Forgiveness

Introduction: Amen.

Turn in your Bibles with me to Ephesians 4.

And this morning we will be talking about forgiveness.

There might be someone here living with unforgiveness. Some never forgive.

But this should never be said of the child of God.

"General Oglethorpe once said to John Wesley, "I never forgive and I never forget." To which Wesley replied, "Then, Sir, I hope you never sin." Unknown.

Friends, we live in a fallen world. We will get hurt by others and others will hurt us, but God’s way through conflict is this way.

And I can ask the question of each of you, but I already know the answer. Have you been hurt by someone? something small or somethings so great that it effects you every day of you life.

That’s why forgiveness seems to be an unpopular subject.

Because we don’t want to let people off the hook.

So we hold tight to the bitterness.

Well, I pray that God will help you and free you this morning. There is freedom in forgiveness.

Ephesians 4:31–32“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Prayer: Father, we thank you for your many blessings. Fill us with your joy and your Spirit. Help us now as only you can. We ask Lord that you will teach us your word. Teach us to forgive. Forgive me of my sins. Save the lost. In Jesus name Amen.

Introduction: When the first missionaries went to Alberta, Canada, they were savagely opposed by a young chief of the Cree Indians named Maskepetoon. But he responded to the gospel and accepted Christ. Shortly afterward the chief became a Christian, a member of the Blackfoot tribe killed his father. Maskepetoon rode into the village where the murderer lived and demanded that he be brought before him. Confronting the guilty man, he said, "You have killed my father, so now you must be my father. You shall ride my best horse and wear my best clothes." In utter amazement and remorse his enemy exclaimed, "My son, now you have killed me!" He meant, of course, that the hate in his own heart had been completely erased by the forgiveness and kindness of the Indian chief.

Stories like this are truly amazing.

Forgiveness is hard.

I don’t want to imply this is easy.

And it is so difficult it forces us to let go of something of great value.

Our pride.

And in Ephesians 4, Paul writes to the church about the transformed life of the Christian.

And he identifies characteristics of the believer.

Things we are to do, and things we are not to do.

in vs 1 he says, walk in a manner worthy.

in vs 17, do not walk as the gentiles do.

Make no mistake about it.

The Christian life is one of transformation.

When God saves us, he transforms us.

He changes us. The old man is gone, and we have become a new creation.

We were dead in our sins, and now we are alive in Christ.

Therefore, we walk in faith. Walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, and not like the world.

And in the Christian life, there is an expectation to forgive.

The expectation of forgiveness.

Ephesians 4:31–32 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

These two verses summarize vs 17-30.

And think of this verse in light of one who has hurt you.

When we are hurt, we get bitter, wrathful, anger, clamor, slander, malice.

But the Christian is kind and tenderhearted, and forgives.

There is an expectation for the child of God to forgive.

And immediately as i say this, some of you might be thinking.

Brother Robert, you don’t know what they did to me.

No one can imagine what I’ve been through.

They try to destroy me.

They’ve hurt me over and over again.

They deserve to be hurt like they hurt me.

They need to be punished.

Some may even admit, there will never be a time when I can forgive them.

- C. S. Lewis said “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive.”

And even though this is hard, it is still expected of us. Commanded of us.

But we must ask the question.

- What is forgiveness?

She said, "Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?" There was a short pause and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up. "Sin," he said.

The story goes of a preacher who was finished his sermon, and he asked the congregation “can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?” There was silence, and then from the back, a small boy spoke, up, “Sin.’ He said.

But it’s true. In order for forgiveness to be needed, someone has hurt someone else.

Now, forgiveness comes from a sense of indebtedness.

Think of the scales. The scales of justice.

when a person has an offense against another person, there is an imbalance. The scales are tipped.

When that happens, it natural to think, I need to even the scales, and get even.

That is to get vindication. retaliation. vengance is mine and they owe me.-

But forgiveness is about letting go.

It’s about releaseing the other person, and releasing bitterness.

In reality, forgiveness is an act of faith.

When we trust that God, will make it right.

Now, consider these words, giving, forgiving, thanksgiving.

giving, to give something, giving thanks, and forgiving.

When we forgive, we give something.

We in a sense pay a debt for them.

For instance, Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 18.

A kind decides to have an audit done.

And there was a man who the king 10,000 talents.

Thats estimated to be 1.25 million today.

But 10000 talents can also be interpreted by an amount that is infinite.

And so the king orders the man to be sold, his wife to be sold, his children to be sold, and the payment to be made.

But the man begged and pleaded, saying he would pay it back.

And the king said, HE RELEASED HIM AND FORGAVE THE DEBT.

That’s what it means to forgive.

A financial term, when we forgive we pay something.

Who paid the 10,000 talents. The king took on that debt.

And when we forgive, the debt that is owed to us. the injustice of the scales, we release that person of what is owed to us.

Well, Jesus continues to parable.

That same man that was forgiven.

He had someone who owed him 100 denari, $325 today.

And instead of forgiving him, he put this man in prison until the debt is paid.

Now, word got back to the king, and the king was upset.

He goes before the king.

And the king calls him wicked. Because he was forgiven, but he had not mercy.

So the king had him arrested until his debt was paid.

The is telling us, that we have been forgiven.

We owed a debt we could not pay.

We through our sins, have earned death.

We are guilty before a holy God.

God has forgiven us.

And by forgiving, Jesus paid our debt.

We owed a debt we could not pay, and he paid a debt he did not owe.

And when we do not forgive, we forget and ignore the grace of God in our lives.

So must must forgive.

We are commanded to forgive. We forgive and we pay a debt.

That’s why Jesus told us to pray. “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

In forgiveness, we choose not to retaliat. We choose to not let anger and bitterness consume us.

We choose to release the person of their guilt.

So we are expected to forgive.

But how many times do we need to forgive?

Some of the jews said to forgive three times. but not the fourth.

Peter asks, Jesus if 7 times were enought. As if peter was being gracious.

But Jesus tells peter to forgive, not seven times, but seven times seventy times.

Which really means, innumerable.

Jesus could have went higher but he said 70 x 7. 490.

Either way, there are no limits to forgiveness.

And in forgiveness we let go of our pride and resnetment, and walk in a matter worthy of the gospel.

Biblical forgiveness is the letting go of sin1and the promise not to count our sins against us

- What forgiveness is not.

Let me list a few.

It’s not acting like it didn’t happen and sweeping it under the rug, but recognizing the offense.

It’s not ignoring sin, but calling sin sin, and forgiving.

It’s not easy, but is hard.

It’s not forgetting what was done, but it’s not holding it against them.

Psalm 32 says: “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1-2)

Now, we can’t forget, it would be wise not to.

We’ve had someone hurt us over and over. We’d try to reconcile. We’d forgive.

But we know the wise thing to do, to forgive, but keep our distance.

But what we can’t do is hold the sin against others.

DL moody put it this way. “It is not to bury the hatchet with the handle sticking out of the ground, so you can grasp it the minute you want it.”

That’s what many do. They say they forgive, but they will bring it up later and hold it against them. That’s not fogiveness.

Now, we when forgive it effects both sides.

The effects of forgiveness.

There are two sides of forgiveness.

Paul says, put bitterness and wrath away.

So there is the Guilty and the bitter.

The offender and the offended.

The sinner and the victim.

And the one forgiven receives a blessing.

It is vs, 32, kindness and love.

It is grace.

But I think a good way to think of this, is freedom.

When we forgive and when we are forgiven , we are set free.

Because to have an offense and guilt hanging over our heads, is to be imprisoned by our faults and failures.

But there is freedeom in forgiveness.

And ON THE ONE FORGIVING, there is freedom.

You might be here, and are withholding forgiveness.

You think to you would give them a gift of freedeom if you forigive them

but the trust is we receive the gift of freedeom when we forgive.

AS the saying goes, to withold forgivness is like dinrking poison and witing for it to affect the other person.

You see when we don’t forgive, it does affect us.

If effects your releationship with others and your relsationship with the Lord.

Mark 11:25- Jesus says if you are stanidng and praying, forgive.

Matthew 5:23–24 “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

Praying is important. Giving an offering is important.

But if you are giving your offerning, stop and go forgive.

Because God’s heart is to forgive and so we should forgive.

And he says in this vers. be reconvieled to your borther.

This is a glorious part of forgiveness.

reconciliation with your brother.

I would hope as the world sees our church, they see a church that loves each other.

A church that is unified.

The expectation of forgiveness.

The effects of forgiveness.

Now, there are many examples of forgivenss in the Bible

The examples of forgiveness.

- Jacob and Esau

We remember Jacob. Deceived his way into getting Esau’s birthright and blessing.

He was disguised and tricked his father.

And was blessed.

He ran away because Esau hated him and set out to kill him.

But Genesis 33 tells us that Esau forgave him.

They weren’t reconciled, but there was forgiveness.

So if you’ve had someone steal something or be deceptive with you.

Even esau forgave, and he was connected with ungodliness.

- Joseph and his brothers

His brothers were jeoulous of him. Sold him into slavery.

Years later, they connet with him in Egypt.

Joseph has great power and second only to Pharoah.

Genesis 50:15 “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.””

Genesis 50:19 “But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?”

Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Genesis 50:21 “So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”

So Joseph forgives them. Hurt badly, after slavery, prison, accused of sex abuse.

His life fell apart, but God restored him. So He forgave his brothers.

He could have wasted his life being bitter.

He could have planned his revenge.

But instead, he was guided by his faith in God and God blessed him in a tremendous way.

But the greatest example of forgiveness is Jesus.

- Jesus

While Jesus was on the cross.

He said, FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOW THAT THEY DO.

The ones who beat him, mocked him, spit on him, abused him. nailed him to the cross.

They did the unimaginable to Jesus.

and he forgave them.

Notice, they didn’t ask forgiveness, but he still forgave.

And if Jesus can forgive the greatest atrocities upon him, the most innnocent man to ever live, then we can surely forgive.

But Jesus not only forgives these men, but he also forgives, those hwo have faith in Him.

Ephesians 1:6–7 “to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,”

Friends, we have been forgiven our trespasses.

We have offended God, we have broken his law, we have are all like sheep who have gone astray.

And Jesus offers us forgiveness.

And the forgiveness of Christ, is a forgiveness by which he pays our debt.

He holds not our guild against us, and he died in our place on the cross.

As we close, Friends,

the Christian life is to be like Christ.

we are to love, and we are to forgive.

forgiveness is a choice.

but just as God has forgiven us, we forgive.

Maybe your here today with bitterness, I implore you decide in this moment, forgive.

Bury the hatchet, handle and all. and let it go.

But real forgiveness happens because we have been forgiven.

We need to be forgiven by God, and if you here today, God will forgive you and save you.

if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of all unrighteousness.

Forgiveness is available to you today. Will you receive this gift?

Prayer: Amen.

- You?