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Now, here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, the greatest need is the need for forgiveness. Hear what Jesus is saying: We cannot truly forgive others until we have been forgiven by God, and we cannot be forgiven by God unless we are willing to forgive others. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. We all know what it feels like to be snubbed by a coworker at the office or hurt by a friend's careless comment. And while forgiving an offense is rarely easy, the cost of holding grudges—well, that's even greater. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr.
Robert Jeffress warns us that refusing to forgive could have dire spiritual consequences. But first, let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. As we begin the week together, I'll remind you about the exclusive Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Cruz to the Mediterranean coming up in 2027. We've designed this trip with real care, building in the right balance of rich, meaningful experiences and unhurried time to simply rest and breathe.
You'll come home with a deeper understanding of Scripture and feeling genuinely refreshed. Check out the amazing itinerary and all the details by going to ptv.org. We receive hundreds of questions from our listening family at Pathway to Victory, and one of the most common questions is about how to pray. I love that question because it reveals a heart of curiosity and the desire to communicate with God in an effective manner.
Well, I've written a 50-page book on this topic that'll guide you. It's called Spiritual Essentials: How to Study the Bible, How to Pray, and then. In addition, I'm thrilled to offer you a creative book written by my daughter Julia Jeffre Sadler. It's an exclusive storybook for your children and grandchildren, and it's called "You Can Pray Big Things." Both my book, Spiritual Essentials, and Julia's book for children, "You Can Pray Big Things," are yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. We'll give more details later in the program.
But right now, let's turn our attention to Matthew chapter six, where we find the quintessential lesson on prayers that really work. I titled today's message, "Our Greatest Need." Jesus said, "Pray in this manner." He said, "First of all, our our need to pray for is that for provision. Give us this day our daily bread, material provision. But then we come to verse twelve. The need we have not only for provision, but for pardon and forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors." Now, even though this request is second, it's not secondary.
In fact, I say this is our greatest need because Jesus elaborated more on this request than any other request in the Lord's Prayer. He elaborates in verses fourteen to fifteen. Look at this: For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your father Will not forgive your transgressions," Jesus said. Our greatest need in life is forgiveness, receiving it from God, extending it to others.
"Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Let's look at the first request: "Forgive us our debt." That is our need to receive God's forgiveness. He's not talking about a judicial, legal kind of forgiveness. We receive that when we trusted in Christ. When we trusted Christ as our Savior in the great throne room of heaven, God brought down the gavel and He said, "Not guilty." When we pray, "Father, forgive us of our debts, our sins," we're asking for God's parental, His fatherly forgiveness. As Christians, we need God's fatherly forgiveness, parental forgiveness, and that's why Jesus said to pray, "Forgive us of our debts." But I want you to notice here the second part of this request.
This request. Is dependent upon this other request: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Think about what that prayer is saying, Father. We want you to forgive us in the very same way that we forgive other people. You're saying, "I want you to forgive me, God, to the extent that I am willing to forgive other people." And that's why Jesus said, "If you do not forgive others, neither will my heavenly Father forgive you." The second part of this prayer relates to our need to extend forgiveness.
There is an inseparable link in the Bible between receiving God's forgiveness and being willing to forgive other people. And nowhere is that relationship seen more clearly than this parable that Jesus told a few chapters over in Matthew 18. We've looked at it before, so I'm not going to go into depth about it. But remember the story. Peter asked the question, "Lord, how many times should I forgive?" Three times, seven times, Jesus said, "No, seventy times seven, an unlimited amount of times." And to answer the question, "Well, why should I forgive people who continually wrong me?" Jesus told this story, beginning in verse twenty-three.
Now, here's the summary of the story. A king was having some cash flow problems, so he needed some quick money, and so he took a list of everybody who owed him money, and he started with the person who owed him the most money, and it happened to be one of his slaves who owed him ten thousand talents.
Now, a talent was seventy pounds of gold in Jesus' day, so I got my calculator out and tried to figure this out. If we're talking about ten thousand talents of gold, one talent is seventy pounds. I calculated that to be sixteen billion dollars. That's how much this lowly slave owed the king. Sixteen billion dollars in today's dollars.
You have to wonder how did he get into that kind of debt. You know, did he play the horses too much? You know, too many trips to Las Vegas. I don't know what the problem was, but he was owing a debt he could not pay in a thousand lifetimes. But the king had every legal right to ask for it.
It was a real debt.
So he said, "Pay up. If you don't pay up, I'm going to throw you, your wife, and your children into prison until you pay everything." Verse 26 says, "The the slave fell down before the king and started begging him for mercy." And this pagan heathen king, when he saw this slave bowing down before him, saying, "Have mercy on me, and I will repay you everything." Look at what verse twenty-seven says: The king, the lord of that slave, felt compassion, and he released him, and he forgave him his debt. That word forgive means to let go of, and that's exactly what the king did. He let go of that debt. What a tremendous picture of our relationship with God.
You and I, because of our sin, we talked about, we owe God a debt, a payment for our sin that we could never, never repay. And how foolish it is for some people who think they have this enormous sixteen billion dollar debt with God—a sin debt that they could never repay—and they say, "Well, no, Lord, I'll get back with you on that. Let me tell you how I'm planning to repay my sin debt. I think I'll get up into this Baptist Street, the First Baptist Church in Dallas, and splash a little water on me. And surely you ought to be happy with me for that.
Doesn't that take care of it?" You think getting wet in that baptistry is going to satisfy the enormous debt you owe? Other people, well, I'm going to join the church. Whoop-de-do.
Okay, I'm going to tithe.
Okay, you know, I'm going to give some of my income, and maybe that will take care of my sin problem. Or I'm going to do the best I can. God, surely that's good enough. The fact is, we don't have the capacity to repay our debt to God. We have to beg for mercy, and what the king did is a picture of what God did for us.
You know what the king did? He took the loss himself. He effectually paid off that debt himself, and that's what God did for us. He sent Christ to pay the debt for us. But the story doesn't end here.
Here's where it takes an interesting turn. Here's that turn. There's a slave that's been forgiven a sixteen billion dollar debt, and he goes out and he finds a fellow slave who owes him a hundred denarii. That's sixteen dollars in today's dollars. He finds the slave who owes him sixteen dollars, grabs him by the nape of the neck, starts to shake him, and says, "Pay me everything, or I will have you and your family put into prison." And the slave, the second slave, begs for mercy.
Please have mercy on me, and I'll repay you everything. But unlike the king, this first slave said, "No mercy today for you." And he threw him into prison until he should repay everything. When the first the king heard about this, his blood pressure went through the ceiling. When he heard what this first slave had done, he had him hauled back to the palace. He said, "How could you, who have been forgiven so much, how could you refuse to forgive so little?" And the king ordered that this first slave be be turned over to the torturers until he should repay everything.
And then Jesus adds the zinger: "So shall my heavenly Father do to each one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." What's Jesus saying to us about the relationship between receiving God's forgiveness and extending it to others? Jot down these two truths you see in this parable and in the Lord's Prayer. First of all, forgiveness is granted, not earned. Forgiveness is granted; it's not earned. I've done a lot of writing, speaking, and preaching on the subject of forgiveness, and I will tell you, hands down, the greatest misconception about forgiveness is we have to make people earn our forgiveness.
We can't forgive somebody until they earn it. That is, they have to ask for it. They have to be repentant. They have to make restitution. They have to rebuild the trust relationship.
Until somebody does that, I cannot forgive them. Nothing could be further from the truth. We forgive unconditionally, unilaterally, and that's what the first king did. This king, he forgave this slave his sixteen billion dollar debt without ever demanding repayment. Why did he do that?
Why did he forgive this debt without making the servant repay him anything? First of all, the king recognized that the debt he was holding was uncollectible to begin with. I mean, here's a slave who owes sixteen billion dollars. Exactly, how is he going to repay that kind of debt? You know, take it out of his check every week.
You know, is that going to repay the debt? Of course not. This king realized this slave could never repay him anyway.
So, what profit is there in waiting to forgive until he repaid him? I think one reason we have a difficult time letting go of people who hurt us. Releasing those offenses is—we want to hold on until that person pays us back what they owe us. We think in our minds there's something that other person could do to make us feel better. But often our offender is powerless to do anything to make up for what they've done to us.
I mean, for example, what could somebody do to make up for a child killed by a drunk driver? How many years would they have to serve in prison until you felt better and got over the death of your child? I mean, what could somebody do to make up for a marriage destroyed by adultery? What could somebody pay you to make up for that innocence destroyed by incest? The fact is, our offenders are powerless to repay us for the debt they owe to us.
The king recognized that, so he said, the better thing is to let go of that offense. But even more importantly, the reason the king forgave the slave was so that he could be free to get on with his life. I mean, he didn't want to keep holding on to this debt, going down to the treasury every day and saying to the chief treasurer, "Did the 16 cents come in today to apply to that 16 billion dollar debt?" I mean, that's a lousy way for a king to spend his time. He knew the better thing to do was just to let it go, take the loss himself, and move on with his life.
Now, listen to me: when you make your forgiveness of another person dependent upon what that person does, Or doesn't do. You're making yourself a prisoner to the person who's already hurt you. You can go no further in life than he or she is willing to go. And if they choose not to ask for your forgiveness, or die before they ask for your forgiveness, that means you have sentenced yourself to a lifetime of bitterness. Why would you do that to yourself?
You see, forgiveness is the process by which you say to God, "What this person did was wrong. They deserve to pay for what they've done to me." But today, I'm giving up. I'm letting go of my right to hurt them for hurting me, so that I can be free to get on with my life. That's what forgiveness is. Forgiveness isn't about denying that you were wrong.
It's not rationalizing, minimizing the hurt you experienced. Forgiveness is the process by which I let go of that offense, so that I can move on with my life. Does it help the offender?
Well, maybe, maybe not. But that's not the issue. It's like somebody said, you know, letting go of a Poisonous rattlesnake you've been holding on to. When you let go of it, yeah, the snake benefits, but it also helps you a lot. It's the same way with bitterness.
You know, somebody said refusing to forgive is like drinking rat poison and waiting for the rat to die. Lewis Sped said, "When we forgive, we set the prisoner free, and the prisoner we set free is us." Forgiveness is something that's granted, not earned. But notice also what Jesus taught. He said forgiveness is the obligation of the forgiven. Forgiveness is the obligation of the forgiven.
In the story, the slaves of the king, when they heard about this first slave being unwilling to forgive the debt, they went and tattled to the king.
Now, there's no evidence that they were Christians. They were heathen slaves. But even these heathen slaves knew there was something inherently wrong with a man who had been forgiven so much, refusing to forgive so little. And God says the same thing to us. The reason we forgive and let go is because of the forgiveness we have received.
Forgiveness is the obligation of those who have been forgiven. There are some of you here this morning, some of you watching on television. You have been deeply hurt by another person. Please understand this: Jesus is not minimizing the hurt you've experienced. He understands it.
He knows what it's like to be betrayed by those closest to you, to be deserted by friends. He understands all of those emotions. Jesus is not minimizing the hurt you've experienced. What he's asking you to do is to put that hurt in perspective. You see, we always focus on what other people have done to us, without focusing on the hurt we have caused God through our sin.
And Jesus said, "Before you get all hung up on this wrong that's been committed against you, remember the hurt that you have caused a holy God." Jesus is saying the difference between how much somebody has hurt you and how much you have hurt God is the difference between sixteen dollars and sixteen billion dollars, and that's why there is this relationship. Between receiving forgiveness and extending that forgiveness to other people, in Ephesians four thirty-two, Paul said, "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven you." But Jesus said it negatively in verses fourteen to fifteen. Look at this: For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. It's interesting to me that people say they take the Bible literally somehow want to spiritualize this truth.
They want to say, "Well, you know, Jesus really didn't mean what he said here. He didn't really mean that if you don't forgive other people, God will not forgive you." Well, if he didn't mean that, then what did he mean? Could it have been more plain? Jesus said, "Your forgiveness from God depends upon your willingness to forgive other people." Well, what is Jesus saying here? Is he saying that we earn God's forgiveness by forgiving other people?
Of course not. We've just seen there's nothing we can do to make up for the debt of sin that we owe God. We don't earn it by forgiving other people. Where is Jesus saying that if I refuse to forgive somebody, God takes away my salvation? I lose my salvation?
Of course not. Romans eleven twenty nine says the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Well, then what is Jesus saying? Simply this: if you keep saying about a person. Who has hurt you? I will not forgive. I will not forgive.
I refuse to forgive. It doesn't mean you lose your salvation. It means you never had it to begin with. Because a person who truly understands and accepts the payment that God made for their sin cannot help but forgive other people. Forgiveness is the result; it is the obligation of those who have been forgiven.
Years ago, I pulled this story from the Dallas Morning News because it made such a profound impression upon me. It was about a newlywed couple, Lori and Douglas White, who were taking a stroll at a nearby junior college on the athletic track after work. And as they were walking around the track, they were talking about the things that newlyweds talk about: buying a new home in the future, their career, the possibility of children. When suddenly, out of nowhere, an unknown stranger appeared—a stranger who would change their lives forever. The man accosted them and asked them for their money.
And now I read from the morning news. Until the man showed them his gun, neither of the whites believed they were in danger because they had encountered panhandlers before. Laurie White said. But when he showed the gun, they immediately began praying, which irritated the gunman and prompted him to command, "Yeah, you better pray. Where's your God now?" Despite the man's taunts, Mrs.
White said she and her husband kept praying. We were just asking God for forgiveness, Doug said. Please don't let him hurt Lori. Mrs. White said her husband could have easily overpowered the smaller man, but he didn't try.
He even offered to return to the truck for his wallet, though he had left it at home. Behaving real cold, Mrs. White said, the man ordered them to lie on the ground. He told us not to turn around, and Doug turned toward him. The guy said, "You looked at me.
You shouldn't have done that." She said. He told us to just lay down. He was right behind Doug. I was just a step or two from him. As she walked toward the grass, she said her husband abruptly shouted to her, "Run, Lori!" She refused.
I told him I wasn't leaving him. The guy said, "If you run, I'll blow his blanking head off." I told Doug I wasn't going to leave him. Mrs. White said the first of two shots came as a surprise. I heard my husband say, "Oh God, I'm bleeding." Mrs.
White declined to discuss the details of her attack. She remembers the man pointing the gun at the back of her head, sometimes in her ear, as he assaulted her about sixty feet from where her husband lay dying. While I was praying, Lori said, "I had a thought. Forgive him." I couldn't understand then why I had that thought, but I understand now. Jesus forgave the world when he was crucified.
So that I could forgive my attacker, the greatest need you and I have is the need for forgiveness. Hear what Jesus is saying: We cannot truly forgive others until we have been forgiven by God, and we cannot be forgiven by God unless we are willing to forgive others. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. God is extending His open arms toward you right now, ready to forgive you, and this is the message that we declare every day on Pathway to Victory. But tragically, sometimes the contemporary church fails to teach this truth.
It's either dumbed down or ignored altogether. Recently, I heard from a student on the West Coast who said, "Pastor Jeffress, unfortunately, the churches in my city deliver a watered-down version of Christian doctrine. They don't teach solid theology. In fact, they deviate from it.
So, thanks for teaching the truth of the Bible on Pathway to Victory." Isn't that a great comment?
Well, when you give a generous gift to Pathway to Victory, you're providing the truth of the gospel to students like this one and countless others. Thanks so much for your partnership with Pathway to Victory. We couldn't do this without you. Today, I'm prepared to thank you for your gift by providing two books. The first is a 50-page book I've written called "Spiritual Essentials: How to Study the Bible, How to Pray." In it, I share the method I've used for years to understand God's Word and to pour out my deepest thoughts and concerns to God.
The second one is a creative teaching tool for your young children and grandchildren. I'm referring to an illustrated children's book written by my daughter Julia and called "You Can Pray Big Things." It's engaging, it's fun, and it'll help you fulfill one of your greatest duties as a parent or grandparent, and that is to teach the children in your life how to talk with God. Here's David to explain how you can request these two books today. Today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of Julia Jeffre Sadler's book for children. You can pray big things.
Plus, you'll also receive Doctor. Jeffress's highly practical book for adults, *Spiritual Essentials*. To request these two resources, call eight six six nine nine nine two nine six five. You could visit ptv dot org or text ptv to seven eight eight zero zero. And when your gift is seventy-five dollars or more, we'll also send you this month's teaching series, "Prayers That Really Work," on both audio and video disc.
One more time, call eight six six nine nine nine two nine six five, or visit ptv dot org. If you'd prefer to write, here is that mailing address: PO Box two twenty three six zero nine Dallas, Texas seven five two two two. Again, that's PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. I'm David J. Mullins.
You know the Bible says that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
So would God ever do the same to one of us? Discover the truth about testing. That's Tuesday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.
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dot org slash donate, or you can follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Oh, and one last thing before we go, don't forget to reserve your spot on the 2027 Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise.
Now you've heard me and Dr. Jeffers talk about this Bible conference at sea and cabins.
Well, they're going quickly. Just picture yourself aboard the beautiful Celebrity Infinity sailing round trip from.
Now each day you'll gather for biblical teaching, worship, and fellowship, and then you'll step ashore to stand where Paul stood in Ephesus and walk the streets of Thessaloniki, where his letters still speak to the church today. Nine unforgettable nights with more biblical destinations along the way. Every meal prepared, every detail taken care of, plus the joy of traveling with like-minded believers. There's also an optional pre-cruise extension in Athens. To book your spot, go to ptv.org.
