(upbeat music) - Welcome to a new week on the Ask Pastor John podcast and we open with a question from Nick, who writes in, "Pastor John, "I have been reading the Sermon on the Mount "in the Gospel of Matthew chapters five to seven. "I know that the sermon given by Jesus "is meant to reveal the extent of our heart's sickness "and desperate need for his righteousness.

"There is one part that really threw me for a loop though. "Jesus says in Matthew six, verses 14 and 15, "if you forgive others their trespasses, "your heavenly father will also forgive you. "But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, "neither will your father forgive your trespasses either." Can you elaborate on what Jesus intends for us to take by saying this?

"My biggest concern is in my struggle to forgive others "of their sins. "Does this mean that anyone who does not forgive others "cannot receive salvation from God?" - Before I say what I think that warning means, that you won't be forgiven by God if you don't forgive others, before I say what that means, let me make sure that Nick realizes that if those verses about the unforgiveness the unforgiving being unforgiven threw him for a loop, which is what he says, "They threw me for a loop." If those words throw him for a loop, there are others in the Sermon on the Mount that are gonna throw him for more loops.

So for example, Jesus says in five seven, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." So receiving mercy comes to us through our being merciful. That's almost the same as 615, which he's being thrown for a loop by. "We receive mercy at the judgment "if trusting Christ's mercy has made us merciful." James puts it this way, chapter two, verse 13.

"Judgment by God is without mercy "to those who have shown no mercy." But mercy triumphs over judgment. That is, if we show mercy, our judgment will not be condemnation, it will be mercy. That's the same problem, same issue that he's raising. Or chapter five, verse 29. "If your right eye causes you to sin, "tear it out and throw it away, "it's better for you to lose one of your members "than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." Which means that failure to make eye-gouging war on lust will result in hell, same issue.

Chapter seven, verse 16, Jesus says that, "We will know the false Christians by their fruit. "Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes "or figs from thistles? "So every healthy tree bears good fruit, "but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. "A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, "nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

"Every tree that does not bear good fruit "is cut down and thrown into the fire." So again, he says, the absence of good fruit in our lives means fire. But be sure to look at the words carefully here. Bearing fruit doesn't make you a good tree. A lot of people quickly jump to the conclusion that if there's some kind of conditionality at the judgment, namely that you have to bear good fruit, you have to fight lust, or you have to be forgiving, then we're somehow making ourselves into a good tree and earning salvation by those fruits.

Well, that's insane. The text says a good tree bears good fruit. If you have fruit, you're a good tree, not the other way around. We're not saved by good fruit. The good fruit shows that we're a good tree of faith in Jesus. One more, or maybe two more. (chuckles) Chapter seven, verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who's in heaven.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will say to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. So ascribing lordship to Jesus doesn't save anyone.

We show his lordship by doing the will of his Father. Without this evidence in our lives, we hear the words, I never knew you. And then he says, everyone, this is chapter seven, verse 24, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock so he doesn't get swept away at the judgment.

And then he says, verse 26, everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand and at the judgment, he gets washed away. So in other words, what threw Nick for a loop in chapter six, verse 15, is everywhere.

If you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Jesus is simply saying what he's saying everywhere else. And the way I would put it like this, if the forgiveness that we received at the cost of the blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, if the forgiveness that we received at the cost of the blood of Jesus is so ineffective in our hearts that we are bent on holding unforgiving grudges and bitterness against someone, we are not a good tree.

We're not saved. We don't cherish this forgiveness. We don't trust in this forgiveness. We don't embrace and treasure this forgiveness. We are hypocrites. We're just mouthing. We haven't ever felt the piercing, joyful wonder that God paid the life of his Son. I mean, what in the world could I hold a grudge against somebody when I have not been offended nearly like God has been offended so highly that he has to pay the life of his Son in order for me to be forgiven, which is exactly the point of Matthew 18 with the parable of the unforgiving servant, which is like a parabolic form of chapter six, verse 15, where the servant owes the king a billion dollars.

It's just off the charts what he owes, and he gets forgiven freely. And then he goes out and he feels it so little. It means so little to him that he strangles his fellow servant for $10. And when the king hears about it, he sends him to jail, and Jesus concludes that parable like this, verse 35, chapter 18 of Matthew.

"So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." And it's not unique to Jesus. It's everywhere in Paul as well. First Corinthians 6.10, "Revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God." He's talking to Christians. Have I not warned you before?

Revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God. Then he adds, "Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." So revilers, and what's a reviler? Well, somebody who hates and holds grudges and is unforgiving and bitter.

People like that don't go to heaven. Not because kindness earns heaven, but because kindness is the fruit of the Spirit which is given to those who've been broken by the love of Jesus and have embraced the sweetness of being forgiven, even though we've reviled God. So when Nick asks, "Does this mean that anyone who does not forgive others cannot receive salvation from God?" The answer goes like this, "Struggling to forgive is not what destroys us.

As long as we are in the flesh, we will do our good deeds imperfectly, including forgiving and loving others." Jesus died to cover those imperfections. What destroys us is the settled position that we are not going to forgive and we have no intention to forgive and we intend to cherish the grudge and fondle the wrong that someone did to me and feel the bitterness.

It feels good. I like to go to bed with my wrath at night because he legitimately wronged me and I'm gonna hold this against him the rest of his life. If we think we can be indwelt by the Spirit of Christ and not make war on that attitude, we are deluded.

So Nick, if you have settled in with bitterness and anger and grudges, and you're not fighting this by faith in the mercy of Jesus to you, I hope this APJ will unsettle you and give you the freedom in Christ to let it go. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.

I will repay. He will settle accounts, Nick. You don't need to. Well said. Thank you, Pastor John. And Nick, thank you for the question. Well, we have asked for your questions on technology and you have responded and we have a lot of questions and they keep coming in and please keep sending them in to us.

One listener, Josh in South Carolina, wants to know when is it time to give up our smartphones and revert to a dumb phone? It's actually a very good question and it's on the table tomorrow with John Piper. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music)