Accuser of the Brethren - Part 1
I do not know about you, but I make a lot of mistakes. In fact, I sin. I spend quite a bit of time in prayer telling God what He already knows about my failures, fumbles, and foolish sins. I do not waste my time thinking I am perfect because that would be a vain fantasy. It also ticks off the people who are convinced that they are perfect. I certainly do not need the added stress of their wrath.
I have not only sinned against God and failed Him. There have been times in my life when my sin and failure has affected the Brethren. Worst of all, I have hurt the ones I love the most. For the most part, by God’s grace, people have forgiven me. By the blood of His Son, He has forgiven me. Hallelujah for the Cross!
You would think that with being the recipient of all that forgiveness that I would forgive at the tip of a hat and grudge would not even be in my vocabulary. O, that I would be that spiritual!!! There have been some folks, saved and unsaved that have hacked me off big time and forgiveness was not what I first thought of for them. I believe that I am distant kin to James and John, the sons of thunder. (Mark 3:17) My first thought was to bring down fire upon their heads. (Luke 9:54) The forgiveness concept comes when Jesus rebukes me. He reminds me of His mission and my own sins that He has forgiven and will continue to forgive as He works on my spirit. (Luke 9:55,56; Heb 7:25)
To live above with Saints we love, O that will be glory,
But to live below with Saints we know, now that’s another story!
That is the problem. We expect each other to be practically what Jesus sees in us judicially. We are declared righteous and we should be seeking His power to be righteous, but we do not always succeed. We are all too willing to be easy on ourselves and say, "Hey, I not perfect, just forgiven!" or "Please be patient, God is not finished with me yet." Ah, but let another brother cross us and we expect God to be done with Him and he ought to be perfect. God may not be done with him, but we are!
2 Sam 12:13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. (KJV)
When God forgives your sin that is wonderful enough, but that He forgives and still grants you life is even more a marvelous work of grace. Yet, David received even more grace and mercy than what we might first see in this passage. You may know that Nathan was referring to the double sins of adultery and murder that David was guilty of by his relationship with Bathsheba.
You say, "Yes, those were really horrible sins and God is merciful." What you may not know is that these were the only "unpardonable" sins in the Old Testament! There were no sacrifices for these sins. The penalty was death and there was no appeal or insanity plea!!! Commit one and you were dead and David committed both!!!! God pardoned the unpardonable! The law demanded death and grace gave life!!!! I hope someone is shouting somewhere!!! If I weren’t an old fat guy I’d be running the aisle and jumping pews and I’m a Baptist!
Yes, he suffered some things in the flesh because of his sins, but he was pardoned before God! We may pay some penalties for our actions here, but praise God the law that would have killed us was nailed to the Cross and His sacrifice of grace gives us eternal life!!!! Have you ever failed and asked forgiveness from someone, but did not get it? It hurts, but praise God again that when we seek forgiveness from Him we get it! Wave a hanky and shout, "Glory" until you are hoarse!!!! In light of all this, how in the name of all that is holy can we withhold forgiveness from any man that sins against us?
You must forgive the sins of the brethren because of your past! What were you before you came to Christ?
1 Cor 6:9-11
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (KJV)
If your sin is not specifically listed here, it is a branch of the same tree of one that is listed. Verse 11 says it all! Such were some of you! Thank God that you are washed! Peter had to have his feet washed or Christ would have no part of him. If you have been washed then take the same basin of serving love to your brethren and wash their feet clean of their sin against you.
If you are still gloating and puffing up because you do not see yourself as part of the "some of you" spoken of here stop and deflate yourself. No good person is saved we are told in Romans 3:23. Your particular filthy rags are no less stinky than anything mentioned in these verses. Should you think you were good when you were saved then recheck your salvation. Christ came for sinners not the (self) righteous!
You must forgive the brethren because of salvation! Salvation is being a new creature. (II Cor 5:17) As all things are becoming new, you will experience struggles, setbacks, and failures. Just as a child grows from an infant to an adult learning as it goes so also is the life of a Christian. Sometimes we learn fast and easy and at other times or in other areas we grow slow and hard. We go through remedial education repeatedly, but thank God, we are still His children whether we are whiz kids or a bit dense.
We must forgive the brethren because there is no condemnation in Christ. (Romans 8:1) If He does not condemn us when we fail, how can we heap condemnation on the brethren who fail? We are to restore them in a spirit of meekness knowing that only by the grace of God we are not in the same predicament! (Gal 6:1)
Every reason to forgive the brethren is important, but we must do it because of satan! When we refuse to forgive the brethren, we take on satan’s role and personality.
Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (KJV)
When I run around with a grudge against a brother or sister I am saying to God, "See! This one, who claims to be your child, has sinned against You and ME! Judge him! Make him pay! Don’t let him get away with that!" Think about that! The devil is the last person that should be seeking judgement on anyone since he is destined for outer darkness except that misery loves company. The devil accusing people of sin is a bit like the proverbial pot calling the kettle black wouldn’t you say?
Well, if it is ridiculous for the devil to be doing this, how about us? We should all be sizzling on the BBQ pit right now. And we want God to exact judgement on some other human? Man, do we have some nerve or what? We who have been forgiven much will not forgive a little? (Matt 18) I wonder how much that would change if God would let us smell sulfur and brimstone until we changed that attitude!
Job’s compatriots became devil’s advocates when they accused Job of sin when they had no real clue of what was happening. The Edomites were as one of Israel’s enemies when they just stood by and watched the attack. When we do not seek to restore a fallen brother or sister and stand by watching the devil attack them we become as satan.
2 Cor 2:5-11
5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.
6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.
7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.
9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. (KJV)
We must forgive the brethren because an unforgiving spirit is one of satan’s tactics. People need forgiveness. Guilt that is not properly dealt with will drive a person into deep despair and depression. More people are locked in asylums because they are racked with guilt than those who have true brain damage or organically caused mental illnesses. They cloak their guilt and refuse to deal with it properly and thus tumble into a dark world of self -deception and a life with little to no hope in spite of all drug or psychotherapy. They refuse to admit their real problem and therefore cannot receive the correct treatment and healing. I refer you to a book by Jay Adams called, Competent to Counsel for case histories of people who walked out of institutions and away from beds of paralysis by dealing with their guilt. I do not hold to his very strong Calvinism, but his counseling precepts are sound.
The devil knows that if a person is racked with guilt and despair their life is fruitless. In the case of a believer, this is a victory for him. He will tell a Christian that they are not forgiven or that they have crossed over some line and it is all over for them. They should just give up and await judgement! This will incapacitate a saint. If the saint is incapacitated for service, satan has no fear of him. The saint has no witness, no fruit, and no joy. If we cause that saint to be in that condition by lack of forgiveness then we are aiding and abetting the enemy of God!
If we allow the saint to remain in that condition we are guilty of worse than apathy. We are Edomites.
We need to reach out to the saint that is in despair and help them to experience their acceptance in the Beloved! (Eph 1:6) Guilt attacks our acceptance and people need acceptance. If we did not need it, we would all be hermits and there would be no such thing as peer pressure since we would have no need to be accepted by our peers.
We need to be accepted before God most of all which is why we must win people to Christ. Once a person is a Christian, they will need to learn and experience that acceptance in the Beloved if they are to grow in grace and power. They also need to know they are accepted in the Body! Outside of the throne room of God, a child of God should be most at home in the Church. He or she should be loved unconditionally and should be made to feel like real family even if they have never known a good family life with their genetic family. The genes of the second Adam bind us more closely together than the genes of the first Adam. When one of us breaks an ankle the rest should limp and seek to make the lame limb strong again.
That is not to say that sin is tolerated in the name of love or heresy in the name of unity. Remember the context of this passage. In I Corinthians, Paul knew of a man and woman claiming to be saints that were living in incest. He was appalled that the Corinthians were not appalled at it and did nothing about it. He called for church discipline and for the couple to be shunned if they did not repent. In this passage, he has heard of their repentance and is seeking to have them brought back into fellowship with the church as they have been brought by into fellowship with God. The sin is not accepted and condoned, but the saint is to be restored and not stoned.
We must forgive the sins of the brethren because of Christ’s Command!
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. (KJV)
I know Paul said this. It is not in red. However, I believe that Christ through the Holy Spirit inspired Paul’s teaching and it is just as authoritative as if Christ said it. The town crier may read the message of the King, but it is still the King’s message and not the crier. Jesus did say in red,
John 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. (KJV)
Forgiveness is a part of love. God proved His love to us that while we were still doing our sinful thing He sent Christ to die that we might have the means to receive forgiveness. (Rom 5:8) The Father proved His love for us by giving the Son that we might be forgiven. The Son proved His love for us giving His life that we might be forgiven. The Holy Spirit proves His love for us by drawing us to the Son that we might believe and receive that forgiveness. Therefore, while Ephesians 4:32 is not a red saying it is indeed the voice of Christ, who has said the same thing through word and deed throughout the Gospels.
We like to sing, "Count Your Blessings." Well, maybe we should try to count our sins and see how blessed we really are. Actually, we cannot get close to an accurate count. Like David, we could say that they are way over our heads and it is wonderful that God does not mark iniquities because we could not stand. (Psalms 38:4; 130:3)
That brings us to this week’s final reason to forgive the brethren unlimited grace.
Matt 18:21-22
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. (KJV)
Ah, my soul brother Peter! Seven is the number of completion so why not seven times of forgiveness and that completes that! Most of us don’t even get past one or two times so seven is a magnanimous number! Yet, Jesus said seventy times seven! You would have to keep amazingly good ledgers to know if a person committed 490 sins against you. I know some folks that have been real thorns in my side, but I don’t think any of them got to 490.
Now Christ had said seven times in a day if a man repents, you forgive him. (Luke 17:4) Again, how many folks have sinned against you seven times in one day? Peter grabbed on to that and was going to make that a rule of life when Christ was trying to teach unlimited forgiveness. For most people, that would be too hard a number to remember daily. Peter might have been able to keep up with a seven times in a day count. Therefore, to clarify and emphasize to Peter what he was getting at all along Jesus tells him 490 times in a day!
Peter missed the point of the parable of debtor. We owe God so much that even at 490 times a day there is no person that can run up an account like we had with Him. If I were forgiven a ten million-dollar debt even if a person owed me a hundred thousand dollars it is but a nickel compared to what I have been forgiven.
How many of us have sinned against God at least seven times in a day? How about 490 times a day? Remember we are talking about thought, word, and deed. Are we ever as holy as He is holy? We strive, but we fail that one daily. Do we ever do something good with the wrong motive? Do we know our own deceit heart well enough to say no? I don’t think so! (Jer 17:9)
If we cannot keep track of our own sins and are thankful, that God does not count ours then why are we counting the brethren’s? Have we forgotten our past? Have we forgotten what salvation is all about? We seem to have forgotten Christ’s commands. We have become accusers of the brethren taking on the tactics and personality of satan. O, may we repent quickly!!! Let us forgive the brethren as we have been forgiven!!!
Last time we discussed four reasons that we must forgive the brethren. First, because of our own past, second because our salvation is all about a new creation without condemnation. Thirdly, we must forgive the brethren because we do not want to take on the personality and tactics of satan. Fourthly, because of Christ’s command to forgive and the unlimited grace we receive. Well, the brethren must need a lot of forgiveness because tonight we have four more.
Matt 15:19-20
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 These are the things, which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. KJV
We must forgive the brethren because of God’s viewpoint! We look on the outward actions, but God says that thoughts condemn. We have sayings like, "You can’t sue a man for thinking." In God judicial system, you can be sued.
Matt 5:21-28
21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time; Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. KJV
For those who think grace is easier than law, they need to rethink. Under Mosaic Law, you actually had to kill a person to be guilty of murder. Under grace or the law of the Kingdom, you have to be angry with someone without a cause to be guilty of murder. Why? Because the anger here means, rage and you are coming very close to committing the act. How many times have murderers tried to get off by using the crime of passion excuse? They started out just enraged at the person and when the rage consumed them, they acted out the thoughts.
Ever tell someone you wished they were dead? What kept you from fulfilling your own wish? Was it the fear of incarceration or execution? Was it your moral code? If you were absolutely positive that neither man nor God would "catch" you would you have carried it out? The danger of rage and a heart not ready to forgive is that it can end in tragedy. Even if you do not kill them physically, they are dead as far as you are concerned. Death is separation from life and you have cut them out of your life. That rage continues to burn and effect your whole life. In many ways, it has killed you, also. You will never have the fullness of life you would have before this murder. God holds you accountable for your thoughts!
The rabbinical tradition would have you brought before the council for saying another person is worthless or Raca. Call it a slander or libel suit. Christ says, you are in danger of hell fire if you call someone a fool or moron. Ouch! How many times have we done that? Aren’t you glad that you are under grace? You by your attitude have cast your brother into a type of outer darkness and Christ is saying, tit for tat. You become your brother’s spiritual judge and only Christ can cast people into outer darkness.
You come to God with gifts wanting to be reconciled and in fellowship, but you know there is a tension between you and another brother and you do nothing about it. The other brother may well be at fault. So, who offended and caused the need for the Cross, God? I don’t think so! We were the offenders and He took the first of many steps towards reconciliation with us in eternity past when He foreordained His Son to die for us. What are we waiting for? If we do not have a heart for forgiveness and reconciliation with our brother whom we see, what makes us think that we are truly seeking reconciliation with God whom we cannot see?
If you cannot for the love of God see the value of forgiveness and reconciliation then be pragmatic about it. Seek it to keep the situation from getting out of hand. We now have judicial entertainment programs where folks will air their dirty laundry and lack of common sense before millions on television. The real courts are log jammed with suits and counter suits and people are in jail because they did not seek some sort of reconciliation for disagreements.
Once it is in court, it then snowballs out of control of either party to fix and neither side may achieve satisfaction based upon the judge’s decision. If it means jail time, you are there and there is no way around the parameters of the sentence. You are there until you pay the last farthing. If your earliest possible parole date is ten years then you stay the ten and are thankful you did not do the twenty. In NT times, they had no such concept. Only on special occasions like Pilate freeing Barabbas did you get out early. Refusal to have a heart inclined to forgiveness and reconciliation can make you do hard time in or out of a cell.
One last proof that grace is a bit tougher than we think and that attitudes equal action is adultery. In the OT, you had to do it. In the NT, you only have to think about it. If you are thinking it, the only reason you are not doing it is your fear of being caught or you lack opportunity. If you think it, you did it!
May God especially help us since the amount of temptation in this area is overwhelming! Sex sells, and sex sells everything today. Modesty is rare and attitudes about sex changed drastically in the sixties. Our viewpoint may have changed, but God’s did not. In light of all this, how can we not forgive the brethren we stand in the need of forgiveness daily for our thoughts and attitudes?
We tend to cling to the error of little and big sins or mortal and venial sins. We forgive little sins and not so bad sinners, but we withhold our forgiveness from folks who commit big sins, especially those who have committed big sins for long periods. We need to forgive the big sinners because of their fruit!
Luke 7:39-50
39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
41 There was a certain creditor, which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. KJV
Jesus asks Simon the Sanctified a simple question. Who loves the most? Old Simon would have advanced to the next level with his final answer. A. He who was forgiven the most. He may have gloated a little bit when Jesus told him that he judged rightly. After all, he was a Pharisee and that was what they did best. Well, at least judge though they did not always judge rightly. Unfortunately, he and we do not always realize how much we have been forgiven. We tend to get self-righteous and feel like a goody two shoes and not like them sinners out in the world.
Jesus then drops a bomb on old Simon. The most basic customs Simon did not do for Jesus. You come into a home as a guest and a servant washes the dirt off your feet. Your head is anointed with a perfume as a part of the feast and a kiss would be equal to our hug or shaking hands. Simon was just plain rude and crude to Christ. He may have only invited Christ there for sport since he did not hold him as a prophet. (Vs. 39) Simon was righteous in his own mind and therefore did not love Christ as he should have.
Ah, but enter in the harlot! She brings in expensive ointment, not the common cheap stuff and put it on His feet. For my comparison picture, she brought in the Stetson instead of the Hai Karate. She kisses His feet! She washes His feet with her tears and uses her hair as a towel! What love she had not only to do this, but imagine crashing the party at the Pharisees house!!! Love that would not keep her away from Jesus! No obstacle would keep her from ministering to the one she loved and in Whom she had placed her faith! What zeal!!! What humility! Oh that we would attain to such heights in spirituality!!
Those who know they are forgiven much are usually far more zealous! Note that even with that zeal and humility that caused such a work of love Jesus said that it was her faith that saved her. Thank God it is faith plus nothing or none of us would make since the average American Christian is more like Simon than this harlot who became pure as a virgin when she was forgiven by her Lord!
1 Cor 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. KJV
1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. KJV
We must forgive the big sinners because they are usually more tender and humble. Paul calls himself the Chief of Sinners and the least of the apostles!! Lord knows I am the Assistant Chief of Sinners, but oh that He would make me the least of my generation’s Christians and yet use me like He did Paul!!!! If Jesus can forgive the harlot and allow her to minister to Him then how can we keep tabs or create degrees of sin and declare some sister unclean and unable to serve? When Jesus calls the unclean clean, who are we to say otherwise? (Acts 10:15)
If Jesus can forgive the Chief of Sinners and use him to evangelize the Gentiles and write most of the New Testament than how can we not seek out and forgive the worst sinner or the brother who has abused us the most and forgive him? Lord knows we need a Paul in this age!! Let’s find him and bring him into the kingdom! If he is already here but bruised by a fall then let us bind his wounds and strengthen him for the ministry for which God has called him. We cannot afford to not forgive the big sinners!
We must forgive the brethren because of Christ’s cleansing!!! I John 1:9 says it is complete! It is not a partial cleansing! He does not get us twenty percent or seventy percent clean, but one hundred percent clean when we come to Him! We must forgive all men and lead them to the cleansing power of the Blood! Learn to hate dirt my Brethren! Don’t see the sins of people as something to take personally. See it as filth and scum of the flesh and devil that needs to be cleansed! Learn to hate your own sin. We need to scrub ourselves regularly and not just sponge bathe to keep the odor down! We want a complete cleansing! Let us accept nothing less for neither sinners nor ourselves. Isa 1:18 tells us that God will make us white as snow though our sins be as scarlet. When it comes to getting the red out VisineÒ cannot come close to the Blood of the Lamb! It doesn’t get any cleaner than that!
1 Peter 1:18-19
18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: KJV
Not only is it complete but also is the best possible cleansing! It was purchased by His blood, which only gets more valuable over the years. It knows nothing of inflation or devaluation. There will never come a time when you will go to Christ for cleansing and He will say, "I’m sorry, but you have reached your quota for this quarter or this fiscal year. I don’t have any more blood to cleanse you or it costs more this year to cleanse you and you are dirtier than you have ever been before."
You cannot go to the Heaven’s Laundry and buy your cleansing with silver or gold. You can’t help in the scrubbing. Only the pure blood of Christ can wash you clean! No tradition or act of man you can do it. The cost has been paid! All you do is present your dirty rags and He gives you pure white robes! (Rev 19:14) As one of my early mentor’s would say, "Hallelujah for the Cross! If Jesus Christ fails, then everything fails for me!" Hallelujah, He doesn’t fail and we should not fail to forgive!
Rom 5:8-11
8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. KJV
Finally, we must forgive the brethren because of Christ’s example! He loved the worst! We were sinners and enemies! We shook our puny fists in the face of God and said we will be our own gods and the masters of our destinies. We destroyed our lives and the lives of others with our foolishness and yet, the Father proved His love for us by sending His Son to die for our forgiveness and reconciliation. The Son did this willingly because He said of His life, "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John 10:18)
Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. KJV
He forgave the worst!!! The very ones that betrayed Him to Pilate and caused Him to be crucified He forgives! Had Judas come to Him, He would have been forgiven!!! He would not come and He could not be forgiven. The very worst sinner, in our minds, could have been saved if he would have but asked forgiveness. Paul said that he was the Chief of Sinners, but he was ignorant.
Imagine that! All the ThDs of the time were ignorant of the truth. The truth was revealed to babes and unlearned fishermen. You can be knowledgeable and still not have wisdom. You can think you know and yet be ignorant. I am afraid that when it comes to forgiveness many Christians are far more ignorant than they realize. They can quote many passages, but they are like the lost people that "are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (2 Tim 3:7)
To paraphrase a commercial, forgiveness is our business, our only business. The Gospel is the good news of forgiveness and reconciliation. When we refuse to forgive the brethren or even the sinners around us we are denying the Gospel and hindering the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit. I did not plan it this way, but I ended up with eight points in this study of forgiveness. Eight is the number of a new beginning and is that not what the Gospel is all about? Is that not why we need forgiveness that we might have a new beginning?
When we see it from God’s viewpoint that thoughts and attitudes are the same as actions we must forgive. When we look at the fruit of the big sinners who love more when they are forgiven we must forgive. When we look at the completeness of the best possible cleansing through the Blood of Christ we must forgive. When we start at the stable and end at the Cross watching the example of Christ what else can we do, but forgive? Let us bring others and ourselves to Him to be forgiven, reconciled, and sent out to serve with a new beginning!
Father sanctify our hearts. Let us forgive and be forgiven! Let us begin again to take the Gospel of forgiveness and reconciliation to a world that so desperately needs it, yet so desperately needs to see us live it! Let us see how much we are forgiven and may our zeal and humility reflect what we have realized! In Jesus’ name, Amen!
