About Forgiveness?”
Steve W. Reeves
stevereevesoutlines.blogspot.com
INTRODUCTION:
A.
There is an eruption of volcanic proportions taking place in the world. It is
seen in
our country, our cities, out homes, our
schools and our relationships. It is the eruption
of conflict.
1. The New Testament writer, James, posed
the question, “What is the source of
quarrels and conflicts among you?” His
answer was that they come from the
desires that wage war within us (James
4:1). He continued in verse 2 by saying,
“You lust and do not have, so you
commit murder. And you are envious and cannot
obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”
2. The conflict within our culture is
expressed in our music, movies, politics,
businesses, education and homes.
3. It seems as if everyone is on a
collision course with someone else, Anger
abounds. Voices shout, Blame is sought.
The church is not immune.
B.
There is a direct correlation between the increase in anger and the decrease in
forgiveness.
1. Many people today view anger and revenge
as acts of courage. They are seen as
a fundamental human right. “If you do
not do what I want you to do I have a right to
be angry with you and retaliate against
you.”
2. At the same time forgiveness is often
viewed as weakness, giving in or surrender.
None of which is true.
3. Forgiveness is actually an indicator of
greater emotional strength and courage.
4.
Scripture says that forgiveness is a characteristic of Godly character.
a. Proverbs 19:11, “It is a man’s glory
to overlook a transgression.”
b. Proverbs 10:12, “Hatred stirs up
strife but love covers a multitude of
transgressions.”
c. Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind to one
another, compassionate, forgiving each
other, just as God in Christ also
has forgiven you.”
d. Peter urged the readers of his
letter, “Be fervent in loving one another because
love covers a multitude of
transgressions.”
C.
What does Jesus say about forgiveness?
1. In the heart and mind of Jesus the
fabric of forgiveness is tightly woven with both
vertical and horizontal strands.
2. The vertical strands represent God’s
willingness to forgive us. The horizontal
strands represent our willingness to
forgive others.
3. These stands are woven together so
tightly that to remove either of them causes
the fabric to fray.
I. GOD’S WILLINGNESS
TO FORGIVE US
A. When God described Himself to Moses, He
did so with these words found in
Exodus 34:6-7, “The Lord,
the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to
anger, and abounding in faithfulness
and truth; 7 who keeps faithfulness for
thousands, who forgives wrongdoing,
violation of His Law, and
sin.”
B. Author and speaker, John McArthur, says
that there are over seventy-five word
pictures for forgiveness in the Bible.
Among them are these.
1. Turning a key in a jail cell door to
allow the prisoner access to freedom.
2. Raising an anchor to set a ship free
to sail.
3. Sweeping out the garbage to restore cleanliness
and freshness to a house.
4. Write in large letters across a
debt, “paid in full.”
5. Hearing the slam of a judge’s gavel
with the words, “not guilty.”
6. Shooting an arrow so high and far it
can never be retrieved.
7. Breaking a clay pot into so many
pieces it can never be put together again.
B. God’s forgiveness is all of these
things. What does Jesus say?
1. Jesus described it.
a. In Matthew 18:22ff Jesus told a
parable in response to Peter’s question, “How
often shall I forgive someone
who offends me?” Jesus told the story of
a king
who called his servants to give
an account. One servant owed ten thousand
talents. This was an
astronomical debt. One illustration I read said that one
talent represented twenty years
of wages. Ten thousand talents would require
200,000 years of work. In other
words, it was an impossible debt. When the
servant could not pay; the king
was prepared to throw him and his family into
prison. The servant pleaded for
mercy and the king forgave the debt.
1.) What does this say to us
about God’s willingness to forgive?
2.) You and I owe a debt to God
because of sin. It is a debt that all of our
effort, works and righteousness cannot
repay. Like the servant we are
totally, completely and
utterly dependent upon the forgiveness of the king.
3.) “He paid a debt He did not
owe. I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed
someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a
brand-new song,
‘Amazing Grace.’ Christ
Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.”
b. In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus told the
last of three stories in this chapter about
God’s willingness to forgive.
This story concerned a man with two sons. The
younger son, high spirited,
rebellious and reckless, brashly demanded his
inheritance, ran away from home
and wasted it in a far country. In the pathetic
pain of poverty he thought of
home. He remembered that his daddy’s
servants had more than enough
food and comfortable living conditions.
Remorsefully, he set off toward
home to plead for a job.
1.) What did the father do? Did he turn away from
the son? Did he lecture
him and scold him? Did he set forth terms of
acceptance?
2.) He ran to him. You can
imagine him saying, “My son, my son.” He put a
ring on his finger, a robe on his shoulders
and had a feast. This is God’s
willingness
and longing to forgive you.
2. Jesus demonstrated God’s willingness
to forgive.
a. In John 8:1-11 He forgave an
adulterous woman, “neither do I condemn
you.”
b. In behalf of the crowd who
demanded his crucifixion He cried, “Father, forgive
them, they do not know what
they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
c. To the repentant thief who hung
by Jesus on the cross, the Lord said, “Today,
you will be with me in
paradise” (Luke 23:43).
C. Jesus drew upon all of the Old Testament
statements about God’s willingness to
forgive.
1. Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is
from the west, so far had he removed our
wrongdoings from us.”
2. Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.”
D. The conclusion we reach is unmistakable.
Of all our redemptive characteristics,
none is more like God than forgiveness.
Never are you more like Satan than when
you are filled with hatred, rage and
anger. Never are you more like God than when
you practice forgiveness.
II. OUR WILLINGNESS
TO FORGIVE OTHERS
A. The horizontal strand in the fabric of
forgiveness is our willingness to forgive one
another. Jesus made it clear that our
forgiveness by God is intertwined with our
willingness to forgive others.
1. In Matthew 6:12 Jesus taught his
disciples to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors.”
2. He followed this immediately by
saying, “For if you forgive other people for their
offenses, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive
other people, then your Father will
not forgive your offenses.”
3. The story referred to earlier from
Matthew 18 was used in response to Peter’s
question, “How often shall I
forgive my brother when he sins against me?” Jesus
replied, “Seventy times seven,”
indicating an ongoing willingness to forgive. In
the story he noted how the servant
who had been forgiven his unpayable debt
went out and persecuted a fellow
servant who owed him a trifle sum. When the
king learned of this
belligerent attitude he had the first servant thrown into
prison.
4. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus
said that forgiveness is not merely for
people you like. In verses 43ff He
commands us to love not only those who love
us but those who have harmed us as
well.
B. Why was Jesus so emphatic about
forgiving others?
1. He knew that a lack of forgiveness
destroys relationships. It is often true that it is
not the offense that destroys a
relationship but the lack of forgiveness.
a. The church is a good example of
this. If you stay long enough someone will
offend you by what they say,
do, or fail to do. I am quite certain that I have
said things or done things that
have offended people. I humbly ask for your
forgiveness and forbearance.
b. This is true in any relationship
including marriage and the family.
2. Jesus also knew how a lack of
forgiveness on our part affects us.
a. In Matthew 5:21-22 Jesus said, “You
have heard that the ancients were told,
‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever commits
murder shall be answerable
to the court.’ 22 But
I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother
shall be answerable to the
court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-
for-nothing,’ shall be
answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says,
‘You fool,’ shall be
guilty enough to go into
the fiery hell.”
1.) Can you sense the
progressive spirit of bitterness and anger that Jesus
was
describing?
2.) An unforgiving spirit shackles you to the
past. It is like picking at a sore
until
it becomes festered and infected. It creates a heavy burden you must
carry
every day like a ball and chain.
3. A Dutch woman named Corrie Ten Boom
was prisoner in a Nazi concentration
camp during the Holocaust. She
remembered how the guards had abused the
women prisoners with shame and
rape. Many years after the war as she was
speaking in a conference she
recognized a face in the crowd as one of the Nazi
guards. After she spoke he came to
her and asked for her forgiveness. Every
instinct was to turn away from him
but she knew that an unforgiving spirit would
haunt her for the rest of her life.
She extended her hand and said, “I forgive you.”
CONCLUSION:
A.
I cannot think of a time in my life when I have seen as much anger as I see
today.
1. The clenched fist of defiance has
replaced the humbled posture of prayer.
2. The voices of rage have shouted down the
voices of reason.
3. The swelling tide of chaos has swept
over calm waters.
B.
God calls us to be different.
1. On September 6, 2018, a Dallas
policewoman named Amber Guyger returned to
her apartment building. She mistakenly
got off the elevator on the wrong floor and
went to the wrong room. Noticing the
door was unlocked she opened it and saw a
young man, a stranger, in what she
thought was her apartment. She reached for
her gun and pulled the trigger killing
Harding University graduate, Botham Jean, a
a twenty-six-year old accountant. Too
late, she realized the tragedy of her error.
The shooting fanned the flames of
racial unrest across the country. A tense
situation was made worse. The national
media had a field day. In October of
2019
Amber Guyger was convicted of murder. At
her sentencing something startling
happened. Botham’s brother, Brandt, told
the woman who had shot his brother, “I
forgive you and God will forgive you.”
He then asked for and received permission
to give her a hug. It was quite obvious
that no one in the media and no one
organizing the protests knew how to
handle this gesture.
C.
My hope is that you will forgive me and anyone else who may have offended you.
Above all my hope is that you will receive
the forgiveness our Heavenly Father is so
willing to give.
