Sermon Tone Analysis

Do you remember a time in your life where you were forgiven for something that you had done?

Whether or not you had claimed it was an accident, you knew down inside that you had done something wrong, and when confronted by the truth you confessed, and the person you had hurt simply forgave you?

I think it is the most freeing thing to be on the receiving end of forgiveness, and knowing that you are truly forgiven.

The Bible speaks often of the forgiveness that God has shown to us.

Colossians 1 says (13-14)

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom

of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

1 John 1 says (9) - If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 103 tells us that - as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Years ago I had been really hurt by someone.

This classmate had bullied me all through Jr High School, he made life really difficult.

I was excited when he switched schools for grade 10, but then in high school he turned my two best friends against me.

University comes and things are finally going better when this guy shows up again… and my girlfriend leaves me for him.

Needless to say, I was not a fan of this guy and did not want anything to do with him for all that he had done over the previous 8 years.

Well, a few months later he came to me with a heartfelt apology, confessing that he knew he had hurt me, and saying that he didn’t want to keep going down that path, but wanted instead to be friends.

It was huge, and I told him at that time that I forgave him.

And on some levels I really did.

But there was part of me that wanted to see him experience some of the hurt I had been through.

It was horrible of me to think that, but our world tells that us that what goes around comes around, and I really wanted to see some “justice”, so to speak.

Well, after a few months of being friends, he brings me a flash drive of video files.

See, my new friend was training to be a police officer, and he had just brought me some of their training videos of his class that he thought were cool and wanted to share them.

Things like offensive driving tactics, and hand to hand combat drills.

But there was one video on there that I have to admit, fed that unforgiveness deep down.

It was the taser training video.

I got to watch my high school bully who had later stolen my girlfriend, get tasered in the - uh - hind quarters, while his sergeant screamed at him “CRAWL!

CRAWL!!” Guilty pleasure much?

I watched it, a dozen or so times, and kept thinking, “yeah, he had that coming.”

WHY?!

Why are we so willing to place our trust in this idea of karma, that good brings good - and evil brings evil, that one day soon this person who has hurt us will reap the consequences of their wrongs against us?

Why are we so quick to declare ourselves innocent for what we’ve done, justified of any wrong, but then we want to see others fall and be crushed for hurting us?

Why, even as believers in God do we look for this immediacy of judgement on others, but are unwilling to put our trust in a God who is the righteous judge.

He is Holy, He is perfect, He is Just, and He says that in the last day He will judge the world.

Maybe we see His mercy and His love and we think that this person who has done wrong against us might get off the hook for their sin!

We ask, “What if they repent and God forgives them?

Then they won’t be punished for what they’ve done wrong?

That’s not fair at all! Look how they hurt me.

I know that God has forgiven me, but the things I’ve done wrong are not anywhere close to what they’ve done.”

We can even start comparing a person who has slighted or cheated us to the worst of the worst as we try to justify ourselves.

What if they had killed children?

Could they just repent and ask God to forgive them and that would be that?

Yes.

Then we need to escalate it: Well what if it was Hitler?! What if Hitler, after all that he had done, turned to God, could HITLER be forgiven for the millions that he killed?

That is too far, there is a line that he crossed, and there is no way that God could forgive him.

That would not be just, and I could not believe in a God who could let something like that go.

Well… the truth is that they’re right, He can’t just let that go.

He didn’t just let that go.

Jesus took on the full wrath of God when He died on that cross.

He took it on for you, and He took it on for me.

For anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who puts their trust in Jesus and surrenders their life to Him, will be covered by His blood from the wrath and judgement of God.

It wasn’t just wiped clean without a second thought.

Jesus felt it all.

Though He Himself was God, the sin that he bore on that cross, the sin of murderers, and rapists, and thieves, and liars, and cheaters; our sin, separated Him from God as He cried out “My God my God, why have you forsaken me?”

But as hung there from that cross his heart broke even for the men who were killing him, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”

As he was being executed, he was asking God to forgive the people who were responsible for it, that includes us.

[go over to the cross]

It’s as if the wrath of God was a massive explosion that was coming, and Jesus on the cross was able to stop everything from passing by him.

For us to fall under the salvation of the gospel of Christ, and be forgiven of our own wickedness, we need to come in behind the cross and let Jesus shield us from that blast.

We need to take on the form of Christ, choosing to deny our old shape, pick up our cross, and follow Christ.

It is about becoming like Him in HIS death.

That is what we are confessing when we say that we are a Christian.

That is what we are proclaiming when we get baptised.

That we are wanting to die to our old self, our old ways of doing things, and choosing instead to live for Christ and for His bride, the church.

Jesus bore the punishment for us.

He forgave us for our crimes that, though little in our own eyes, deserved the death sentence before a Holy God.

Forgiving others is so foundational to the path we must walk as Christians.

In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray.

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today 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 the evil one.’

He then explains what it means to ask God to forgive you of your debts or sins, as you forgive others.

He says, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

That seems harsh!

What if I have only ever told a few lies, and really only hated one person, but someone else has now kidnapped my prize winning llama.

I have to forgive them or I won’t be forgiven?

What Jesus is saying here is that when we understand what WE have done, and the sins we committed that have separated us from God, and we see the forgiveness and mercy shown to us by God, who has every right to find us guilty.

What position are we putting ourselves in if we, already guilty ones, are choosing to not forgive another guilty person?

Are we saying that we are better than God himself?

Now, a quick caveat before I go further.

Forgiving does not always mean forgetting.

It does not mean that you must keep bringing a person back into your life for them to hurt you over and over again.

There are times where you must remove someone from your life because of the hurt and abuse they continue to cause.

But placing that into the hands of God is the only way to move forward.

Holding onto that anger and bitterness is only going to hurt you in the end.

One day in Edmonton I met an East Indian man on the bus, his name was Prabdeep.

He and I got talking, and he shared with me a saying they have in India.

He said “Carey, bitterness is drinking a cup of poison and hoping the other person dies.”

Holding onto anger and bitterness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person is the one who dies.

That’s not how poison works my friends.

Knowing that we have been forgiven and made free by God should make us the most gracious and forgiving people when we have been hurt by others.

In Matthew 18, Jesus is asked a question about how many times we need to forgive others:

Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?

Up to seven times?”