Forgive

Housekeeping:

Family Chat last week

2nd to last week… (Appeals to Petitions & Third Person imperitives)

This week: forgiveness

Introduction: Why is forgiveness so hard.

There is real hurt from the persons actions to us.

We do not see the person as being worthy of forgiveness.

We want to see change before we offer forgiveness.

Will forgiveness really change anything.

We have never experienced true forgiveness ourselves.

Emotional Whiplash this morning:

Understand the forgiveness offered to us through God.

Prayerfully discern who do we need to offer forgiveness to.

Read/Pray

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

What does it mean to forgive someone?

Forgiveness is not:

1. Forgiveness is not a feeling

2. Forgiveness is not pretending you were not hurt

3. Forgiveness is not condoning what the person did to you

4. Forgiveness is not blindly trusting the offender

5. Forgiveness is not relieving the person of responsibility

Forgiveness is:

Forgiveness is a form of voluntary suffering. In forgiving, rather than retaliating, you make a choice to bear the cost. - Tim Keller

Hard

Voluntary

Forgiveness is central to the mission of Jesus.

Debts = one due

Lukes Gospel = Sin

Trespasses = wrong doing against someone.

The Picture of a Pardon

The Process from the position of the forgiver

Part 1 is wronged = (sinned against, owed a debt, trespassed against)

Party 1 = Wipes the slate clean

Transition: Even just talking about forgiveness is hard enough… but here is where forgiveness gets beautiful.. when we understand the request being made before God in this prayer.

Part 1: Forgive us of our debts

Have you recognized that God has offered his forgiveness to you through Jesus.

All sin against God, all debt owed, any wrong doing agaisnt… Gods position towards you is to voluntarily offer his forgiveness.

Justice is accomplished through Jesus on the cross.. but ever before we get to that Gods position towards you is forgiveness.

502You cannot sin so much as God can forgive. If it comes to a pitched battle between sin and grace, you shall not be so bad as God shall be good. I will prove it to you. You can only sin as a man, but God can forgive as a God. You sin as a finite creature, but the Lord forgives as the infinite Creator.—28.344

Charles Spurgeon

3rd person imperative. (May it be so) /

Have you recieved this forgiveness?

Forgiving yourself is a huge road block

Your forgiveness is not based off how you feel… but rather the promise offered by God.

If God forgives us… I think we should forgive ourselves

You don’t believe that you’re forgiven because you don’t feel forgiven. What, then, are you trusting—your feelings or the truth of God?”

R. C. Sproul

Ephesians 1:7 ESV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Transition: When you understand how truly forgiven you are. you can (and should be compelled) to extend that same forgiveness to others.

Part 2: as we forgive our debtors

This is how hard forgiveness is

There is something to being human that even though we have experienced the greatest forgiveness it can be so difficult to extend it.

But yet scripture is clear.. we are to forgive one another.

This is the only part of the Lords prayer that is repeated.

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV

For 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.

The point lies not in the time-sequence, but, as vv. 14–15 will explain, in the insincerity of a prayer for forgiveness from an unforgiving disciple.

Mark 11:25 ESV

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Jesus instruction to forgive:

Prior to Jesus.. there was a common rabbinic view that there was a limit to forgiveness.

There was a rabbinic view that one need forgive only three times: “If a man commits a transgression, the first, second and third time he is forgiven, the fourth time he is not forgiven”

Leon Lamb Morris

Matthew 18:21–35 (ESV)

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

How can we stand before God when we owe him everything and he chooses to forgive us, and yet we cant extend the slightest forgiveness to our brother or sister.

Bring your need to forgive before jesus

As we forgive our debtors (may it be so)

Praying for those we need to to forgive:

It is hard to stay angry at someone you are praying for.

Forgiveness is granted (often a good while) before it is felt—not felt before it is granted. It is a promise to not exact the price of sin from the person who hurt you. . . . It is likely you have always thought, “Well, I have to feel it before I grant it. I have to start feeling less angry before I start to not hold them liable.” If you wait to feel it before you grant it, you’ll never grant it; you’ll be in an anger prison. - Tim Keller

My prayer for you this morning is that as you offer forgiveness it leads to reconciliation that leads to Gospel transformation.

It is possible to inwardly forgive without being able to reconcile with the offending party. Yet anyone who truly forgives from the heart will be open to and willing to reconcile. (185) - Tim Keller

Who has wronged you?

Who do you need t o forgive?

Lets begin the process today.

Closing: Time of active prayer for forgiveness.