SOTM
“Forgiveness”
Matthew 6:14-15
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.
God’s forgiveness of sin STILL amazes me:
know the truth of my sin
We’ve seen the depth of our own wickedness
If everyone knew the terrible, evil things we have thought and done
We’d have trouble looking anyone in the eye
But God knows the worst about us:
He saw you when you stole
He saw you when you lied
He saw you when you did that thing you wish you never did
He knows about your addictions and struggles with the flesh
We’ve not hidden anything from God
God’s forgiveness has come to us
God is all knowing
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of hi to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13
God’s surprising response:
We’ve broken God’s Law
We’re guilty, there’s no way around it
The wages of sin is death
The Law requires that we pay for our sin with our own blood
That we receive the just punishment for our sin
God knows the worst about us, but He treats us BETTER than we deserve:
A surprising plot twist:
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8 (NIV)
Jesus knew:
That we would sin
He knew that we would wander from the truth
Died for your sin over 2,000 years before you were born
Paid your debt to sin before you even sinned!
God can handle it:
A murderer? Forgiveness is available
Adulterer, fornicator - Forgiveness is offered
Thief, liar, covetor, lustful eyes - Forgiveness
Forgiveness through the cross was made available to:
Jefferey Dalmer, Osama Bin Laden, Sadam Husein and even Hitler
the offer of forgiveness and salvation still stands for YOU!
Do we deserve this forgiveness?
Absolutely not
I don’t want what I deserve
We deserve Hell,
Listen to the Good news for those obedient to the Gospel: (Don’t read citation!)
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1 (KJV)
"Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." Hebrews 10:17
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:11-12
DT - God has forgiven us so much, it’s no problem to forgive others.
How we treat others is a reflection of our heart’s condition
People are going to treat you badly
You will be cheated, slandered, unfairly harassed
Someone cause you intentional and unintentional harm to you
Jesus promised we would have trouble in this world
But He also told us that He has overcome the world
When we received Salvation through the blood of Jesus:
We become have a new master
We have a new purpose
We have a new power
Listen to the expectations of Jesus of those in HIS Kingdom:
“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
“The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.” – Marianne Williamson
Jesus tells us that if we are to receive forgiveness we must ALSO forgive our offenders also
Let God’s forgiveness flow to us, and then through us
Forgiveness is like a twix candy bar
When i was a kid, getting a candy bar was a big deal
I rarely got candy, unless I was with my grandparents.
On the rare occasion that I could get a candy bar, I always picked TWIX
Twix candy bars are the same as the others, but with came with not 1 but 2 candy bars!
So i got 2 candy bars for the price of 1
You can’t just buy 1 Twix candy bar. They come in a 2 pack
In the same way TWIXs comes with 2 pieces of wonderful chocolate:
Forgiveness comes with 2 pieces
1. First there is the receiving forgiveness,
but that only works when you have the second piece
2. The second piece of forgiveness is the GIVING of forgiveness
We all want forgiveness, but we are less excited about giving forgiveness:
When someone hurts us, we want to return the favor
They need to pay for the wrong
We want justice
It’s not fair that they get away with acting like that
Someone needs to put them in their place
All of that might be true:
But that is not what God wants from our lives
God will handle punishing the wicked
You take care of loving people the way God loved you.
“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” 1 Peter 3:19
Listen to the Lyrics of “Freely, Freely”
God forgave my sin in Jesus' name.
I've been born again in Jesus' name
And in Jesus' name I come to you
To share his love as he told me to.
He said 'Freely, freely you have received;, freely, freely give.
Go in my name, and because you believe others will know that I live.
He said 'Freely, freely you have received;, freely, freely give.
Go in my name, and because you believe others will know that I live.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean:
What they did was ok
That it didn’t happen
“Forgiveness doesn’t make the other person right, it makes you free.” – Stormie Omartian
Forgiveness is a choice that:
You will choose not to get even
That you will not hurt the one who has hurt you
Retribution is not our job:
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Romans 12:19
JESUS TEACHES THAT IF WE FORGIVE:
WE ARE FORGIVEN,
BUT IF WE DON’T FORGIVE,
WE ARE NOT FORGIVEN.
We can’t hold forgiveness and hatred at the same time.
We can only hold one at a time.
Are you willing to forgive as God forgave you???
FORGIVENESS means that:
I am not going to let the behavior of another person,
To cause me to lose my forgiveness
If Jesus wants me to forgive, then I’ll forgive.
God has given so much forgiveness:
We’ve got buckets of forgiveness from God
Everyday we get more forgiveness
Forgiveness has its mark on every corner of our life
We live and breath by the grace of God
God has supplied us with enough forgiveness...
So when someone else needs our forgiveness we can say:
“You need some forgiveness, hey I do too. I’m going to forgive you, I have so much forgiveness from God and He keeps giving me more! I’m just gonna give you a piece of that forgiveness, because I definitely have enough to share.”
Forgiveness is only given to those who don’t deserve it:
When we refuse to forgive others,
There is a problem in our heart
Forgiving others demonstrates our Christian Maturity
Forgiveness opens the door to reconciliation
Forgiveness reveals our love for the other person:
Jesus forgave us because He loved us….
We are most like Jesus When we forgive others as Christ forgave us...
WE SHOULD ASK OURSELVES:
“LORD IS THERE SOMEBODY THAT I HAVE YET TO FORGIVE?”
“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)
Remember that since:
God’s forgiveness has come to us
To Let God’s forgiveness flow to us, and then through us
We can forgive the unforgivable, because God first forgave the unforgivable in us
INVITATION:
Are you forgiven?
Jesus has made it easy for you to be eternally forgiven,
You can rid yourself of the weight of your guilt by simply obeying him.
He has asked you to change your life by following him.
By following him you are led to the foot of the cross and are brought to a decision.
To live for Jesus and die to yourself
To be buried in Baptism
To be raised from the grave of baptism
to be a new creature in the Lord forgiven of every wrongdoing.
Let us Pray...
