[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 05:00 p.m. or Wednesdays at 07:00 p.m. if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, you can find us
[email protected] dot. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast Madison Church of Christ sermons thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: I wanted to, again, encourage everybody. Robert and I talked about this last week. If you are coming to this class and you are not reading the text on your own, you are really missing out. Okay? You know, it is absolutely our expectation and our encouragement to you to read the text either before or after you've been in the class. And again, you've heard me say over and over at times, sure, it's great to study the Bible, but also sometimes it's good just to read it.
I would say there have been times in my life where I was reluctant to open up the Bible because I didn't want to study. And when study became easier for me personally was when I just started opening up my Bible on my own and just reading it. Okay.
And just reading it, taking it at face value, not necessarily digging deeper. And again, I want to exhort everybody that you should be doing that. Okay. You should be doing both. Okay. But don't neglect the just just reading it and taking it at face value.
The other thing I'll also point out, we may talk a little bit about this tonight, but also another thing.
And Mike Baker does a fantastic job in his classes on how to study the Bible. Talking about this, always remember that what's written in scripture, those stories that we have in the gospels, and then the actual letters that the apostles were writing, disciples and apostles were writing, that make up the rest of the New Testament, they were written for a reason and for a very specific audience. And you always have to take that into account when you're reading and studying those books. You have to put yourself in the mindset of those people. And one of the examples I'll use is actually an Old Testament scripture. And Richard Turner was the one that taught me this. And I don't have the book, chapter and verse.
But you guys all know the scripture that says be still. What?
Okay, what does that mean?
Does anybody know?
Just the popular culture. What do we think that means? Be still and know that I am God.
[00:03:15] Speaker C: I think it's kind of a meditate on him, what you're learning about.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: Okay, but what does it really mean?
Richard Turner was the one that taught me this. Does anybody know that book, chapter, verse, or can you look it up real quickly? Psalms 46. Ten. Can you jump over there real quick? Everybody do it. I'll do it, too. Psalms 46.
And when you get over there, just kind of start.
If you read prior to that, and then you read verse ten and you read the second half of verse ten, does it mean what we popularly think it means?
And I think the answers that we're given are the popular interpretation of that scripture. Any thoughts?
[00:04:09] Speaker D: You can be still because God is working for you.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:04:15] Speaker D: And you can grab.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:04:19] Speaker E: I think it properly compares the size of our world of problems to how big God is in comparison.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: But does it mean what we use it for?
Be still and know that I am God. And I agree that until Richard Turner taught me this, I thought it meant, oh, you know, be still and contemplate. No, it doesn't mean that if you read in the context of that chapter, he's not talking to the righteous, he's talking to the enemy army, and he's saying, you're going to be still and you're going to know that I am. Okay. And so I use that as an example of, as we study, as we read, make sure you take things into context. Right. Because that is a verse that after Richard taught me that I agree with him that we use it to mean, oh, I need to be still and meditate and take rest. And that's not what that verse meant at. Now, it can mean that. I'm not saying that's an incorrect interpretation, but in the context of this chapter, he was talking to that opposing army and he was saying, stop striving and know that I am God. I will be exalted among nations. I will be exalted on the earth. So this was not a restful be still. He was saying, I'm going to make you still. Okay, so that's just my soapbox for the week.
So last week we finished up. In the last two or three minutes, we talked about Matthew 17, verses 14 through 22, which was the demon possessed boy.
I said something and got some strange looks, and I kind of wanted to go back, say it again and see if there were any questions there, like I said, I got some strange looks. And the statement I made was, while this is clearly a demon possession situation here in Matthew 17, I mentioned that some of the other demon possession things, especially when I look at some of the literal translations, I'm not sure that they were. And in particular, I made the statement that I see no evidence in the scripture of a human being granted supernatural powers by Satan or a demon. And I got some strange looks when I said that. And I was curious if anybody thought about this week or looked into it themselves.
[00:06:57] Speaker C: No, I thought about it, but supernaturally, you know, there's evidence in the scriptures that they were very strong. They could break chains and do all that kind of stuff.
Would that be considered?
[00:07:09] Speaker B: So now that one's the one that's interesting, because I don't believe she could tell the future.
And that's, again, there's another trail to go down there, and you can. The two that I think you have to deal with in that context are Solomon and the witch at Endor.
And you have to look at that one, which was the servant girl, and it was Peter. Was it Peter?
Paul. It was Paul. I got the p. Right, so it was Paul. And the demon possessed servant girl.
So again, from context, she was supposed to be able to tell the future, but when Paul called the demon out of her, the owners immediately knew that she couldn't tell the future anymore. Right. That's the. That's what we think that means. Well, if she really could tell the future, how would you know immediately that she could no longer tell the future?
And the. The interesting study I did there, and this is, you know, I talk about taking it at face value and then going deeper. The deeper study I did there was that when it says she has a spirit of divination, that was a.
I don't want to say a mistranslation, but it was a.
It was a literal. It was an idiom, and it was that she had the spirit of the python. The python was the snake that guarded the oracle at Delphi. And the priestesses at Delphi would thrash and scream and do all this stuff and pretend that they could see the future. And so most modern scholars believe that what this was is this was a little girl who had some sort of demon possession, and she was screaming and thrashing and probably hurting herself and all those sorts of things. And that idiom meant that she was acting like the. Acting like the priestess of the oracle of Delphi. And then when they translated it, instead of saying spirit of the python, they said that she had a spirit of divination.
[00:09:27] Speaker C: So how did she make money from it?
[00:09:30] Speaker B: The same way. The same. So again, I'm a magician, and I am aware of men who were men and women who were modern day fortune tellers and make lots of money doing it, but they really can't see the future. So I think it was. I don't think it was.
I don't think it was a demonic power, personally. I just don't see any evidence.
Back to the strength part again.
There are men and women that can be incredibly strong and do incredibly amazing things that we wouldn't think they could do, but that does not necessarily mean they are granted supernatural powers. And so that's just my personal, personal philosophy on those. Those couple of items, those are the only ones that I could find where definitely, you have to deal with.
You have to deal with. Was it supernatural or not? So the chains.
Okay.
There were people that didn't have supernatural powers that can break through things. The priestess, the girl that was supposedly telling the future, I believe contextually, and then deeper study that she really couldn't. And then the witch at Endor as well, contextually.
It scared her when she called up the ghost. It scared her when she saw the ghost, which says to me, she wasn't used to seeing ghosts. Okay?
So that was why I made that statement. And like I said, I saw a couple people, looked kind of funny, and I was curious if anybody thought about it that week. But I've got more material on that if you want to talk to me afterwards or privately about it.
[00:11:20] Speaker C: Really could see the future. She would have noticed that.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true. That's another good point. Yeah.
So I want to finish out Matthew, chapter 17. So we're going to go. We're going to look at 24 through 27. And this is also kind of why I started where I did tonight now. And I'll read it. It says, now, when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two drachma tax came to Peter and said, does your teacher not pay the two drachma tax? He said, yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, what do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of earth collect customs or poll tax? From their sons or from strangers. Then Peter said, from strangers?
Jesus said to him, then the sons are exempt, however, so that we do not offend them. Go to the sea and throw in a hook and take the first fish that comes up. When you open its mouth, you will find a stater take that and give it to them for you and me. So the question I have here is, what's the point of that particular part of the scripture there? Is it just a story?
Is there deeper meaning? What do you guys think?
[00:12:41] Speaker F: Well, the way Jesus was claiming authority that he was God on earth and therefore they owed him the name, he said, let's me kind of saying, let's don't stir the pot right now.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:03] Speaker F: Okay. That's not worth getting in the fight over.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: Right.
So I don't have Robert here to take the counterpoint. I think the answer is, it's both. And a couple of things that I took away from it is exactly what Ed just said. I think there was a bit of a teaching moment there for Jesus and his disciples, whereas as he's putting it, as Ed was putting it much better than I am trying to do right now, that he was basically saying, you know, I'm not going to stir the pot. They want the tax, go do this and pay the tax.
As I also look at it now, what in particular, where I start to maybe see some deeper meaning there when it talks about collecting the tax. Right. So collecting something.
What is it talking about? Who do they not collect the tax from? It's right there. Who do they not collect the tax from?
Their sons. Their kids. Right. Their children. And so I think about that, and I was thinking about, you know, we're called. We, as christians are called the children of goddess. What will not be collected from us? The recompense for our sins. Right. The debt that we owe for our sins won't be collected from us if we are children of God. Now, again, that's one that I saw as I read through that particular part of chapter 17. So that was the last thing that I wanted to cover in chapter 17. Before we move into chapter 18, any questions, comments before we move on into there?
[00:14:52] Speaker G: So that follows right after he talks about his death, he predicts his death.
Is there any correlation to the fact that this story or this actual subject, what happens if you don't pay your tax? You get handed over to a poor.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:08] Speaker G: So it wasn't his time, perhaps?
[00:15:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm not sure. But I will say, jeff, I like where you're going. And I'll also say, it's kind of interesting to me that. And again, knowing that there were no chapter divides here. So what does he just talk. What has he talked about at the end of chapter 17? He's talking about what back to what Ed was saying. He's talked about authority and he's talked about debts, right? Or, yeah, debts that these people owe. And then what's the very first thing that happens in chapter 18?
What do they start asking him?
Who is the greatest? Right. Okay. So I'm kind of with you, Jeff. I do feel like there's a narrative there. And also, as I read that, I'm like, is this another one of those times when Jesus was probably like, you know, they're just not getting it right. So he's talked about authority, and then right after he talks about authority, then they say, well, okay, well, who's in your kingdom? Who's going to be the greatest? Okay, and then what does he do? Does anybody want to read chapter 18, verses one through six?
Just go ahead and start reading it, if you don't mind.
[00:16:22] Speaker G: At that time, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Then Jesus called a little child to him, said him in the midst of them, and said, assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Go ahead and do six.
[00:16:52] Speaker G: But whoever causes one of these little ones to believe in me, to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he was drowned in the dead.
[00:17:03] Speaker B: Okay. So they asked Jesus this question, and he calls this child over, and he says, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And again, I don't have Robert here to be my counterpoint. But what does that mean?
What does he mean when he says that you have to become like children?
[00:17:34] Speaker E: I've always taken it to me, a reliance on God. I think a lot of times we can get to a place that I can do this myself. I can say to myself as a kid, they are immediately looking to their parents for food, guidance, whatever it is. So there's a heart person, a heart posture that we should have have dad towards God.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: Okay. Any others thoughts there?
[00:17:58] Speaker H: In the context of society, kids were the lowest run.
They were almost beyond worthless.
That's a little out of context, but.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: It stands, I think. Yeah.
[00:18:09] Speaker H: And so the disciples are saying, which of us is greatest? And he's juxtaposing greatness to the bottom.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Mm hmm. I think both are right. Any other thoughts here?
[00:18:22] Speaker C: There's a lot less ulterior motives. Typically in a child.
They give their love freely and willingly until a certain age.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: I was gonna say, I know some pretty devious children, but no, actually, I'm just playing. I agree with you. Any other thoughts there?
Yeah, I think what it means is.
[00:18:45] Speaker D: To let go of whatever status that you have and humble yourself as taking a lower position. Whatever the child may be doing hasn't worked. Whatever work, humble yourself and remind yourself that's where anyone could be.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: Absolutely. I think everybody's right. Okay. Now, as I said, I don't have Robert here. So you've heard me say that as I study and prepare for these, I really focus on the text and the surface of the text.
Okay, I want you to take that thought, and just in the next 30 seconds, read those six verses again. And just from the text, tell me what you think Jesus meant there, just from the text. I don't think anything anybody said is wrong, but just from the text, I think it's actually self explanatory there. And I don't know that I really realized this until I read it with this mindset myself. Okay, anybody got any thoughts there?
What's he talking about? What's the. Just the context of just the text there.
What's the thing that Jesus is talking about?
Wait a minute. I heard you said something. Hang on. Let me hear. It's. What. Who's the greatest? What was your comment was like, the.
[00:20:17] Speaker C: Children are innocence and purity.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: Okay, what else? Who said it? Humility.
That's right.
I. So that's exactly. Exactly where I got to. But not just humility in general.
What humility is he talking about? It's not deep.
The humility of what child? The child.
How was that child? Humble.
[00:20:44] Speaker C: Children are, like, affected by everything. They're so easily embarrassed.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: Hey, David, would you come up here?
This can't be good. Thanks. What did David just do?
Bingo.
You got it. You got it.
You can have a seat. Thank you, David. Now, I want to be clear. I'm not making an analogy to myself and Jesus, but let's boil it down to what happened there. The object lesson he was making is Jesus was sitting there teaching, right? He's sitting there teaching. And they ask him this big question. And I go back to our Siegfried's 183 questions. Right?
They're your questions. Now, Siegfried, you see what you did?
So he's teaching, and, you know, he says some stuff, and then they go, who's going to be the greatest? And he goes, would you come here to the little child? And what did the little child do? Little child obeyed. So Jesus called and he obeyed.
And I think that's what he was talking about. That's what he was talking about to them, and that's what he meant. Now, I also think, and this is why it's good to have Robert here, because we do take those different viewpoints. I think everything everybody has said is correct. But I also want us, as we study these, to take the text for what it is. And I do believe here that he does explain it. I believe it has both meanings.
He says, truly. I say, wait a minute. He called the child to himself.
Wow, I've lost it. What verse is it?
Verse two. Called child himself.
Come like children united.
Verse four. So whoever will humble himself, like what, again, this child. So he's specifically talking about that child. And so again, there the example is Jesus is called and the child responds, but all the other things we said were true as well. Is that making sense, what I'm getting at and what I'm saying? Yeah, Kenny, contradiction to what they were asking for. Right.
Right. That's also very, very good. And you've just made something fire in my head. What was Ed talking about earlier? What was the word he used? It began with an a.
Authority. Right. He was talking. Jesus was talking about and demonstrating authority. And so then what are the apostles doing?
They're wanting to know about who's going to be the greatest. Why do they want to know who's going to be the greatest authority? They want some of that authority. And what does he do? He says, hey, come here.
And the child comes to him. And then it's obvious, right, that what he's saying is, again, you've got to humble yourself. You know that? I think he's underscoring the point that Ed Washington saying that he was making in chapter 17. I'm the one with authority here. That's what Jesus was in essence saying. I'm the one with authority. And when I call, you have to obey. Or when I command, you have to obey. Like this child did. That's what I think is going on there. Did you have something, Keith? I thought you.
Okay, I thought you were like the auction. You were saying, hey, I want to say something.
Okay, let's move on then to verses seven through ten. Before we move on, any questions there?
I'll read seven through ten. If somebody can be ready to go to twelve through 14, seven through ten, it says, woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes. And if your hand or foot is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life maimed with. Excuse me, life maimed or without a foot than to have two hands or 2ft and be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fiery hell. See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I say to you that there are angels in heaven. Continually see the face of my father who is in heaven. Now, I want to go ahead and confess to you guys, and this is one of those where I think it would be fantastic if Robert was here.
Verse ten. I don't know exactly what's going on in verse ten. In particular, when it talks about the angels, the way it's worded there, they're angels. And I did go back and look at one of the literal translations and that is what it's saying.
But I don't know exactly what that means and I'm not going to cover that tonight. If you guys want to look into that and email me and Robert for next week, maybe we can look back into that. But I'm just going to go ahead and tell you I'm not covering that part of that verse.
And then verses seven, seven and eight, I will just say again, these are verses. I think everybody's heard those before, right? I mean, these, I think, are verses we've heard a lot. And I think they're pretty self explanatory. Right?
Seven. Verse seven in particular, I'll call out some things that I saw. It talks about the stumbling blocks. But then the second half, I think it's interesting. But woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes. And I think that's very powerful. It talks about the stumbling blocks. But then if you are the person through which that comes to me, he's underscoring.
That's bad. That's really, really bad. Verses eight and nine. Again, very self explanatory. If there's something that's causing you to sin, get it out of your life, right? Get those things away from you. And that is how I read those particular scriptures. And I'm not necessarily going to go into any deeper, deeper study of that unless anybody's got comments or questions there.
Any comments or questions?
Okay, somebody read verses twelve through 14.
[00:27:28] Speaker I: What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the 99 and go to the mountains to seek the one that astray. And if you should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep and over the 99 that did not go astray. Even so, it is not the will of your father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones shall perish.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: All right, so what's that talking about?
And what's the meaning there?
[00:27:58] Speaker F: He places great value on one.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: On one, every one.
[00:28:06] Speaker H: So much so that they'll leave 99 to seek the one.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: Does that mean the 99 are unimportant? But where are they?
[00:28:17] Speaker F: They're safe.
[00:28:18] Speaker B: Bingo. Bingo. That's exactly right. They're safe. They're safe.
That's exactly the way I read those as well. It also refers back to what we're.
[00:28:30] Speaker D: Talking about, the little ones.
[00:28:32] Speaker B: Right, right. So again, this is not in the text, but I wonder if the child was still with him.
You know what I'm saying? I wonder if the child was still standing there or sitting there with him. We don't know how he was. Yeah. David, could you come back up here? No, but.
And I will say, like I said, I don't have Robert here. It's really nice to have somebody standing beside you when you're teaching, but I've always wondered that. I wonder if the child was there with him, and especially because of those little ones. You do?
[00:29:08] Speaker E: Yeah. Verse 14 mentions the same way your father in heaven is not one.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: Right?
Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of what I think. I think he probably was still there, but it doesn't explicitly say that. Right. So, okay, 15 through 19, and I'll go into those. So starting in verse 15. Now, if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that on the testimony of two or three witnesses, every matter may be confirmed.
And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, he is to be to you as a gentile and a tax collector.
Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. I'm going to go ahead and read verse 19 and 20. Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by my father, who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered, together in my name I am there in their midst okay, again, verses all the way, 15 through 19 in particular.
I think there's definitely deeper meaning there. But I think that's just really practical advice. Right. It is definitely an explanation of how we should go about discipline in our churches and with our brothers and sisters.
But I also think it's just good advice. Right. If you've got a problem with somebody, who should you take it up with a person first. And you don't go dragging other people in until you have addressed that with the other person. Now, I do think this is a little bit different, that this is a command about your brothers and sisters. But I'm just saying I think makes good sense to be that way with anybody that you have a problem with.
Any thoughts there in this one?
[00:31:31] Speaker C: It doesn't really talk about going to them, love. But in other places it does.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: Right.
[00:31:36] Speaker C: I think that's an important part to keep in mind. Because if you really are seeking to gain your brother or sister, that law has got to be all right.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: Absolutely. Okay.
Now we've got just a few minutes. Okay.
And I don't know that we've got time. I'll read it. I'm going to try to read it quickly, but I do want to finish out here. And it says verse 21. Then Peter came up and said to him, lord, how many times shall my brother sin against me? And I still forgive him up to seven times. And Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 77 times. Now I'm going to stop there. We just had a question. This was another one. Did Jesus answer directly?
Yep, he did. Again and again. I think it's because this was a genuine question. Right?
What's Peter really asking for there?
What's he asking for? I'll tell you what I think. And then I want to discuss for a minute. He's asking, where's the line?
Right?
[00:32:46] Speaker C: When do you give up?
[00:32:47] Speaker B: Yeah, where's the line? At what point can I say I'm done? Right.
Why do you. I mean, we do that nowadays, right? Why do you think we do that? I don't have an answer for this. I'm asking you guys, why do y'all think we do that? Yeah.
[00:33:02] Speaker F: Ed, I read several places that.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: The.
[00:33:07] Speaker F: Custom at that time.
That the scribes and pharisees were running and saying, forgive your brother from sinning against you seven times. And after that you can respond in any way that you want. And I think Jesus was comparing at the time the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees. To what God wants us to do.
It's kind of looking at God's. And Christ's ability to forgive is infinite. And if we were willing to come to him and ask for forgiveness, he will forgive us. It's not after such other times we do something. He says, no, you're out of luck after this. But I think he's trying to teach them, be merciful, be kind. And to treat people like God will treat you. To have unlimited mercy and unlimited kindness.
[00:34:18] Speaker B: Absolutely.
But the question that I want to go back to is why do we as humans. Why do we want to know the limit? Right.
I think that's. That's true. But what else?
[00:34:34] Speaker C: We can check the box, you know?
[00:34:36] Speaker B: Right. We did what we did. I do what I was supposed to do.
[00:34:41] Speaker C: Well, I'd be looking to see how far he would go for me.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Now, that's. That's one I hadn't.
[00:34:48] Speaker C: Seven. Seven times.
[00:34:50] Speaker B: That's one I hadn't thought of. I honestly hadn't thought of that. And I'll. In the interest of time, I'll tell you where I'm going. I think we do that because we want to know we're justified, right?
And are we justified by what we do?
No. No, we're not.
And so I think that's. That's why. I'm not saying that's why Peter asked it. I think you've got a very good point, Beth. It could be very well what you said. But I'm more now abstracting and saying, say, you know, we do that a lot of times. We want to know. Well, okay, if I do this, is this a sin? Well, what about this? What about that? I mean, and back to even some of what Ed was saying. I mean, that's what the scribes and pharisees were doing all the time. Okay, you can walk this far, but if you go more, then it's a sin. Because they were wanting to be justified. And I think that's a very, very human trait. And I'm not going to read the rest of the chapter there. But the last part of the chapter here, the last few seconds that we've got some things I want to point out. This is the parable. It's, in my opinion, parable where he's talking about the slaves. Now, the 10,000 talents that the slave owed the master. How much was that?
Anybody know? Well, a talent was 15 years.
So what's that debt? What is it?
It's unpayable, right? It's unpayable. And then he goes and he has somebody. Let's see, what is it?
Owed him 100 deneri. Which was what? That's very payable, right?
Days wages. So 100 days wages, right? Or was it a day's wage? A day's wage was 100 denier. Yeah. So guy owes him 100 days wages. So like three months worth of work. Right? So he's just been forgiven, what, everything right. Now, again, I think we've all been taught this, but the one thing that I took away from this sobering is verse 34.
And that is, how long does the master torture the one that owed the 10,000 denarii? It says he tortures him until he can repay the debt. But what have we already established?
It's an infinite debt. So that one is very, very sobering, especially then when he says in verse 35, my heavenly father will do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.
Okay, any questions? Comment on that portion?
Siegfried, do you have some on the previous thing?
[00:37:48] Speaker H: 70 times seven Romans, chapter 13, verses one through seven.
Paul is telling the Romans what they owe, government authorities, taxes, everything. Verse eight says, owe no man anything except to love one another. One debt that can never be considered paid. You can say, I paid my taxes, cut the chain. Fulfilled obligation, love. You can never say, okay, I done loved enough.
It is unpayable. You cannot say, you've done it. That's, to me, what this reminds me of. You can never say, I have forgiven enough.
Always do.
[00:38:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And I think very good points. And I think, you know, as I read that, what I try to keep in mind is also sobering. Hard to think about. Is there a really anything anybody could do to me that compares what each of us has done to Jesus and the father? And I think the answer to that is no. And that's sobering. And I know we've got a wide age group in here. I think as I get older, maybe I understand that a little bit better than I did when I was younger, because at 50, I'm a lot less good at life and being a Christian than I would have expected. Right?
And maybe some of y'all that are older than me. I see. Maybe you're nodding your head. I hope you are. If not, please come talk to me after class and teach me.
But anyway, that's what I take away from that last part of chapter 18. So that gets us through chapter 18. Please go ahead. Read ahead through chapter 19. Robert will be back next week, and I don't have to take both sides of every argument.
