It is difficult for man to understand clearly what grace is and what the gospel is. Man often thinks that he may not be able to repay today, but that he will be able to repay someday. He may not make it today, but he will make it someday. In these verses, however, we see a slave who, even if he were to sell all that he had, would not have had enough to repay. He said, "Be patient with me and I will repay you all." His intention was good. He was not trying to avoid his debt. He was only asking the Lord for more time. He intended to repay all. Such a thought can only come from those who have no knowledge of grace.

"And the master of that slave was moved with compassion and released him and forgave him the loan." This is the gospel. The gospel is not God working for you according to your idea. You may say, "Lord, be patient with me, and I will repay You all," but the Lord does not respond by saying, "Pay what you have and repay the rest later." The Lord forgave all of your debt. Man's prayers and requests do not even come close to the grace of the Lord. Our Lord works for us and answers our prayer according to what He has. The master of the slave released him and forgave the debt. This is God's grace; this is His measure. Anyone who asks for grace will receive grace from God, even though his knowledge of grace is very limited. We should be clear about this principle: The Lord loves to bestow grace on men. As long as we have a little desire for grace, the Lord will pour it out on us. He is afraid that we will not ask. As soon as a man hopes a little and opens his mouth to say, "Lord, be gracious to me," the Lord pours out His grace to him. Moreover, this grace from the Lord is given to His own satisfaction. We may think that one dollar is enough, but He will give ten million dollars, not just one dollar. He acts for His own satisfaction. His acts are compatible with Himself. We would settle for one dollar, but God cannot give anyone such a small sum. Either He does not give at all, or He gives according to His own measure.

We need to realize that salvation is accomplished in man according to God's measure. Salvation is not carried out according to man's thought. It is accomplished in man according to God's thought and plan.

The criminal on the cross pleaded with the Lord, saying, "Remember me when You come into Your kingdom." The Lord heard his prayer, yet He did not answer him according to his prayer. Instead He said, "Today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:42-43). Salvation is God saving man according to His own will, not according to the sinner's will. Salvation is not according to the thoughts of a sinner's limited mentality about God's work for him. Rather, salvation is God's work upon sinners according to His own thought. The Lord did not wait until He came into His kingdom to remember the criminal. He promised the criminal that he would be with Him in Paradise that very day.

The tax collector prayed in the temple and beat his breast, saying, "God, be propitiated to me, the sinner!" At the most, he was asking God to be propitiated to him. But God did not answer him according to his prayer. The Lord Jesus said, "This man went down to his house justified rather than that one" (Luke 18:9-14). In other words, that sinner went back justified. This was much more than what was in the mind of the sinner. The sinner had no thought of justification; he asked only for pity. But God said that he was justified. This means that God did not consider him a sinner but a justified person. Not only were his sins forgiven; he was justified by God. This shows us that God does not accomplish His salvation according to man's thought but according to His own thought.

The same thing is seen in the return of the prodigal son (15:11-32). When he was a long way off from home and before he met his father, he was prepared to go back home to serve as a servant. But when he reached his home, his father did not ask him to be a servant. Instead, he asked his slaves to bring out the best robe and to put it on him. He put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and slaughtered the fattened calf. They ate and were merry because the son who was dead had come to life again; he was lost but had been found. From these verses we see again that God does not accomplish His salvation according to a sinner's thought but according to His own thought.

Mark 2 speaks of four men who took a paralytic to the Lord Jesus. When they were unable to bring him to the Lord because of the crowd, they removed the roof where the Lord was and lowered the bed on which the paralytic was lying, hoping that the Lord Jesus would heal the paralytic and make him rise and walk. But the Lord Jesus said, "Child, your sins are forgiven" (v. 5). The Lord Jesus not only healed him but also forgave him of his sins. This also tells us that God works to His own satisfaction. All we have to do is go to God and ask. It does not matter whether we have asked enough. God always works to His own satisfaction, not to the sinner's satisfaction. Therefore, we should not consider salvation from our point of view but from God's point of view.