In Sermon Illustrations: "Forgive"

Forgiving Jerks

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Sep 7, 2008

Forgiving Jerks There's great power in our hands. It's the power to forgive a jerk-bully, a jerk-cheater, a jerk-thief. It’s powerful because it's unexpected. Jerks expect us to cry, run, or take revenge. The last thing they expect is forgiveness. That's why it's so disarming. Forgive them ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Catholic

The Persistence In Forgiveness

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 12, 2008

The Persistence in Forgiveness After sixteen years as a missionary on the continent of Africa. David Livingstone returned Scotland to address the students at Glasgow University. His body had been ravaged by some 27 fevers that had overtaken him during his years of service. One arm hung useless at ...read more

Tags: Endurance

Forgiveness Quotations

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 13, 2009

FORGIVENESS QUOTATIONS The late great English religious writer and philanthropist, Hannah More (1745 - 1833) once said: "Forgiveness is the economy of the heart...forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits." The late great American Protestant theologian, ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness General

Forgiveness Is Strength

Contributed by Lonnie Erwin on Sep 24, 2007

Illustrations: Forgiveness Is Strength Christian forgiveness should not be a refusal of strength, but rather ought to manifest an alternative power; Christian love, whether of neighbors or of enemies, should be a sign not of repressed anger and hatred but of anger and hatred confronted and, ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Amazing Forgiveness

Contributed by Bret Toman on Nov 26, 2011

AMAZING FORGIVENESS Philip Yancey in Rumours of Another World shares a story of the remarkable. The story of an atrocity that happened during the days of apartheid in South Africa and the reconciliation that followed in a court room many years later. A policeman named Van de Broek recounted an ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Baptist

Overwhelming Forgiveness

Contributed by Davon Huss on Dec 12, 2011

OVERWHELMING FORGIVENESS A wonderful example of how to practice the lifestyle of grace comes from an incident in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 2006, when a man entered an Amish schoolhouse and murdered 5 girls while wounding 5 others before killing himself. As horrific as this ...read more

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Forgive And Forget

Contributed by Josh Hunt on Feb 15, 2012

FORGIVE AND FORGET There's a wonderful story about the cardinal of the Philippines, named, oddly enough, Cardinal Sin. When Cardinal Sin was a bishop, a young woman in his parish claimed that she had visions of Jesus. Bishop Sin was given the task of determining if these visions were authentic. He ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 1:9

Tags: Forgiveness General

Denomination: Baptist

The "Stream Of Forgiveness"  PRO

Contributed by Ken Pell on Apr 14, 2013

THE "STREAM OF FORGIVENESS" Mirosalv Volf wrote a fantastic book on forgiveness titled "Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace." In the book he uses the beautiful imagery of a stream to show how God's character (love) is poured into us by His Spirit and becomes our ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:13

Tags: Forgiveness For Others

Denomination: Nazarene

The Power Of Forgiveness  PRO

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Jan 20, 2014

THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS An African woman gave her heart to Christ. Her husband was the chief of a Zulu tribe. When she told him what she had done, the chief beat her brutally. As she was lying in the floor bleeding, the man mocked her and said, “Now, what can your Jesus do for ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:31-32, Luke 23:34

Tags: Forgiveness, Enemy, New Birth, Forgiving Others

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Importance Of Forgiveness

Contributed by Sermon Central on Mar 13, 2014

Life assurance is far more valuable and important than life insurance. One famous atheist said, "The one thing I envy about you Christians is that you have someone to forgive you." A man by the name of Val Patterson died on July 12th of this year due to cancer. He knew the end was coming, so he ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 32:1-5

Tags: Confession Of Sin, God's Forgiveness, Guilty Conscience

Forgiveness For Everyone?

Contributed by Tim Smith on Feb 11, 2015

Lloyd Prator writes, “Take Adolph Hitler or better Joseph Stalin because he killed more people. What if, at the last minute, as Stalin lay dying, he turned his heart to Jesus and confessed his sins? Suppose he repented at the last minute, repented of the 14 million Russians Stalin killed… Would he ...read more

Scripture: Luke 23:32-43

Tags: Forgiveness, Repentance

Denomination: Methodist

Forgiving And Forgetting

Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Mar 9, 2020

Once upon a time in their marriage, Saul Rosenberg did something really stupid. Ethel Rosenberg chewed him out for it. He apologized, they made up. However, from time to time, Ethel would mention what he had done. "Honey," Saul finally said one day, "why do you keep bringing that up? ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:34, Luke 17:3-4

Tags: Forgiveness, Marriage, Reconciliation, Forget, Forgive, Argument  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Love And Forgiveness

Contributed by Roy Fowler on Sep 13, 2020

Rabbi David A. Nelson likes to tell the story of two brothers who went to their rabbi to settle a longstanding feud. The rabbi got the two to reconcile their differences and shake hands. As they were about to leave, he asked each one to make a wish for the other in honor of the Jewish New Year. The ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 64:1-9

Tags: Jesus Is The Answer, Jesus Forgives, Jesus Saves Us

Denomination: Independent/Bible

What Forgiveness Is Not

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Dec 31, 2021

WHAT FORGIVENESS IS NOT by Dr. Larry Petton (excerpt from my book, "I CAN'T FORGIVE"). Text: Ephesians chapter 4 Ruth Bell Graham described a successful marriage as the "union of two great forgivers." Forgiveness has been described as, “Me not hurting you, because you ...read more

Tags: Forgive Them, Father, Forgiveness, Bitterness, Unforgiveness  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Prerequisite To Forgiveness

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 31, 2022

A pastor finished his message early one Sunday and he wanted to check his congregation’s understanding. So he asked, “Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?” There was a short pause and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up, “You have to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:32-35

Tags: Grace, Forgiveness

Childlike Forgiveness

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 31, 2022

A few months ago, I was in El Paso holding an evangelistic meeting, and the young people were serving dinner to the mothers being that it was Mother’s Day. I was seating in a chair watching what was going on, and right in front, a four-year-old girl pushed a two-year-old boy, who fell on the floor ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:12

Tags: Grace, Forgiveness

Amazing Forgiveness

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 31, 2022

A policeman recounted an incident when he and other officers shot an eighteen-year-old boy and burned the body. Eight years later the policeman returned to the same house and seized the boy's father. The wife was forced to watch as policemen bound her husband on a woodpile, poured gasoline over ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 65:3

Tags: Grace, Forgiveness

Overwhelming Forgiveness

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 31, 2022

A wonderful example of how to practice the lifestyle of grace comes from an incident in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 2006, when a man entered an Amish schoolhouse and murdered 5 girls while wounding 5 others before killing himself. As horrific as this was, the greater story was the ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 65:3

Tags: Grace, Forgiveness

Strength To Forgive

Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Aug 12, 2024

Some of life's hurts are so deep and painful that to forgive the people who caused them seems impossible. Yet Jesus says that we can't experience His forgiveness if we have an unforgiving spirit. In World War II, Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsie were arrested for concealing Jews and ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-15

Tags: Forgiveness, Lord's Prayer, God's Strength, Forgiving Others, Corrie Ten Boom, Enemies  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Power Of Forgiveness

Contributed by John Bright on Mar 10, 2025

Our sins, transgressions, and iniquities can manifest in our physical bodies. In Matthew 9:2, Jesus tells a paralyzed man, "Your sins are forgiven. Take up your bed and go." He got up! In 30+ years of ministry, I have seen plenty of folks receive healing from physical problems caused ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 9:2, Ephesians 4:32

Tags: Forgiveness, Healing

Denomination: Methodist