Let Others Off The Hook

2nd Samuel 14:13-14 / Let Others Off The Hook

13And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished.

14For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

I wanted us to look at this passage tonight because reality is sooner or later someone will hurt you. Sometimes people hurt us accidentally. Sometimes they hurt us intentionally. Sometimes they hurt us by their words; sometimes they hurt us by their actions.

Whatever the case you can be assured at sometime in your life your going to be hurt by another person. People will talk about you.

No need in you getting mad about it, folk been talking about folk every since there’s been a world, so what makes you think you’re going to stop someone from talking about you? They talked about Jesus. Just make sure what their saying isn’t true and go on about your business.

Truth be told you ought to be glad about it – that you’re being talked about. At least that means somebody’s thinking about you. You ever thought about it that way? You must be all that to them, you must be on their mind a whole lot if you’re always on their lips. So talk about me! One writer said you can talk about me as much as you please the more you talk I’m gone bend my knees.

People will exclude you from their groups. Someone may block you from a promotion. The one person you thought would never disappoint you will let you down. So what can we do when other people hurt us?

Is there a healing for emotions? Is there mending for a broken heart? The answer is yes but the remedy is so often overlooked.

Forgiveness, something so simple yet so overlooked, and so misunderstood that it is either ignored or ridiculed. I’m sure that when I said forgiveness somebody probably thought “Is that all he’s going to talk about tonight.” For forgiveness is something that not only seems impossible but it also seems illogical.

It doesn’t make any sense and it’s the last thing we want to do. Somehow we believe that when we hold a grudge we’re making the wrong doer suffer as badly as we suffered. But listen that grudge you carry will end up causing you more pain and frustration than the original pain inflicted on you by them.

Job 5:2a “Wrath kills a foolish man”

The effect of wrath and bitterness can be deadly. Physically: anger, bitterness and stress will raise your blood pressure. (Regardless of age). Emotionally it will put you in depression. Spiritually it will spoil your worship and socially it will cause you to be so unpleasant won’t nobody want to be around you.

And so let me remind you on this revival night that a key to restoration is found in what Jesus said in:

Matthew 5:44 “ Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

Forgiveness does not imply “I’m a push-over, say what you want, do what you want, cause I’m gone forgive you anyway. That’s not what forgiveness means. Forgiveness means I love me too much to let you destroy my life. Forgiveness means I love me too much to let pain rule my life. Forgiveness means I love me!

So I’m going to forgive not because I’m crazy about you, I’m going to forgive because I’m crazy about me. I’m in love with me. It don’t have nothing to do with you, it’s all about me. I want my soul happy, blessed, content. And that way I can roll over and sleep in peace at night regardless of how you’ve treated me.

Forgiveness lifts a burden off your body and soul and it puts the wrong doer in God’s hands. See as long as you hold to it, you tie God’s hands. But the moment you say I forgive. God steps in and says I’ll take over from here. You were just gonna mess up it anyway, move out the way so I can work this out.

In 2 Timothy 4:14 the Apostle Paul mentions a man named Alexander who Paul says did him much evil. And all Paul said after that sentence was “The Lord will reward him according to his works.”

In other words I’m not worried about it, I’m not going to hang around his car and wait on him. I’m not going to wait for him on his front steps. I’m not going to call the lady with the turban on her head and have her put a root on him. Paul said I’ve forgiven him and the Lord will reward…