Matthew 18:24 – And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

Matthew 18:25 – But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

Matthew 18:26 – The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

Matthew 18:27 – Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

Hello readers, the payment must be made. I’ve had so many things I want to write about of late, but been struggling to know what one God will enable me to go with next. But then I was reading the Bible recently and I saw the phrase “payment to be made” in the parable that Jesus Christ said in Matthew 18:25. Please read this parable for yourself for context, it is positively laced with gospel truth.

I’ve called this blog “the payment must be made”… because quite simply, the payment must be made. Did you know that you have a payment that you must make to be right with God? You owe God. You owe justice, you owe truth, you owe righteousness. We all in our lives have racked up a massive sin debt, a sin debt so large that we could never repay… a sin debt just as enormous as the sum that this unrepentant man of Jesus Christ’s parable owed his lord.

But his lord forgave him in this parable, what a good lord he had… but yet we see this man end in hell fire. What went wrong? Did his lord not forgive him? No, he did forgive him… but the problem with this man was that he did not receive his lord’s forgiveness… because God’s forgiveness is received only through repentance and faith. Without Holy Spirit granted repentance, there is no salvation. And repentance is proved in action, repentance produces unmistakable fruit of repentance, and when you read this story you’ll see a man whose actions proved he was not repentant.

Just by the way, in this parable, learn that God does not owe you a thing. His lord had every right to send him straight to torment… but his lord forgave him. It is the grace of God that we can be forgiven. We are not owed it by God. God does not owe you and I. We owe him.

And I shuddered when I thought about this phrase “payment must be made”. Payment dates are serious. How much more a payment date with your Creator? If owing man a large sum is bad enough, how much worse a debt of sin? And when I look at my life, I see a debt I have accumulated to God with every passing day. All my lying, lusting, stealing, envy, bitterness, greed, hatred, maliciousness, backbiting, slander and it goes on and on and on. I have racked up through my lifetime an enormous debt with which I have nothing to pay for it. All I have is a monstrous debt against my account… and I have a payment deadline looming, as we all do. “… as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”

But the thing is, and the gospel news is, that my payment has been made… as yours can be. I didn’t make payment myself. The payment didn’t stop being required but someone else paid my debt for me. And that someone else is Jesus Christ. He paid my unpayable sin debt. And that’s what salvation is… payment of debt and new life. But if you are unsaved, you will never make that payment, no matter how much time you do in hell. There is only one person who could meet the cost of sin… and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood paid for our sins in full.

Look who was going to pay that sin debt in the parable before he experienced mercy… because this payment was not just going to cost the man, but also his wife and children and all that he had. Let that teach us that no sin is ever done in isolation. Your rejection of God is going to cost others in your life. If you do not get right with God, others will pay for it with you. Sin is very selfish, it is impossible to separate sin from its selfishness.

Have you ever felt the weight of that sin debt to the Lord? Have you ever experienced guilt and conviction of your sinful life? If you do, you might just have a heart ready to receive the grace of God. What grace and mercy was shown to this man. He was forgiven on the spot and let go free. Pretty good deal huh. He thought so. For a lot of people, Christianity is a good deal… but doesn’t make them saved. This man was not saved. Should not have being forgiven changed his life? But look at the way he treated a fellow man who owed him just a little bit, and how he viciously required someone’s small debt owed him  when he had been forgiven an unpayable debt by his lord. What this man’s actions proved was that he had no repentance, and he never received his lord’s forgiveness. It proved he was unsaved!

There are a lot of Christians who live like there is no payment due, like somehow the payment has gone away. And you may think you’ve got away with God. Christianity of 2022 is a pretty good deal, hey my debt is cleared to go and live how I want. But it shows you never received the forgiveness God gave you of your sin debt. Being saved is a change of life. And what betrayed this man was his lack of changed life.

You may just get to judgment thinking you’re cool with God and he’s your homie… but you’re going to be in for a shock. You’re going to find that you owe God, you’re going to find that you’ve been living with an unpaid debt… which now at judgment, WILL be paid by you… because it was never paid for by the blood of Christ. If you are not saved, blood washed, born again of the Spirit of God… you may think you’re cool with the Lord when you are not. This guy thought he had got away with his debt, he was like the modern Christians today claiming grace, grace, grace… using God’s forgiveness as a doormat to a life of sin, trampling the blood of Christ… while their lives betray a bankruptcy of God’s grace. God’s grace changes a man… God’s grace does not produce an unrepentant wretch who is full of sin and living like he’s got a blank cheque to do whatever he wants because he’s got away with one.

If Jesus Christ’s blood is not APPLIED to your heart by faith… you are dead in your sins. You should take this debt extremely seriously, because it’s the biggest bill you’ve ever owed… and the penalty for no payment is hell. Your debt is a debt to love, truth, justice, righteousness… to God. This thing is far more serious than this man’s flippant attitude to God’s forgiveness that we often also share. Just look how casual he was… his lord’s forgiveness did not change him one little bit. We all should make very sure that our payment is made. Because when you go to hell, you will never be able to make payment… even with a forever sentence.

One day, your life will be reckoned with, you will have your day of reckoning, and you will be brought to accountability which you have made a life of eluding thus far. One day you will stand before God and the records will be examined. Your life will be reckoned with… the account will be reviewed… and if your account was not settled long ago… if Christ’s blood and new birth is not to your account, you are going to eternal hell fire. No matter how you reform, no matter how much you give to charity, no matter how good you try to be… you can never balance the scales of God’s justice with anything you have or can do. Jesus Christ’s blood is the only payment for sin. If his blood is not to your account, your payment is not settled.

You may be living right now like you’ve been loosed from that sin debt to go out and sin. Many are. Yet this parable ends with this guy in hell forever. Freedom as a Christian isn’t license to sin. Grace is not your excuse to go out and live like the devil free of charge and consequence. It’s not this guy could not be forgiven and saved, for he was extended it… but it’s that he never received forgiveness and salvation. You won’t go to hell not having been extended forgiveness, but you will go to hell because you never received it through repentance and faith.

The payment must be made. If it is not paid by the blood of Christ… it is not paid. So we should, as the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13:5 ” Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” This guy thought he was in… but he was not in. He resembles a lot of professing Christians today, who’s lives show no repentance and no salvation. They’re living like the payment has been made, when their account is far from cleared. As Jesus said, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And remember, if you are not all in, you’re not in AT ALL. You’re either saved or unsaved, washed or unwashed, clean or unclean. If Christ is not in you… you are reprobate… as this man was… look at his reprobate behavior.

Remember, the payment must be made. You owe God and your payment date is drawing ever nearer. Has your sin debt been paid? Time is running out. If your sin debt is not paid before you die, it will be unpaid forever. Hell is forever because no amount of time can atone for who you are and what you’ve done. That’s how serious sin is, and that’s how serious God is about sin… because he is Holy, Holy, Holy. And I am glad he is holy, because he wouldn’t be worth my worship if he was not. Instead of getting angry… how about get right with the God today, make that payment through Jesus Christ’s blood, who loves you, and his precious blood will clear your debt and wash your sin away and change your life forever. Don’t be caught short at judgment, be ready to die now, be ready for your day of reckoning… as like for this man, that day of reckoning is much sooner than we all think.

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