In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of walking in forgiveness as part of living a holy life. He shares a parable from the Bible about a servant who owed a great debt to a king. The servant pleads for patience and promises to repay the debt, but the king shows compassion and forgives the debt completely. The preacher emphasizes that just as the servant was forgiven, we too must forgive others. He warns of the danger of harboring unforgiveness and encourages listeners to repent and seek forgiveness from 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, Lindale, 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. Walking in forgiveness. Now, the Holy Spirit, as I said, gave this to me on Monday. That's five days before this latest moral scandal in the church. In light of what the Holy Spirit's been saying to me and showing me about walking in forgiveness, I really haven't had much time to think about that as much as I've been thinking about what God's saying in my own heart. Because the Holy Ghost's been turning the searchlight on all of us, I believe. He's putting on a great and holy fear in our hearts about the terrible danger, the terrible danger of harboring any kind of unforgiveness in our own lives. Now, I'm understanding more and more that walking in holiness includes walking in forgiveness. I'm going to repeat it. Walking in holiness includes a walk in forgiveness. It's impossible to be holy, it's impossible to be truly righteous before the Lord if you have a spirit of unforgiveness, if you're not forgiving somebody because of a grudge, something they've done against you, if you're sitting here tonight harboring any kind of bitterness, if you have a grudge against anyone on the face of the earth, you cannot possibly be walking in holiness. You can throw your TV set out the door, you can burn all of your pornography, you can quit your lying and your cheating and your stealing, you can quit your adultery and your fornication, you can quit lying, you can start being obedient to all the Lord's commandments, but if you're carrying that little seed of bitterness and rebellion in your heart, if you're not forgiving someone who hurts you, if you're despising somebody in your heart, you are not walking in holiness, and more than that, your prayers are not being heard, and more than that, you're still in your sins. And I'm going to prove that to you. Go to Matthew 6, please. I'm going to take you through a number of Scriptures as quickly as possible, but I want you to see it clearly. Matthew 6, please. You did bring your Bibles. If you did, say, Amen. If you didn't, go and repent tonight. When you go home the next time, bring it back. Matthew 6. You never come to this church without your Bible. Matthew 6, verse 14. Are you ready? For if we forgive men their trespasses, your Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Now, do you see that? I wanted you to turn there just to see it. I want you to turn to Mark, the 11th chapter now. Turn to Mark. While you're in Matthew 6, look at verse 12. Matthew 6, verse 12. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. In other words, He's forgiving us as we are forgiving others. Now, the message is if you're not forgiving others, He's not going to be able to forgive you or me. Now go to Mark, the 11th chapter. Mark, the 11th chapter. And go to verse 25. Mark 11, verse 25. When you stand praying... What's it say? Say it again. When you stand praying, forgive. You were standing here tonight praying, weren't you? You stood here raising your hands. You stood here worshiping the Lord. When you stand praying, forgive. If you have ought against any, that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father, which is in heaven, forgive your trespasses. Now you don't have to turn to Luke 6, verse 37. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. The Scripture that you read just a little while ago, don't turn back, but Matthew 6, verse 12. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Now listen closely to me. That's taken directly from the parable in the 18th chapter of Matthew. You turn to Matthew 18. Most of my message will be from the 18th chapter of Matthew. Please turn there and leave it open, put a mark there, because we'll be coming back frequently to this chapter. Matthew the 18th chapter. Now this is... Jesus gave a parable in answer to Peter's question. Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? That's 18, verse 21. Look at that. Verse 21, Then came Peter to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times? And I think Peter thought he was being very liberal, being very generous. Lord, seven times! Jesus answered him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. How many times is that? 499. Now, the thing is, what the Lord is doing is using a metaphor. What are you saying? Don't count! Have you ever told your children... If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. Have you ever told them a thousand times? It's a metaphor. In other words, you know, I'm tired of telling you. Jesus is saying, don't count! Don't count on a little book of black transgressions. And it gets to 496, and you go and say, Brother, three more! And you have had it! We've got Christians like that. They keep count! I don't mean 499, but they say, Look, I've been just... You do it one more time and that's it, brother. Same with marriages, you know. I've heard it said, The biggest lie in the world is marriage is 50-50. That's a lie from the pit of hell. Marriage is not 50-50. It's not give and take. It's all give. I mean that with all my heart. What are you going to do? You draw a line of 50% and you draw up there. You're at 40% and we've got a 10% line here. Who's going to cross it? No, sir. You give and the day will come that you'll get back if God so chooses. But if two people are giving, if two people are interested only in giving and forgiving... You know, there was a movie way back. I heard it said that the theme of it, it was called Love Story. Love is never having you say I'm sorry. That's wrong. Love is learning how to say I'm sorry. It's learning how to forgive. No, the woman's been married to an alcoholic for 25 years. She's been giving and giving and giving. He gets saved and she starts receiving as the Lord chooses. So if you've drawn a 50-50 line, you'd better scribble it out. Now, here's the story of a servant who owed a great debt. Let's start reading here at verse 23. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants. And we had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents. Now, if that were silver, I don't know, that's probably over $100 million right now. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his family and his children and all that he had and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying, Lord, have patience with me. I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him. In other words, he released him from the debt. Forgave him the debt freely. Just forgave the debt. Now look this way, if you will, please. Now this parable is very, very important because the king here is Jesus. And by the way, in my Bible, this is all in red letters. That means Jesus is talking. Is that right? Who is the king of this story? Other than Christ Himself. He's the king who's bringing His servants into account. The Bible said He was taking account of His servants. Paul said, Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. Peter said, Who shall give account to Him that is ready to judge the living and the dead? And He's taking account of His servants. The Bible said, One is brought before Him that owed Him 10,000 talents. And the Bible said He had nothing to pay. Now who is this servant that owes this great debt? If He were living today, a hundred million dollar debt, and He comes to Him and says, I have nothing to pay. Who is this man? You don't have to look very far. You don't have to look any further than the mirror to see who this man is that owes them the debt that can't be paid. What is this bad debt, this incredible debt? It's the sin and compromise that was piled up all your lifetime. Even though you may be forgiven, I'm talking about your past debt, the times you backslid, the times that you were out of the will of God, that time you hurt and grieved the Holy Spirit. Now it's true that we must all one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ. But I don't believe this is talking about the judgment. Because if this were the judgment, the man couldn't go out and find another servant and wring his neck because of it all over then. You see, he's talking about the Holy Ghost being God's district attorney. And he happens to be taking account because we're getting near judgment day. God's looking over His books. And He sends out the Holy Ghost with a summons. Have you ever gotten a summons from the Holy Ghost? When He backs you up against the wall and says, that's it, you cross that line, and that's it. You say there's no end of His patience. There's no end to the character of God in His patience. But I can show you story after story where God drew a line and said, that's it, and there's been a divine ultimatum. And He sends His sheriff or His district attorney and He hands the summons to you. And He said, you owe a debt. And I'll tell you what, this debt is so heavy that it's going to cost everything. It's going to cost your wife, your children, everything you have. Because that's what the king said, take everything he has. In fact, he's evidently already imprisoned because it later says he released him. He calls him in. He said, here's the debt. This speaks to me of the Holy Ghost coming to the remnant. He's coming to so many Christians. And He's saying, look, you have walked in compromise. You've walked in foolishness long enough. And you're going to damn yourself. You're going to lose it all. And because of My great love for you, I've got to give you this ultimatum. And He said, if you continue, it's going to cost you everything that you have. And that's what the Scripture said. His children, his wife, and all that he had. Verse 25. It was payday. You pay it or it costs you everything. And the Bible says he could not pay even though it was commanded that payment be made. The Lord is showing us here that our sin can destroy everything that we touch. If we don't lay it down, confess it and forsake it, the time will come it will touch and pollute and destroy everything that you have. The servant, knowing that he has nothing, falls down and repents. You see it there. The Bible says he fell down and worshipped saying, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And the king, seeing this man on his face, weeping, was moved with compassion. And folks, this is where forgiveness begins with our holy God. He was greatly moved with compassion and He loosed him and He forgave him the debt. Now, friends, there's no question, you know it, there's pardon and forgiveness for all past sins when we confess and forsake them. He's patient with us. Let me ask you, how patient has the Lord been with you? What do you deserve tonight? Where would you be without His patience? Where would you and I be without His loving kindness and forgiveness toward us right now? I want you to think back. Think back of all the secret sins that you have harbored in your lifetime, especially since you've called yourself by His name. Of all the hurtful things that you've done and said to God, to family, to husband, to wife. Of all the lies you've told. Of all the cover-ups, the unbridled lust, the temper tantrums, the cursing. Think of all that you've done in your lifetime. Think of the stubbornness, your self-centeredness, how you've hurt people, walked over them in the past, how destructive you were. How you were once sold out to sin and you were bringing destruction. You were bringing it down on your head. There are men that have been saved here tonight that you almost demolished the character of your wife. You walked over her because of your sin. You destroyed your family, your children. There are some of you sitting here now thinking back. Go ahead, think about it. Put on your thinking cap. The kind of hurt you've caused all around you to husband, wife, father, mother, children. How many people have been hurt? And then one day you've got a Holy Ghost all to meet Him. And God was saying it's payday. And when that comes, and He does it sometimes by bringing a friend to your life, He'll bring somebody full of the Holy Ghost. He'll send conviction to you. You'll wind up sitting in a church just like this. You'll wind up somebody coming to you and the Holy Ghost just coming with message after message. And you get that summons. And it's a call to repent. It's a call to get straight with God. And you know if you don't, you're going to lose everything. You're going to be sold out to sin. And you're going to lose it all. God makes you know that in your heart. He makes you know that you've played with it too long. He knows that it's been there and it's got to be laid down. Now you've repented. You've changed. You've been set free from this great debt and you've been pardoned. And you know what we do? We do just like this servant. You say, Father, I'll repay all. Now, I don't know whether the king was amused or what. Because here's a man who doesn't have a dime. And he owes $100 million. He said, give me time and I'll pay it all. He didn't have a dime. That's just the way we are. We say, oh God, I've so messed up my life. And now I've got saved. Lord, I'm going to make it up to You. I'm going to so pray and fast and seek and so love the Word of God. If I don't do anything, if You just give me another year, Lord, I'll make every hour count. I'll pay You back. I had a wife tell me the other week, I don't think she's here tonight, but she said my husband, I don't know whether he was alcoholic or what, but so had messed up his life and they'd been separated. And she said in the last four or five years since he's been back to the Lord, it's been so precious. And he said, Brother Dave, he had so told her, and she in turn told me, I want to make it up. And she said, Brother Dave, he's really making it up. And some of you think that right now that you can make up all the hurt that you've caused your husband, your wife, your children. It's impossible. You can't do it. You can't erase all that hurt. And the real issue is that you shouldn't have to make it up because when there's unconditional forgiveness, you don't make anything up. You're pardoned. If you're trying to make it up to God, you've got it all wrong. You've got it all wrong. You couldn't begin to pay the debt that you owe. If God gave you a whole nother lifetime, you couldn't repay the debt that you and I owe. There's no way in the world that I could repay what I owe my God. There's not one of you here tonight that could repay. Now, here's a servant with nothing left. And the Bible says, first of all, he had nothing to pay. Then he says, I will pay thee all. He was not pardoned because he promised to pay. He was pardoned because the Master, the King, had compassion on him. Now, you think of the debt that we owe the Lord. And by the way, the debt that you owe the Lord is the debt that you owe others. Because He said, inasmuch as you've done it unto one of these, the least of My servants, you've done it unto Me. Now, you tell me how Peter could ever repay the debt that he owed his God and his Lord. How could this man ever repay even a lifetime of service to the cross of Jesus? Even dying as a martyr couldn't make it up. Even though on the Judgment Day there are going to be multitudes that were saved through his ministry. Even though he stood on the day of Pentecost and had the anointing after he came back from his sins. But how is he ever going to make up? The Bible doesn't say it. But human nature being what it is, on the Judgment Day, is Peter going to have to answer for all those who were bruised by his denial of Christ? What about those who say, Master, I stopped believing in You because I had my eyes on Peter. He was such a preacher. He was so close to You. I lost my faith over this man. How many are going to stand at the Judgment Day shipwrecked in their faith because of this great man of God who fell and denied his Lord? Let me tell you what the Bible is trying to say to us right now. He's not going to be held responsible. Peter, if God gave him a whole new lifetime and started over again, he could not make up. He could preach all over the world to every living soul on the earth. And though he went back, he couldn't undo the damage that was done. But you see, Jesus fully pardoned him. He wiped the slate clean so that when Peter stands on the Judgment Day, that debt has been paid! It's been paid at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the great things that happens when you start walking in the fear of God, when you start walking in holiness, you begin to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin. You begin to loathe it. You begin to hate it in your own heart first. Do you know the tendency is to always say, Jesus, just give me enough time! Give me enough time and I'll make it up! I couldn't begin to make up. There's no way I could repay. I think back over my ministry over these past 30-some years of preaching around the world. And I thought of times this afternoon. I thank God that He's kept His hand on me. I thank God for that. But I've gone through some dry spells in my ministry. Terrible dry spells. And so much discouragement in my heart. And feeling so much hurt and pain from other people. And not living in the prayer life that I should. And standing up before thousands of people empty and dry for a whole season. I remember one trip overseas. I was so empty and so dry. I cried myself to sleep at night. My wife was sick at home with cancer. And so many things going wrong. And I think back of the times I stood in the pulpit and just giving people sympathy. Saying to divorced people, for example, here's one man who understands you. Here's one man who loves you. The church may mistreat you, but I love you. And it was all human sympathy. And I dread and I mourn and I grieve the fact that there may be some people that took that for a license to sin. And say, well, he's supposed to be a holy man and he's showing such compassion. But I know in my heart many were taken as a license to go out and do it. And if it weren't for the blood of Jesus Christ, if it weren't for the fact that I've got a king moved in compassion when I saw my sin of not standing where I shouldn't, showing people the ugliness, the exceeding sinfulness of their sin, I would have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. I'd stand there at the great white throne judgment and I'd have to see multitudes damned charged to my account. Charged to my account. How can David ever repay? How could David ever repay the debt that he owed his Lord? He didn't even confess until he was caught. No, he didn't. Nathan the prophet caught him and exposed him before the whole world. In fact, you've got to turn to 2 Samuel with me and I want to show you this because this will give you an insight into some of the things that are happening right now. The Holy Spirit just poured into my heart this afternoon this part of my message. It didn't have it until this afternoon and the Lord said add it. 2 Samuel 12, please. Verse 10. 2 Samuel 12. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house. This is Nathan talking about the judgment. Because thou hast despised me and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house. And I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor. He shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this son. That was his own son Absalom who did it. For thou didst it secretly. But I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Son. David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan said unto David, The Lord hath also put away thy sins. Thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because of this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord. To what? To blaspheme. The child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. Look at the next verse. Nathan departed his house and the Lord struck the child. Now, that Uriah's wife bear unto David, it was very sick. And of course, you read the story, on the baby died. Now, listen to me. Look this way for just a moment, please. Can you imagine what it would have been like if they had the media and the press that we have today? Can you imagine the headlines of David? I was thinking about it today. The headline, Popular Christian Warrior, Preacher of Righteousness, Exposed in Sex and Murder Scandal. Zion Press has just discovered that the highly respected shepherd of Israel, author of dozens of songs and poems about the beauty of holiness, who spoke often of clean hands and pure hearts, had an affair with a local beauty named Bathsheba, wife of a poor soldier on active duty at the war zone. It's reported that David admits he instigated the murder of Uriah, her husband, to cover up his secret affair. And upon discovering she was with child to him, he brought her into his royal court and took her to be wife. And all over Israel, the housewives who sang, Saul's killed his thousands, David has killed his ten thousands, and clapped and rejoiced as they saw David coming from the battlefields are now saying, how could a man who speaks of the holiness of God, the beauty of holiness, how could he have done such a thing? This man who moved our hearts with his songs, his instruments, what kind of wickedness is this? How could he steal a poor man's wife, a soldier in his own army, and have him murdered, and steal his wife? And can you imagine the Philistines, the Amorites, the Moabites, the Canaanites? What a day event for me it was in Israel as they mocked the God of David and they said, Aha! So this is the man who said, I will teach transgressors the word of the Lord. So this is the man who said, I have walked in my integrity. I have hated evil. I will not even sit with the wicked. Is that the man? Yes it was. It was. And so the question is asked, how can a man after God's own heart do such despicable, wicked, vile things as this? Nathan answers it. I want you to look with me please at verse 9. Chapter 12, verse 9. Look at it now. Verse 9, Wherefore, this is Nathan speaking, he's explaining how this holy man of God could do such a horrible thing. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in His sight? How can you despise the commandment of the Lord to do evil in His sight? Now I looked up that word. You know what that means in Hebrew? It means to look down upon with an air of superiority. You know what Nathan was saying? Nathan was saying to David, you've become a law to yourself. They've sung so many songs about how many you've killed. You've been so magnified in the face of the earth. You've become a law to yourself. There's been an air of superiority. And you have looked down on the commandments of the Lord though you wrote about the Word. You did not have integrity in the inner man. You despised the commandment of God. You talked about it. You preached about it. But you didn't let it get a hold of your heart. You did not let it take hold of your heart. You were not honest in the inner man. Now listen, I know, we know right now what David did. We know that God brought him out of the pits. We know what God thought of David. We know his repentance is real. In fact, I'll tell you what, I told my wife on the way to church, I'm going to read a chapter. You're going to go with me. Go to Psalm 51. Here's the prayer David prayed when he repented. And if everybody in this church that's living in sin or anyone else will pray this prayer and mean it, God will forgive and restore. Psalms. This is the prayer David prayed after he'd sinned with Bathsheba. And he brought reproach. The enemies of God were blaspheming. And Israel was in tears. The sorrow. Can you imagine the sorrow in Israel that day? Psalms 51. I'm going to read the whole chapter. Just follow me. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies. David knew that God was merciful. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. She blot out my transgressions. You know what that is? God, I'm sorry! God, I repent! Do you see it? Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sinners ever before me. Folks, I'm going to tell you, from that day on, David grieved from his sins. He looked back. There's not a sin I've ever committed that I still grieve over every sin I've ever committed. I replayed them and replayed them. You say, yes, they're under the blood. My God's forgotten and forgiven them. But I still mourn! I mourn! I say, O God, how could I have ever done anything to hurt You? Whatever it is. Now don't try to scheme something or try to imagine. I thank God that He's kept me. But I want you to know, just like in your own heart, you're thinking of things right now, how you've sinned against God and the grief that it caused God. I acknowledge my transgressions and my sinners ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned. I've done this evil in Thy sight that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest and be clear when Thou judgest. Look at verse 6. Verse 6 says, Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. David acknowledges, O God, I haven't been truthful in my heart. I've not allowed in the inner man to have that truth and honesty that You want in my soul, in my heart. I know now, God, through this exposure, I know now that You've allowed to come down upon me. I know now since I've buried that child, and I'll tell you what that child is. That child is any ministry that was brought to birth in the flesh. Every ministry that's born in the flesh, God exposes it. And though God will forgive, He'll kill the child. He'll take the child. Everything that's done in the flesh, God will destroy. Whether it's here in my heart, Times Square Church or near the church in New York, whether it's in Baton Rouge, whether it's down at PTL, wherever it is, whatever is of the flesh, when there's repentance, the Lord says, I'll freely forgive you, but that baby's a baby of fornication. It's a baby of the flesh. I'll not stand for it. The baby dies. And then God can bring forth a Solomon. Do you understand the principle God's talking about? How many see it? How many understand what I'm saying? Verse 7, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide they face from my sins and blot out all my transgressions. For God created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Now listen to his pathos here. Cast me not away from Thy presence. Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation and uphold me with Thy free spirit. Then... He's saying I don't have a right to preach again until this happens. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thy God of my salvation. My tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness. O Lord, open Thou my lips and my mouth, so shall forth Thy praise. For You don't desire... Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The Lord says I don't want all this servant. I don't want You working Your fingers to the bone for me. I don't want You to build things for me anymore. The sacrifice of God, a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou will not despise. Do good in Thy pleasure and design. Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. Lord, You build it. And what God is building is a people, not buildings. God is sick of buildings. God's tired of all of it. God's tired of all of it. I say that in Christian love. Absolute Christian love with everything in me. Hallelujah. Do you see what He's saying? When You give me the clean heart, You renew a right spirit in me, then I'll teach transgressors Their ways. What about all those people David hurt? All the enemies that are going to stand on the Judgment Day and say, What about David? Oh yeah, all those Philistines are going to be there. What about all those people in Israel who were hurting and their faith was already shaken and now because of David's sin, they turn their back on God? They turn to idols? When those idol worshippers stand before the Judgment Day, is David going to have to stand there? Is God going to say, David, what about it? Look what you did. No, listen. This is the debt that can't be paid. But Isaiah says, God says, I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee. Psalms 86.5 For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and you are plenteous in mercy. God had compassion on David because David truly repented. David said, You can have it all, Lord. I want You created in me, honest in truth and the inner man. Hallelujah. And because he repented, God said, I blotted it all out. When David stands before the judgment, are you going to hear, Well done thou good and faithful servant. We know that. We know that because God's rebuilding the tabernacle of David that's fallen down. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Even now we know what God's ultimate, God's concern of David was, His vision of David, a man after my own heart. Blotted out. Isn't that amazing that we can sit here tonight and sit under the cleansing blood of Jesus and all that past, that debt that can't be paid, He's wiped it out. I don't think I could stand here and preach tonight if I had to face the burden, the thought that one day I have to stand before God and pay back. I couldn't handle that. Neither can you. When we sing thanks for the blood, what a meaning that should have to all of us. Why don't you go back to Matthew 18. I'm going to show you now what happens. I haven't even started preaching yet. It's only going to be another 20 minutes probably, but I still haven't gotten to the heart of it. Because now we're getting down to you and me. We've been talking about David and Peter. Now we're going to talk about you and me. 18th chapter, verse 28. But this... Which servant? What had the king just done for this man? Released him of a debt that couldn't possibly be paid? What's this man do? But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence, which the Bible says here would be about $44. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, Pay me that thou owest. Now don't sit there saying, How could he do it? Because you and I have done it. The Lord's talking about you and me. Took him by the throat saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down on his feet beside him saying, Have patience with me! I will pay thee all! Sounds familiar, doesn't it? And he would not, but went and cast him into prison until he should pay the whole debt. So when his fellow servant saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, this is the king, after that he had called him in, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee? And his Lord was wroth, 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 hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. Oh my! Are you convicted yet? I've just read it. Be patient with me! I'll repay thee every word. Now these words of Jesus ought to be stamped. I mean indelibly stamped in our minds. Thou wicked servant, I forgive you all this debt because you desired me to. Shouldn't you not also have compassion on your fellow servant even as I had pity on you? Now listen, forgiving your brother or sister is not optional. It's commanded. It's not optional. You can't sit here saying, well, I'll think about it. I'll consider it. I want you to go to Luke. Luke, please. The sixth chapter. This gets very serious. Because when you really see what he's saying, he's saying your sins are not even forgiven, your prayers are not getting through if you've got a grudge against somebody. If you're not forgiving somebody. Luke 6. God even makes it stronger. Jesus makes it stronger. Chapter 6, Luke, verse 35 beginning, But love ye who? Boy, if you've got to love your enemies, where do your friends come in that hurt you? But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend hoping for nothing again, and your reward shall be great. Ye shall be the children of the house. For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Did you hear that? He is kind to the unthankful and the evil. That's something I have a hard time with. I want God to... Get him Lord! I think of Norman over here. And those guys who just took his business right out of his hand. And I want to just say, God take them by the throat! I don't have to do that because God has ways of doing that. He keeps the books. He doesn't need my wrath to do it. The wrath of man never accomplishes the will of God. But look at this, verse 36, Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, ye shall not be judged. Condemn not, ye shall not be condemned. Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Now there's a place for righteous judgment. If you listen to the message we've been preaching, you know there's a righteous judgment of the Lord. A holy, dreadful judgment. And you'll see it on all sides. He's talking right now about taking matters into your own hand. Can Jesus really mean what He says here? Look, I want you to go to verse 27. By the way, look at verse 26. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you. For so did your fathers to the false prophets. Verse 27, But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Bless them that curse you. And pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smites you on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid him not to take thy coat also. Oh, he can't mean that, can he? Yes, he does. Give to every man that asketh thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. Do some of you feel cheated recently by... You feel that maybe some television events have taken advantage of you and you've given and given and given? Your goods have been taken? The Lord said don't ask them back again. By the way, why did you give them if you didn't give them unto the Lord? So it's given, don't ask anything back. Don't ask anything back whatsoever. I'll tell you what. Romans 12. Go with me to Romans, if you will. Quickly. Romans, the 12th chapter. Then I have a prophetic word I want to share in just a few moments. Something the Lord's revealed to me about the service tonight. Romans 12, verse 19, beginning to read. Romans 12, 19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him if he thirsts, give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Now that's not to consume him either. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Hallelujah. Do you know something? I don't want you to turn, but I'm going to read to you 2 Corinthians 2, 10, 11. Look at me, please. When you're not forgiving, when you're holding a grudge against somebody, you're giving the devil an advantage in your heart. That's what the Scripture says. Paul was writing, he said, To whom you forgive anything, I forgive also. For if I forgive anything, whoever I forgive it to, it's for your sake in the person of Christ. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. Now what are the devices of the enemy? To try to build up in us bitterness, resentment, harbor a grudge against somebody. Now I want to share with you a prophetic word. The Lord all week, in fact Monday, in fact it was Sunday night after the last week's service, went home and the Lord said, I want you to preach next Sunday on walking in forgiveness. Because the church is going to need it. And I didn't know a thing about this bigger problem. And even in prayer this afternoon, it goes beyond that. It has to do with this church and all of us that are here tonight. The Lord made it known to me so clearly, and all week long, there will be people sitting here that have to hear this and have a loving divine ultimatum of the Holy Spirit. That you can no longer go on with this spirit of unforgiveness against somebody. I don't know who it is. Is it your former husband? Your former wife? Is it a child? Is it a brother? Is it a sister? Who is it? Is it a boss that hurt you? Somebody on the job? Is it a preacher or a teacher? An evangelist? Somebody that misled you? Somebody walked on you? Somebody hurt you? And the flesh has been rising up and said, God expects this only to take so much? No, God says, why don't you go ahead and suffer the wrong? Take it. Take it. But you remember what we said at the beginning of the Scriptures we read? The Lord said, if you will not forgive others, I will not forgive you. And when you stand praying, forgive others, so that I can forgive you. And if you will not forgive others, I will not forgive you. Now, does He mean that or doesn't He? If we walk in holiness, we walk according to His commandments. We walk according to the light that we've received. And I believe that many are not having the blessing of God. I believe many are suffering in their families. They can't get their prayers through. They can't get healing for their body. They're suffering on the job. They're suffering everywhere they turn. They say, I pray and I cry and I do everything. I'm trying to walk in holiness. It could be very much, and I feel it so strong tonight, that some of you have been misled. You've been turned over to the tormentors. And that's exactly what the Scripture says. And when His Lord was angry and turned Him over to the tormentors, that He should pay all that was due to Him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their sins and trespasses. Your trespasses against you. The tormentors. I've seen people under the bondage of the tormentors. Those tormentors are evil spirits. They'll come and they'll lie to you and say, you don't have to take it anymore. You've taken enough. It robs you of your sleep. It plays and replays every evil thing that's been said about you. Every harsh thing. And then it makes you replay everything that you should have said. You say, give me one more chance. I know what I should have said. You give me one more chance and I'll tell Him what I know. I'll tell Him off. If you ever had an argument with somebody and got back and said, off, I'd have only said this. Do you know that every husband and wife there's a panic button you can push? I told my wife once, when we first met, you can call me anything, don't ever call me a phony. And I know what hers is. It's been years since we've used them. In fact, they've been discarded long ago. But oh, there was a time when you wanted to get the last one in. I'll tell you what, I could argue with this Bible. I used the Bible to argue. I'd say, the Word says! And I'd hit her over the head with the Word and I'd hit her and hit her. Not physically, but I mean, I was good. I mean, I was good at it. I was as good as Bob. No, I'm not as good as Bob. I'm not as good as Bob. I didn't put my fist through the closet. She didn't have to say anything. She said, it's okay, phony. And I didn't lose my sanctification. I didn't have it by then. Too loose. But you know, it may sound funny, but you know that we do that, we play these games and God says enough of those games. No more games. Oh, I thank God for the time that He gave us that ultimate. He said, no more. If you're going to walk in righteousness and love, you've got to forgive one another. You take things. You don't fight back. You don't try to get even. But these tormentors come and rob you of your sleep and replay and replay all the hurt that you've ever had. Is it a boyfriend? Is it a girlfriend? I don't know who it is that hurts you, but I know I have the mind of God tonight, right now. For some of you it goes way back. Years. And it still keeps coming up, doesn't it? And it's there. How are you going to get your prayers through? How do you pray for your family? How do you pray for anything? How do you pray about your sins? How do you stand before the judgment seat of Christ with all this piling up on you? Because you've had it made so clear. God said, I'll do even as I did in this store. Jesus is saying, so will my heavenly Father do to you. You'll be turned over to the tormentors. And we've seen people in this church who've been to this altar living in absolute torment. They've been to our offices, counseling session after counseling session, absolutely tormented. Walking with Jesus for years, and still in the hands of the tormentors. Why? Because they won't lay that grudge. They won't lay that thing down. Somewhere, somebody said something. Someone came to me Friday night after the service. A minister was talking to me about a certain minister in California. I said, I've got a feeling that he doesn't like me. He said, you've got it right. He's had a grudge against you for about eight years. I said, why? He happens to be one of our converts. And I said, why? I said, well, years ago, you were in California, you were at a table with some ministers, and you were very intensely talking about something, and he came by and tapped you on the shoulder, and you reached up and said, just a minute, wait, please. Because the burden of the Lord was on your heart. And he said he took offense at that. And that dear pastor has been carrying that, I guess, seven or eight years now. And that explains a whole lot of things. That explains a whole lot of things. The reason I haven't been able to get through. And I'll never be able to get through to him. I could love him, and love him, and love him, and tell him, love him, and say, hey, I hear you've got something against me, and I'm going to go to him. Because the Bible said if your brother has a heart against you, you go to him. I'm going to go to the brother, I'm going to say, look, I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry, whatever it is, I repent. I want you to be restored. It's not hurting me, it's destroying him. And the very thing that's killing you, the other party may have already forgotten about. And yet you could go to hell over it. I'll tell you, friends, I really feel this so strong tonight. Those tormentors will cry for revenge. They'll drive you to revenge. But for some of us tonight, in this building, up in the balcony here, there's going to be no freedom. And no use coming to Bob's class, or Victor's class. No use coming Tuesday night. No use darkening another church door. No use picking up this Bible again in your lifetime. Never again get on your knees. Never again say a prayer. Until you say, oh God, take this out of my heart tonight. And the Lord's promised He's going to release a lot of people tonight from things that have been going on for a long, long time. Your husband may have cheated on you way back. You've never let him forget it, have you? It may have been the other way. He did you wrong. She did you wrong. Somebody trampled you. You're still not giving that unconditional forgiveness. And yet you want Him, you want Jesus to forgive you. And He has to this point. But then the Lord says, if you keep that in your heart, you make it impossible for Me to work in your life. Now, we've been here. We were over at Town Hall. And I'm going to close now. And we've been here. This church has been open about almost five months. Next week, we start the first of October. And we've all, as pastors, poured our heart out to you. We've told you everything that God's put in our hearts. We've come here with the Word from the Lord. There's not been any entertainment. And if you're walking in the Spirit, you've deserved that. But I want to tell you something. God's dealing tonight, I feel, as strongly as He ever dealt with me about a body that should be going on with Jesus. And there'll be no revival in your life or your home where God will just move on with the people and you'll be left behind if you don't get that out of your heart tonight. You say, is that a threat? That's from God's Word. That's a commandment of the Lord Jesus Himself. He said, if you love Me, you'll obey My commandments. And I can feel the hurt coming from some of you. You can see it written in your faces. The reason you do some of the things you do now is because you're driven by tormentors. And that torment will go. That loneliness, that emptiness. And suddenly, that log jam of unanswered prayers will just break loose. And God will start working in your life, supernaturally. Heavenly Father, turn the searchlight on tonight. Turn on the searchlight, O Lord Jesus, by Your Holy Spirit. Lord, I thank You for what You have forgiven me of the great debt that You've wiped out. Lord, I don't want to harbor any grudge. I don't want to see anyone on the face of the earth that I don't love or care about. Lord Jesus, I want to love and care about everyone on the face of the earth. I'd like to go around doing good and yet still preach strongly against sin. And yet, Lord, with mercy, with compassion and grace, Lord, heal tonight. Heal.