Join David Jay and Pastor Jack Hibbs as they explore the transformative power of forgiveness in the latest installment of The Parables of Jesus series. This episode highlights not only the necessity of compassion but also the vital role of patience in our spiritual journey. Through practical biblical insights, listeners are encouraged to embody forgiveness and compassion, stepping into a more profound relationship with Christ and each other.
Put your eyes on God, take your eyes off of them, put your eyes on God and see yourself, I mean this, see yourself standing before the Lord. This person, that person, this and that’s what’s wrong with them and this is wrong with the other and this is the other thing and that’s the other thing. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait. How do you look standing before God?
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. 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. This book changed my life.
SPEAKER 02 :
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. 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 one, we were taught to forgive as Jesus forgives. Here in part two, we’re to be like Jesus and be compassionate as well as being forgiving. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that part of forgiveness and compassion is to be patient towards others. Now this might just require taking our eyes off of them and how they’ve wronged us and seeing ourselves standing before God. Now with his message called, Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Part 2, here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
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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 have 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 and 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 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 him. 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. Notice here when the scriptures tell us, Matthew 18, 16, and 17. Watch this. This is Jesus speaking. If he will not hear, take with you one or two more. Why is that? For beating power? Here, you hold them. I’ll beat them. No. That by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. Good, godly men, or if the context is women, you have… People with good reputations, people that are known, go with you and they listen. They make sure that the situation 100% represents the word of God and it’s done according to the will of God. It’s a very mature thing. And notice this. Verse 17, and if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. And you can study it later. Scholars vacillate between two opinions. Number one, some will say it means that if the guy won’t listen, then you make an announcement to the entire church. And I don’t think that’s the meaning of it. Because listen, when the church comes together in a convocation, that means a large gathering or a group gathering, you don’t know who’s here. And if you, in the context of Matthew 18, if you are exercising church discipline for the wellness of the church and for the continued growth of the brothers involved in this situation, there are laws, biblical laws of interpretation regarding confession that’s very important. A simple rule is to always let the confession be within the circle of the sin, right? If Cassie, if you sin some sin, and the three of us know about it, we don’t come up here and say, hey everybody, Cassie’s got something to say. But listen, there’s churches that do this. And it’s absolutely wrong. Because no matter how much Cassie would have ever repented, your mind now is polluted for the rest of your life. Every time you see her, you’re gonna be thinking about that thing. Do you see that? It’s wrong. I think that’s actually, this is my opinion, I think that’s a greater sin than what the original offense might be. The other scholars, and I happen to be in this camp, they say that it’s appointed church representatives. The two or three witnesses are godly people that over time have been known to keep their mouths shut. Can you imagine? Well, okay, I’ll confess to you, man. Dude, this is going on in my life and that’s going on in my life and all this stuff and my wife doesn’t know and my boss, he doesn’t know and most of the people in the community doesn’t know and so anyway, that’s my thing. What’s your thing? Well, my thing’s gossip. Isn’t that hilarious? Well, let’s confess to one another and then two days later, the guy you confessed to backslides. You see the stupidity of that? When it says in James, confess your faults to one another, it’s weaknesses and nowhere does it say details. Hey, pray for me, man. I need to be stronger. You know, I’m battling with some stuff. So pray for me. You don’t tell somebody, man, you know what? I’m just really tempted to steal your car. Yeah. What are you, crazy? You don’t say things like that, but people do that. And the funny thing is, I say funny, I shouldn’t say funny, because it winds up later always biting people, because inevitably somebody either, they break up as friends, or one guy backslides and puts it all over the internet that Billy Bob is a nincompoop. Oh man, I confessed that to him in privacy. You weren’t supposed to do that at all. The Bible says to confess to the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s one mediator between man and God, and that is the man Christ Jesus. So keep it tight. Don’t tell anybody. It’s very serious. It’s a holy thing. Be compassionate. Why? Because the person that has sinned, you want them to be recovered. And you and I are responsible for their spiritual health. Be warned, all of us, That if we revel in another Christian’s fall, I don’t know what that says about our hearts. Well, they had it coming. That’s not Jesus. And that’s not the Holy Spirit. We are to have a constant attitude, always ready, always armed, as it were, an attitude of forgiving one another. Did you know that? Have I upset you? Oh, let me count the ways. Listen, are you… Watch, guess what? You have to forgive me. Have you upset me? Yes. Listen, I have to forgive you. Do you understand that? Remember when you were growing up? Did you grow up in a home like this? If I got in a fight with my neighbor… Inevitably, my dad would be coming home from work. And back in those days, they would either grab your ear or my dad would grab the back of your shirt and kind of pick you up a little bit off the ground. Your feet would touch about every few feet as he would walk you over to the neighbor and knock on the door. And my dad would say, Jack’s got something to say to Bobby. Remember those days? That’s probably, in this messed up world, illegal now to do. And that’s why our culture is as it is now. But let me tell you, man, you made up. And I told you before and I’ll say it again, guys are funny, guys are different than girls. When guys get in a fight with some other guy, we wind up being best friends with that guy. It’s the strangest thing. Guys love that stuff. See that guy over there? Yeah, he’s my best friend. How’d that happen? He knocked my tooth out. It’s amazing. It’s just the way it is. It’s just men, man, it’s just the way it is. But listen, in the body of Christ, we’re supposed to make up. We’re supposed to make it work. And I think that this is a great ailment in the body of Christ that Christians today, well, you know what? Yeah, he’s a brother or she’s a sister, but you know what? Listen, your walk is stunted.
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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.
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Colossians 3.13 says, Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Do you see that? You have a problem with that? This is the Bible. What’s wrong with that? Can you imagine, again, we should put that everywhere. We should put that on the Goodyear blimp and fly it around town. Bearing with one another. It’s not an option. It’s a commandment. Watch this. It gets better. Colossians 3.13 in the King James Version says, Strong. Listen, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. Forbearing, that sounds tough. What are you doing over there? I’m forbearing all that you’ve done against me. I love you that much. What’s with him? He’s forbearing. Colossians 3.13 in the NIV. Bear with each other and forgive one another. The New Living Translation of Colossians 3.13 says, make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends you. That’s very warm-hearted, but the reason why it’s a translation is because it borders on being false, to be honest with you. That’s a New Living Translation. That is not a version. There’s a big difference. You would never use the New Living Translation to study the Bible because this is a translation. You understand that? If you go to a Bible college and they’re using this for education, you need to get your money back. But this sounds cute, it’s warm-hearted, make allowance. That kinda sounds like tolerate it. Just kinda tolerate it. Well, it means this in a better way. Always make allowance for the atmosphere of forgiveness. You be ready to always forgive. You make allowance. Don’t be stingy on forgiving. You be very generous about forgiving. Okay? That’s what he’s saying. Again, it’s not a suggestion. Bearing, forbearing, making allowance. Either way, the word means to hold oneself up against. Listen to this. It means to prop yourself up against something. It means to put up with something. Listen, it means to endure something. Listen, America, I want to yell, America, America, suck it up. Endure it. Watch. Endure. Suffer it to be so. Be strong. Stop whining. You know what I’m saying? You hurt my feelings. The Bible says prop yourself up. Be strong. Endure it. You need to remember that. Ephesians 4, verse 32 says, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, compassion, forgiving one another. Why? Well, even as God in Christ forgave you. Isn’t that great? Why should I forgive him? Because Jesus forgave you. But he’s a, uh-huh, and what are you to Jesus? Right? Come on. This is good stuff. Let’s be honest. I don’t want to hear this. Look, you’re getting this for free. You’d have to pay to get this anywhere else. And you’re not even laying down on the couch. I’m telling you straight up, man. God says, go forgive those that have hurt you. And your heart will be changed. Things will happen to you. You’ll be set free. It’s awesome. It’s awesome. But how do I do that? How do I forgive those who have wounded me? Take your eyes off of them and put your eyes, listen, put your eyes on God, take your eyes off of them, put your eyes on God and see yourself, I mean this, see yourself standing before the Lord. This person, that person, this and that’s what’s wrong with them and this is wrong with the other and this is the other thing and that’s the other thing. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait. How do you look standing before God? On Sunday, I made mention of the robe and the righteousness of Christ, and I had made a comment, and I saw someone almost be electrocuted near the front row when I said it. I don’t know why, but it’s true. And I said, look, we need to be robed in the righteousness of Christ. And Jesus warned the church at Laodicea that they were none other than naked. Remember that? They didn’t have any righteousness of his. And that no matter how young you are or no matter how great you think you look, okay, everyone looks better with clothes on. And someone went . Like, what? Look, it’s true. And the truth is this. When you and I, listen, Paul the Apostle said you and I, and we need to practice this way of thinking. I think it’ll really put a gate on our mouth. Paul says all of us will someday stand before God naked and open and we will give an account unto him. Nothing will be hidden. Can you imagine standing there before the eternal God and he sees every thought in our entire life, every motive, everything we’ve ever done. And don’t you think for a moment this parable’s gonna pop up in your head and you’re gonna say, Master, forgive me. Have compassion. And Jesus, who the book of Romans calls us our advocate, That’s a legal term. Jesus is gonna step up and say, Father, he belongs to me, he’s mine. And the Father’s gonna say, the Father’s gonna go, all I see, all I see is you, Jesus. A moment ago I saw Jack, and then now I can only see you. Yes, Father, that’s right, because he’s in me, and I in you. and we are one. And the Father’s gonna say, okay, dismissed. Next. And you’re gonna say, now I see why I’m gonna praise the Lord for all eternity. Start seeing yourself before the presence of God, and you won’t have time to critique other people. Because I’ve been forgiven so much, I’m happy about that. And I told you before that when we grant forgiveness as God asks us to do that, we’re being like Jesus. And it’s an awesome thing. The third thing is this. For us to be like Jesus, we need to be patient. So verse 28, but that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him five bucks. And he went and laid hands on him and took him by the throat.
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Wow.
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And saying to him, you owe me, pay me. And so his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him. And we know that he requests their patience. Have patience. What a tragic story. What a tragic situation this is that this guy would conduct himself this way.
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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Part 2. Thanks for being with us today. We sure appreciate you. And you know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Parables of Jesus, a series highlighting the teachings of Jesus while he was here on this earth. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
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Everyone, it’s almost impossible to keep up with what’s going on in the world today. I think we’ve all come to that realization. My goodness, just the news regarding Israel and Israel’s neighborhood. We’re looking at what’s going on in North Korea. We’re seeing what’s happening in China and other parts of the world. It’s just overwhelming. But I want to encourage all of you. Be in the Word of God now and more systematically than ever before. In fact, as we are in this season of maybe the first quarter or second quarter of the year, I want to encourage you to join me actually at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, 5 a.m. Pacific Time, And whatever time zone you’re in, you can join me at my Facebook page live for five minutes as we are praying together with people all around the world. And you can leave your prayer request right there. You can leave it in the comment section and people will be praying for you. So listen, with all that’s taking place in the world, you don’t have to walk through this alone. There’ll be others with you to pray with you and love on you. But friends, more than ever, If you draw near to Jesus and practice the presence of God more and more, it means you’re going to have to turn some things off and minimize the distractions. You will see some pretty miraculous things start to happen in your life. So I encourage you to do that very thing. So listen, 5 a.m., you can do it. West Coast time, 5 a.m. For those of you who are in Cape Town, South Africa, it’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon. And listen, we’d love to have you. And even if you can’t be with us live, you can always view it, pray with us, and leave your prayer request there at the comment section.
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The Lift Daily Prayer. That’s every day on Pastor Jack’s Facebook page. That’s at 5 a.m. Pacific time, so don’t miss it. Make it a habit if you would. Come get prayed for and join Pastor Jack in the Word. That’s the Lift Daily Prayer every day this year on Pastor Jack’s Facebook page. Be sure to join us. You’ll enjoy it. Did you know that along with the radio program, Pastor Jack also has a TV show with more of the Pastor Jack Hibbs content that you like. It’s called Real Life TV. If you enjoy Pastor Jack on the radio, you’re going to love him on TV. So check out your local listings or visit jackhibbs.com and catch the latest episodes. That’s jackhibbs.com. 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.
