As We Forgive Others

Introduction

There are a lot of verses in the Bible that are familiar to many of us. If I were to ask the question, “What do you think some of the most familiar verses of the Bible are?” John 3:16 would probably be at the top of the list. Psalm 23 would probably also be pretty high on this list. Other verses may include Genesis 1:1, Joshua 1:9, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 9:6, and in the New Testament we may have many verses in Romans be familiar along with Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 4:13, and the list goes on. The Lord’s Prayer/Model Prayer in Matthew 6 is a familiar passage as well, and over the last seven sessions, I hope that it has become very familiar to you.

For the past seven sessions over the Model Prayer, we have read the text of the prayer together, and today, I want to do that one more time. Turn with me to Matthew 6, or follow along on the screens, as we read verses 9-13 together.

Matthew 6:9–13 KJV 1900

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

You might be thinking to yourself, “We have already studied all of this. Shouldn’t we be moving into the next part of the Sermon on the Mount?” And if that is your thought, you are completely right. What we will be doing today is studying the next two verses in Matthew 6, but before we jump into those, I want to take you back to verse 12.

As we studied session 5 of the Model Prayer, we looked at verse 12 that says:

Matthew 6:12 KJV 1900

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

In that verse, we discussed at length the importance of confessing our sins to the Lord as we covered the first half of that verse, "forgive us our debts." But that is where we stopped. We did not cover the next part of the verse, and this verse is not just about seeking forgiveness; it is also about forgiving others as well.

And today, as we dive into this section, I will give you a warning: this portion of the Lord’s Prayer is probably the most difficult portion to put into practice. It is probably the most difficult portion of the Model Prayer to listen to. This is the only part of the Model Prayer that Jesus feels the need to attach and addendum.

There are two other verses that Jesus uses to describe the importance of us forgiving others in relation to the forgiveness we seek from God, and we see those after the end of the prayer.

Matthew 6:14-15 This is the addendum to the prayer. Note what Jesus says.

Matthew 6:14–15 KJV 1900

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This is where it gets hard. Jesus elaborates on verse 12 in a post script in verses 13 and 14.

And this is a hard pill to swallow. Often you see people skip these verses or say that they are not meant for us today, but there is no reference anywhere that these last two verses are not meant for us literally. When we get to something difficult like this in the Bible, because this is what some people may call “a hard saying”, it is tempting to try to explain it away.

It is tempting to look to see if the Greek says it any different.

Let me put your mind at ease, when you read verse 13-14, what the Greek says is 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

So when we get to this point in prayer, we are confessing sin, but immediately after, we are analyzing our lives to see those that we need to forgive. For the majority of His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been attacking hypocrisy and exposing hypocrites.

He does so in chapter five; he continues to do so in chapter 6 when talking about giving and praying, and now, at the end of the Model Prayer, Jesus does it once more.

Refusing to forgive is hypocritical; refusing to forgive is sinful.

Look at the way that Jesus instructs us to ask for forgiveness: Matthew 6:12

Matthew 6:12 (KJV 1900)

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Forgive us as, in the same way that, we forgive others.

This is in reference to personal relationships: parents, friends, bosses, family members, employees, coworkers, etc. This is in reference to ALL offences - real or perceived.

So let’s talk about this for a minute, if you were to be forgiven by God the same way that you forgive others, what would it look like?

If you were forgiven by God in the same way that you forgive others, how would your relationship with God be right now?

Over the last 2.5 years that I have been here, we have discussed in depth the issue of forgiving others at least 6 times, whether that was on Sunday mornings or during Wednesday night studies. These studies have all come organically; that is to say, they have not been planned that way, at least by me. We discussed it twice when we studied the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis. We discussed it on two occasions on Wednesday night, one of those times was 2 years ago, yesterday (11JAN2023). These times that we have discussed this have all been part of whatever series we have been studying at the time. Back in July of 2023, when we started this series of the Life of Christ, I was not really thinking, “Man, I can hardly wait another year an a half until we get to study the issue of forgiving others.”

At the same time, I realized that this may seem to some of you as a topic that gets hit on quite a bit; I mean, six times in 30 months is about once every five months, or once every 20-21 weeks. But when that happens, whether it is with this topic of forgiving others or any other topic, especially when it is part of a series, as we are going through now, the last thing I want to do is skip over it.

Why? Because I believe God has a reason for doing things. He knew, because I could have never guessed it, even 3 months ago, that today, we would be, once again for at least the 7th time in 2.5 years, discussing the topic of forgiving others.

So if this sounds familiar to you, good. it is good to be refreshed every once in a while with knowledge that we already have. Don’t clock out on me. Pay attention. It is no accident that you are here in this place at this time. There may be something that God has for you today.

The title to the sermon that covered Matthew 6:12, “12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” was simply Forgive Us.

The title for the sermon today is another simple title: As We Forgive Others.

As We Forgive Others

On occasion when we have studied the issue of forgiving others, I have brought up a certain parable that I want to revisit today.

Jesus told a parable that explains this concept of forgiving others very well in Matthew 18.

Matthew 18:21–31 KJV 1900

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. 23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 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. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

Here's the deal. Peter asks Jesus about forgiveness (how often do I need to forgive someone in a day? Seven times?), and Jesus gives Peter an answer (Nope. Not Seven; 70 times 7.), and He follows it up with a parable that describes his answer.

The parable is of a man who owes 10,000 talents, and though that may sound like a lot of money that is owed, I'd like us to understand it a little bit better. Ten thousand talents was equivalent to roughly 375 tons of silver , or 60 million denarii. That sounds like a lot of money too, but since we do not regularly deal in money by weight or in the currency of the ancient Romans, let's put it into terms we are familiar with.

If we do it by weight, today (Jan 2025, scrap silver) price of silver is about $24/oz. Making 375 tons of silver = nearly $288M

If we calculate by days wages the amount would be much different:

1 denarius = 1 days wage;

10,000 talents = 60M denarii;

60M denarii = 60M days worth of wages

Federal minimum wage today = $7.25/hour

8 hours worked a day = $58/day

10,000 talents = $3,480,000,000

If you worked every weekday in a 52 week year and never took a sick day or a vacation day and worked every holiday at minimum wage, it would take you almost 231K years to earn this much money.

Regardless of whether we are dealing with $228M or $3.5B, both are astronomical sums. I think we can agree that this man had a very large debt! So he asks the king to give him time to raise the money, but Jesus says that this man forgives his servant all of the debt.

But the story doesn't end there. This servant has someone that owes him money as well. The amount owed is 100 pence (100 denarii). This would be about $5,800 worth of wages.

You would think that after being forgiven this giant amount, the servant would forgive his fellow-servant this comparatively small amount. But he doesn't.

Instead, he grabs him by the throat and demands that it all be paid back immediately. When the debtor asked for time, the other man refused and had him cast into debtor's prison.

But that is not the end of the parable. We find the rest of it in the next few verses, and as we study this out, we will see our first of two points this morning:

The Importance of Forgiveness

Follow along as I finish the parable in Matthew 18:31-35

Matthew 18:31–35 KJV 1900

31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Here we see the importance of forgiveness.

Jesus very firmly states that those that refuse to practice forgiveness after themselves being forgiven an un-payable sum, will be imprisoned and tormented. The word translated tormentors means jailers or torturers. Again, this does not refer to loss of salvation or even purgatory (and just to be clear, there is such thing as purgatory), but it is loss of so other things.

Bitterness and wrath create an emotional prison. It has been said that having bitterness and unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping it kills the other person. All it does, however, is hurt the one drinking it.

The servant that was imprisoned, though he had been forgiven of his debt, had lost communion and fellowship with his king. He had lost the ability to live an abundant life. There is not much abundance in prison.

He had lost peace. He was now in the hands of the tormentors.

For how long? Until that servant had paid all that was due.

What was due? Well, the debt had been forgiven. What was due, what the king expected out of the servant that he forgave, was compassion on others the same way that he had pity on his servants.

So this man was in prison and being tormented until he was willing to show compassion on others the same way he was shown.

If we are saved, if we have trusted Christ and Him only as our personal savior, then our sin debt is forgiven. It cannot be recalled, it cannot be "un-forgiven." We are expected to forgive others, to show compassion on others in the same way we have been shown compassion. Not only are we expected to forgive, we are empowered to forgive. And the forgiveness that we give needs to be the type of forgiveness that God gives- forgiveness that is not recalled.

Ephesians 4:17–32 (KJV 1900)

17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, [Vanity of their own mind = man's philosophies]

18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But ye have not so learned Christ;

21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

[What have we learned of Christ?

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Conversation = lifestyle; to include habits and philosophies (philosophies of getting even or getting revenge)

Deceitful lusts = deep desires and cravings for what is not right]

22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; [Reminiscent of Romans 12:2 “2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”]

24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. [2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” The new man = We are new creatures, new creations.]

25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

27 Neither give place to the devil.

[You can be angry without sinning. God created us with the ability to feel and express anger, but like everything else, it can be expressed in a sinful way. For the Christian, anger is to be brief (let not the sun go down on your wrath) so as not to give Satan a foothold in our minds.]

28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

[Expressions of unforgiveness do not minister grace. Bitterness does not minister grace to others.]

30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

31 Let all bitterness, and wrath [boiling anger, anger that is passionate (breathing hard)], and anger [violent passion; anger exhibited in punishment], and clamour [outcries (think the “Karen” videos that we have become so familiar with thanks to the internet)], and evil speaking [speech that is harmful to someone’s good name], be put away from you, with all malice [evil intentions]:

32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Does verse 32 sound like the fruit of unforgiveness at all?

No matter how much someone has sinned against us, and I want to say this very carefully and with as much love as I possibly can, no matter how much someone has sinned against us, it is no comparison of how much we have sinned against a perfect God and been forgiven. If you are in Christ, you have the capacity to forgive, and you have the capacity to forgive the way that God forgives.

How do we have that capacity? Because the one who forgives us dwells within us. Jesus died to forgive the sins in your life just as much as He died for those that sinned against you.

Why then, is it so important to forgive? To continue in fellowship with the Father. Confessing unforgiveness and then refusing still to forgive would be like a son that says he is sorry for being hateful to the parents. I am sure the parents would be thrilled to hear this, but then the son follows it with, "But I am still going to be that way." This action and this attitude provide no closeness between the parents and son. And if we go to God and say, "God, I am so sorry for all this bitterness or unforgiveness that I harbor toward this person. I realize it is a sin now; forgive me, but I just can't forgive them. Sorry..." What good does that prayer do? None. It keeps you in unrepentant sin, unrepentant sin interferes with our fellowship.

If we are not willing to forgive those who have wronged us and carry a debt of some sort toward us, then we cannot expect to be in full fellowship with the Father until that happens.

So I ask the question that I asked earlier, "If you were forgiven in the same way that you forgive others, how would your relationship with God be right now?"

God is making us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus embodies all the characteristics of the Father. What is the character of God when it comes to forgiveness?

Micah 7:18 KJV 1900

18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, And passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, Because he delighteth in mercy.

This is part of the image to which we are to be conformed: pardoning, forgiving transgressions against us, and we should delight in showing mercy.

"We will never delight in mercy as long as we hold to the notion that revenge will satisfy us.” -Mike Jones

At the beginning of the sermon, we talked about familiar verses. There is one verse that I would really like to point out that many of you may already be familiar with. This verse is 1 John 1:9. If this verse is not familiar to you, it should be, as it holds an incredible promise.

1 John 1:9 KJV 1900

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That word “cleanse” means “to set free from guiltiness.” Do you realize that forgiveness is not the only thing that is promised in this verse, but also the freedom from the feelings of guilt?

But I am sure that everyone of us has gone to the Lord at some time or another and confessed sin and still felt guilty. Why is that? Because we have stepped into a prison of our own making called unforgiveness toward others, and that has made us guilty of the sin of unforgiveness, and until we can forgive others, we cannot be freed and forgiven ourselves.

I believe one of the reasons that some Christians do not experience freedom when they go and confess their sins to God is because they have not yet forgiven and set someone free that has offended them.

What is the importance of forgiveness? In a word - fellowship. Fellowship with the Father cannot be full until we are willing to forgive others.

CHECK TIME - POSSIBLE PART 2

So What Does Forgiveness Look Like?

What Forgiveness Looks Like

If forgiveness is so important, why then do we find verses that seem to indicate that we can be unforgiving or hope, pray, and even work toward vengeful goals? Isn’t there a verse that talks about treating others with kindness so that coals of fire can be heaped on their heads? What about "killing people with kindness?" I am so glad you asked!

We have discussed this before as well, but we will take a little time to discuss it again today.

The verses that so often get interpreted as an encouragement to “kill others with kindness” are actually the verses that tell us a lot about what forgiveness looks like.

So let’s look at these verses. Romans 12:19-20. Those that are participating in the Wednesday evening studies over the gifts of the Spirit will recognize that these verses are in the same chapter as the spiritual gifts that we are studying. This is an important thing to notice, and I hope that you will keep it in mind as we continue to study the spiritual gifts.

Romans 12:19–20 KJV 1900

19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

This verse is quoted or referenced very often, and I think we all can understand why. The thought of people that have wronged us having coals of fire heaped on their heads is pretty satisfying, right? We look at these verses and our reaction may go up and down as we read, but when we get to the end, people usually are pretty satisfied.

Let me illustrate:

Let’s say that Zach and I have had a heated argument about something and he hauls off and punches me square in the jaw.

So I goes tell a friend about this, but my friend’s only reply is that I should read Romans 12:19-20, so I do.

And this is what I read and what I feel as I read it: Romans 12:19-20

Romans 12:19–20 (KJV 1900)

19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves [Well, I don’t like that, because I really want to get revenge. But I continue to read.], but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. [Well, that seems better. Who can get revenge better than God Himself, right?]

20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink [Well, I don’t like that at all! If Zach is hungry, what I want to do is order a pizza and eat it in front of him, not give it to him!]: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head [But on the other hand… feeding him so that God will take revenge on him in an even more severe way sure sounds good! So, Zach, guess what? You and I are going to Texas Roadhouse, and I’m buying, because the nicer I am to you, the worse God is going to burn your head off!].

When we have a similar situation where someone has offended or hurt us, or we know someone going through a hurt or suffering an offence, we often use or hear use the phrase, "Just kill them with kindness." Some people use this verse to back that logic up. "Just be nice to your enemies, and one day God will burn their heads off."

Today we are going to look at these verses and we are going to analyze Jesus' thoughts and His heart when it comes to forgiveness.

What I need you to is to hold the interpretation of this verse in an open hand, and as we compare this passage with other passages on forgiveness and as we look at the culture surrounding this passage, I hope you will allow God to speak to you on this issue.

One of the important things to do when studying the Bible is to look at the context. We often think of the context of a verse simply as the verses and chapters surrounding a particular passage, and though that is part of contextual consideration, it is not all of it.

We also have to look at cultural context in many occasions, and in this passage, cultural context actually provides a huge insight to the meaning and application of these verses.

First, let’s look at Romans 12:14-21

Romans 12:14–21

14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath [Ephesians 4:26 be angy and sin not; don't let the sun go down on your wrath. So in other words: the proper place for our anger or wrath is a temporary place]: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Let me ask you this: Does the thought of someone suffering seem evil or good? Evil.

So we therefore cannot be overcome with those thoughts. They would be evil.

So then, what does it mean to heap coals of fire on someone's head? I am glad you asked!!

This is where cultural context comes into play.

The way houses were often set up in small villages in these times was in a circle. Often, in the center of the circle there would be a community fire. If you needed to have a fire in your house, you would take coals from the community fire and take them to your house, and start the fire there. As villages grew into cities, community fires ceased to be a thing, but areas of the house were used as kitchens and in these areas, a fire was always going, not only to prepare the families food, but to be able to prepare food for anyone that stopped by, as this was common hospitality. What would happen at night, however, would be that they would let the fire die down and then cover all the coals with ashes.

These ashes would insulate the coals, and when thy awoke in the morning, the coals could be stoked and fresh fuel added to create another fire. This method was preferred because in those days, they didn't have Bic lighters yet, and it was a hassle to make a fire out of just some wood or flint.

Sometime, however, you would wake up to coals that were not hot any longer. So instead of rubbing sticks together, you would take a clay pot and go to your neighbors house and ask if they had any hot coals they could give you. You would repeat this process with other neighbors until you had enough hot coals heaped upon your head to go back to your house and start your own fire back up.

So then, what does the phrase "in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head" mean.? To be a blessing. To provide for their needs. Which lines up perfectly with the previous phrase: if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he's thirsty, give him something to drink.

The attitude of Jesus, the heart of God is that we are to be people who show grace to others. You might say, "But they don't deserve grace!" But that is the whole point of grace! It is undeserved favor in the same way that we are shown grace by the Father.

Though we have looked at many passages this morning, our main text is still Matthew 6:9-15. This is situated firmly in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, and I want to remind us of something that we have already studied in Matthew 5.

Matthew 5:43–48 KJV 1900

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

It is easy to love the neighbor, those who would have similar view points than we do. It is easy to love lovable people. But what reward is there in that? Even the publicans, what the Jews thought as the worst of the worst, loved those who were lovable.

So Jesus says, "Be perfect, even as your Father is perfect." Wow!

How is that perfection measured in this context? Verse 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven...

As We Forgive Others

That we may be the children of our Father. That doesn't mean that if you don't do this you lose your salvation. What it means is that by doing these things, others will know we are God's children. My kids, they all look similar. The girls look like Tahsha, and the boys, especially when you compare our baby pictures, look a lot like me. People can usually pick our our kids. When I was a youth pastor at a Hispanic church in Fort Worth, TX, it was really easy to tell which ones were mine. But this is not what this verse is talking about. This is not about a visual resemblance, this is about character and personality.

At our house, this is a common saying: "Mia looks like Tahsha, but acts like me." And really, she does. She has a lot of my personality traits. She may look like Tahsha, but does not act like her very much at all. Mia is my kid through and through.

That is what Jesus is looking for for us in these passages. That our character and personality would so match God's that others would be able to say, "He/she is a child of God through and through, because only God would love those that hate in that manner."

So what does forgiveness look like? It looks like me being a blessing to others who have wronged me on purpose.

Invitation

I’ll ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes.

I’ll try to keep this invitation short and to the point. I do want to ask a few questions to those present. If you live long enough, there will come a time where you will be hurt and deeply offended by somebody. The closer the person is to you, the deeper the hurt experienced, but also the harder it is to forgive.

As we have seen already, unforgiveness creates a prison for us. It doesn’t much affect the person that we are not willing to forgive, it does torment us though.

Is there anyone here this morning that would say, “Bro Mike, if I am honest, God has shown me this morning some people in my life that I have need to extend forgiveness to, would you pray for me? There are people that have caused me hurt and caused me pain, but I need to forgive them.”

It may not be that you actively are seeking vengeance against them. It may just be that you push those thoughts and memories to the back of your mind, but never have truly forgiven them. Is there anyone like that?

I know that this sermon has been mainly to those that have a relationship with Jesus, those that are believers and followers of Jesus Christ.

Maybe you are here this morning and do not have Jesus as your savior. The Bible says that you are guilty of sin, and that that sin has a punishment - eternity in a lake of fire, separated from God. But God provided a way for your sins to be forgiven. He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, God in the flesh to live on this earth and die on a cross for the payment of your sins. And Jesus did die on a cross, He did shed His blood to pay for our sins, but He didn’t stay dead. On the third day after he was buried, Jesus rose from the grave proving that He is God, and that He has power over death.

Because He paid for your sin with His death, Jesus offers to you salvation and the complete forgiveness of sins through faith in Him. There is no other way to be saved, only through Jesus.

Maybe you’re here this morning and have never put your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation and forgiveness of sins. but you would like to know more about it, would you raise your hand this morning? I’d love to pray for you and hopeully speak with you after the service. Is there anyone like that?