2 weeks ago I said God loves us,
• And because of that we can love ourselves,
• And in turn we can love others.
But in order for us to love others, we need to be able to Forgive others.
• Because everyone of us has already been forgiven through Jesus.
• When He became our sacrifice . . He paid for the sins of the whole world"
• In life it’s impossible for someone to do something to you
• That’s worse than what you have already been forgiven for.
Our forgiveness of others is to be like God’s forgiveness of us.
• It had to come from love.
We need to understand just how important forgiveness is?
• Without forgiveness we wouldn’t be allowed in heaven.
• Without forgiveness we always be forever from God.
In the Old Testament
• Man was given the laws that would allow him to be saved,
• And over and over man failed to do what was needed.
• It’s only thru Christ that we are allowed to have a relationship with God.
So if Christ is willing to forgive us,
• And we are supposed to model Christ life why can’t we forgive others?
• Jesus promised that He wouldn’t remember our sins
• So we should be able to do the same.
If Christ was willing to forgive us for everything,
• And I do mean everything isn’t it extremely selfish of us
• To pick and choose who we’ll forgive and what we’ll forgive them for
• The fact is we ‘re all continuing to sin because
• We aren’t doing what God wants us to do
There are 4 basic rules about forgiveness.
1 Don’t seek revenge.
Pr 24:29 Do not say, “I’ll do to him as he has done to me; I’ll pay that man back for what he did.” Pr 20:22 Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!”Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.
When we are hurt this seems like a natural reaction.
• It goes back to a savage civilization.
• It falls in line with the animal kingdom.
• When we are attacked we lash out at others
• And by doing so we try and cause pain before we have pain inflicted on us.
• The biggest problem with this attitude is we’re not animals.
Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
We aren’t animals that prowl looking for something to attack.
• We better than that.
• We are created in the Image of God.
• And since we are we’re expected to behave like we have been told to behave.
Someone once said that revenge is a dish best served cold.
• We would have to be cold carry out the things that people do.
• Pouring sugar in someone’s gas tank.
• Calling someone’s employer and telling them that the person is using drugs.
• Putting less than appropriate pictures of an old boyfriend or girlfriend on the web.
These don’t sound like the kind of things Jesus would do.
• But these kind of things are done everyday,
• And they cause long-term effects to the people that they’re done against.
Where is the forgiveness?
Ro 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
Ro 12:20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Ro 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good
• We see in these verses that if any discipline is to be done
• It’s God’s job not ours
• God will take care of the problem for us.
• It is our job to show Love thru the course of the event.
2 Don’t bring it up again.
Pr 17:9 He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
Forgiveness means that we forget what the person has done, and we move on.
• It doesn’t mean that every time we get mad
• We drag the incident back up and go thru it again.
In the world today more marriages fail because of a lack of trust.
• One spouse goes out and has an affair.
• And somehow the other spouse finds out.
• And after many apologies they decide to work it out
• Because they genuinely love each other.
But the first time that spouse is late coming home, the questions begin.
• Where have you been? Who have you been with? What were you doing?
• The innocent spouse is being anything but innocent.
• They’ve already made up their mind about what was going on.
When we forgive someone we need to forget what they have done.
3) Don’t tell others about them
Eph 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Gossiping. We’ve all done it.
• Talking about people behind their back.
• If we have to look over our shoulder to see who is listening
• Before we say something, it would be a good guess that we are gossiping.
Christians should only say what is used to build up the church
• It’s our responsibility to encourage members.
• This should be done whenever the need arises,
• And by doing this those who hear may receive a blessing.
The devil wants to tear people down.
When we gossip once again we’re helping him out
To often the words we speak are used to hurt people.
And when we gossip to others it’s like we are trying to recruit people to be on our side.
• That in some way we are trying to reassure ourselves
• that we are the ones who are right
• and the other person was done this horrible wrong
• that the world needs to know about.
Doesn’t sound like the kind of work that a loving God would want us to do.
1Pe 3:10 “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.
1Pe 3:11 He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.
To seek peace and pursue it would mean that we need to forgive.
We need to forget about what is wrong and concentrate on what is right.
We need look for the good not dwell on the bad.
4) We need to stop dwelling on it
1Co 13:5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Job 14:16 Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.
Job 14:17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.
• There is no way that we can forgive someone
• If in our minds we are still dwelling on the event
• It goes against the very idea of forgiveness.
• If you are still dwelling on what someone has done to you,
• you haven’t forgiven them.
Something’s are too great for us to handle on our own.
• And at times like these we need ask God for help.
• We are never alone we always have someone that we can turn to.
• Jesus understands our frustration.
• He had 12 disciples that never really quite understood Him or what He was doing, even after they had been with Him for 3 years.
• He knelt in the garden to pray and asked them to keep watch for Him, only to return and find them asleep.
• He was sold out by Judas for thirty silver coins.
He had lived with these 12 for 3 years performed miracles in their presence, caused the blind to see, the lame to walk, cast out demons from possessed men and women, and now He has been raised from the dead,
And thru all of this He loved them, and He loves us.
• He came and paid the debt for our sins, willingly.
• How can we call ourselves followers of Christ if we won’t follow His examples?
If we really are followers of Christ we need to act like Christ.
Mt 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
• The world is watching, The world is waiting for a chance to try and prove us wrong.
• The fight is on, and we don’t want a mess up on our part,
• We don’t want to keep someone separated from God from eternity.
People can tell when we are genuine;
• They can also see when we act out in revenge.
• They can see when we continue to hold on to issues and not drop it.
• They can see when we are gossip behind someone’s back.
• And they can see when we continue to hold on to the hate.
When we learn what to avoid, when we forgive,
We will not only set others free, but we will also set ourselves free,
And then we can have the abundant life that Christ promised, both now and forever.
