This whole thing brought up a question in Peter's mind and he asked Jesus, Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother if he sins against me? Seven times? Jesus answered him, Not only seven times, but seventy times seven.

Let's do a little digging and find out who we really are today, shall we? Remember when we said that the meaning of forgiveness differs from person to person and circumstance to circumstance? Well, the reason we seem to have given the act of forgiveness different levels, is so that we can say we've forgiven, without really finishing the job. We feel like as long as we've achieved or performed any given level of forgiveness, we can take credit for the total act of this very important virtue.

We're gonna take a look at the different levels that we've divided forgiveness up into and you can decide for yourself, which level(s) you've chosen to grant to the people in your life. Some of these may sound the same to you, but many people don't like to admit to something (even to themselves) unless every word in the description are the words they would use. These aren't in any order of importance.

It's hard on both the offender and the victim of a sin, when forgiveness is not granted. For the offender, they feel untrusted and ashamed. It can weaken a person's soul to live with knowing that you're not forgiven for something that you're so sorry for. It's as if there's an invisible net around them that they can't escape. To repent for something you've done, and not to be forgiven, is an experience that God didn't want us to bear, and that's the whole reason why we have the New Testament, and why Jesus died for us. It's a shame that we've defiled this beautiful gift of grace with levels. Forgive the way you want to be forgiven by God for things that you've done.

What about the victim of a sin? How can being unforgiving hurt you? It's in your subconscious mind if you haven't completely forgiven someone for something. Your mind knows what level you've assigned to each act of forgiveness you've granted. You don't think about it all the time, but the knowledge of it is there. This can cause bitterness in your spirit that can affect other parts of your life. Your faith will feel like it's tainted with guilt. That's because you're being measured by God with the same forgiveness scale that you're using. Your lack of trust in your offender can cause you to be untrusting of others as well. If your offender is a loved one, you can become blameful of them for unrelated things that happen in your life. Unforgivingness can cause a chain of circumstances that prevent you from being fruitful for God. Until you completely release your offender from his sin, you'll remain in the same net that you've put him in.

We've done a pretty thorough job of putting forgiveness into levels, now let's look at the levels that we've put sin into. Are there sins that we simply find unforgivable and others that we have no problem whatsoever forgetting? To that, I have to ask you, are there some sins that you’ve committed that you think God should hold you accountable for, or do you want Him to forgive all of your sins?

Did you catch that? If you have anything against any. Forgive all or you won't be forgiven. Sorry, there are no categories for all. All means all. It doesn't limit the number(s) or the intensity of the sin(s), or even how long ago they happened, it's infinite.

Our report card on our forgiveness performance will be administered to us on judgment day and we'll be remembered in God’s eyes exactly the way we remembered (or forgave) others. We're gonna conclude today's study with a parable that Jesus told Peter.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king who wanted to check on the debt of his servants. When he had begun to estimate, one person was brought to him that owed him 10,000 talents (a talent is an ancient coin of a certain weight). Since the man had no money to pay, the king ordered that the servant, his wife, children and all that he owned be sold so that he, the king, could be paid.

The servant fell down and begged, Lord, have patience with me and I'll pay you everything I owe. The king was moved with compassion and released him, and forgave him the debt. (The king actually set the servant free AND wiped out the debt.)

The same servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him 100 pence (that's about one millionth of the debt that the king forgave him for). He took him by the throat and said, Pay me what you owe me! His fellow-servant fell at his feet and begged him, Have patience with me and I'll pay you everything I owe. The man would not, but he went and threw his fellow-servant into prison until the man could pay the debt.

When the other servants saw what happened, they were very sorry and went and told the king what was done. The king called him and said, O you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you asked me, shouldn't you also have had mercy on your fellow-servant, like I had mercy on you? And the king was angry and put him in jail until he could pay all that he owed the king.

In the same way will my Heavenly Father do to you, if you from your hearts don't forgive every one of your brothers for their sins.

Okay, back to the beginning. Remember the question we began with? What would Jesus consider forgiveness? My friend, the answer is this: He's gonna use the definition you choose . . . on you! With that in mind, you may want to consider how generous you are with the gift of forgiveness that you grant to others … and to yourself!

SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN BIBLE VERSE TRUTH ON SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN BIBLE VERSE BLESSING WITH SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN BIBLE VERSE HOPE

It's never too late to forgive. There may be something that happened years ago, maybe even in your childhood that you haven't completely forgiven someone for. You can change that. You can free yourself and other people to be more fruitful for God if you do. If someone hasn't forgiven you for something, perhaps you'd like to ask them to forgive you. You're not only seeking for peace for your own soul, but you're also giving them a chance to escape that invisible net that they've unknowingly put themselves in as well.