Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, go therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ teachings through australian and international speakers And here is today's presenter, Pastor Barend Nieuwstraten.
So we'll bow our heads first and then we have the word. Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can come before you. And as we open your word, Lord, we need your presence.
Give us the attentiveness, the attentiveness that we also require, and that it may be to our benefit and the benefit of all those around us. Bless us now in this hour in Jesus name. Amen.
I've called it the power of 70 times seven, and you probably can guess what it is in connection with. Can I say that I also appreciated the combined lesson this morning? That was beautiful. I thought to myself, they should keep going for another 1015 minutes, and then that's the sermon, because that basically lifts me off the hook and I can go home.
But there it is. The power of seven times 70. You find it for the first time in the Bible, in the Old Testament, of course, in the book of Daniel.
The Book of Daniel, chapter 970 times seven. See, Daniel is looking at scripture. He's looking at the scrolls of Jeremiah.
70 years to be accomplished for that exile. 70 years are up. It's 535 bc.
Time to go home. Time to rebuild the temple, time to rebuild Jerusalem. Time to have the name of God restored, have Israel restored.
And then the angel comes to him and he talks about 70 times seven probationary time. Thank you, Dennis. I love it when people do that for me.
Right. Next time I'll order a cup of tea. And so the essence is that the probationary time is seven times 7490.
Now, you already know, as you see that here, you already know that we're not talking about 488, 489, 490. We are talking about something far more than that. And I hope to explain the symbolism of the meanings of the seven and ten that plays such a pivotal role here.
It's about the power of forgiveness. If one thing will stop us from making the other shore, it is an unwillingness to forgive. It won't be because you won't keep your sabbath.
It won't be because you don't do your tithing. It won't be because you may not be active in church. It will be.
It will be most likely that you failed the one criteria that we're going to talk about here today, because it's so important tell you the story about this man, Joan Kim. I make a meal of this. I know I'm not good in pronouncing names that I'm not familiar with.
Korean pastor. He was a doctor the communists raided. This is during the war, of course.
And you remember the war of the korean war from the middle of 1950, lasted just over three years. Well, he was at peace in his village and then suddenly the communists raided the village. And without seeing the photos, without going into details, the slaughter that found place was horrendous and he was left for dead, beaten by the communists.
And it was the nightly rain, the rain at nighttime that woke him up back to consciousness, found his little daughter and they were the only ones who escaped. He lost his wife, he lost his father. Mom had already died.
And then a strange feeling got hold of this man. When you see the bodies of your loved ones done what they've done to them, what would you feel? I know what I would feel. I would feel an intense hatred.
I would feel an unmistakable desire to take revenge. But over him came the feeling that he should go and see those who had perpetrated the crime, regardless of the danger. And he did.
He went and he saw the man that was leading the band. He said, I'm alive. I survived and I come here to tell you that I love you.
I stood there and I listened to him. Couldn't believe what he said. And he said, I'm a Christian and I'll tell you why I don't hate you.
And then he went to tell them about Jesus. He told them about the cross, about the God who made everything and a God who loved every single one of them, hated what they'd done, but obviously, obviously loved them for the people that they were. Did you know he founded a church in that location? They kneeled in prayer with him that night when he returned, or the next day when he returned.
And there was a vibrant congregation and it may still well be there. Marvellous what the power of forgiveness can do. So we talking about the power, really the power of forgiveness.
Now, with perpetrations, with trespasses, there are two sins involved, particularly interpersonal. There are two sins. The first one is that you commit the perpetration, that you commit the offence.
That certainly is the sin of the offender. But there is another one which is just as common. The other one is the sin of unforgiveness.
We don't talk about that a lot, but the sin of unforgiveness is as bad as the sin of the perpetration. Both keep you outside the kingdom of God and I'll try to prove it to you from the Bible that this is the case. Anger must be resolved.
In Ephesians, Paul the apostle said this, be angry and sin not. In other verse he says, let not the son go down on your wrath. Don't go too bad with anger because you'll get up with the same feeling for sure.
Anger is the most common deflector of going on the right path. There can be a righteous anger, but I'm going to qualify that and do so from the actual our own commentary in a minute. Do not give the devil a foothold.
Here is the thing. When you resent. Please listen to me.
When you resent and you are angry, you have given Satan a foothold in you. He has unresolved anger distances us from God. You can feel the distance.
When you procrastinate on your anger, the distance between you and God is growing. And we all are subject to the temptation to do just that. Be angry and sin not just quote from the Nicol Francis, which is, you know, we are blessed with the best Bible commentary you can get anywhere with head and shoulders.
It says this justifiable anger is directed against the wrong act without animosity towards the wrongdoer. You get that, did you? It's the act of wrongdoing that you condemn and angry about that is permissible. But the anger must not be directed to the wrong door.
How about that? Now, let me say from the onset, christians. Christians are not doormats. They're not meant to be.
If you want a doormat, you go to Bunnings. They're on special. I don't know.
But you can't hate the wrong guerrilla. This is where our trouble is. This is where we so often fall short and have distance between ourselves and God.
To be able to separate the two, that is the wrong act and the wrongdoer is a supremely great christian achievement. How do you like that language? I think it is brilliant and absolutely true. Look at it again.
To be able to separate the two, the wrongdoing and the wrongdoer, is a supreme great christian achievement. This is what Jesus said in sermon on the Mount. You're familiar with this.
You have heard that it was said to the people of long ago, do not murder. Anyone who murders will be subject to judgement. It's commandment number six.
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgement. You'll be judged in the judgement. We are not judged if we want to make it into the kingdom because he covers us with his righteousness.
You keep your anger against your brother. From here I deduct that you will be judged. You will be the subject.
And what's going to happen to you? I know it's a tall order, but here it is. The power is in the 70 times seven. That is where the power is.
If you do not forgive men their sins, your father will. What? There it is unmistakably in a number of places in the Bible you find this. See, bitterness robs us of forgiveness from God.
That is what it does. When that gets hold of you, you can be rest assured that you are not forgiven. Very sobering.
Life is short. Would that be right? It goes so quick. One moment as a kid, you're kicking a ball in the backyard.
Then you think you should get married. Or she loves you and you marry and kids and grandkids, maybe even. And then you have a whole life together.
And then there's illness and you'll end up on your own. Loneliness comes into your life big time. Memories is what you live on.
And then you're laid to rest. You know, unresolved anger distances us from God. I like what Rick Warren said.
Since God intends you, since God intends to make you like you, Jesus, because he does, doesn't he? And you want to be like him. Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you through the same experiences Jesus went through. And what did he go through? Well, this is some of the inclusions.
Loneliness was very much a part of his earthly ministry. Temptation. If he couldn't be tempted, Satan wouldn't have tempted him.
He wouldn't have tried temptation. You and I know it's vicious all the time. Temptation, stress.
Oh yeah, plenty criticism before you know it. Behind your back and all. Criticism? Rejection.
Does Jesus know? He knew about rejection. Incredible what he went through and many others. But we mustn't be bitter.
We mustn't be resentful. I like this statement and I think I've used this before and I'll do it again. Resentment.
Nurtured and harboured. Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to drop that. That's exactly what it is.
That is exactly what you're doing. If people can make you bitter, let's face it, if people can make you bitter, then people control you. And he who controls the mind of another, his mind is controlled.
Satan will get into your mind, into your will, through an anger that is held there and shouldn't be there. A resentment that should have been dealt with on your knees, well before, well before. And so if you don't control your anger, it's very simple, it controls you.
It does, it does. The more anger, and I think this is another very common, sensible observation, the more anger towards the past you carry in your heart, guess what? The less capable you are of loving right now, it takes it away. The ability, it obscures it, it paralyses it.
What's our greatest need? I think it is humility. This morning with the lesson, what does it cost you for your salvation? To be with Jesus? And you truly said, everything, everything that you entitled, that you think you are entitled to forget it. Forget it.
If you have to sacrifice everything to be with him, then you sacrifice everything and sacrifice it now, that is the essence here. Humility is what we need, a complete ability to surrender. And whenever Jesus said, when you stand praying, he said, forgive.
If prayer hasn't got the power that you wanted to have, have you forgiven? Notice, notice, have you forgiven anything against anyone? Is there some harbouring of resentment or anger, dislike, that you will not surrender and you know you must, and the Bible says you have to, whenever you stand prayer, before you want to say the prayer make up so that your father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. There's plenty of those, you know, as you get older, and I talk a bit about that sometimes because I am getting older, I'm over 50. So you look back, you look back, went quick.
Every time you look in the mirror you think, not really looks like my dad in the mirror. And then you realise how gracious God has been to know him. Be here this morning, we opening his word and we know that the truth is coming to us and for us, and that the truth can set us free.
A freedom that says, you're on your way to the kingdom of God. Beautiful. It's a beautiful thing.
Nelson Mandela said one thing that I'll never forget. 27 years in prison, 27 years. As I walked out the door towards my freedom, that's when he was set free.
I knew if I did not leave all the anger, all the hatred, all the bitterness behind, I'd still be in prison. So many people sitting in church are still in prison because you let yourself be. Cs Lewis.
I like him. I like the guy. Obviously, he was long gone.
He was so good. He says this, we forgive, say you forgive, we mortify our resentments. But a week later, he says, some chain of thought carries us back to the original offence against us, you know, and we discover the old resentment blazing away as if nothing had been done about it.
You can get on your knees now and pray for the ability to forgive, and he'll give you the ability. But you may have to. Lewis says, you may have to get on your knees again.
In fact, he says this. We need to forgive our brothers 70 times seven. Not for 490 offences, you know.
488. 489, that's it. But for one offence.
One offence. Our nature is not to forgive, but we must. And you can't do it by yourself.
This is where you need Jesus. And so Peter, I like Peter. Peter came to him and he said, lord, how often shall my brothers sin against me? That was picked up this morning.
So? Well, you don't sin against a fellow being. You sin against God, the lawgiver. You fall short against another human being.
That is true. But you sin against God. That's the one you have the covenant with.
Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him. He knew he had to forgive up to seven times. See, Peter thought he was really in very well.
Seven times the rabbis, the rabbinical code was, you forgive three times and after three times, that's it. And so he thought, I'll do better than that. And he makes it seven.
And then Jesus makes that famous statement. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven. We are never to become wary of forgiveness.
There are two numbers involved, seven and ten. Before I forget, I think I have a slide. That reminds me to explain this.
You go to your bible. You find prophetic settings. You find seven churches, seven seals all seven.
Seven trumpets. It's all time from now till the end. That is seven.
That's the meaning of seven. Now, the number ten. The number ten.
You got how many commandments? Ten. How many horns on the beast in the prophecies? Ten. And there are others.
Ten means all. How many people are here today? Ten. Got it? That's it, everybody.
So when Jesus says, you've got to forgive seven times 70, there are two times seven. Seven times seven. In the Hebrew, if you want to emphasise something and you mean it, you double up.
There's no other way of emphasising anything in writing or speaking. That's why often, if ever were to go to Israel and people greet Israel, they say, shalom. Shalom twice, because they mean it.
If they only say it one time, they don't really mean it. Now, the interesting thing is seven all the time. All the time, Peter or all the time Peter.
Everything you have to learn, I have to learn, we have to learn to forgive all the time, everything. What do you want to do? You can't quit. You can't try to do it another way.
Because there is no other way. But there's hope. Now, the story of the Ontaro, of the unmerciful servant.
Let's just read it. The christian attitude towards offending people is dealt with. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle his accounts.
You know the story with his servants. And so when he had begun to settle accounts, Jesus said one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. Now, 10,000 talents.
There's various opinions how much that would be, but one commentary says it's the equivalent to over $3 billion. $3 billion? Us, of course, I think didn't say $3 billion. Now have a look at the rest of the story.
You may have never picked this up. He was not able to pay. That's an understatement.
Are you going to repay $3 billion? You're not. His master commanded that he be sold. This is the setting of the time.
His wife and children already had servitude was legal, but there were obviously attachments of treatment that you had to observe as an owner, and that payment be made. I don't know how you're going to pay when you're in jail, but anyway, that's the servant. Therefore fell down before him, saying, master, have patience with me and know this.
I will pay you all. How often have we been that servant that says, I'll pay, I'll do this, I'll do that. I remember.
I remember very well in earlier years, trying to make a deal with God. You give me this, I'll do that for you. Completely off the right path.
I will tell you. He either has no idea of the debt that he owes, or he thinks his master doesn't know, that he's misunderstanding his master. Then the master of that servant was moved with what? I like that.
God has compassion. There is not a single exception in this auditorium. God has compassion.
I love that he released him, forgave him the debt. The man walked away as if he had paid the 3 billion, not million. $3 billion.
All paid, all done. That's it. Walked away owing nothing.
Owing nothing. And no resentment, no stigma. Oh, we good at that? Sticking to stigmas? No, not this man.
He walked away free. But then you know the story. He went out, found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii.
A denarii is a day's wages. Hundred days wages, it's payable. It's doable.
Takes time. But of course, you know the story. He laid hands on him, took him by the throat, saying, pay me what you owe me.
And his fellow servants fell down at his feet and begged him and saying, have patience with me and I will pay you all. And he could have had he been given the opportunity, most likely. And he would not.
The first one, he went through him into prison till he should pay the debt. Now you know the story. So when his fellow servants saw what he had done, they were very grieved, very grieved.
Came, told their master they dobbed him in. So they should. All that had been done, all that had been done.
Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Now let's hold it right there. Why is his master angry? Why? He didn't pass on the mercy, did he? He didn't pass on the compassion.
You think if you look in terms of being a Christian that this man would have been a good Christian. I mean, what would it say about God that debt that he was forgiven, that he begged for, was granted. So should you not have had compassion on your fellow servants just as I had pity on you? And then the master was very angry.
And then there is a judgement again of the setting of the day that he should pay all that was due while he's totally lost, completely lost. He'll never repay now. So my heavenly Father Peter will also do to you, and that's to anybody here, all of us, if each of you, any one of you, no exceptions.
From his heart. Now let me explanation again. In the semitic mind, the heart is not the feelings that's in the bowels.
The heart is. God says, I'll give you a new heart. Ezekiel.
We quoted that, didn't we? Yeah. 36. Sprinkle clean water on you.
Give you, take out a heart of stone. The heart of stone is the mind that's indifferent. And I'll give you a heart of flesh and a heart of response.
I'll put a new spirit within you. That's qualifying it. And you will do my statues.
A new mind, a new heart. Or from your heart, from your intellect. The heart is the intellect, is the decision making is what gets you by.
From your heart. Notice, notice does not forgive his brother his trespasses. That's amazing.
You'll be lost unless from here people say I forgive, but I don't forget. Yeah. Have you said that? I'll bet you have.
I have. But that's not biblical. Far from it.
Far from it. Biblical principles. As far as the east is of the west.
I love that. The east is that way, the west is that way. I'm sure that's Bondi over there.
They're far apart. They never go together. They don't go together as your forgiveness for you will not find place unless you forgive from the heart.
As far as the east is of the west, they never, never meet. So far he has removed our transgressions from us. He will have again compassion on us.
Subdue our iniquities. We will cast all our sins into the depths of the. I know I've said this before but I love it.
Billy Graham used to say, and God puts a big sign there, no fishing allowed. Now you got to understand something. This is serious business.
We all want to go to heaven, dont we? We want to live with him. We do. You know its a.
Its a wonderful place. Streets of gold. I mean when was the last time you walked on gold? Street of gold.
Beautiful river, magnificent river, beautiful water. Everybody is happy to see you and you're happy to see everybody else. You have nothing to fear.
There's nobody who's going to walk up to you and say, oh, how did you get here? It doesn't happen. You can walk those streets and you cannot remember your sins. I like that idea very much, don't you? I can't remember.
As if you have never sinned. That is how God forgives. And he wants you to do the same.
He wants you to do the same. Get rid of that resentment. It'll kill you.
It'll kill you. The king could patiently stand a greater loss to him. It was a minor matter, but injustice, that means that this king, the 3 billion, was not worth anything compared to what the value was of the other one that was thrown in jail.
He loved him and he didn't want anything bad to happen to him. Aroused in him and a righteous indignation. Unforgiving servants always, always end up in prison prisons of anger, guilt and depression.
Now, forgiveness on the part either of God or of men is much more than a judicial act. It is a restoration of peace. Where there had been a conflict, everything is gone.
No more discord, not ever, anywhere. There is a beautiful world waiting for us. You just got to make it.
It includes the effort to restore the erring brother to himself. That's important because Jesus went to the cross for the person you can't forgive. Let me say this again.
Jesus went to the cross for the person that you forgive. He did. Nothing can change that.
So it's not a legal regulation. It is about an attitude. It is about a motivation.
It's not the act that counts, but the spirit that prompts it. If you can do that, you have the spirit living in you. People ask me sometimes, how do I know that my sins are forgiven? I always say, have you forgiven everyone else? Because if you haven't known, it's not forgiven.
Gratitude to God is only genuine when we show mercy to our fellow men. The unmerciful servant was unconverted. The unmerciful servant was ungrateful.
How grateful are you first thing in the morning? I try to do this every morning. Thank you, Lord, for forgiving me. It's good.
I do appreciate it. And maybe I should even appreciate it even more. The ability to do so is his gift to you.
The gift of his grace is that you can do what he is asking from you. That's the thing. John MacArthur puts it this way, and I think it's so beautifully said.
God treated Jesus on the cross as if he lived your life, so that he could treat you as if you lived his. You like that? It's good, isn't it? That's a beautiful statement. Beautiful statement.
So repay no evil for evil. Do not avenge yourself. Vengeance is mine, says God, and he doesn't need a helping hand.
I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed them. And if they thirsty you, kindness just replace anger with goodness towards those who perpetrate against you.
The only sin that we can defeat, of course, is a forgiven sin. The power of sinning is broken. If you can forgive, you can be forgiven through the appreciation of the cancellation of our sin.
And that is the power of 70 times seven. The grace that saves me is the grace that sanctifies me every time. The cross is not a place of a recovery programme.
The cross is not a place for improvement. No, no. The cross is a place where you die.
That's what you do. You die to self. That's what he's asking.
And he'll make you live. The woman that washed his feet. I love that story.
You can almost imagine the scenery she loved much. Simon, what's the difference between 50 denarii and 500 to be forgiven? Who will be more grateful? Well, she was the holy spirit when he comes to you. And I won't go over time, I promise.
I'm almost there. I could be tempted. It's a wonderful thing.
The Holy Spirit comes to you and he convicts you of sin. Satan does that too. The difference is that the Holy Spirit convicts you of righteousness.
Satan won't do that. And then there is a conviction of judgement. Sin.
Righteousness, judgement. Judgement determines which way you chose. Where do you put your will? On the side of righteousness or the other side? She knew which side she had chosen.
The forgiveness overwhelmed her, compelled her to do what she did. And Jesus recognised that and loved her for it. He said twice, your sins are forgiven in front of those who thought.
Who does he think he is forgiving sins? Your faith has saved you. You can have faith in your forgiveness. You can have faith, you can have faith in him that he gives you the ability to forgive what you have to forgive.
He can do it. He will do it in you and through you. Go in peace, then go in peace.
Religion says this, I obey and therefore I am accepted, or therefore I am forgiven. Christianity says this, I am forgiven and therefore I obey. The motivation.
You and I know that the cost of obedience is nothing compared to the cost of disobedience. You can't. I can't afford disobedience.
Neither can you. None of us. Just concluding with a little story.
I don't know whether I ever told this story. And if I have and you remember it, then just do as if you hear it for the first time. The Truth and Reconciliation commission there in South Africa.
That is from the 1960s. I used to follow that a bit, as much as I could. I found it fascinating because you can't have reconciliation unless the truth out, right? They got that.
I don't know whether it did to a lot of change in the country. But I think there were some very good moments. There's one moment where a lady, african, black lady, her name was Rosa.
I remember that. And she was not really the plaintiff, but she was the main witness. Her son.
Her son had been brutally murdered by a mob. Only because he was black, really, and it burned him. And that was a terrible thing.
That was a shocking thing. And see, the mother was in the court and she had the right to say things. And when the hearing was sort of to a conclusion, the adjudicator, the judge said to her, rosa, what do you want us to do? What should we do to.
His name was Vander Brucker. I remember that name, too. What should we do to the man who perpetrated this? And then she said something that stunned the judge.
Everybody in the room. She says, I want you to give orders that he comes to my house twice a week. I don't have a son anymore.
I want to adopt him. As my son. Well, you could have heard a pin drop.
Everybody couldn't believe it. And then the adjudicator, the judge said, anything else? You. He said, yes, this is what he said.
I want you to send these people and help me. I can walk over to my new son, my adopted son, that I may touch him. And they did.
They helped her up. And then he started to walk towards Vanderbrucker. When he saw that forgiveness come towards him, he utterly collapsed, shaking.
There was not a dry eye in that room there. And she stooped and she touched him. You know, I know somebody who was like that.
The God that I worship, that you worship is like that, really do terrible things to his son. But he wants to adopt us. He wants us not just to visit, he wants us to dwell, to stay, to live with him.
What an incredible God we worship. It's incredible when you can see that picture. I think you have a picture of God and may he bless you as you do.
So let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity that we had to study your word and the requirements, Lord, that are telling us through this word how we should live. And we candidly, we admit that we can't.
And so we appeal to the power of the Holy Spirit to take possession of us, to work in us and through us. And thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for being our God. Thank you for being our God. And thank you for Jesus in his name.
Amen. May God bless you. This message was made available by the Waitara Seventh-day Adventist Church.
For more resources like this, visit waitarachurch.org.au. This programme has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia Radio.
