Forgiveness

Intro: The concept of forgiveness is a provocative and alluring invention of God. Its important to understand that it is not a concept invented or even popularized by man. Forgiveness itself comes from God and it has been popularized by God through Jesus Christ. Some of the best stories in books, movies and TV shows, either, include, or intentionally exclude the essential element of forgiveness to move the narrative along.

I think of one of my favorites, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, in which Aslan forgives Edmund of his temporary allegiance to the White Witch and then tells others to forgive him as well by saying, “Here is your brother. There is no need to to talk to him about what is past.”

Or recently where the lack of forgiveness started a war in Dawn f the Planet of the Apes. Caesar, the ape leader, said, “Ape started war. And. human... Human will not forgive.” A war started because of man’s lack of forgiveness.

Either way you slice it, forgiveness is an important part to our existence as human beings and the further away we get from God as a nation, the less true forgiveness is even seen. This is certainly observable, as Scott David Allen points out in his book Social Justice is Not Biblical Justice, there is no forgiveness among those in the social justice crowd today. Only eternal penance.

The church stands in the middle of the road, at the center of culture, proclaiming at the top of our lungs, free forgiveness from God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, where you’ve been, or what you’ve been through. God’s forgiveness is preached to all people and has changed countless lives.

So, what happen’s when a preacher of this forgiveness, a normal everyday christian, refuses to forgive their brother or sister? Would that harm our cause? Would that negatively impact people of what we are trying to convince people of? More importantly, what does God think about it? That’s what I want to preach on today.

Text: Matthew 6:14-15.

Vs 14,

Forgive others their trespasses

the word Aphiemi - forgive, discharge, dismiss, abandon, lay aside, or divorce.

meditate on divorce language.

Ps. 103:12.

paraptoma - sin, wrongdoing, slip, error, fault, offence.

don’t hold it against them

forgive but not forget (Be cautious)

Your heavenly Father will forgive you

how much does God forgive

Matthew 12:31.

Vs 15,

If you don’t forgive (not forgivng)

meditate on how much God forgives

lost sheep, lost coin, prodigal Son (everything he did, how much the father forgave, Luke 15:20-24)

usually, when we don’t forgive, its because they haven’t proven themselves

Jason “You are putting them into a works-based forgiveness program.”

Matthew 18:21-35.

Luke 6:37-38. the measure you use.

Gods standard of forgiveness vs ours

God can see hearts, we cant (1 Sam. 16:7)

God requires a sacrifice, we don’t

How then should we treat the repentant backslidden christian?

like a brother or sister

we do this because a trespass against man, isn’t like a trespass against God

nothing we have is ours, it belongs to God

ultimately, they sin against God, not man. (Ps. 51:4)

its because you are attacking the image of God

iconoclasm

1792, statues torn town of King Louie the XV

October revolution in Russia, Tsar Alexander III.

American Revolution, King George III.

When we don’t forgive, we stand between them and God’s forgiveness.

When we dont forgive, we show that we have not truly meditated on what it means for us to be forgiven

Luke 7:47.

Your Father wont forgive you

the parable of the unforgiving servant, Matthew 18:21-25.

Those in the kingdom serve a great king who has invariably forgiven far more than they can ever forgive one another. Therefore failure to forgive excludes one from the kingdom, whose pattern is to forgive.

D. A. Carson