What is forgiveness
Jesus our teacher told the story of the unmerciful slave
The king who wished to
settle his accounts with his slave
called in his slave that owed him
What would today be about 10 million dollars
And ordered him to pay up
When the slave announced that he had absolutely nothing
He had no resources at all the king
ordered him sold, his wife sole, his children
sold and all the meager positions he had
sold. The slave fell on his face and
begged for mercy from the king. It was an impossible
debt it was 10 times the
national debt of that country
None the less the king showed him mercy and
forgave the slave of all of that debt
instantly
Then with all of that total forgiveness
The one who was forgiven walked out into the streets
And found a man that owed him $20
And when he could't pay him instantly he had him
put in deters prison which you could do
that in bible times
The fellow slaves that watched this sad scene told the king
And he was totally forgiven for all of that
yet he was ready to ring the neck of someone
who owed him $20
The king called the unmerciful man in
And he said I forgave you all of that
And you went out and found
That one man that owed you so little
And he is right now in deters prison
because you put him there
And the bible says in Matthew 18:23 following
And the king moved with anger
Handed him over to the tormentors
until he could repay all that was owed him
which meant the man could never repay he was
in jail for the rest of his life
being intentionally tormented
The message comes again
If you won't forgive God won't forgive you
Forgive immediately forgive totally
be reconciled in the love of God or
God will turn you over to tormentors
Why? Because God is the same yesterday, today and forever
Listen to this the man in prison
over $20 was never released at least
not in the bible text
It was the right
of the man who was forgive 10 million dollars
to demand him to pay up
The question I'm asking some of you
How many people do you have locked up in some emotional prison
over a small petty
$20 offence
simple because you refuse to forgive them
and it's your right
do you want to be right or do you want to be reconciled
George Herbert said, he who can not forgive
breaks the bridge over which he himself
must pass
Forgiven people should be
forgiving people
We have received the forgiveness of God
Therefore we should extend that same forgiveness
To other exceptionally to those that have wronged us
It was CS Lewis who said quote everyone thinks forgiveness is
a lovely until they
have someone to forgive end quote
If were going to ask God to forgive us the scripture says
we should forgive
others why because life is filled with hurt and disappointments isn't it
We get hurt in life
We have people who hurt us and guess what
There are people who you have hurt as well
So we need to learn how to apologize
And we need to learn how to forgive
Now some of you are thinking now what a second Greg you don't know
what people have done to me you don't know
what I've had to face in life and you know I don't
But I'm just telling you this is what the bible says
and I'm going to tell you why you should forgive
I'm going to give you a few reasons but here's number one
and the most important reason. You should forgive people
who have hurt you because God commands you to
I don't think we need any other reasons but
There are a few other. Why do I say that because Ephesians
4:32 says be kind tender hearted
forgiving one another as God in Christ
has forgiven you
Then Colossians 3:13 says bear with one another
and forgive one another if anyone has
a complaint against another even as Christ
forgave you so also you must do
Listen to this
To fail to forgive can bring your prayer life to a halt
Let me say that again the failure to forgive
Can bring your prayer life to a screeching halt
Jesus says
In mark 11:25 when your praying
First forgive anyone you holding a grudge against
So your father in heaven will forgive your sins too
Bottom line as I've said forgiven people
should be forgiving people
So we've been hurt in life and we have a choice
we can rehearse what happen or we can release it
let me say that again we can rehearse
what happened or we can release it
we can go over it again and again and again
justifying our angry and our bitterness
or we can just release it
What does it mean to forgive. It's not condoning or
dismissing someones bad behavior
I think sometimes we feel well if I forgive them then it's like
I condone what they did no forgiving is not
condoning someones bad behavior it's not
dismissing it it's not even necessarily
reconciliation because that's not
always possible. There might be someone that's done something
mean to you. You forgive them but they still
don't want to be reconciled to you
so I'm not even talking about that so what do I mean
when I say to forgive listen to forgive means I'm
surrendering my right to get even
I'm surrendering my right to get even
It means i will not pay that person back
what they may indeed deserve
Instead I'm going to put it in the hands of God
Because over in Romans 12:19 it says
never take vengeance into your own hands
dear friends stand back and let God punish
if he will for it is written vengeance is mine
I will repay says the Lord
There's different words used in the bible
to describe forgiveness 75 in total
The main word that we find in the New Testimant
that is translated
into the words forgive and forgiveness is
one that means to release to release
To let go of something to free yourself
from something
Another word that is used to describe forgiveness
in the bible is cancelling
as in cancelling a debt
You just have to keep a short account
and this is really true of marriage
I mean if you want a marriage that is happy
if you want a marriage that lasts
you better learn how to forgive
because your going to hurt and be hurt in marriage
I love the advice of Ruth Graham
The wife of Billy Graham who said
A good marriage or a successful marriage is made up of two good forgivers
So we should be willing to
forgive other people because it comes down to this
when I forgive someone I set a prisoner free
myself
because I can be the prisoner when i fail to forgive
I can be the one who is getting hurt more to
withhold forgiveness is
is detrimental not only to the person I'm
withholding it from but harmful to me as well
spiritually
as well as physically
If you want to be a happier person forgive
If you want to be a healthier person forgive and most
importantly if you want to be an obedient christian
then you must forgive
It isn't giving into another person
it's getting free from that person
My friend Craig Rochelle put it this way
The first to apologize is the bravest
The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to
forget is the happiest. And I like that
Can you let it all go
Is there someone that you can think of right now that has hurt you
Someone who has wronged you
Someone who has brought harm to you
or someone that has something cruel about you
and it hurts and makes you angry
and you would like to see them destroyed
in fact you find yourself thing about ways
to get back at them but remember
that's not what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is
forgiving forgiveness is forgetting forgiveness
is cancelling a debt
You know we might say one of these days if I can find it in
my heart I'll forgive that person no you need to do it
this day not one of these days and don't try
to find it in your heart because you never will
You need to do it as an act of obedience
Just do it
Because it's the right thing to do and I believe that
your emotions will follow in time to go to that person
that hurt you and say I forgive you
But what am I doing I'm freeing myself of this you see
Now they may never accept me apology
but that's there issue
I'm doing this because the Lord has shown me to do this
it's letting it go
And there's no greater example of forgiveness in the bible
then Christ himself hanging on the cross
and God can forgive you of all of your sin
but you have to say to him
I have sinned and I am sorry and if you will say that
to the Lord he will forgive you right here right now