there's the story. Lift this way for me up, please. I looked out over this audience tonight. Many hundreds of people gathered here on a Sunday night. And I'm wondering, as you praise the Lord, raise your hands, clap your hands, rejoice with us. Sing these praises. I wonder how many of you realize that there's a danger in what you've done tonight, that there's unforgiveness in your heart. I don't think many Christians understand the extreme danger they're in, in trying to worship God or praise Him in any manner, if there's any kind of an unforgiving spirit within them. I want to prove to you tonight, the unspeakable danger of trying to be on with God, and still hold on to a grudge, still hold on to a hurt or a wound inside that you cannot seem to be healed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Until that spirit of unforgiveness is put up by the roots, and until that wound is healed, until you can truly forgive from your heart, there is nothing you can do to please God. You cannot please Him. I don't care how much you shout or sin. I don't care what you do for your brother or sister. You can't please God. In fact, you're under the judgment of God, this condition. And I prove that from this text that I read to you tonight. This parable tonight is about the Kingdom of Heaven. These servants are all type of Christians. This is a parable on the Kingdom of God. We're not talking about Cain. We're not talking about homosexuals out in a bar fighting among themselves with a spirit of unforgiveness. This is the church of Jesus Christ. This is a parable about a king, his name is Jesus. And these are his servants. These are the servants of the king. And the scripture talks about the king taking account. That's exactly what he's doing to me. I said to him, look at verse 20, Therefore the kingdom of heaven, like unto a certain king, now that's king Jesus, which will take account of his servants. And believe me, that's exactly what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. He's doing to me. The Lord is taking this into account. He said, now you can see my presence, praise in me, worship in me. Now I'm going to take into account. I want to see where your spirit is. I want to see where your heart is. And that's exactly what I believe the Holy Spirit wants to do tonight. To examine us. You see, God here looks at an unforgiving servant of his. He takes him into account. And he finds that there's an unforgiving spirit in him. And he calls him a wicked servant. All die wicked servant. This old servant. His own child. He's called a wicked man. And he calls him wicked because there's a spirit of unforgiveness in his heart. That servant had been walking in the firm mercy of God. He'd been forgiven. He didn't repent because he fell on his knees. He'd been walking in amazement in the glory. And he comes right out of that glory with an unforgiving spirit. And the Master calls him a wicked servant. You find that in verse 32. This unforgiving servant of King Jesus provoked him to anger. Verse 34. And the Lord was angry with him. And the King delivered him over to the tormentors. And told him he should pay all that was due. That's verse 34. Now this is an awesome warning in the Bible. Because the Lord was angry with him. And delivered him to the tormentors. That he should pay all that was due unto him. Now that's not Old Testament thunder from Mount Sinai. That's New Testament grace preaching from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. People say, well you preach too much of the law. You preach too much of the Old Testament. I'm preaching New Testament. That's a wet matter word right out of your Bible. If you've got a wet matter disposition, it ain't from Jesus Christ himself. It's a New Testament warning unto the dispensation of grace. This is Jesus talking to his own body. Warning that it's possible to have great mercy shown to you. To be forgiven a great debt. In the Bible, remember Jesus said. He taught us to pray, forgive us our debts. As we forgive our debtors. He said that sin is a debt. There's not a person in this building tonight. Within the sound of my voice. That has not been forgiven a great debt. You couldn't pay it. There's no way you can pay back what you owe God. None of us have been able to pay God. And we have this man that came owing a great debt. Now, if we were in modern times. It would be anywhere from 10 to 50 million dollars this man couldn't pay. Anywhere from 10 to 50 million dollars. If it simply could have been as much as 10 million of his gold. It could have been 50 million dollars. His talents. And he couldn't pay it. And he comes to the master and he begs pardon. Look what the Bible says. When this man is judged for his unforgiving spirit. So likewise shall. It doesn't say maybe. This is emphatic reality. So likewise shall my. Jesus is speaking. So shall my heavenly father. Do also to you. If you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. And the Bible says this man because he would not forgive someone who trespassed against him. Was delivered over to his tormentors. Now, listen. That's a strong word in the Greek. It means turned over to torturers. Now in the New Testament. Torment is always associated with demon activity. Remember the scripture says. There are many that are taken with vast diseases and torments. And those that are possessed with devils. It's always associated with the devil. In fact, in Revelation, we read that the bottomless pit is going to be opened in the last day. Out of which there'll be a stream of demonic spirits that look as locusts. With the bite of scorpions. And their torment is as the torment of a scorpion. When it strikes at the man. I mean, when you look. The torture has to be with demonic activity. The church today is full of tormented Christians. They're tormented. All over the United States. We have probably 4,500,000 people on the mailing list. With all of our lists included. And it's amazing to think and read these letters of absolute torture. The torment of so many, many homes. Christian homes. We get it right here in Torrey Square Church. What do you call it when you find everything going wrong in your home. In your spiritual life. In your job. Your health. We don't believe that all suffering is all we're seeing. That was part of their claim message this morning. Many of the fictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivers them out of them all. We're going to show you the difference. If you see a lot of people get into very difficult times. They call it a stream of bad luck. It's just a stream of bad luck. These things just happen. I don't think anything just happens to the children of God. I don't believe in luck. And by the way, on this matter of luck. I was reading the New York Times yesterday. And it said that 80% of Americans now are playing gambling games. Listening lottery games. I would hope that nobody within the sound of my voice ever puts a dollar out to bet on lottery or anything else. I'm telling you right now, it's a sin. If you turn off a hundred dollars, then you're playing these kind of games. God told me to say that. And I read it that day. I'm still standing tonight. And I'm so glad that the Lord brought that up to me. Some of you have been standing up there trying to put back that dollar, ten dollars, to start getting rich. God, help us. Amen. You ever seen one of my people lying? Report him. We'll put him on a convention. You see, it's true that the righteous do suffer. They're troubled on all sides, Paul said. But I want you to know, in spite of all the trouble and the difficulty, they're at peace in their heart. Their mind is not troubled. They experience great joy through the tribulation. They're at rest in their heart. The Spirit of God is blessing the inner man. And little by little, the victory comes. And they know the victory's going to come. Even if they have to face death, they know that God's going to give them peace. But not so for the unforgiving, blood-sucking person. Because God is angry at this person. For God is love, the Scripture says. And who will not endure this point out of His mercy and grace, forgiving us of all of our debt. If they're allowing us to go out and hold the grudge against another brother or sister in Christ. Nothing can be clear in the Word of God. Jesus is warning all who cling to an unforgiving spirit. My Father will turn you over to the hands of the terminators. Your unforgiving spirit can lead to insanity. There are Christians, so-called Christians, that actually lost their minds. Because they've been eaten by a spirit of a grudge or an unforgiving spirit. They can't lay it down. In this parable, Jesus is referring to an old oriental practice in prison. They have sadistic prison keepers. And they beat and torment the prisoners. And what is it that tortures them? When you see a marriage die on your hands. When nothing seems to work out in your marriage. When there's bitterness and bickering. There's no trust. There's no joy. There's no victory. And things go from bad to worse. And you can patch it up. And you can say everything is fine. But you know it's not. And you know it's deteriorating. When is that determinant? Now that doesn't mean that you are the one responsible for that. But you've got to examine tonight under the searchlight of the Holy Ghost. Whether or not that deteriorating marriage is a result of an unforgiving spirit in your heart. What is it that tortures them? When you see your children go cold toward the Lord. And you see the enemy come in and begin to possess them. At the speed of this age. You know the mother just whispered to her teenage, thirteen, fourteen year old boy. He started getting in the head of her mother. He's about five in the way. He won't even talk about Jesus now. She's heartbroken. What is it that tortures you? When the money goes through your hands like sand. And you try to get it home the minute you make. And you try to do your best but it just goes through like sand. Like you have a bag of sand that holds it. And then all you get is tears and sand. But you can't get it home. Everything seems to be falling apart. Now sometimes that's bad management. But I'm going to ask you to search your heart. Whether or not it could be because of an unforgiving spirit. And you're in the hands of the tormentor. What is it when you can't explain why you feel so discouraged and cast down all the time. There's a hope of blackness that's been created. A sense of hopelessness. And there's a feeling, why go on? Why go on? In fact, I wonder sometimes even people who come to this church. What keeps them coming? Because we have people all around them. With joy and victim. And sit there like they're dying. There's no joy. I've seen some of you for five or six months and have had no joy in your heart. Every time you see, every time you see. How do you go? I'm going through it. Now I'm going through it. You've been going through it for months. That's what God was preaching about this morning. That's not God's plan. There's something wrong. Could it be there's an unforgiving spirit? Could it be there's a branch? Could it be you're in the hands of the tormentor? He said, I'll turn you over to the hands of the tormentor until you pay it all. You've got to face the terrible possibility you might be under demonic harassment. Because in watching him disappear, there's a clearly revealed way to God. Listen, I've been to churches. In this past year, I've gone out two or three times. And I know I'm not going to name any churches. That's not my style. Until when I go to churches, and I go home and say, Lord, that whole night was a nightmare. All they did was try to race me to leave them. Like they're ready to go home. And I felt sick inside. I said, no wonder our people don't want to go to church. Folks, we're here tonight to have the searchlight of the Holy Ghost turned on us. We're here to deal with issues in this church. So that when the trumpet of God sounds, we have a holy bride to present to him. And a lot of the suffering that we can't explain, we can print our hearts out. But if you will hold on to that judgment as an unforgiving spirit, then all our preaching is in vain. It's not touching the real issue. Now in this parable, I see four areas of healing that need to be dealt with tonight. I'm going to get right into it. In fact, when the Lord gave me these four areas in this parable, I thought, oh boy, that's it. I said, I know our church needs that. And the Lord said, no, don't agree with it. Especially number one. Let's get to number one. The number one area where we need healing in the church. We need healing for all past wounds and hurts. All the past wounds and hurts. That's what I'm going to deal with. Because many of you sitting here tonight, you are hiding something from the past. Now, here's a servant who has just been the recipient of an incredible act of mercy and pardon. You know the story. I just read it to you. This mercy should have brought this man to his knees. Don't you think that the man has been forgiven his great debt? His wife and children have just been saved. His whole family has been saved. He should have been on his face. He should have been so full of love. In fact, Jesus said that the man is forgiven much and loved much. Remember what he said? Do you know what he said? Two men were forgiven. One was forgiven a great amount. And then another man said, I presume the man was forgiven much. And the Lord said, you've answered rightly. This man should have loved the Lord more than ever. He should have been so full of mercy. He should have been exuding the mercy of God. In the same way, you and I, you and I, some of you have been forgiven so much. Oh, how you mocked him. How you wasted your life. And the Lord came and forgave you. You fell down and said, Lord, help me. And the Lord helped you. He delivered you. This man goes out. That same servant went out. Went out from there. He went out from the Holy Ghost meeting. He went out from Times Square Church. Where they were singing this joy. Lord been given. Lord can't take it away. Went right out from the service. Where they were praising God. Raising their hands. He went right out. Having been forgiven so much, he went right out. What did he do? He saw somebody around him. He saw somebody did him wrong. And he couldn't get it out of his craw. He meets this servant who did him wrong in the past. And money wise, it was not one one millionth of what he'd been forgiven. You figure out, it wasn't one one millionth of what he'd been forgiven. And he looked at that man and he said, Lord, I'm not going to let him get away with it. And this man, as he's forgiven this man, goes and takes him by the neck. And begins to choke him. And says, pay me what you owe me. Bill of Hippocrates. Bill of Hippocrates. He's just been forgiven a lot of everything. And he's got his hand around this man's throat. You know what that means? That means he's getting at him. He's digging at him. And I'll tell you, you see that so much, this pay up or else. Listen, the Christian's been hurt by somebody. He can't stand to even look at that offender. They can walk right out of a powerful Holy Ghost meeting. And begin to think of that person. And they get angry. And they begin to hit on him. With gossip. With an attitude that says, now look, it's just not right. They've got to pay. I'm not going to let him get away with it. I'm not going to let her get away with it. You ever heard that? I'm not going to let him get away with it. And that's exactly this man's attitude. This man is going to pay. He did me wrong. He's going to pay. And the false servant, in front of the street, groveling and begging. He said, please have patience with me. I'll do my best to pay when I can. You see now? This man says, you did me hurt. You did me wrong. He wanted revenge. He wanted revenge. He was obsessed with the thought. It's not enough to say, I'm sorry. You're going to pay. And the wicked servant had forgotten how fortunate he was in that he'd been forgiven. He takes his own mercy for granted. And the Bible said he went and cast him into prison. And I want to tell you, this parable right here proves, more than anything else, that if you will not forgive somebody else that's hurt you, you won't forget the past hurt and you want to dig it up. That means that all your past forgiveness has been cancelled. This man had been forgiven and this parable proves that that forgiveness of that man was absolutely cancelled. Isn't that? This forgiveness was totally cancelled. You see, my Bible says, when God forgives, he forgets. When he says he forgives, he forgets. Why did you put on a diving suit and go down and start digging that in that mud? Because when you go to dig out somebody's past, you're only digging up your own. I can't tell you how many letters we get from wives whose husbands have cheated on them. And five years go by and she's still going in. She's still wanting to know every little detail. And she's still digging it out. And if she keeps digging, it won't be his problem. It will be hers because something will come out of it. Has somebody hurt you in the past? Don't dig it up. Bury it. Forget it. Forgive it. You go ahead and dig up somebody's past sin. You start telling others about it. You start bringing skeletons out of somebody's closet. You better know you're going to pay a big price for it. I had a evangelist acquaintance. I called him on the phone. He had just lost his pulpit. He'd been exposed for something that happened seven years prior. And I'm talking about the people from PTL. This is another friend of mine. Somebody went to another evangelist and told the story of how it happened. And that evangelist got right on the phone and said, I've got the goods of your brother to my office immediately. You better get up here. Let her come up. And said, this is on a Saturday. The rest of you said, this happened to this woman seven years ago. She's confessed it to me. And I want you out of your pulpit tomorrow. Get out. And that brother took me on the phone and said, I've never been so mistreated in all my life. I felt dirty and filthy. Something had been dug up in my past. But brother, sister, that man paid a terrible price. He paid a terrible, terrible price because his own past was dug up and it was turned over to the tormentors and the press crucified him. And I want to tell you something right now. And I believe I'm speaking to a lot of bodies in just here tonight. This is the problem in the church of Jesus Christ. The problem are men who can't get to victory. Somebody hurt you. Was it a divorce? Was it somebody cheating in your family? Is there something in the past that bothers you? You say, well, I confessed it. It's under the blood. Well, then leave it under the blood. Leave it right there. Leave it. This man should have shown mercy. He should have shown grace. Listen. The brother told me, said, brother, do you still want me? I had confessed that. It was out of the way. It was under the blood. And they went and dug it up. And all the price that's paid when people begin to gossip about somebody's past. You do nothing more than bringing all the skeletons out of your own closet one day. You will be the headline news. Take it to Jesus and say, Lord, fill me with grace and mercy. Let me forgive from the bottom of my heart. Whatever the past is. You've not truly repented. If you want somebody to pay. You say, well, don't hurt me. You don't know what they did to me. And I'm not going to let them get by with that. I'm not going to let them tramp on me. That's not the spirit of Christ. All the guys who turned over the determiners. Look at merciful. I will say myself merciful. Jesus said, love your enemies. Do good, hoping for nothing in return. For he is kind unto the unfaithful and to the evil. Be you therefore merciful as your father is merciful. For with the same measure that you use, it shall be measured back to you again. To the merciful, I will say mercy. If you're going to be mean. If you're going to gossip. If you're going to try to dig up the past, then hold it up there and say, I want it all out. He said, love your enemies. Do good to those who despitefully use you. Pray for them. I'm asking God tonight to come against by his spirit every single past hurt in your life. Every single past hurt. That some of your husbands need to forgive your wives and wives need to forgive your husbands. You've got to forgive that one who left you and abandoned you. That one who did you wrong and trampled on you and did you absolutely despicable. You can't walk with Jesus in righteousness until the spirit of forgiveness flows like a river through you. Love your enemies. Do good, hoping for nothing in return. For he is kind unto the unfaithful and to the evil. Be you therefore merciful as your father is merciful. I've got to move on. Number two. We need healing from the hurt of hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of others. You see this fellow servant is in jail. He's passed into jail. He's in jail and the news comes to him that his accuser has been exposed. And his accuser himself is now in jail and under judgment. Now I'm going to tell you. This man has a harder job. He has a harder task than anyone else. The fellow servants. In fact this man is in jail. He's got one of the hardest parts of the whole story here. The obvious reaction of this man when he gets the news that the one who came in jail was really a fraud and a hypocrite. In fact if he wouldn't mention being what he is I would imagine this man says well what a hypocrite. What a phony. All along he's into this big swindle. Boy am I glad he's getting his. Now keep in mind they're both servants of King Jesus. If he responds like many Christians do today. He'd start blathering. I knew it all along. He's a wicked man. I hope God tears him apart. He's got it coming. Uh huh. I knew it all along. I knew it all along. I saw it coming. Now it's no question this accused is a hypocrite. He's a wicked servant. He did bring judgment down upon his own head. But according to the scripture this man is hurt. This man has done the wrong. This man was hurt by the hypocrite. He can't find his place in the kingdom until he forgives. He's got to forgive the man who was this hypocrite. The hypocrisy done against him has to be forgiven. If this man is his guilt who's the other? He's just as guilty. He sees the judgment of God and is accused of it. Is he going to rejoice in that judgment? I wonder if you know somebody that's a hypocrite. You know what the whole story is about? If you look at chapter 18 and verse 15. Here's the key to the whole chapter. May all your five brothers who trespass against me go and tell them there's fault between them and the Lord. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Now this whole parable is about gaining your brother. The Lord doesn't want to lose anybody. He doesn't want to lose one of his sheep. He wants restoration. And sometimes we can't believe God's restoration because we're so full of this bitterness and hating us because of what some hypocrite did to us. The man was a hypocrite that did it to him. There's no question about it. Maybe he was a hypocrite that hurts you. How often shall I forgive? As often as the Lord forgives you. Does it work? As often as the Lord forgives you. Are you wanting to gain back your brother or do you want revenge? What would you like God to do to the hypocrite? Now this is really not a message about hypocrites at all. It's about all the actual hypocrites. Someone sent me a note recently. In fact, it's the third note the lady sent me. She's probably here tonight. I won't name her because she never puts her name. Most of these letters don't have names on them. And what she said was that there's a lot of hypocrisy in this pulpit. And at other times I've been stopped going down the aisle and someone would say, Brother, it's not happening. No, but one of your workers is a hypocrite. A real phony. And I pray that God lets you know. And I look at these weird people and I say, To myself I say, Is there no hypocrisy in you at all? And I often wonder what people do about their favorite hypocrite when they come to church. I wonder what kind of dialogue goes on in their mind. I wonder if they're peeping when their hands are up to see what their favorite hypocrite is doing. I wonder if they're saying, How could he do that? How could she do that? Don't you know they're a hypocrite? I know it. Expose them. Oh. You can be so focused on a hypocrite you can lose your soul. You become so judgmental about them not being exposed. You can lose your arms there. You can lose your soul. Are you supposed to sit there and just forgive the hypocrites? Look, Jesus was crucified by the biggest bunch of hypocrites in history. And yet Jesus said, Father, forgive them. They don't even know what they do. This man that's been wronged and he's in jail, he's got to heal this man just like everybody else. So likewise you, brother, been cast in jail and accused and hurt by a hypocrite. Even you, my brother, if you will not forgive, my heavenly Father, be also to you, if you will from your heart not forgive them in the name of this brotherly trespass. Forgive them for what he did to you. Forgive them. I don't care what any hypocrite did to you. Forgive them in the name of the Lord. Get it out. Why should you run your soul over? Why should you have your victory robbed over what someone else has done? Thirdly, we've been weaned from the hurt over someone else's wound. Someone else's burden that you're carrying. Somebody hurt a friend of yours and you're sharing the injustice tonight. Another brother says he's been deeply wounded and hurt and you've taken that wound and raised it upon yourself. Look at verse 31. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Here's the fellow servants. They were so sympathetic. He said, now look, our brother's been hurt and this should go on. And folks, they did the right thing. They went to the king and they told the whole story. I like to see people take up for the underdog. I like people stand up for justice and equality. There's no question that they did the right thing. There's a whole hypocrisy and a whole hypocrisy that bothered them. It was a total act of love and mercy and they saw it and they were exposed. But you see, these fellow servants also have a problem. A major problem. See, the culprit's in jail now and justice is being done. But what is left in the heart of these fellow servants? What's the attitude that's in their heart now? Is there still revenge there? Or is there a spirit of unforgiveness? I get letters from fathers who are so angry. So angry. They have the sad hurt of a young man that's abused or hurt a daughter. Some father who's grieved that a young man has divorced his daughter and did a wrong and terrible injustice and he says, I don't ever want to see his face. I've heard Christians, I've heard preachers talk like that. So help me if I ever see him, I'll tear him limb from limb. And other people that you know, did you want to tear from limb to limb? You said, well, you know what they did. How about that husband that divorced you, the wife that divorced you, how about that boss on the job that just treated you like a rug to wipe his feet on? So help me one of these days, he ain't gonna move. Some friend confides in you, embarrassed his soul or her soul, and you take sides, and it gets to you and eats you up. It could be about marriage and love or a family problem. And you say, I've got to stand up and defend my friend. Alright? That's fine. But you see, the scene has changed now, and the hypocrite's in prison for life. The accused are not as free. Now where do you go? You see, this parable's focusing on forgiveness, compassion, and pity. When Jesus said to the hypocrite, Judas, my man, also have had compassion on my fellow servant, as I have pity on thee. He's speaking to the church, he's speaking to us tonight. According to the spirit of the Lord Jesus, what these fellow servants should have been doing now is going to jail to visit this hypocrite and trying to restore him. Or how about saying, look, I can't forgive what he did. I can never forgive what he did. Well, God help your brother, sister, neither can the Lord forgive you then. Your counsellor won't know forgiveness. Your counsellor will. Stephen being stoned, his body's black and blue. You could see him about to die, he couldn't get there. He said, look, look what they've done to my body. He didn't say, look what they've done to me. He said, Father, don't leave this to their charge. Forgive them. He was being stoned to death. He died from those stones. Now, God's very serious about the matter of having mercy. I want you to go to Matthew, the 6th chapter and look at something with me, please. Matthew, the 6th chapter. Matthew, the 6th chapter. Verse 14. For if we forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father, we also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Is that in the Bible? Could you go back and read it again? Verse 14. For if we forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father, we also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Now, folks, there's no getting around that. I don't know how to soften that. It's there we've got to deal with it tonight. If there's somebody... You're standing up there right now. Usually, the person you stand up with, you're saying they're hurt. Long ago, they're healed. They've gone on to something else. You're still there hurting. You're still there fighting. Some of bitterness. They've gone on. You're consuming it. Hey, you know that thing that you told me about? Oh, yeah, that thing last year. Well, I'm remade. Everything's changed and we're happy. You're still sitting there full of hate. They've moved on, and you're still sitting there hurt. We have so little of the spirit of the humility of Jesus in us, we cut off those who hurt us. We want to avoid them. We say, I won't hate them, but just keep them away from me. When's the last time you started to pray for the hypocrite? When's the last time you started to pray for that one that did you wrong? That did your friend wrong? My Bible said, we're to pray for those who despitefully use us. Pray for those who despitefully use us. Now, here comes the hardest part of all. The healing of repetitious abuse. Look at verse 20, 18. Verse 21. Go back to 18. Verse 21. Have you ever had somebody hurt you over and over and over and over again? And you try to forgive and forgive and forgive? Verse 21. Then came Peter to Him and said, Lord, how oft should my brother sin against me? And I forgave him until seven times. Jesus said unto him, I say unto thee, until seven times. I say not unto you until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Now, here's the big one, folks. Look at me, please. Here's the test to find out if you're really going to go on with the world all the way. You see, the Jews believed in forgiving three times at the most for, and they took that from Amos 1.3. For three transmissions and four, I will not turn away. And, of course, the priests built a whole concept of knowledge on that. You're to forgive three at the most, four. And at the most, you can add the three and the four and maybe get a seven. So, Peter thought he was being very generous. He said, Lord, the priest is saying three times, maybe four. Let's be very generous, let's say seven. Peter thought he was being very, very generous. Not knowing that it's not up to us to forgive. We don't have the right to forgive. It's His forgiveness that flows to us. We just let it flow to us. It's not even in our hands. It's not ours to give. It's of the Spirit of Christ. So, Peter thought he was very generous. You ever heard anybody say, well, I'll forgive you this time, but don't you ever do it again? I am so happy that you compete. I am so glad the Lord doesn't remember us like that and keep count. The Lord lost count on you not long ago. But, you see, we reach our limits. And we say, that's it. I've had it. God expects me to take so much and no more. So, read my lips, no more. And then we put up a wall. And then we put up a wall. Just like they say marriage is 50-50, that's the biggest lie I've ever heard. What do you do, draw a line, man? And you go at 50 percent and say, you're only 10 percent, you're only 40 percent. Come on up here. No, marriage is 100 to nothing. You give 100 not expecting anything in return, the Bible says. Then maybe God lets you reap one day. But you're not to worry about the reaping, just the sowing. You see, nobody likes to be taken advantage of. Sometimes, a loved one will come up to your friend and say, you don't have to take that. You're being taken advantage of. People take advantage of you. You know another thing it kind of gets me? It's sister, brother and sister, I call them brother and sister. I know what's going on. Whenever anybody come up to you, I know what's going on. We have ministers that come to us and say, in fact we've heard them here, I'm sure. I know what's going on. I've been brought in. I've been exposed and all. We've had three letters like that in the past month right out of this congregation. I don't know if you've heard of me. I wish you'd tell me what's going on. You don't know what's going on. I don't know what's going on. I don't care what's going on. You know people act like there's some sinister thing going on. I know it. They make you believe there's a cover up somewhere. Or there's partiality or favoritism. I know it's going on. I know it. I know it. I sure don't. Oh I know it. I see a bunch of angry people going with the Lord. Hallelujah. I don't care about anything else folks. We made up our mind when we came to this church. If you want to gossip, that's fine. But there's so much Holy Ghost here. You get to maybe two or three and usually a big tongue means a big ear. I don't hear any gossip because I'm not listening to any gossip. Hallelujah. I got a prayer request this morning. I didn't even read it. I prayed the gospel. Someone requested to pray for this church for all the gossipers. I don't even know what that's all about. A trick question. How many have heard gossip? Five. Would you go to Mark? Eleventh chapter of Mark. Mark. Let me say it as it is and then I'll close. Mark 11 chapter verse 22. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Have faith in God, for there I say unto you, that whosoever shall sail into this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea. It shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that these things which he saith shall come to pass, and shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore, if you want that kind of faith that removes the mountains out of your life, you want to see God work in your life, therefore I say unto you, let them soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, you may have them, and when you stand praying, forgive. If you have ought against any, that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive your trespasses. But, here it is again, if you do not forgive, neither will your Father, which is in heaven, forgive your trespasses. I want to read to you, just look at me, just let me know if you can't, but I want to read to you a person out of 2 Corinthians. There was a man in the Corinthian church who had sinned grievously against the body. An insane repentance. And here's what Paul wrote, he said, sufficient to such a man as this punishment, which was inflicted by many. In other words, he's under church discipline. So that, contrarywise, you ought rather to forgive him now, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a man be swollen up with overmuch sorrow. Therefore I beseech thee, that you would confer your love toward him. And listen to me please, this is the purpose of the church of Jesus Christ, that those who are hurt, those who have wronged him, first of all be encouraged to forgive their hypocritic onslaughts. And then that we should not take sides with anybody but Christ and his righteousness. That we forgive both the offender and those who have been offended. That we would seek to restore and heal, so that no one would be caught up in overmuch sorrow, and would never get an advantage. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. Prayers that anyone, anyone who's ever been wounded in this church, here in New York City can come. I believe this church to be like a Holy Ghost hospital. I really believe that. That those who are hurt and wounded can come and find healing. Anything. I don't have words, and with this I'm going to close. I don't have words to describe what would happen in this church, here in Times Square, right in the middle of Broadway. If this body that makes this church your home, if we would go to one another and make things right, if we would look at every person that we've ever had a grudge against, or we've had judgment against, or we felt someone has wronged us, you wouldn't carry that in your heart. You would go to them tonight, tonight, and you'd put your arms around them and say, Brother, I've had something against your sister, I've had something against you. You don't even have to go into the details of it. You know, I've had, I was in a convention once, a Sunday night convention, and I preached there, there were 5,000 ministers at a big convention, and after the service, preachers were lined up, and they were hugging me, and I said, I'm so sorry, Brother Dave, for what I've been saying, what I've been, I'm so sorry, and it shocked me. I was absolutely horrified, and then I said, but I do what I do. He said, Brother, never mind, just forgive me, and I said, you're forgiven. I can stand here tonight and say, Holy God, I don't know anybody on the face of the earth right now that I've grudged. I don't have in my heart, I'll tell you what he's having to do, there's some people I'm having to work at it, I'm having to work at it, but as I'm working at it, and I'm praying for them, God's putting more and more of a love in my heart for them, He's putting a love in my heart, and I'll tell you what, I want to be able to stand, He said, when you stand praying, forgive, and if you don't, you're standing there, your prayers aren't getting above your head, and more than that, you're going to be turned over in the hands of a tormentor, so will my Heavenly Father do to you, if you from your heart, not your head, but your heart, forgive your brother and your sister. If we would go to one another, this church would be so radiant with the power of God, they would be lined up around the block trying to get in, they would be like, you couldn't get a seat in this church, the glory would be so heavy in this house, there wouldn't be a sinner able to sit in that seat, we wouldn't even have to have our own, because after the preaching, we'd have it halfway through the sinning, these angels would be there, because there'd be such a purity, there'd be such a power released from Heaven, and we would be living in joy and victory, our prayers would be heard from Heaven, because it's all God. I know, oh, I know, God put this in my heart, He wants to hear it tonight, there's a warning, and I can't soften it, with this I close, there's a warning, right now, you've heard the word of the Lord, you've heard it, if there's someone in this body, anyone in this body, if one did you or hurt you, and you wanted to forgive them from your heart, or you wanted to go up to them and hug them and say, forgive me, is there anyone on the face of this, that you can't get on the telephone, or write a letter and say, I'm sorry, I've had a hard feeling against you, and sign it, get it out, are you a worker in this church, and you're just here, offered by somebody else, you can't stand side by side, and work with somebody else, you're looking at their faults, rather than reaching out in love, and saying, I embrace you, brother, sister, I want to work with you, as a brother, sister in Christ, do you have to come down this aisle, to miss somebody in this aisle, do you have to sit in the balcony, I know, but do you have to sit up there, and do you slip out, before saying, I'm sorry, sister, so and so, do you think you might have to, stand right there, face to face, and either shake hands or hug them, if that's the problem, your prayers are not being heard, you've transferred your forgiveness, and you're in danger, of being turned over to the terminus, and I wonder if that's why, things have not been working out, in somebody's life tonight, when you say, I can't figure it out, I pray, I fast, I do everything, and nothing is turning out right, everything is going wrong, check it out, brother, sister, turn the searchlight on right now, and say, Holy Spirit, look in my heart, I want to forgive, will you stand to your feet please, beloved, all I can do is give of my heart, I've given my heart to you, best I know how, we're going to have a healing service tonight, God promise we're going to heal, we're going to heal your past hurts, I'm not on the Lord, I'm going to pray, I'm going to ask God tonight, by His Spirit, to come down on us with His healing power, I'm going to ask Him to rise up and take your healing tonight, but if you have to make a confession, first of all, if you're not living for the Lord like you should, you've been in the hands of a tormentor, you need to get down here tonight, lay down at the altar, there may be somebody you have to search out tonight, go to them right now, maybe in the choir, maybe here, you may have to come to one of the pastors, and say, Brother Wilkerson, Brother Don, Brother Phillips, I've got a wrong attitude, and I don't want to hinder the blessing of God in my life, and I don't want to hinder the blessing in this church, the saints are getting us ready for His coming, He's cleaning us up, there's no time for grudges, there's no time for gossip, there's no time for that childishness anymore, the Lord says, get it out, there's not a person here tonight, that every one of these pastors can't look right in the eye, we can stand toe to toe to you, eye to eye, with you in the eye, and say we preach to you the full counsel of the Lord Jesus, and we love you, and we care about you, but you have to care for your brothers and sisters as much as these shepherds care for the flock, and more than that, you've got to care and pray for your shepherds just as much, if you've not been praying for your shepherds, you should be, we covet your prayers, we're asking God to snap and break it tonight, close your ears to all gossip, close your ears, say brother and sister, we don't want to hear that, please, I don't want to hear that, let's pray, let's pray, don't go around rebuking anybody, we've got a few people going around this church, rebuking people, someone came to me just this morning, said what's up, someone's going to rebuke me today, well, they can't be of the body of Christ and go around rebuking you, if they go to rebuke you, just lie and say, oh, I love you so much and other, and the Bible says, bless those who curse you, pray for those who despitefully use you, bless your enemies, pour heaps of coal on their head of love, oh God tonight, by your spirit, you told us to deal this morning with our melancholy spirit, you told us to deal with sadness and meanness, and we've done that now, oh God, send our river of forgiveness and mercy to flow through us, with the merciful, I will show myself merciful, the Lord says, God, let there be a spirit of forgiveness flowing through this body tonight, forgive us, oh Lord, our debts as we forgive our debtors, Lord, forgive us as we forgive those who sinned against us, Lord, we forgive, can you say that, Lord, we forgive, Lord, I forgive my brother, I forgive my sister, you know somebody has to forgive, do it right now, raise your hand and say, Lord, help me to forgive, let that grudge out of my heart, take it out of my heart tonight, Jesus, take it Lord, take it tonight, take it tonight, if you need healing for hurt, I want you to come down to this altar, we're going to pray for you, ask God for a miracle in your life, as they say, rise, take your healing now, up in the balcony, go up to the stairs on either side, God's going to heal you tonight, God's going to miraculously deliver this shame that's had you, God's going to set you free, come on. Rise and take your healing now, Rise and take your healing now, Rise and take your healing now, Jesus, Jesus, Rise and take your healing now, Rise and take your healing now, Rise and take your healing now, Jesus, Jesus, Rise and take your healing now, Rise and take your healing now, Rise and take your healing now, Jesus, Jesus, Rise and take your healing now, Rise and take your healing now, Rise and take your healing now, Jesus, Jesus, Come on, let me hear you. Bring healing tonight, Jesus. Bring healing to our hearts. Bring forgiveness to our hearts. Rise and take your healing now, Rise and take your healing now, Jesus, Jesus, Rise and take your healing now, Rise an take your healing now. Rise and take your healing now, Rise and take your healing now, I lay it down to you, Jesus. Right now, heal me. As I forgive others, forgive me. I reach out in forgiveness to everyone who's hurt me. Now we pray for the Father, for the whole body tonight. Bring a marvelous healing. Bring a healing tonight. Cause the people to go to one another and say, forgive me. Lord, there'll be a marvelous healing that flows. There'll be a healing that flows through our body tonight. Remove all the poison. We come against every satanic lie, every lying spirit, every gossiping tongue. Lord, bring an endless objection to the obedience of the Lord Jesus. Lord, we want a church that's walking in purity and holiness before God. We want a people, Lord, that are walking circumspectly before you. Hallelujah! With forgiveness and mercy and love for brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. This is the conclusion of the text.