The Forgiveness of Jesus
One of the hardest phrases in the English language to say is “I Forgive You”.
As humans we are often too reluctant to forgive. God wants us to be healed of past hurts so our healing can begin. If we are not healed ourselves, we cannot heal others. We should look to Jesus who forgave many people during his ministry. Here are some examples.
1 A paralyzed man Matthew 9:2-8
The first thing Jesus did was to forgive the man of his sins, then healed the man. The mans spirit needed to be healed as well as his body. We must recognize that if our spirit is not well we cannot hope for our body to be well. A healed spirit can bring about physical healing on its own. God would us rather have a healed spirit than a healed body. This healing begins with his forgiveness to us for our sin.
2 The adulterous woman John 8:3-11
The Jewish leaders were trying to trap Jesus. They had already broken the law themselves because it demanded that both the man and the woman be arrested and stoned.
Leviticus 20:10
LEV 20:10 " `If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife--with the wife of his neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
What Jesus was trying to show was the importance of not judging others for their sin. It is God’s role to judge people only-not ours. We can call a sin a sin for what it is worth, but only God has the right to judge that sin. Jesus did not condemn the woman for her sin but he did not ignore ti either. He told her to leave her life of sin. Jesus stands ready to forgive anybody of their sin. I saw a tombstone once with just 3 syllables on it
FOR-GIV-EN
3 Peter for his denial john 18:15-18
Jesus knew that Peters denial came form his human weakness. He didn’t want to be connected with a man who was about to die. He probably feared the same fate(rightfully so, it later came to him and his wife). So many of us are like Peter in the sense. We are reluctant to admit our association with Jesus because we are afraid of what people will think or say about us. How many times have we been forgiven for denial? Jesus knows your name, who you are, and what you’ve done. He’s not afraid to speak it to his friends.
4 The criminal on the cross Luke 23:39-43
Even during the ordeal of his crucifixion, Jesus was still doing Gods work. The criminal was about to die. He turned to Jesus for forgiveness and Jesus did. This shows us that it is our faith in Christ that saves us. It is never too late to turn to God. This dying criminal had great faith in Jesus. It would have been easy to give up faith in one who said he was hear to save us but now looked unable to even save himself. The man was able to see the glory in Christ. Jesus’ inabilty to come down off the cross was not an act of weakness but of perfect obedience to Gods plan for him. He could have hopped down off the cross and silenced everybody if he wanted to. But, then he wouldnt have completed God’s plan for him and we would nt have the gift of Salvation and Forgiveness that is available to us now.
5 The people who crucified him Luke 23:34
Even as Jesus was dying, he was interceding for us. He was interceding for those around him.
Abraham Lincoln said “When yo forgive and enemy, you destroy them”
They did not believe he was the Son of God and didn’t know what they were doing. I think Jesus was asking God to forgive people of today as well. We have all sinned are therefore responsible for his death. Most of us don’t know what we are doing when we reject him, or persecute those who believe in him. Our unbelief nails him to the cross even now.
“There is no God”-WHAM
“Jesus was nobody”-WHAM
“I don’t need God”-WHAM
“I don’t need to be saved, I’m going to Heaven”-WHAM
God is gracious enough to forgive all those who have rejected his Son. His mercy abounds in the death and sacrifice of his Son who opened the way for us to be with God. Jesus asked for our forgiveness as he was dying.
We should ask for our forgiveness as we are dying. Not dying in a physical sense years from now but in a spiritual sense that we are dying now.
So many people in this world are already dead, they just don’t know it yet!
As long as we are rejecting the gift of Salvation, we are dying a slow death. All we h ave to is accept what has been done for us. Our debt has been been paid in full.
If Bill Gates said he was going to pay the electric bill for everybody in town this month, and all you have to do is accept his offer and take it to the office we would jump for joy.
A man paid a far bigger bill for you 2,000 years ago.
All we have to do is accept what has been done for us. Our debt of sin has been paid in full. The door has been opened for us to walk through into the office of God and say “PAID”
You may think you’ve screwed up too big to be forgiven.
Romans 8:1,2
RO 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
What is the result of our forgiveness
We have all used an electronic calculator right? What happens when you make a mistake-you hit the “CLEAR” button. Just like that your mistake is gone and you begin again. That’s what happens to our sins when God forgives us. The memory may remain, but the guilt and the condemnation for the offense is gone.
Audio Adrenaline-”Your sins are behind you, they’ll never find you, they’re out on the ocean floor”.
