Forgiveness: Your Obligation

FORGIVENESS: YOU’RE OBLIGATION ROMANS 12:17-21

I. GOD HAS FORGIVEN US.

1. When God forgave us of our sins, the Bible says that

He remembered them no more. This means that they no

longer exist.

2. Only God has the ability to take away sins. When He

forgives us, they are actually removed. This is why

the Jews said that Jesus blasphemed when He said,

"your sins are forgiven."

Since God has forgiven us:

II. WE MUST FORGIVE OTHERS.

1. When we forgive others, we don’t actually remove the sin like God does, but we imitate God by refusing to remember the sin.

2. This sounds like a fairly easy thing to do, but why do we have

such a hard time doing it?

(70x7)

Another good answer could be "you forgive the other person as many times as God has forgiven you."

III. WHAT DOES UNFORGIVENESS DO TO US?

1. It keeps us in bitterness..

2. It keeps us in bondage to past mistakes

3. It keeps us in guilt. .

4. It is a cause of physical (such as ulcers), mental (sustained

Anger will cause you to become mentally sick), and spiritual

sickness. (unforgiveness will cause you to drift away from

God)

IV. HOW DO WE FORGIVE SOMEONE THAT HURT US SO BAD?

1. (vs.20) We stop thinking of those who hurt us as enemies,

and we start to honestly seek God for their good.

2. We look to God as our example. Could you forgive someone

who killed your only son? God did. He does not allow the sin

to be remembered anymore.

2. We look to Jesus as our example. What did Jesus say while he was hanging on the Cross? While He was experiencing the worst pain a person could experience? While the blood was dripping from His hands, and His flesh was tearing at the nails? He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

If Jesus could forgive those who were killing Him, we must forgive those who have hurt us. It was our sins that nailed Him to that tree: your sins and mine.

CONCLUSION: We serve a forgiving God. And the root of His love is forgiveness. How we view forgiveness will effect our relationship with Him, and with those around us.

If we wish to be spiritually healthy, if we wish to be free of condemnation, then we must forgive those who hurt us.