Total Forgetfulness
Dr. Fernando Cabrera
Genesis 37:1-50:26
1. Forget emotionally what was done against you
a. First born – Manasseh “to forget”
i. Joseph had not forgotten emotionally, but factually
ii. Forget the pain
1. In Hell, says C.S. Lewis, part of the punishment will be to remember all, all the hatred, malice, bitterness, slandering words, back stabbinig
2. In Heaven, we will remember no more because all would have passed away and all things will be new
b. Second born – Ephraim – “double fruitfulness”
i. There is no divine fruitfulness and multiplication until there is forgetfulness.
ii. Because Joseph learned to forgive, God trusted him with a strategic position
1. Some of you have been prophesied that God would do mighty things and use you, but nothing has happened
2. Is it possible that you need to release your grudge before God release his glory and destiny upon your life
c. The first person to benefit from forgiving is the person forgiving
i. It releases you from your past and living in the past
1. Martin Luther King Sr.
a. His son, Martin Luther King Jr., killed by James Earl Ray
b. His other son drown the next year
c. His wife was killed while he was preaching from the pulpit
d. And yet listen to what he says, “There are two people I am supposed to hate. One is a white man, the other is a black man, and both are serving time for having committed murder. I don’t hate either one. Nothing that a man does take him lower than when he allows himself so low as to hate anyone”
e. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “I rather die than to hate you”
ii. Matthew 18:35 Story of the King and the Servant
1. owe $50,000 million dollars and somebody owe about 50.00 dollars
2. Send to the tormentors: anger, bitterness, hatred, ulcers, high blood pressure, migrane headaches, sleeplessness and amnesia
d. Forgiveness GIVES YOU FREEDOM
i. Forgiveness warms the heart and cools the sting
2. Don’t tell anybody what they did
a. We tell others to hurt the offenders reputation and smear their name
b. Control the tongue
i. Exemption – only for counseling reasons with your mentor or leader, or court of law
ii.
c. Some of you may say, “I don’t need to forgive”
i. General Oglethorpe of the colony of Georgia during the early days of America once said to John Wesley (the great evangelist), “I never forgive,”, Wesley replied, “Then Sir, I hope you never sin”
3. You won’t let them be afraid of you
a. 45:5 “Do not be grieved” the word grieve is the word Atsab, which means to “worry” or being in anguish
b. God is not that way
c. If you see a person come in and they freeze and you say, “good” it shows that there is a grudge in your heart
4. You won’t let them feel guilty
a. Joseph said to them “do not be angry with yourself”
b. We love to punish people by sending them in a guilt trip
i. Big cop out is: “I will forgive them when they accept that they done wrong:
1. problem with this type of thinking is that most people don’t know they did wrong or do not think they did wrong.
c. Faultfinders
i. Are people who give judgment on others
1. judgment=final judgment on someone
2. Faultfinder become cynics
a. Warning: A critical spirit has a way of boomeraging
ii. The problem is this: We don’t see ourselves as very big sinners, therefore, we don’t appreciate how greatly God has forgiven us. When your sins seems small everyone else looks bigger.
d. Matthew 6:12 “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”
i. The key word here is “as”
1. You set the standard and God follows your lead
2. When was the last time you really wanted God to forgive your sins the same way you forgive people who hurt you?
ii. Forgiveness is another way of admitting, I am human, I make mistakes. I want to be granted privilege and so I grant you that privilege.
5. Let them save face
a. Notice what he says, “for God did send me before you to preserve life”
b. He could have crush them
i. However, he was a broken man this time in his life
1. v. 2 “and he wept aloud”
6. Protect them from their darkest secrets and greatest fear
a. He even gives them a script of what to tell their father: “Thus saith your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me and tarry not …” – never once they he exposed his brothers darkest secret and greatest fear of having almost killed his brother Joseph and having sold him into slavery.
b. What script do you have on people you hold grudges against?
c. That is what Jesus did for us with his blood, he protect us from our darkest secret and greatest fear
7. Is a life sentence
a. You have to keep on doing it
b. Read v.15-19 He continued to forgive them, even when his father was gone.
i. There are those who dig up skeletons from people’s past
ii. We say, “wait a second, he or she is getting off the hook” and we loose the peace again.
c. Love keeps no record of no wrong
i. “Love does not keep score because it has a bad memory”
1. I Corinthians 13:5 “Love..thinks no evil
2. This teaching would transform every marriage and relationship by sundown if every person would apply it.
d. Story of Corrie Ten Boom
i. In concentration camp and was feeling still angry and could not sleep
1. Pastor told her to go to a church steeple and ring the bell and then let go. It will still ring, but less and less if you don’t pull it again.
8. Pray for your enemies
a. What is an enemy?
i. Someone who has turned against you
1. always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much
b. Why can we act in revenge? Romans 12:19
i. Because you cannot improve in his justice.
1. He sees every angle of the evil done against you – far better than you can see it.
2. IF YOU HOLD A GRUDGE, YOU DOUBT THE JUDGE
3. Do you really believe his promise, that vengengance is his and he will repay?
a. I Peter 2:22-23 “Jesus…kept entrusting…to Him who judges righteously”
b. If Jesus conquered bitterness and vengeance by faith in the Father, how much more should we since we have far less right to murmur for being mistreated than he did.
ii. What about when a Christian does wrong against you?
1. we look to the Cross
a. all sin will be avenged either in hell or at the cross
b. The sins of the unrepentant will be avenged in hell and the sins of the repentant were avenged on the cross
2. We forgive because if you are a true Christian you will experience satisfying forgiveness from God DAILY.
a. It is not just about what God forgave you, but the fact that you will need forgiveness in the future.
9. Closing
a. Do you have a long term bitterness that you seems to still be struggling with
b. Are there repeated present frustrations which are short term anger?
i. Are there traits of your children or your spouse or your church or your boss or your leader that week after week provoke you so deeply that you grit your teeth and rehearse in your head?
Major credits for this sermon outline belongs to R.T. Kendall.
