As we continue in our series on Supernatural Streams this month our focus is on Forgiveness.
So the first question as we begin this morning is this:
Do you think forgiveness is a good thing?
Ok, second question:
Do you find it easier to forgive yourself or forgive other people?
Sometime we forgive ourselves and blame others even when we are the ones that need to be forgiven.
If we do something wrong, it is often easier for us to rationalise it or excuse it.
If your a driver and your running late, maybe you press a little harder on the accelerator and you let your car creep over the speed limit.
It’s ok, there are no cameras around. Who will know?
You know it’s wrong and you forgive yourself for doing it.
But, if when you were speeding, there happened to be a policeman with a radar gun, and he clocked you and you were sent a ticket.
You know you were wrong to speed, but maybe you would blame the policeman for the ticket - doesn’t he have something better to do, he should be chasing real criminals.
It’s unforgivable he should be catching people who break the law...
Erm, hold on, you broke the law he caught you, no excuse there.
Or, maybe you don’t feel like going into work one morning, you pick up the phone to call in sick,
you make your voice sound like you have been gargling broken glass mixed with frogs.
“Hello, yes it’s me, no I’m not coming in, I’m sick, Bye”
You know it’s wrong and you forgive yourself for doing it and you decide to go out shopping.
Your walking along the street, window shopping when a shadow falls across you and you hear your bosses voice ask “feeling better then?”
And the only thought rushing through your head is “That’s wrong, what is he doing HERE, he should be at work”.
Sometime we forgive ourselves and blame others even when we are the ones that are in the wrong.
Sometime, somewhere most of us have probably fallen out with someone.
Someone in the family, a brother or sister or parent, maybe someone at work or at school, or a neighbour, or simply someone whose name we don’t even remember who did something so small.
There have been times when we have been upset by someone, and times when we have got angry.
Maybe there have even been times when it has felt like someone has ripped your heart out.
Yet we are supposed to forgive.
Jesus often spoke about forgiveness, He forgave those who sinned against others, He forgave those who sinned against Him.
The Apostle Peter went to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”
Jesus replied “No, not seven times, but seventy times seven!
-----
I forgave Andy, twice this morning, three times last week and 12 times the week before, so add that to the previous months total and that means I can forgive him 3 more times before Christmas.
-----
Seventy times Seven is 490, that’s a number we are meant to take symbolically, not literally, to illustrate that we should forgive often.
Jesus did not just speak about forgiveness -
Jesus has commanded us to forgive.
Luke 6:37 says “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.”
Jesus words in Matthew 6:14-15 are even stronger
“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
We know we are supposed to forgive,
Jesus has commanded us to forgive.
All of us have needed, do need,
and will need forgiveness.
Just as we all need forgiveness, we also all need to forgive others.
But maybe we need a little encouragement to forgive.
How about Ephesians 4:31-32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behaviour. 32Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander, these are all signs that our hearts are not full of forgiveness.
The world says get even. The world says ‘do unto others as they’ve done unto you.’ Listen to Colossians 3:12-15 God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.
--------
Let’s personalise the heart of these two passages
God through Christ has forgiven us,
so we must forgive others.
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, when we come to Him in repentance our sins are forgiven.
In Isaiah 43:25 God says “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.”
Only God has the power to fully forgive us.
God forgives, and chooses to forget our Sins.
In Hebrews 8:12 God says I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.
Let me clarify this, when God forgives us, it’s not like He is pretending that nothing happened,
to forgive requires an acknowledgement that something wrong has been done that requires forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not Jesus’ suggestion to us it is His command.
If we want to be obedient disciples of Jesus then we must choose to forgive.
What is our motivation to forgive?
We are simply demonstrating what God has done, and continues to do for us.
Because of Jesus sacrifice for us, God looks beyond our sin and sees someone worth forgiving.
And that’s what we’ve been called to do as well.
-----
I am going to read Luke 7:36-50 to you.
As I read it I want you to think about two questions:
Where are you in this story? and Who are you in this story?
One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.
When a certain immoral woman from that city heard Jesus was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.
Then she knelt behind Him at His feet, weeping. Her tears fell on Jesus feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing His feet and putting perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,”
He said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.
Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other.
But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, cancelling their debts.
Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”
“That’s right,” Jesus said. Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.
You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”
And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
So the two questions were:
Where are you in this story?
Who are you in this story?
Are you the woman? – In those days women were not invited to nor accepted at banquets. They were 2nd class citizens.
Jewish rabbis did not speak to women in public.
They did not eat with them in public.
An immoral woman would never have been given an invitation to the house of Simon the Pharisee.
Her sins are not named, but Jesus said they were many.
This woman came to Jesus, she came with a desperate need in her life.
She knew her sins and she came to Jesus and gave Him what was probably her most highly valued possession.
She anointed Jesus with her expensive perfume and she used her hair, to humbly dry Jesus feet.
She knelt before Jesus in total humility.
Are you the woman?
Or are you the host? Simon the Pharisee.
The homes of the wealthy always had an open courtyard, usually in the center of the house. Sometimes the host would allow the public to stand around the outside of the courtyard and listen to the discussions, especially when the guest was a great teacher or celebrity.
Simon was a sinner in need of forgiveness.
But he would not admit it. He was a Pharisee - the righteous of the righteous, a Jew of Jews.
It was easy for him to look at the woman and say, “She is a sinner!” but it was impossible for him to say of himself, “I am a sinner!”
I am a sinner who needs forgiveness.
That is a life changing phrase.
Simon was self-righteous.
He considered himself better than the woman.
He saw no need for forgiveness in his life.
He was a good person, a moral person, a person who followed God’s law.
He was good at being religious.
Proudly, He was good in his outward behaviors.
But the Bible is clear when it says that we can’t get to heaven by being good, we can only get to Heaven by being saved. By repenting of our sin, by accepting Jesus as Saviour so that our sins can be forgiven.
Which person are you?
Are you like woman, the one who knows she needs forgiveness?
Or are you like Simon the Pharisee, self-righteously thinking your doing ok on your own efforts?
The truth is all of us are one or the other – either we sense our great need for forgiveness and salvation or we don’t.
The parable that Jesus told about the men who owed 500 and 50 pieces of silver is not about the amount of sin in a person’s life, it’s about a persons awareness of sin in their heart.
It’s not about how much, or how often a person sins.
Both Simon and the woman had sin in their lives.
The woman was guilty of visible sins -
Her sins were public, people knew what she did.
Simon was guilty of hidden sins like pride,
his sins were hidden from everyone except God.
Both of them needed to seek forgiveness.
And both of them needed to forgive.
That day both the woman and Simon were in the presence of the only One who can forgive sin and save.
What an incredible life changing moment when Jesus speaks those 4 words – “Your sins are forgiven”.
Have you heard those words from Jesus?
Your sins are forgiven!
Those words are relevant to me today are they relevant to you?
Not someone else’s sins. YOUR sins.
Your sins are forgiven!
Do you need to hear Jesus speak those words to YOUR heart today.
The Bible says everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s standard, no matter who we are, or how good we think we are.
All of us have sinned in some way or another.
All of have missed the mark;
chosen to do the wrong thing,
offended someone;
wronged or hurt someone;
done something deliberately then tried to convince ourselves it was just a silly little mistake;
we have all had sinful desires;
we have not believed as we should;
we have been weak;
we have not trusted God when we should;
we have been lewd or rude in our words and actions; we mess up;
we deviate from God’s plan for our lives;
we fail in the our duties to God;
we break God’s commandments;
all of us have fallen short.
We know the truth - Look at Romans 3:23 everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
But it does not end there. Romans 3:24-26 says
Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He himself is fair and just, and He declares sinners to be right in His sight - forgiven - when they believe in Jesus.
Forgiven – What a word!
Sins pardoned, sins canceled, sins Forgiven.
Ransomed, Healed, Restored, Forgiven.
The debt of sin has been released.
The chains are gone, there is freedom, there is forgiveness in Jesus.
Set free from slavery to sin to become a child of God.
The freedom to follow God instead of fleeing from Him
Jesus’ death on the cross makes our forgiveness possible.
He paid the price. He was the perfect sacrifice, the perfect Lamb, slain for my sins and yours.
If Jesus had stayed in the grave, we would have no forgiveness, no Saviour, no eternal life, no place in heaven.
Jesus’ resurrection from the grave makes forgiveness and a real relationship with God possible.
Because we are forgiven, we are called to forgive.
A pastor finished his sermon early one Sunday,
(ok, so, you know it wasn’t me!) and he wanted to check his congregation understood what he had preached.
So he asked, “Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?”
There was a long pause and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up, “You have to sin.”
True, but Jesus also reveals God expects us to willingly forgive others.
I will close with this.
The immoral woman placed her faith and trust in Jesus.
Jesus forgave her sins and set her free to go in peace.
There is great peace when we know we are forgiven and when we forgive others.
Simon could have had the same forgiveness.
But his faith was only in himself.
What about you?
Will you accept God’s forgiveness today?
Will you forgive as God has forgiven you?
God through Christ has forgiven us, forgiven me
so we, so I, must forgive others.
