JULY 21 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#21 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

 

JULY 21  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#21  “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, 

forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” 

(Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Thank You Jesus for Your Great Sacrifice. 

Lord when we stop and think 

about what You had to give up of Yourself 

for the sake of the unlovable 

we cannot comprehend such Supreme Sacrifice 

nor can we explain in terms of our limited finite intellect 

how such a Sacrifice even works, God giving Himself and His Divinity

 and Unlimited Power for lost and dirty sheep???

 Lord Jesus, forgive me for my unrepentant attitude and turning from

 Your Grace and Forgiveness so freely given yet at such great cost to the Giver.

 I no longer need to understand why, I acknowledge only the TRUTH 

that You were Obedient to the Father’s Will and You Suffered and Died

 so that my sin could be forgiven and that You defeated death 

and the grave that I may be clothed in Your Righteousness 

and enter into an eternity of fellowship with the Father! 

 I KNOW I AM A SINNER — 

I BELIEVE YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD — 

LEAD ME IN THE PATHS OF YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS 

    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has spent great effort in educating His disciples about “sin” 

and the eternal impact that sin has on our souls and here in 

the 18th Chapter of Matthew Jesus continues detailing “sin” in some

 very dramatic terms and we should pay close attention to the fact that

 each time Jesus presents the “problem” of sin, He also makes sure that

 we understand that He has come to the earth 

as the “Solution” to the sin problem 

and let us not miss the importance of His Great Sacrifice

 in order that our sins can be “Forgiven”!!!

 Jesus does not need forgiveness for anything so why the great 

Self-Sacrificing effort for those that are guilty of sin and must face

 the Final Judgement where ALL sin will be exposed? 

Jesus has spent His Life on earth Teaching us 

about the kingdom of heaven and both

 He and John the Baptist (who was sent to announce the arrival of 

God’s Chosen One) started their ministry proclaiming

 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 

Jesus is making it clear that

 

God the Father has sent Jesus His Son to resolve 

through the Holy Spirit the problem of sin in the world —

—— for the Truth of God is that because God is Holy 

He desires to save the sinner but that same Holiness 

dictates He cannot look on sin. 

Therefore if something is not done to correct the sin problem in our life

 we will die and stand before God to be judged. If we are not clothed

 in the Righteousness of Jesus then we are standing before God

 with our sin being an offense to Him. God will not have to judge us,

 for it is our own sin that will declare us “guilty” 

at which time God will then require “payment” for our rejecting 

Him and His Son that He sent to die to pay our penalty for our sin!

 

Payment for our sin is that our eternal soul will be forever separated 

from the Love of God and we will spend eternity in the place 

already set aside for those that do not accept His Gift of Grace. 

That place of eternal penalty has been described clearly many times as 

“the everlasting fire” and is the place called “hell” 

which God has reserved for the unrepentant. 

I will make it clear that Matthew is an historian and not a fiction writer

 and therefore when we think of “hell” 

we must understand that it was Jesus that used

 the term “hell” and “everlasting fire”

 and “hell” is always associated with the “penalty for sin”.

 

If we miss Jesus Teaching about “hell” then we are missing 

His Divine Lessons on “sin”!  

Without God’s Truth about “sin and hell” 

we will miss His Lessons on “entering heaven” 

because Jesus always Taught His Lessons 

on sin, hell, and repentance together! 

Jesus continued in Matthew 18 Teaching about how we are to react 

if our brother sins against us — Jesus Teaches that we are to forgive

 our brother and not just once, but Jesus said,

 “I do not say to you, [forgive your brother that has sinned against you]

 up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” 

(Matthew 18:22) 

Jesus was Teaching His disciples that we are to do all things like He 

would do them, and that we are to do them in His Name 

and He gave His disciples this promise:

 “For where two or three are gathered together in My name,

 I am there in the midst of them.” 

(Matthew 18:20) 

Then Jesus tells His disciples a long parable about a certain king 

that wanted to settle accounts with his servants (God and the final judgement) 

and the king forgave a servant that owed the king a great debt 

but then the servant who was forgiven by the king then 

failed to forgive someone that owed the servant a lessor debt. 

The king found out that the servant who had been forgiven much did not 

forgive others their lessor debt and the king asked the servant 

whose debt the king had forgiven,

 “Should you not also have had compassion 

on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” 

(Matthew 18:33) 

Jesus then told His disciples in very clear language:

 “and his master was angry, and delivered him [the one that 

would not forgive others] to the torturers until he should pay

 all that was due to him.” (Matthew 18:34) 

then Jesus said to His disciples: 

“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you,

 from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” 

(Matthew 18:34) 

Make no mistake reader, 

God is VERY SERIOUS about “sin” and 

the solution is “Forgiveness” 

through His Only Begotten Son Jesus 

so we must ask ourselves “honestly”,

 “Have I forgiven others who have sinned against me 

as often as I have sinned against God 

and received His Divine Forgiveness?”

JULY 20 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#21 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

 

JULY 20  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#21  “What do you think about fish, 

taxes, lost sheep, 

forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” 

(Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, You know my heart and I pray that all that I do and say

 will be to Your Glory. Lord I am praying now for the strength

 to take all thoughts of self and remove them so that Your thoughts

 would increase in my life in my desire that all people can see only You

 when they look at me, may all my actions and words reflect 

Your Light and Honor our Father in Heaven. 

Lord I seek anew that identification with Your life, death, burial, 

and resurrection in order that my life will be lived to Glorify the Father, 

keep me always centered completely in His Will. Forgive me of all iniquities

 that I may stand before the Father in Your Righteousness 

and proclaim Your Word so that others will be blessed 

by knowing the Only Begotten Son 

that paid the ultimate price for our freedom.    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has dedicated His earthly life to doing the will of the Father 

and even at a very early age it was recorded that when His 

earthly parents thought they had lost the boy Jesus that 

“… after three days they found Him in the temple, 

sitting in the midst of the teachers, 

both listening to them and asking them questions.

 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding 

and answers. So when [His earthly parents] saw Him, 

they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, 

‘Son, why have You done this to us? 

Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.’ 

And [Jesus who was about 12-13 years old] said to them, 

‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know

 that I must be about My Father’s business?’ 

But they did not understand 

the statement which He spoke to them.” 

 (Luke 2:47-50)  

Jesus was always Teaching and always asking Questions

 but the Questions Jesus asked were never about gaining understanding

 for Himself, but each Question Jesus asked was to impart 

“understanding and wisdom” to everyone that listened to Him 

and took the time to “think” about the Question He was asking,

 knowing that each Jesus Question is a Divine Lesson and contains 

Divine Truth!!! 

Jesus is asking very pointedly in this particular section for His listeners to

 “think” about “forgiveness”, not just being “forgiven” 

but Jesus wants us to “think” about: 

“Why” it is important that we are “forgiven”?, 

“What” is it that causes the need for “forgiveness”?, 

“Who” has the Power to “forgive” us?,

 and “Where” will “forgiveness” or the lack of “forgiveness” take us? 

—  and so in this section Jesus gives us 

three important “answers” about “forgiveness” — 

(A1) Sin is the reason that we need forgiveness. 

Sin is being disobedient to God and is an “offense” to God. 

Sin will be judged by God. 

“Woe to the world because of offenses!” 

(Matthew 18:7) 

(A2) Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man 

who took on the flesh of man and was sent by the Father

 to save us from our sin, 

“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.”

 (Matthew 18:11) 

and 

(A3) Jesus states the Father’s will regarding 

sin and the final judgement of our sin:

 “Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven

 that one of these little ones should perish.” 

(Matthew 18:14) 

Jesus states that His job on earth 

is to educate us about the problem of “sin”

 so that we can resolve the “problem of sin” 

because what we do with “our sin” 

will be judged by “our Father in heaven” 

and if we haven’t resolved our sin problem before the judgement 

then we will have to pay the “penalty of sin” 

which was established by the Father in the beginning:

 “And the Lord God commanded [Adam] … [obey Me]

…for in the day that you [are disobedient to me] 

you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16)

  

Jesus has stated clearly that the reward for obedience to God is  to

 “enter into heaven and everlasting life in the presence of God” 

and the penalty for disobedience will be 

“everlasting torment in the fires of hell”!!! 

 

Jesus has been Teaching all along that our physical bodies (our flesh)

 are temporary but our souls (our spirit) are eternal 

and it is our soul that leaves the flesh at the time of our death 

and we through our spirit enter into eternity ——— 

the first stop in our eternity is for our soul to stand before God 

and be judged by our Father in heaven regarding our “offenses” (disobedience)

 against him or our (obedience) to His commandment to

 “Listen to Him [My Son Jesus]” 

(Matthew 17:5)!!! 

 

 Jesus IS the Christ , 

sent by the Father to save us from our sin, 

and if we have listened to Jesus 

then we will be seen by the Father

 as wearing the Robe of Righteousness 

given to us by the 

Sacrifice of Jesus on the cross at Calvary, 

for it was the “death” of Jesus 

that  paid the “penalty” due us for our sins!   

Can you not see how important it is to God

 that we know the severity

 of staying lost in our sin and rejecting the 

“Divine Solution” to our sin — 

or do you not understand the simple but central statement :

 “For God so loved the world 

that He gave His only begotten Son,

 that whoever believes in Him 

should not perish but have everlasting life.” 

(John 3:16)

?!?!!? Personally, in my opinion, the risk of ignoring God

 is to great since He has since Day 1 of Creation 

been doing everything He possibly could do 

to make sure that when we sin against God 

that we have a path to Forgiveness through Repentance 

to return to fellowship with our Creator —

 

“Your ears shall hear a 

“Word” 

behind you, saying, 

‘This is the way, walk in it’ …” 

(Isaiah 30:21) 

and once we turn back to God 

“He will give the rain for your seed 

with which you sow the ground, and  

…  the increase of the earth … will be plentiful.” 

(Isaiah 30:23)

 

It’s your choice 

(Choice 1) Obey God and Prosper 

in the “Abundant Life” or

 (Choice 2) Disobey God and Perish 

and be 

“Forever Lost in the Darkness of Sin”?