Please turn in your copies of God's Word to Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17. Here at Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, we preach through the Bible, section by section, receiving for our souls the full counsel of God's Word. The focus of the sermon this afternoon will be on verses 5 to 10, but because 5 to 10 is linked to verses 1 to 4, we'll begin reading there at verse Luke chapter 17, verse one. And he said to his disciples, temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day and turns to you seven times saying, I repent, you must forgive him. The apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you. Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and recline a table? Will he not rather say to him, prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, you say, we are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty. so ends the reading of God's word. Let's ask the Lord to bless his word to us this afternoon. Our Heavenly Father, like the disciples, in light of such a command to forgive even seven times in a day those who repent, we say with the disciples, Lord, increase our faith. And we do ask, Lord, that through the preaching of your word, we might have our faith strengthened, that we might have a greater trust in your promises, that we might see Christ more clearly, and that in our faith, we might obey you in all that you command. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, in our passage, Jesus speaks to his disciples about having the face to forgive. He tells them that even with face the size of a tiny mustard seed, they can command a huge mulberry tree to be uprooted, to levitate in the air, and to be brought over and planted into the ocean. Well, what's Jesus talking about here? Well, if you've ever heard or come across the prosperity gospel, which is a false gospel, of course, you've probably heard this passage used to propose the idea that with enough faith, you can do anything. With enough faith, you can speak things into existence. You can literally name it and claim it. Now, what's interesting in my limited exposure to those who would hold to this prosperity gospel is that people usually are not naming and claiming virtues like patience and long-suffering and self-control. No, rather, they're usually claiming things like the mansion, the bigger house, the better-paying job, the perfect health. Not only is this a false theology, it's also very ironic. Because in the context, Jesus isn't speaking about naming and claiming wealth or health or things of that nature. Rather, what he's speaking about in the context is the ability to forgive others who have sinned against you when they come and they repent. The core of Jesus' teaching is in verses three to four, where he says, if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, Forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day and turns to you seven times saying, I repent, you must forgive him. As we all know, forgiveness doesn't come easily to us. Some of those most difficult words in the English language are, first of all, I'm sorry, I was wrong. The next hardest set of words are, I forgive you. I forgive you. In many ways, it's much easier to try to claim and name and claim health and wealth and those other things than it is to say those words, I forgive you. It reminds me of when our Lord asked the Pharisees and those around him, which is it easier to say, your sins are forgiven you, or to say rise and walk? And here, Christ calls us to follow his example. He calls us to forgive those who repent, But how can we do that? Where can you find the strength to forgive others when they have sinned so terribly against you? What comes naturally to us is bitterness and resentment or even a desire for revenge. But Jesus leads his disciples in a better way, the way of forgiveness. That's where faith comes in. Forgiveness is not about willpower. Rather, it's about trusting God and his promises. By faith, we receive God's forgiveness, and then by that same faith, we are empowered to forgive others and not to hold on to resentment and bitterness. Well, today we'll consider the following three points. The call to forgive, the power to forgive, and third, the pattern of forgiveness. Well first, since it's been several weeks since the previous sermon and it's vital that we understand the flow of this section, I'll first recall Jesus' call to forgive in verses one to four. Well this section takes place after a long series of parables designed to rebuke the Pharisees for how they, you might say, practice their religion. The Pharisees, not only did they not repent of their own sins, but they had no category for forgiving other sinners who repented. And so Jesus here is teaching his disciples a better way of dealing with sin as it arises among the church. And first he called us to protect one another from sin. Jesus began by acknowledging the inevitability temptation and sin, even in the community of God's people. As he said, temptations to sin are sure to come. Temptation is sure. It's unavoidable. But He makes clear that being the source of temptation is inexcusable. As he continued, woe to the one through whom they come. Jesus is clear that leading others into serious sin is detrimental. It would be better for that person to be drowned with a millstone, a heavy stone hung around their neck and thrown into the sea. Well, this stark warning shows us how seriously we must take our responsibility to protect others from sin. In the body of Christ, we are called to foster an environment of holiness and watchfulness and accountability, encouraging one another both to resist sin, but also positively to pursue righteousness and godliness. Well next, Jesus called us to confront others when they sin. As he said in verse three, if your brother sins, Rebuke him. So when serious sin arises in the community of faith, Jesus instructs his disciples that it must be addressed. Now as we considered last time, there are times when minor offenses ought to be overlooked, and it is to our glory when we overlook certain offenses. But this must be balanced with the need to address serious sin. for the sake of the unity of the church, for the good of the individual, and for the glory of Christ's name. With truth, we must balance love. Third, Jesus called us to forgive the repentant. He said, if someone sins against you and repents, you must forgive them. Now it's helpful to remember the distinction we made between a therapeutic forgiveness and a biblical forgiveness. A therapeutic forgiveness treats forgiveness as something that's private and personal, something that just takes place maybe in my heart and whether or not I ever speak to the person who has offended me. And with this therapeutic forgiveness, forgiveness is unconditional and automatic regardless of whether or not the other person repents. But biblical forgiveness is not a private feeling, but rather it's a verbal commitment made to the person who repents. We considered the definition. Forgiveness is a commitment by the offended to pardon graciously the repentant from moral liability and to be reconciled to that person, although not all consequences are necessarily eliminated. The important takeaway from that is that forgiveness is a transaction between two people. For forgiveness and reconciliation to happen, you need two people in the room. The one person who is repentant and apologizing, and the other person who is graciously and willingly forgiving the other of their sin. Where there is no repentance, reconciliation cannot happen. In fact, it would be wrong, as we considered last time, to forgive and reconcile with someone who is in serious sin. And yet where someone remains unrepentant, although we cannot extend forgiveness, we must stand ready and willing to forgive. Our posture must be one of mercy and grace. For as Jesus tells us, we still are to love our enemies, and we're to pray for them, but ultimately leaving them to the justice of God. But with regard to those who do repent, Jesus is clear, you must forgive them. But what if they sin and repent seven times in a day? Yes, Jesus says, if they are repentant, you must forgive them, even seven times in a day. So Jesus, in verses one to four, has called his disciples to forgive, even when it's difficult, even when it feels costly. Forgiveness means releasing the debt of the one who has wronged you. It means not retaliating. It means not holding the sin over their heads, but saying and meaning, I forgive you, I release you from this. But what about times when someone has deeply, deeply wounded your soul? Maybe they've tarnished your reputation, or they've caused lasting physical damage to your body. or maybe to your property. Well, in those moments, forgiveness feels impossible. The call to forgive people who sin against you like that feels like someone telling you that you need to climb Mount Everest barefoot with a sack of rocks on your back. There's no way. It feels impossible. So where does the power to forgive come from? Well, that's the second thing we'll consider where Jesus speaks to the power to forgive. Well, if we struggle with the idea of forgiving those who sin against us, we're not alone, because apparently the disciples did as well. After hearing Jesus' command to forgive, they respond by crying out in verse five, increase our faith. They recognize their weakness. They recognize that this sounds like too much. I must not have what it takes to forgive like this. How can I do this, they wonder. Now what's interesting and somewhat ironic is that these were the very same disciples who, when a village of Samaritans rejected Jesus, apparently then they had enough faith to call down fire from heaven to destroy this town. Apparently they had enough faith to seek vengeance, to call down fire, but here they don't have enough faith to forgive the one who sins and repents. I think we can all readily see ourselves in the disciples, can't we? And we like the idea of forgiving. We even like the idea of justice, and we should to an extent. But it can be so hard to forgive others. As one writer put it, nothing superficially seems simpler than forgiveness, yet nothing is more difficult. Just forgive them. Well, it's easy to say. It's hard to put into practice in real life situations. Well, in response to their plea, what surprises us is that Jesus does not respond by saying, yes, I will give you more faith. No, instead of offering them more faith, he challenges them to put into practice the faith they already possess. Look what he says in verse six. If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you. Now, the mulberry tree was known for having very extensive and expansive system of roots. And so it was notoriously difficult to uproot it. You really couldn't. It was almost impossible with the tools and technology of the day, let alone uproot it and then levitate it in the air and bring it over to the sea and plant it there. By contrast, a mustard seed was very tiny. Well, in Jesus' illustration, the mulberry tree, and more so the act of uprooting it and moving it and dropping it into the sea, represents something that's seemingly impossible. The mustard seed, in contrast, though tiny, symbolizes the tiny faith that is capable of doing that impossible thing. So Jesus' point is that forgiveness is not about the amount of faith you have, the size, the quantity of your faith, but rather it's about the presence of your faith. In other words, if you have any faith at all, if you are a believer, you have the faith to do this impossible thing. And in the context, what is the impossible thing? Well, it's not naming and claiming health or wealth. No, it's saying those words, I forgive you. It's doing something that seems impossible, forgiving the one who repents, and over and over again, if necessary. So the power to forgive comes from our faith. But what is faith? That's an important question. Well, faith is not a natural power we possess. Faith is not some kind of natural inner strength we're born with, and we need to tap into that in order to be able to do these great and mighty feats. Rather, faith is a supernatural gift that God gives to us when we're regenerated. When he changes our heart, he gives us a disposition of faith. And then having that disposition, having that ability of faith, we then exercise that ability. And the way that we exercise this is important. Faith, by definition, is not introspective. Rather, to use a big word, it's extrospective. In other words, faith doesn't look within ourselves or look in itself. Rather, it's extrospective. It looks outside of oneself. And so we don't, in faith, look inward for some kind of inner strength. No, faith doesn't rely on anything within us, or even in itself. We don't have faith in faith, but rather faith looks outside of itself. It trusts in the power of another. And therefore, Jesus is teaching you that your ability to forgive, does not come from your own willpower or from sheer determination. If that was the case, it would be impossible to forgive again and again and again. Rather, your ability to forgive comes from your faith, a faith that looks outside of itself, that looks to God and looks to his promises and trusts his promises. Well, if that's the case, let's consider three things that our faith holds onto that empowers us to forgive. And these are three things in my study of scripture that I've seen come up again and again whenever scripture calls us to forgive, whenever it speaks of being wronged and suffering injustice. Scripture presents to our faith these three things. First, by faith we know that we are a forgiven people. Ephesians 4 31 to 32 reminds us, So here the Apostle Paul grounds the call to forgive and to let go of bitterness upon the truth that we have been forgiven by God in Christ. You see, when we grasp the depth of our own forgiveness, even as we read and read earlier in Psalm 103 and read how God doesn't treat us according to what we deserve, when we realize what we do deserve is judgment and punishment and how we are not getting what we deserve, and instead we're given grace and we've been forgiven, well then that enables us to forgive others and to extend that same mercy. And so you can forgive others because in faith, you know that God in Christ has forgiven you. Second, by faith, we trust in God's loving providence. When someone sins against you viciously, you can feel overwhelmed by pain and sorrow. And in those moments, you feel powerless and weak. And what you're tempted to do is to hold on to bitterness, maybe in the thinking that somehow by holding on to bitterness, you're gonna remain in control of the situation. But the path of bitterness only leads to more pain and more sorrow. There's a better way to respond. Faith responds by entrusting ourselves to God's loving, providential care. Romans 8.28 reminds us that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. Now this does not mean that the sin against you becomes good or was good. No, it was sin, it was wrong, it was evil. It also doesn't mean that there are no consequences for the offender. No, and instead, faith assures us that God uses even our deepest hearts and our most difficult trials for his glory and for our ultimate good. The life of Joseph is a powerful example of this, is it not? Think of all that Joseph went through. He was betrayed by his own brothers. He was essentially betrayed and rejected by his own covenant community. They turned against him. They sold him into slavery. There he faced false accusations, slander, imprisonment. And yet Joseph, looking back on these trials years later, could recognize God's providential care on his life. By faith, Joseph trusted that God was working through his pain for a greater purpose. Finally, when Joseph's brothers came to him in repentance, They were tearful, they were sorrowful, they were truly repentant. Well, then he was able to forgive them. But how could he forgive them? How could he forgive that level of betrayal? I mean, they destroyed his life. They ripped him from his family home, from everything he knew, selling him into slavery. How could he forgive them? Well, if we struggle to understand how he forgave them, so did his brothers, because his brothers were thinking that, well, when our father Jacob dies, that's when Joseph is gonna spring the trap. He hasn't really forgiven us. That's what they feared. They were just waiting for the day that Joseph would spring his trap and get revenge on them. But Joseph comforts him even after his father's death. when he says, do not fear, do not fear. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. You see, Joseph's faith enabled him to forgive his brothers because he could see God's purpose in his suffering. He didn't say, oh no, it's okay guys, what you did was okay, it wasn't that bad. No, it was evil, you meant evil against me. But now looking back, Joseph could see how through that evil, God was working and doing something unimaginable to Joseph and even to his brothers at that time. And that freed him from seeking revenge. It enabled him to show mercy to his repentant brothers. Beloved, if God who spoke the universe into existence, the God who knows and numbers the hairs on your head, the one who has determined the times and places set for you, if he has done all of this and he knows all of these things, can you not trust him to work your trials for your good and for his glory? Well, third, By faith, we trust and rest in God's justice. This is a truth that is comforting, especially in cases where there are those who do not repent and do not seek forgiveness. In such instances where we cannot be reconciled, we must leave them to the justice of God. Perhaps at some time in your life you have been sinned against terribly. And not only were you sinned against, but perhaps the offender was never held to account. Maybe leaders who should have protected you did not. Maybe even the court system in our land, the justice system failed you. Maybe they failed to prosecute someone who committed a terrible crime against you. Maybe you've experienced the civil court system rule against you in unjust ways. Maybe your parents failed to protect you from evildoers. Well, in those moments, we're tempted to be bitter and to hold on to resentment. But in those moments, you must not hold on to bitterness. Instead, by faith, know that all sin will be accounted for. Either it has been accounted for at the cross of Christ, or it will be accounted for in the eternal judgment. Every wrong, will either be born by Christ on the cross, or it will be born by the sinner in hell. And this is a truth that we don't often, we don't take comfort often enough in. This certainty allows us to let go of bitterness, knowing that no sin escapes God's justice. And so pray for the offender's repentance in the hope that you will be able to forgive them and you will be reconciled to them. Pray for that, but also by faith, trust, and rest in God's justice, that he will hold them accountable. And remember Paul's posture towards even a former church member in 2 Timothy 4.14, where he writes of Alexander the coppersmith, how he did me great harm. And Paul says, the Lord, will repay him according to his deeds. Paul is an example of faith. Paul has been deeply hurt and wronged, but Paul is neither bitter, he doesn't seek vengeance, nor does he just let it go. No, his faith trusts that God will deal with Alexander the coppersmith. And if God was so committed to justice that he sent his only begotten son into the world to pay for the penalty of our sin, will he not bring every injustice to its rightful end? Yes, by faith we can rest in the truth that God will right every wrong. He will bring every sin and every hurt to its rightful conclusion. And so dear hurting and wronged believer in Christ, By faith, trust in these three things, these promises, and forgive those who repent. Do not hold bitterness against the unrepentant, but instead entrust them to the God who is just. So we've seen the call to forgive, the power to forgive. Now third, we see the pattern of forgiveness. It can be easy for us at times to treat forgiveness as if it were an optional extra in the Christian life. You know, sometimes preachers will tell stories of radical acts of forgiveness, and sometimes we can hear those stories and we can feel very inspired to forgive ourselves, but other times we hear those stories and it almost makes us feel like spiritual dwarves that we could never forgive in that kind of way. Maybe they could forgive that way, but I certainly could never forgive a sin like that. But here, Jesus impresses upon us that forgiveness is not an optional extra for the spiritual elite, but rather it's a basic duty of every follower of Christ. And therefore, forgiveness should be the pattern of our lives. Jesus illustrates this for us in verse seven and following. He says, will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and recline a table? Will he not rather say to him, prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink? And afterward then you will eat and drink. Does he thank his servant because he did what was commanded? So also you, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, we are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty. Now Jesus here is using the servant or really master-slave social dynamic of his day in order to illustrate a point. This is a dynamic that would have been well known to his hearers around him, but is probably less familiar to us. Well, in this context, slaves had daily tasks that they had to fulfill. This was their basic duty, whether it was plowing fields, or serving at tables, or maybe all of the above. And Jesus' point is that these slaves, when they fulfill their basic duties, they haven't incurred a debt from their master. No, they've simply done their duty. Now to maybe bring this into a situation or circumstance more familiar to us, it's kind of like if after dinner your children clear the table or maybe they put some, they load the dishwasher or they sweep the floors or whatever daily chores that your children do, it's as if after doing that they come back to mom or dad and they put out their hand and say, where's my payment? Well, that just doesn't happen. Maybe at times we might give our children pocket money or encourage certain things, but for these daily family household things, we don't typically pay our children. They don't incur a debt. We don't incur a debt, or vice versa, in those situations. And similarly, Jesus is saying that as disciples, forgiveness is simply part of our ordinary obedience. Even after we forgive, we must say, we are unworthy servants. We have only done our duty. There are several things we can learn from this. First, this teaches us that forgiveness is our basic duty. Forgiveness is not a bonus, extracurricular kind of thing in the Christian life. It's not something that's reserved for super Christians. It's not some grand act only reserved for those of the Spiritual Hall of Fame. No, rather, forgiveness is basic. It's something foundational, and it's our duty. Faith believes God's promises, and faith obeys his commands. Let me encourage you who are husbands and wives, the importance of this daily routine of confessing our sins to one another, apologizing when we sin to one another, and quickly granting forgiveness rather than keeping long lists of wrongs against one another. Marriages flounder when sins are held against each other, but marriages flourish as we confess our sins, as we repent of our sins, and as we are quick to forgive one another. Yes, even seven times a day. Forgiveness is the basic pattern of the Christian life. Second, Jesus' teaching here keeps us from spiritual pride. In the broader context, the Pharisees were described as those who performed these external acts of religiosity in order to receive the praise of men and thinking they were receiving the praise of God. They thought that by, especially by clanking their coins in the offering box, that they were somehow earning prestige before God and man. But here, we're reminded that even after we do the hardest thing in the Christian life, which is to forgive others. Even after we do the hardest thing in the Christian life, we have not merited an iota from God. We don't get to say to God after we've forgiven somebody, all right God, look at what I've done for you, now what will you do for me? Nor does our forgiveness give us a bargaining chip that we can use to leverage in the future. Remember the time that you did this to me, or remember how much I forgave you? Well, no, if we've forgiven the person, we will never use their sin as a bargaining chip. No, we cannot take pride in our forgiveness. It is by faith that we forgive. And faith, Paul tells us, leaves no room for boasting. Well, third, Jesus' teaching reminds us who we are, and more importantly, whose we are. In the illustration that Jesus uses, we are the servants and Christ is the master. We are servants of Christ, called to reflect his character. And we're not just servants, are we? No, we're forgiven servants. We're those who have been shown such Grace and mercy. When we repented, Christ did not forgive part of our debt. He did not forgive it in such a way where he would still hold it against us. No, he cancelled the entirety of our debt. He removed it completely. And therefore, how can we withhold forgiveness from others when God has forgiven so much of us? If we have truly experienced God's mercy, then we will be those who are servants following their master. We will forgive as God forgives. We will follow his pattern of forgiving those who repent. And finally, as we remember our duty to forgive and to not be bitter, our minds must always, always go back to how we can do this. Because without the promise of Christ's forgiveness and without the promises that our faith looks to and holds to, the command to forgive will be impossible. You will not be able to forgive unless by faith you are holding on to these promises of Christ. Bitterness is a powerful force. And when you've been deeply hurt, bitterness feels almost inevitable. It creeps in uninvited, and it takes root, tempting you to replay those moments of suffering over and over and over again in your mind. And then the mental hamster wheel spins faster and faster, and the more you dwell on your pain, the deeper you sink. The theologian Miroslav Volf wrote, reflecting on his experience during the Croatian War of Independence, he gives a very vivid picture of this struggle. Miroslav Volf was falsely accused of being a spy, and he was imprisoned and captured and interrogated in the early 90s by the Yugoslav government. But even much later, he continued to be affected by this injustice, and he later wrote of it this way. He said, my mind was enslaved by the abuse I had suffered. It was as though the person who had wronged me had moved into the very household of my mind, ensconced himself right in the middle of its living room, and I had to live with him. How can you relate to that? Do you have memories that barge into the living room of your mind, plop themselves on the sofa in your head and refuse to leave? Maybe it's memories of betrayal by an unfaithful spouse and you keep replaying the awful moment of discovery over and over again in your mind. Maybe it's memories of the abuse you suffered as a child or even as an adult. Or maybe it's the sting of a friend's betrayal. Or it's an injustice that has left you reeling in agony. Whatever the hurt, it's like a tape that plays on an endless loop in your head. So how do we escape this? How do we stop being consumed by the cycle of hurt and pain of these horrible memories? Well, Scripture's consistent answer is that the answer is not to downplay the pain. It's not to shrug it off. It's not to tell yourself that it's no big deal and you just need to get over it. No, real healing doesn't come from pretending that the wound isn't there or pretending that your wound is no big deal. Ultimately, the answer is found in fixing the eyes of your faith upon Christ. Consider Asaph in Psalm 73. Asaph was overwhelmed by the feelings of injustice. All around him, the unjust, the evil, the wicked were prospering. They were wealthy, they were healthy, they had everything going for them, and they were getting away with it. Meanwhile, the righteous were suffering injustice. Those who had done no wrong were suffering and being treated as wrongdoers. And he focused on this. And the more he focused on this, it left him bitter and confused. But then something changed, didn't it? As Asaph entered into the sanctuary of God, as he entered into the worship of God in his temple, he took on a new perspective. Instead of obsessing over his enemies, the wicked, his gaze is focused upon the Lord and upon the Lord's promises. As one commentator, Derek Kidner, commented, the constant thoughts about enemies and rivals cannot simply be switched off, but they can be ousted by a new focus of attention. Note Asaph's preoccupation with the Lord himself. That's the secret. It isn't simply the attempt to stop the thoughts, but rather it is to replace the thoughts. It is to start thinking about Christ. It means thinking about Christ and having your thoughts of Christ and your love of Christ fueled primarily through his worship on the Lord's day as you gather with his people. It means prayerfully spending time in God's word, meditating on his character and remembering his promises. All of this reorients your heart and your mind to Christ. And if we struggle to forgive, we need to think more about Christ. The call to look to Christ might sound simplistic or even cliche, just look to Christ, but it's deeply biblical. Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. When we look to Christ, what do we see? We see the ultimate example of forgiveness. For who has suffered more injustice than him? The sinless son of God was slandered. He was put through a false trial. He was betrayed. He was beaten. He was mocked. He was crucified. Not just by the hands of Jews and Romans, but even by our hands, by our sins. And yet, what did he do? He pursued us. He changed our hearts. He gave us the gift of faith and repentance so that we might come to him, so that we could be reconciled. And then he forgave us. And here's the amazing part. He continues to forgive us. Every day we sin against him, and every day he extends to us new mercy, new grace. Seven times a day as we come to him, repenting, he extends mercy. He ensures that our relationship with him will never sour. It will never expire. He has done everything, dear Christian, to secure your eternal reconciliation with him. And so as forgiven servants of Christ, you are called to do the same as you have opportunity. And what's more, our eyes of faith not only look to Christ in terms of what he has done and what he is doing as he is seated on the throne above, as Hebrew says, but our eyes of faith also look forward to what he will do. By faith, we know that he is coming again, not as a suffering servant, but as a just judge and king. And he will punish every evil, and he will hold every wicked deed to account. That was Asaph's comfort, and that is yours. And so then let us fix our eyes upon Christ. Let us remember his suffering, his mercy, his grace, his unfailing love, and yes, even his justice, and in his grace. Let us find the faith to forgive others, to let go of bitterness, and so live in the freedom of His joy and His peace. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, We ask, having heard your word, that you would help us to put this into practice. We ask that you would not only increase our faith, but also help us to be obedient in doing what is the very basic duty of our faith, to forgive those who repent, to not be bitter, and to seek reconciliation, to live out the grace that has been shown to us. And we thank you for your grace. that has saved sinners like us and have reconciled us to yourself. Help us to look to Christ and meditate upon these truths. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.