The copper country evening news., 1898-04-23


21. "Then came Peter TO Him and said
Lord, how oft shall my brother sin agains
me, and forgive himS Till seven timesf
II Is SO difficult, much as we may read and
talk about it. TO believe and live out tn,
belief that it Is no longer that live, but
Christ who liveth I'm me (Gal ii, 20). Pc
ter's difficulty here Is "me" and -. for
getting the lesson of chapter xvi, "a. about
denying self and following Christ A bet
ter way of putting His question would be,
Lord. how often would you forgive one
who would sin against your IL should
never be question of what would OF
would not do, but always what would
Jesus dor Lord, what wilt Thou have me
10 dor AS His redeemed ones, we are here
10 manifest His life In these mortal bodies
(II Cor iv, ID and make Him known.
22. Jesus saith unto him, say not un-
20 thee, Until seven times, but until sew
enty times seven" His thoughts and
ways are as far above ours as heaven is
above the earth He gives us eternal re-
demption, blotting out all our sins, and
assuring US Of eternal glory, then teaches
US that we are 70 overcome self and sin
and the devil. submitting meekly TO many
an unjust demand OF the world for His
sake lest we prove a stumbling block.
1927. Therefore Is the kingdom of
heaven hkened unto a certain king, which
would take account of his servants In
these verses we have an illustration from
our Lords own lips of His forgiveness,
which He freely bestows upon every peni-
tent sinner The parallels of the kingdom
sometimes have reference TO the mystery
OF this present age when the kingdom it
self, which was at hand. is postponed till
He shall come again because of His peo-
pies rejection of Him Sometimes they
refer 10 the end of this age and the events
connected Herewith There is one thing
that all should lay TO heart and that is
that there is day of reckoning for every
one for every one of Us shall give account
of himself TO God, for God shall bring ev-
cry work into Judgment with every secret
thing, whether IL be good or whether il be
evil (Rom. xiv, l2 Feel. xii, l4) The
judge is appointed. even Him whom God
raised from the dead (Acts xvii, BIZ the
same who speaks 10 us in this parable. l
cannot say that the verses we are consid-
ering refer TO any period of the time of fu-
ture Judgment, but rather TO present for
giveness, for God may be said to be always
in some sense reckoning with people. IL
seems TO me that the main point of this
part of the parable is the full and free for
giveness which He bestows upon every
penitent. The debtor was greatly in debt
owing 10, 900 talents, which, according TO
the estimate in the margin, would be over
80, 600, 900, and he could not pay, as we
say, a cent on the dollar, for he had moth
ing yet he was presumptuous enough to
ask for patience promising to pay all.
His lord, moved with compassion, forgave
him the whole debt Our indebtedness TO
God for life and care and mercies since we
had any being is beyond computation II
we should count but one mercy minute
for only 20 years, they would be over TO-
900, 600, but who can estimate the mercies
of moment2
$3.50. But the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants which
owed him an hundred pence" According
TO the margin, debt of not over S25, yet
see his treatment of his fellow as compared
with his lords treatment of him. But do
not condemn him unless you are sure that
you are not guilty. Mans inhumanity to
man is as marvellous as Gods compassion.
Great as is Gods forgiveness, so great is
mans lack of IT, Have you never said Of
any one II cannot forgive him, or I'm
forgive but cannot forget?" II you have
said such things, you have no right TO CON
denim this man. Remember the words OF
our Lord in a certain case, "He that is
without sin among you let him first cast a
stone" (John viii, y.
81. $50, when his fellow servants saw
what was done, they were very sorry and
came and told unto their lord all that was
done. In this case there was nothing that
they could do but tell their lord, for he
alone had power TO deal with the wicked
servant. But here is an application which
every believer may with profit lay TO heart.
We, IL we have received Christ Jesus as our
Saviour, are truly forgiven, washed sane
titled, justified, but there are millions who
are not and who do not know anything
about the Lord Jesus and are liable to be
cast forever into the hands OF the great ad
versary who now oppresses them. Are we
sorry enough for them to say to our Lord
who has saved US: Here am l. Send me to
tell them of Thee and Of Thy salvation?"
1924. "And his lord was wroth, and
delivered him TO the tormentors till he
should pay all. that was due unto him."
We must hot think of our Lord in this
story as II He was speaking OF Himself,
for we are nowhere taught that He ever
forgives and then takes back His forgive
ness. Inc glltS ana cdlllnS OF bOd are
without repentance (Rom. XII, 29). He
never changes His mind We must notice
that our Lord is telling Of certain man
and his servants, and the lord in the story
is the master Of these servants, not our
Lord See the small letter |, not capital
l. So in the story Of the unjust steward
the question is repeatedly asked, How
could our Lord ever commend such fraud2
Our Lord never did, but the mans master
or lord (small ID commended his fraudu-
lent servant for being clever enough to
provide a future welcome for himself in
the homes Of those whom he had befriend-
ed at his lords expense. Our Lord taught
that we ought TO make such use Of present
opportunities = lawfully. of course = as
would be for our benefit in the life to come
30. $50 likewise shall My Heavenly Fa-
ther do also unto you, IL ye from your
hearts forgive not every one his brother
their trespasses. In the epistle to the
Ephesians we are taught in the opening
and following words our privileges in
Christ Blessed with all spiritual bless
ings accepted In the Beloved, I'm whom wo
have redemption, the forgiveness of sins,
seated with Christ i'm the heavenlies Then
we are taught that because Of these great
n II.