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?”