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?”