Title Seventy times seven times
Contents
Matthew 18:21-22 Seventy times seven times
Once Peter asked Jesus a question: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother if he sins against me? Shall we do it up to seven times?” Then Jesus said to forgive not only seven times, but seventy times seven times. These words were very shocking to the disciples at that time. Because the Jewish mindset has been taught that it is not a sin to forgive up to three times and not to forgive a fourth time.
The famous Rabbi Hosebenhanina said, “He who asks his neighbor for forgiveness, let him not ask for forgiveness more than three times. He who forgives shall not forgive the fourth time.” He based this principle on the Old Testament book of Amos, because there are records that after God warned Jerusalem and its Gentile cities three times, He judged them for their sins the fourth time.
Therefore, much more generously than the rabbi's teachings, Peter said that he would forgive up to seven times and expected great praise from Jesus. But Jesus unexpectedly gave the shocking words to forgive seventy times seven times. If so, did Jesus mean to forgive only seventy seven times, that is, 490 times, and not 491 times? Of course not. These words were a symbol of God's infinite patience and forgiveness for the people of Israel.
Before God tells us to forgive others up to seventy seven times, we must understand that God first forgave us and me up to seventy seven times. People tend to think like this for themselves with a narrow mind. I have committed the same sin seven times instead of three over and over. Will God ever forgive me? Would God ever forgive me?
Thinking like this with his narrow heart, he thinks that he is no longer loved by God. However, it is only their own thoughts, not God's thoughts. God has forgiven you, even if you have committed the same sin up to seventy seven times. And you have already forgiven the seventy seven sins you will commit again in the future.
Ladies and gentlemen, when parents sometimes wrong their children, they may forgive their parents up to three times or, like Peter, up to seven times. But parents forgive their children up to seventy seven times. How much more do you want to be God? The Bible says “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11).
Ladies and gentlemen, when your little one falls, how many times do the parents raise the fallen child? Only seven times? no. Up to seventy-seven times, parents try to raise their fallen child and die, even if they die. “Even if I die, you will get up and live.” It is the heart of the parents to die while struggling. However, if your child does not understand the feelings of these parents and asks, “Mother, Father, how many times did you raise me up when I was young?” your name is ‘Children’.
Folks, it is foolish to count the number that your parents raised you as a child. In a way, Peter asked a foolish question that did not know the heart of Jesus. I asked a narrow question from a human perspective. Sometimes, it is easy for us to have the same narrow and humanistic thoughts as Peter. God will forgive me only three times. If you think that God will only bless you three times, it is very frustrating that you do not know the heart of God. It is blasphemy that makes God so narrow-minded. When God hears it, he is so upset that he sheds tears.
Ladies and gentlemen, do not confine God's eternal forgiveness, eternal blessing, and eternal love to the finite fence of a human being who can only live for a hundred years. God continues to forgive, to continue to love, to continue to bless, and to continue to be gracious, even when you die and become tormented. God does not leave Israel when a great leader named Moses dies. God does not forsake Israel when the brave General Joshua dies. God does not abandon Israel when King David, who is after God, dies.
Keep that in mind. God continues and will not leave us to eternity, guide us to eternity, protect us to eternity, and bless us to eternity. Therefore, the psalmist repeatedly confesses: “Give thanks to the Lord. He is good, and his lovingkindness endures forever.” (Psalm 136:1) “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to their children’s children” (Psalm 103:17).
Gentlemen, our relationship with God is not just one or two relationships. Not even three or four relationships. Also, it is not a relationship of a hundred years or two hundred years, calculated in years. We have a relationship that lasts forever. We will see the face of God forever up to seventy seven times, and we will praise God and give thanks and glory to God at Shincheonshinji, up to seventy seven times forever. As God is eternal, so will we be forever.
And just as the eternal God forgives us forever, blesses us forever, and loves us forever, so we, who have the eternal image of God, forgive others like God and forever bless others like God. , The lesson to love others forever is the lesson of Jesus' 'seventy times seven times' in today's text.
Everyone, I want to ask you. How much do you really forgive others, how much love, and how much blessing? In the family relationship between wife and husband, children and parents, we will forgive more, bear more, and love more. But if you are friends with a neighbor and not a family member, you're probably a little less forgiving, a little less patient, and a little less loving than your family. And a manager or subordinate who is considered to be a more distant relationship will be less forgiving, less patient, and less loving than that.
Then, what about the members of the heavenly family? Forgive only once, only once, be patient, love only once? Or do you forgive only three times, endure only three times, and love only three times like a rabbi, an Israeli teacher? Or, like Peter, do you forgive up to seven times, endure up to seven times, and love up to seven times? Or do you forgive, endure, and love up to seventy seven times like the Lord?
Folks, Jesus forgave the prostitute. Is a prostitute a woman who only cheated with one man? no. A prostitute is a woman who has cheated up to seventy seven times countless times. If so, how many times did God forgive the prostitute? He has forgiven up to seventy seven times, that is, infinitely. The same is true. Jesus believes that even a lustful person commits adultery like a prostitute. If so, how much did Jesus forgive us?
Guys, keep that in mind. Jesus doesn't just bless us once or twice. He doesn't just give us three chances. Jesus is the One who blesses me, gives me a chance, and satisfies me by being with me forever until I succeed, until I am blessed, until I go to heaven. So David confesses: “Praise the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all his benefits. He forgives all your iniquities, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from destruction, crowns you with kindness and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.” (Psalm 103:2-5)
Proverbs 24:16 says, “The righteous may fall seven, but they will rise again.” This does not mean that it cannot happen the eighth time, but it means that the righteous person who believes in God will rise again the eighth time and the seventy-seventh time. So now, don't be discouraged because I've fallen, failed, or abandoned. you wake up I do not rise by my own strength, but because God raises me up to seventy seven times, I rise again.
If God had forgiven us only seven times, and not after that, who among us would dare to sit here? If God only healed me seven times and did not heal me seventy times seven times, where would anyone come out in good health? Everyone, believe it. Even if I don't know, God has healed me up to seventy seven times. Even though I don't remember, God raised me up to seventy seven times. So the Bible says: “God wounds, binds up, bruises, and heals with his hands; he will save you from six afflictions, and even seven afflictions will not bring them upon you” (Job 5:18-19).
Ladies and gentlemen, today God promises to forgive us seventy times seven times. So don't give up on yourself. God promises to bless you up to seventy times seven times. So don't be discouraged by yourself. God promised to raise him up seventy times seven times. So don't despair yourself. Rise up holding on to God's firm promise. Be brave. And believe in these promises of God and encourage each other. draw conclusions. “Even seventy seven times!”