A Faith Of Forgiveness
A FAITH OF FORGIVENESS (EPH. 4:32)
Intro: In his last week, I had the privilege to speak with Uncle Harry. Uncle Harry KNEW he did many wrong things. He was sad about this, but he could only trust God to forgive him, and trust that God would bring some good out of it all.
Theme: God’s forgiveness OF us produces forgiveness IN us!
I. The Work of Forgiveness “kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiving spirit”
Expl. 1. An unseen position—tenderhearted
2. An unseen perspective—forgiving one another as God does,
which takes all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
3. Visible behaviors—Kindness
Illus. Yes, it takes WORK! It’s a lot easier to take the perspective of Hillary Clinton, who said, “In the Bible it says they asked Jesus how many times you should forgive, and he said 70 times 7. Well, I want you all to know that I’m keeping a chart.” She wasn’t much different than John F. Kennedy, who said, “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names!”
Appl. Forgiveness takes work. God provides the power and the plan!
II. The Why of Forgiveness “for Christ’s sake”
Expl. The great Love of God (John 3:16)gave us the gift of the cross, the forgiveness of sins, and an eternal and abundant life
Some barriers to forgiveness (from Roger Liers sermon series):
1. Viewing the forgiving of deep hurts as a burden rather than as a blessing.
2. Viewing forgiveness as excusing people for what they did to hurt you.
3. Viewing forgiveness as giving up on justice.
4. Viewing God as incapable of carrying out justice or unconcerned with justice. This leads to two problems: 1) We can’t trust God to deal with the person who hurt us, and 2) We don’t trust God to bring good out of evil.
5. Thinking we must like the persons we forgive.
6. Viewing forgiveness as a single event (pers: it is a PROCESS)
7. Spiritual forces.
8. Thinking we must take the people we forgive back into our lives in the same way they were before they hurt us (pers: we enter forgiveness with wisdom, boundaries, and assertiveness, all the while loving them GOD’s way)
9. Thinking people who hurt us must repent before we forgive them. (pers: although there will be a final judgment, God is longsuffering toward those He created because He is perfect agape love)
YET, if God let all these barriers stand in the way of forgiving us, where do you think we would be? In spite of our sin against God and against one another, Jesus said, even as our sin was putting Him to death on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!
Until God saves them, they have no power to change their bad or hurtful behaviors! When it gets right down to it, people are who they are. They need help to be forgiven and we need help to forgive them!
I think Erma Bombeck summed up this forgiving spirit about people not being able to change who they are: “People are always asking couples whose marriage has endured at least a quarter of a century for their secret for success. Actually, it is no secret at all. I am a forgiving woman. Long ago, I forgave my husband for not being Paul Newman.”
III. The Way of Forgiveness “God for Christ’s sake has forgiven YOU
Expl. 1. It is a forgiveness that is Far-Reaching—sin cast from God as far as the East is from the West, it is cast into the deepest sea, it is so powerful that it can transform blood-red sin into the pure whiteness of snow.
2. It is a forgiveness that is Free (Ephesians 2:8-9)
3. It is a forgiveness that is Forever (Jn 3:16)
Illus/Appl. We have learned that forgiveness like God forgives us must be miraculous, because it does NOT come naturally!
In fact, we discover as one man (Lewis Smedes) has said, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free—and to discover that the prisoner was YOU.”
Conclusion: How does this all work? How thorough is this forgiveness of God in Christ? Witness thief on cross—nothing to offer but himself and his sins—Jesus promised, “today you will be with me in paradise”—at the 11th hour!
How did this work for Uncle Harry?
1. He knew he didn’t deserve it.
2. He knew he couldn’t earn it.
3. He knew it came only by faith.
He also knew this (from bookmark in his Bible): “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” (Jer. 17:7)
Inv. Will you trust God’s forgiveness today? He will forgive your sins. Will you live God’s forgiveness today? When you have been so greatly forgiven, you great response will be a greatly forgiving heart!