Join us as we venture deeper into Jesus’ profound teachings with a focus on the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. Pastor Jack Hibbs explains how this parable is a pivotal lesson on forgiveness, compassion, and the Christian duty to be like Jesus. The discussion stretches into maintaining unity within the church body and emphasizes how real change, as advocated by Jesus, starts from within. Pastor Jack offers biblical insights with a call to action for all believers to engage in self-reflection and spiritual growth.
It’s about you and I getting along in the family of God and making our relationships work. And when people fail to want to do that, they are carnal. Mark them. Are they Christians? Are they in the family? Yes. Could they destroy the health of a church? Yes.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible. We all know that life is full of noise. The TV is on with news you often can’t trust, dishes are clanging in the kitchen, and blaring sounds of rush hour traffic whiz by. It’s enough to make your head spin, really, but it doesn’t always have to be that way. We have special programming that can really soften the day’s hectic pace. It’s our Real Life Network. It’s designed to give you relevant, life-changing programming for the whole family that you really can trust. Titles like Ignite Your Life by Barry McGuire, Washington Watch by Tony Perkins, Happening Now with Pastor Jack, and Star Spangled Adventures for the Little Patriots. You can relax and enjoy entertainment for the whole family. The Real Life Network, it’s available on your favorite device anytime, anywhere. So don’t miss a moment that really can enrich your life with shows that inspire instead of wear you down. Sign up today for free at reallifenetwork.com. That’s reallifenetwork.com. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack now continues with his series called The Parables of Jesus and a message titled Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Part 2. Whenever Jesus spoke to the crowds, he often spoke in parables, relatable stories illustrated in full color and with common themes. You see, in this parable, Jesus is sharing about the power of forgiveness. Now, in Part 1, we were taught to forgive as Jesus forgives. Here in Part 2… We’re to be like Jesus and be compassionate as well as being forgiving. And quite frankly, that’s something we can’t do without Jesus in our lives. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that the parable of the unmerciful servant is about Christian fellowship, that forgiveness is to be a constant attitude inside of us, and compassion is to be constantly shown on the outside of us. Now, with his message called Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Part 2, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
SPEAKER 02 :
God that we would be people with hearts open for change. How can we forget, not all that long ago it seems, America was in love with the word change and the announcement or campaign or banners or posters or commercials about change and yet every true Christian knows the only real true change that there will ever be is what the Holy Spirit does in our lives. Because that’s a change that lasts forever. If evolution were to ever be true, it would be true in the life of us who are wretched, stinking, rotten sinners who have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and you now call us saints. That is evolution. So Father, tonight we pray that you would speak to us out of this parable that we’re considering. And we ask it in Jesus’ name and all God’s people said, amen. Well, church, grab your Bibles tonight and turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 18, again, in part two of a parable that has kind of actually knocked me off of the schedule. I think it’s a Holy Spirit thing, personally. I had in my mind 30… very concise, clean and tidy Wednesday nights given over to these parables. We selected 30 of the parables of Jesus because they summed up some other parables, and it just made it perfect. And so it looked great on paper, but when we came to this particular parable last time, we barely got into it. And I’m not gonna make any promises tonight as to how far we’ll go, because Jesus, with this parable, Matthew 18, has struck a nerve in the heart of many of us. And we need to maybe park here, if necessary. and spend as much time as the Holy Spirit would have us to be. Matthew chapter 18, in a moment we’ll read it again in verses 15 to 35, but we’re looking at the parable of the unmerciful servant. It’s an alarming parable, it’s shocking. In my opinion, If somebody was covering this parable in the news today, it would be scandalous what this man not only does once forgiven, but it’s also scandalous to the point that the reason why it is a parable and why we’re studying is because we can relate to it. There’s a warning there for us because we’ve been forgiven as Christians so much that And once having been forgiven, we’re tempted to turn and look at somebody and not extend to them the depth of forgiveness Jesus has given to us. And we might be the one who’s grabbing them, so to speak, by the throat and trying to extract out of them some sort of payment for what wrong they’ve done to us. When we have been forgiven, we’ve sinned against God. We’ve been some of the greatest violators. of God’s holiness and righteousness. And so the whole message is about us being more merciful, about us being more kind, about us, all of us, remembering what our sins did to Jesus. We don’t need to point at anybody else. If we come away tonight learning just that one thing, that I need not point at anyone else in judgment or criticism, in condemning someone, then we will have learned a good lesson. Keep your Bible open here at Matthew 18. I’ll simply reference this. In Matthew 13, Jesus commenced the parables, the parabolic teaching. And in Matthew 13, one, it says there, and on the same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea, that is the Sea of Galilee, and a great multitude was gathered together to him, so that he got into a boat and he sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And then he spoke many things to them in parables. in colorful stories that they could all relate to. And we remember that in Psalm 78, verse 2, the Bible says, God spoke to the nation of Israel through the psalmist and said, I will open my mouth in a parable. That’s a prophetic psalm. I will utter dark sayings from of old, meaning that I will bring to light things that are are profound in wisdom, but God would make available for all to understand if they were willing. That’s the amazing thing about a parable, is that you are to be willing. So in Matthew chapter 18, as we look at this parable, the setup is one that is very interesting. Right now, imagine in your mind’s eyes, so put your robe on, put your sandals on, be with God, the disciples, Jesus is in a crowd, and he’s now gonna speak to them in parables. And in chapter 18, he brings, he has a child that he receives from the crowd. There’s a child standing nearby. And he grabs the child and sets the child in the midst of all the adults. And Jesus says, hey, and I’m obviously paraphrasing. He didn’t say, hey, I’m just saying. Jesus said, look at this little guy. Isn’t he cool? Isn’t he cool? A child is believing. A child is trusting. A child is not critical, not cynical. Isn’t it amazing? You and I used to be not critical, not cynical. You and I were once believing. There was no poison in our thought process. Jesus said, for us to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must, we will have to become like a little child. Not childish, childlike child. And what does that mean? A child is believing. Parents, grandparents, teachers, people of authority, be careful what you tell a child. You mess with a child’s heart and mind and you’re messing ultimately in the end with God Almighty. He will not hold you and I guilt free if we’ve violated or somehow manipulated the sweet thinking of a child. As I mentioned before, Jesus said in the day of judgment it’s gonna be better For that person to have a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the depths of the sea than when I get done with them. Jesus said we need to become like a little child, believing. And so this is the setup. And it’s a very tender moment. Look with me now, Matthew 18, beginning of verse 15. It’s a large portion of scripture, but we’ll go as far as we can. Moreover, Jesus said, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you’ve gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more. That, now he quotes the Old Testament, by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. This is a good thing to do, church. This is not ganging up on somebody. This is the right thing to do. And by the way, as we mentioned last week, it means that you’re taking with you some brothers that are mature. They’re not your best friends. You’re not drafting someone to go beat this guy up. These are preferably spiritual leaders in a church. You’ll see in a moment. Verse 17, but if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. Tell it to the church leadership is what most scholars believe that means. You don’t blab it to the whole community. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Treat him like a non-believer in the sense that you don’t hang out with him anymore. You don’t fellowship with him anymore anymore. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, verse 19, that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my… for them by my Father in heaven, for where two or three are gathered together in my name. The word name actually means authority. I am there in the midst of them. The whole context, by the way, the setting is one of church discipline. Look at verse 21. Then Peter, and he sets up the parable. Then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times. We talked about Peter’s generosity. Remember that last time? Verse 22. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like, here comes the parable, a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents, an impossible amount to pay in multiple lifetimes. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he should be sold and his wife and children and all that they had and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him saying, Master, have patience with me and I will pay you all. Which is weird because that’s impossible, but the man says, let me work this off. Then the master of the servant was moved with compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out, now he’s free, right? So now verse 28 says, he went out and he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii, five bucks. And he went and laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, pay me what you owe. And so his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, have patience with me and I will pay you all. He would not, but he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. Verse 31, so when his fellow servants saw what he had done, they were very grieved and came and told their master all that he had done. And then his master, after he had called them, said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not have also had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
SPEAKER 02 :
Church, last time we just started with this, point one was be like Jesus and be forgiving. That’s what verses 22 to 35 are all about, teaching us this, that we are commanded as Christians in this parable to be like Jesus, to not be like the unmerciful servant. Jesus is teaching us a very strong thing, and here’s the point, and this is what makes it so grassroots for us. This is not theoretical stuff. This parable applies to every one of us here right now. And if we fail at this, listen, if we fail at this, we will suffer in our Christian development for the rest of our lives until this situation is settled between us and God and us and that person or people with whom there’s a rift. This is a parable about the family of God. It’s not about losing your salvation. You know, can I lose it if I don’t? It’s not about that. Don’t take a parable beyond what it’s supposed to be. It’s about you and I getting along in the family of God and making our relationships work. And when people fail to want to do that, they are carnal. Mark them. Are they Christians? Are they in the family? Yes. Are they retarding their growth? Yes. Could they destroy the health of a church? Yes. That’s why the Bible, Jesus is so strong when he says, consider such a one. He doesn’t say they are heathens and he doesn’t say they are tax collectors. What does he say? He says, treat them like unbelievers. Isn’t that a strong statement? Did you know that? Listen, we need to wake up And obey the Lord in the word of God. Because if we do that, then there’s hope. But if we begin to massage the Bible and make it something that it’s not or rob it of its power by disobedience to it, if tonight we might say, well, that’s kind of stark and that’s kind of harsh and it’s 2,000 years old and we’ll just redefine it. Listen, that is ruinous, not to the Bible, to your life. Why? Because God wants us to get together. Watch this. The Bible says how wonderful, right? What is it? Psalm 133, I think it is, that how beautiful and blessed it is that the brethren dwell together in unity. What is the word that precedes the word unity that we focus on? Brethren. Brothers. What does that mean? Context. It means this. Doctrine. We agree we’re brothers. We are fellow Christians by doctrine. That’s how we dwell together in unity. Are you with me? There’s a lot of people today crying out about unity. Oh, let’s all come together. We all pray to different gods. Let’s unite and have a community ecumenical prayer meeting. What a waste of time. I mean, I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s a waste of time. How can you have unity when you can’t even agree on who God is? You see what I’m saying? Well, what’s the answer? Doctrine is what spawns unity. And Jesus is saying that we as believers coming together, the foundation is the doctrine of the Bible. That is our guideline. That is our proof. Text the scriptures. And so the Bible is so authoritative and so holy and so right on that what it says is get along. I don’t mean get along little doggy and get on out of here. Just leave. No. Jesus is saying get along, make up, hug and kiss. Amen. and now grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. And so in verses 22 to 25, we saw last time that we are to be like Jesus and be forgiving. We are mimicking Christ when we’re like him. When the parable says that a certain king forgave this guy an innumerable lifetime of debt, multiple lifetimes. What’s he saying to us? That as Christians, listen, this is tough. Are you ready for this? No, actually you’re not. I’m not either. because it’s divine. How can we be ready for this? That no matter what someone has done to us in this life, I’m pausing for effect. Think about your life. No matter what someone has done in your life to you, and I’m just speaking in the context of fellow Christians, Jesus says we’re to forgive them. And the temptation is for us to fold our arms and to put our foot down and say things like, I’ll never forgive them. By the way, I’ve never seen someone say it like this. I’ll never forgive them. I will just never forgive them. I’ve never seen that happen. I’ve only seen people fold their arms and stomp their foot and say, with their jaw kind of set, I’ll never forgive them. And that is a telltale sign of why you and I need to forgive people who have sinned against us. Because the forgiveness and the power of forgiveness is granted to us by God to set us free, not the person that you think. I will not give them the satisfaction of even knowing that I have forgiven them. God didn’t give you that opportunity For them, he gave you the opportunity for you. Somewhere down the line, we’ve messed up and somehow convoluted this concept of forgiveness. You see, you and I are to ask the Lord, Lord, give me your heart and power that I might forgive them. And you watch what happens. God honors it And so the situation is, as we looked at last time, there’s a fault between a brother or between brothers. And Jesus said, go to them. Now we pick it up where we left off. Point number two in our study, it’s verses 26 to 27. The parable of the unmerciful servant. Be like Jesus and be compassionate. He wants us to be compassionate. Now I’m saying things here that you should be compassionate. challenged by, I’m challenged by this. I cannot forgive in and of myself, and I cannot have compassion in and of myself. And this is where Christians can shine like never before in our dark and dangerous culture. God gives us the power to forgive. God gives us the power to have compassion. Without God in our lives, we would have no compassion. Look, without God in our lives, we’d be just like this world that we live in right now. Merciless. Verse 26, Jesus says, the servant therefore fell down before him saying, master have patience with me and I will pay you all. Then the master of that servant was number one, moved with compassion. The word in Greek implies he was wrenched in his bowels. It means that he saw, watch this. Jesus is saying the master or the one who has all justification to throw this guy into prison, in debtor’s prison. Jesus said that this man was moved with compassion, moved with tenderness to the point that the word implies that affected his midsection, his bowels, his guts. Have you ever been affected? Have you ever seen somebody that they’re either so wounded or so poor or so disfigured that there’s something that grabs you and you’re at your end? You would give them your legs if you could. Have you ever been there? You’re just gripped, that’s the word. Jesus is painting a picture about how his heart is towards sinners. He’s trying to communicate to us how God is toward a lost and broken sinner. God looks at us and his stomach is wrenched over our condition with such compassion. And we are supposed to be like that. Number two, look it says in verse 27, release them. lifted the burden of debt, and third, forgave him that debt. Meaning, listen, he took the loss. You guys, this, again, we don’t need to get into the math. We mentioned it last time together. This is an amount that the man could not pay back in lifetimes. What is this parable speaking to us about? What God has forgiven us, even if we could be reincarnated as some religions believe and came back and lived perfectly to try to undo the wrong, are you with me? How many times would you have to come back to get it right? And if you lived perfectly, you could never come back enough and live it right. Because we’ve sinned against the holiness of God. He’s that holy. And we’ve lost that. Until we take a long look into the face of Jesus as it were by faith and in the word of God and we meditate and we see the grandeur and the glory of God and we realize, oh Lord, have mercy on me. I’m a sinful man. Compassionate. God’s been compassionate to us. He, the master, God, was moved with compassion. Why? Due to the man’s impossible condition to pay. And he again, the master, God, released him. That is, forgave him the debt. And that is an incredible thing.
SPEAKER 01 :
pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Part Two. Thank you for being here today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s new series called The Parables of Jesus. It’s a series highlighting the teachings of Jesus while he was walking around here on this earth. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. You ever find yourself longing for a deeper spiritual walk? For many believers, the Holy Spirit is just a mysterious idea we hear about on Sundays but rarely live out on Mondays. What if his presence could transform your daily life, fueling you with hope and power and unstoppable joy? What if his guidance could help you navigate through decisions, strengthen relationships, and bring genuine peace to your soul? This month, Pastor Jack Hibbs is featuring Living Water by Chuck Smith. It’s a down-to-earth look at the Holy Spirit who can revolutionize the way you connect with God. Inside, you’ll uncover practical biblical insights to help you walk and step with the Spirit right where you are. No hype, no cliches, just real answers for everyday challenges.
SPEAKER 02 :
This book changed my life. Authored by my pastor, Chuck Smith, the book Living Water, incredible.
SPEAKER 01 :
Living Water is available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
