Snippets

Selected excerpts from The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol.60, msg. 26. 


When we sin against God, His feeling is hurt. Yet our feeling is not that strong. When others sin against us, our feelings are hurt, and it is hard for us to let it go. Yet God is love, and love does not seek for its own gain. Although God is hurt, His forgiving grace is unlimited. Peter's question shows that he was seeking for his own gain. He suffered because he was hurt. The price he had to pay for forgiving others was himself, that is, the suffering of being hurt. This is the reason he asked the Lord, "How often shall others sin against me and I forgive them? Up to seven times?" Peter said this to show that he was quite magnanimous. Two or three times would have been enough to him, but he made it seven times. There was, however, something wrong with his basic premise. He thought God's grace is limited. The fact is that God's grace has no bounds; it is unlimited. It follows that the forgiveness which God's children practice should also be unlimited.


It was not a question of seven times, but of seventy times seven. God's love, grace, and forgiveness are unlimited. Humanly speaking, thirty-five times of forgiveness would stretch a person to his limit. Seventy times seven is something beyond the reach of human power. It is too heavy a burden. This shows us that the power to forgive is something beyond man. 



Actually, even if the debtor had sold all that he had, he still would not have been able to repay his debt. A sinner is judged in this world as well as in the eternal age to come. This is what it means to have all of one's possessions sold. In verse 26 the slave pleaded with the master on his knees, saying, "Be patient with me and I will repay you all." It is hard for man to know what grace is and what the gospel is. Man thinks that he may not be able to make it today, but that he will make it some day. He may not be able to fulfill the requirements today, but he will fulfill them some day. He thinks that his motive is good and that he does not have any intention of procrastinating on his repayment. Yet he does not know anything about grace. He pleads with the Lord, not for mercy but for time. He pleads for the Lord's patience but has no thought of His forgiveness.


His shortcoming is that he did not know enough of his sin and indebtedness. He said that he would repay, but the very thought of a repayment is wrong. He forgot that he owed ten thousand talents. He did not see the seriousness of his own sin. This is the reason he was not able to forgive those who owed him. He did not realize his pitiful situation. Therefore, he spoke of repayment. He would not be able to repay within his lifetime. In fact, he would not be able to repay in ten lifetimes. When a man is saved, his feeling for sin is not too acute. He is not clear why he is sinful, and he does not know the depths of his depravity.


What God does in man far exceeds man's requests and prayer. The slave only asked for patience, but the Lord was moved with compassion and forgave him all his debts. The Lord acts according to what He has. He answers our prayer according to what He has. The gospel is God granting salvation to man according to His own pleasure; it is God bestowing His abundant mercy and forgiveness upon the sinner. God acts according to His abounding measure, not according to the sinner's need. 


Peter's word exposed one problem—he did not realize that he had been forgiven. He did not have the feeling of being forgiven. This is the reason he could not forgive. If we are filled with the feeling of being forgiven, we will not say such things as "seven times." Peter's mind was on the number seven. This is the reason the Lord purposely spoke of ten thousand talents and one hundred denarii in verses 24 and 28. The difference between these two is a million times. The Lord seemed to be saying, "God's forgiveness cannot be measured by numbers. If you want numbers, you owe the Lord a million times more than what others owe you." A man who is good at accounting is one who is poor at reckoning grace. A man will not forgive because he does not have a sense of being forgiven; he does not have a feeling that he has been graced.

• "And every priest stands daily, ministering and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never remove sins." - Heb 10:22
• "Having made purification of sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." - Heb. 1:3
• "He has been manifested for the putting away of sin..." - Heb. 9:26
• "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" - Heb. 9:22
• "Precious blood" - 1 Pet. 1:19