Forgiveness Ain’t for Sissies
April 6, 2014 Morning Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: As Christians, we are commanded to forgive each other.
Focus Passage: Matthew 18:21-35
Supplemental Passage: Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32)
"For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. (Matthew 6:14-15)
Introduction: In his book. Lee: The Last Years, Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life. Michael Williams.
I. What Forgiveness Is Not
a. Forgiveness is not optional
b. Forgiveness is not dependent on the other person asking for it
c. Forgiveness is not for the other person
d. Forgiveness is not saying that whatever the other person did to you is now “okay”
e. Forgiveness is not a magic thing that always restores relationships
II. What Forgiveness Is
a. Forgiveness is a command
b. Forgiveness is for you
c. Forgiveness is taking your right or desire for revenge or retribution out of your hands and putting it in God’s hands
d. Forgiveness is a hard thing to do
III. Forgiveness from God through Jesus
a. Forgiveness from God can only come through Jesus
b. Forgiveness from God gives us the ability to forgive others
Application/Invitation: Ask God to help you forgive someone who’s hurt you. If someone has asked for your forgiveness and you haven’t extended it, go back to that person and make things right.
