The Weekly Sermon » Studies on Forgiveness

Words of FORGIVENESS, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

Pastor David Miklas — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:19:56 +0000

Sunday January 24, 2010	Phone: 570.829.5216
Pastor David Miklas	e-mail pdmikBBM@aol.com
Message #1 Seven Words of Christ at Calvary	Text: Luke 23:32-38

"Father, Forgive Them"

Everything about the crucifixion of Christ is of surpassing interest. It is almost impossible to visit the excruciatingly painful scene at Calvary and be able to move past it all in one sitting.

It was at CALVARY where God did His best and man did his worst.

It was at CALVARY where faith is justified, hope is assured, and love conquered all.

It was at CALVARY where the Savior's heart of grace was contrasted with man's heart of rebellion.

No wonder the Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 2:2, "For I determined not to know anything among you save Christ and Him crucified." The hymn writers reflected upon Calvary when they wrote,

"In the cross of Christ I Glory, towering over the wrecks of time.

All the light of sacred story gathers round its head sublime."

“When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory died,

My richest gain I count but lost, And pour contempt on all my pride.

"Marvelous grace of our Loving Lord,

Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,

Yonder on Calvary's mount out-poured,

There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt."

I suppose a man could preach his entire life and never exhaust the riches that surround Calvary. Let’s linger at the foot of His cross and watch and listen. If we pay close attention, we’ll hear not one or two utterances fall from His lips, but SEVEN all-important statements. Timeless truths are contained in them that we don’t want to miss. These SEVEN sayings become a marvelous demonstration of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They help us in a very real sense to understand the purpose and heart of the crucifixion. Here is a summary of the Seven Words of Christ at Calvary.

FIRST are the words of FORGIVENESS: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." found in Luke 23:34

SECOND are the words of SALVATION: "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." found in Luke 23:43

THIRD are the words of AFFECTION: "Woman behold thy Son!…Behold thy Mother!" found in John 19:26-27

FOURTH are the words of ANGUISH: "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" found in Matthew 27:46

FIFTH are the words of SUFFERING: "I thirst." found in John 19:28

SIXTH are the words of VICTORY: "It is finished:.." found in John 19:30

SEVENTH are the words of CONTENTMENT: "Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit." found in Luke 23:46

Christ hung on the cross for 6 agonizing hours before He died. He was there from 9:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. From 9:00 until noon, it was daylight. At noon, a strange and eerie darkness blanketed the skies, and that darkness lasted until after 3:00 in the afternoon. This timing is significant, because Christ’s SEVEN last statements fall into two groups:

The first three were said during the daylight period; the last four were uttered after the darkness came over the land.

The first three sayings had to do with other people; the last four had to do with Jesus Himself.

The first three had to do with His horizontal relationships with others; the last four had to do with His vertical relationship with God.

The first three had to do with His compassion for others; the last four had to do with His suffering and the meaning of His death.

While other victims cursed and screamed words of bitterness, Jesus focused His mind first on others, then on the Father. Even more amazing, after all He had been through; His first words were gracious terms of forgiveness!

The first utterance from the cross, the words of FORGIVENESS are found in the context of Luke 23:32-37.

“And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. (33) And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. (34) Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (35) And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. (36) And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, (37) And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. (38) And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

As we pause and consider the statement of this message found in verse 34, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” several significant observations come to mind.

First: Jesus’ prayer "Father, forgive them" is in fulfillment of the prophetic word predicted seven hundred years before Christ came to earth in Isaiah 53:12, “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Christ hung there on the cross DESPISED and REJECTED, a MAN OF SORROWS, ACQUAINTED WITH GRIEF, WOUNDED, BRUISED and BEATEN, POURING OUT HIS SOUL UNTO DEATH, and yet:

He looked at His murderers and said, “Father, forgive them.”

He looked at those crucifying Him and said, “Father, forgive them.”

He looked at the transgressors at the cross and said, “Father, forgive them.”

He looked down the corridor of time and saw you and your sins and He saw me and my sins, and said, “Father, forgive them.”

Knowing that all scripture must be fulfilled, Jesus, from the cross, made intercession for the transgressors by saying, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

Second: Our Lord's first saying on the cross "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." finds Him in an attitude of prayer. How significant! How instructive!

The FIRST utterance from the cross was a prayer, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

The MIDDLE utterance from the cross was a prayer, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

The LAST utterance from the cross was also a prayer, "Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit."

Jesus began his ministry in prayer; when He was baptized. The Bible says in Luke 3:21, "Jesus also being baptized, and praying…" Now He closes His earthly ministry in prayer. While dying on a cross, He prays, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Jesus never lost His sense of divine mission. He did not pray, "Father, forgive ME;" He prayed "Father, forgive THEM." He knew the reason He was on the cross. Jesus was dying to pay the debt of sinners.

Third: Jesus offers this prayer of intercession, "Father, forgive them” more than once. The word "FORGIVE" is in the Greek imperfect tense indicating continuous action in the past. In other words Jesus was praying this prayer over and over again, "Father, forgive them." "Father, forgive them." "Father, forgive them."

When they took the crossbeam and laid it on His shoulders, compelling Him to carry it, He prayed, "Father, forgive them."

When they drove the nails through His hands and through His feet into the cross, He was praying, "Father, forgive them."

When they took His clothing from Him, and shamed Him before His followers, He prayed, "Father, forgive them."

When Jesus looked down from the cross, and saw the crowd for whom He was dying gathered round Him, He prayed, "Father, forgive them."

In Matthew 27:36, the Bible tells us after “the soldiers had parted his garments and cast lots for His robe; they sat down to watch Him.” Why did they sit down to watch Him? I suggest the possibility when Jesus uttered His prayer of "Father, forgive them," for the 5th or 6th time or more, His words caught the attention of the soldiers. Their ears had grown accustomed to the bitter curses of the victims, but never had they heard words like this, "Father, forgive them." coming from one dying on a cross, Perhaps this was what caught the attention of the Roman centurion who later acknowledged, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

At the cross, these soldiers discovered in “Father, forgive them” the Anthem of Heaven proclaimed, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…"

At the cross, these soldiers found God's intertwining of LOVE and JUSTICE. For in Romans 5:8 we read, "But God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

One day, a young boy was asked to define forgiveness. He replied, "It is the perfume that flowers breathe when trampled upon." Marvelous grace, infinite grace as forgiveness, now freely bestowed upon all who believe!

Grace, grace God's grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God's grace,

Grace that is greater than all our sin.

As we continue to meditate upon the text, let me point out to you five significant leasons to be learned from Christ as He prayed, "Father, forgive them."

First: Jesus addressed his prayer to God the Father when He said “FATHER forgive them.” The next time He addresses His Father from the cross, He will cry out, “My God, My God” as He bears the full weight of the sin of the world. Remember up to this point, Jesus has never asked the Father to forgive anyone. As long as the Son of God was on earth, He had the authority to forgive sins. But now He has been raised from the earth completing the work of redemption, humbling Himself under the authority of God the Father.

Second: Jesus, in His prayer, makes a request, “Father, FORGIVE them.” That is an amazing request, isn’t it?

If someone pressed a crown of sharp thorns on your head,

If someone stripped you naked for the world to see,

If someone brutally punched you numerous times in the face,

If someone drove nails into your hands and into your feet and lifted you up on a cross to die,

Be honest, would you pray that kind of prayer for them? Today, at the slightest offense, we are ready to retaliate, defend ourselves, and fight back. Yet in His greatest moment of agony, Jesus sincerely prays, “Father, FORGIVE them.”

I have read that the word forgiveness means, among other definitions, "to bear the burden." For instance, if a man owed you a thousand dollars, and you forgave him his debt; you would bear the burden for those thousand dollars.

Likewise if Jesus was to forgive you of all your sins against God, then it would be He who would have to bear the burden of those sins. Every sin we have ever committed, Jesus bore in His own body on the cross. I Peter 2:24 tell us that, "Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being, dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed." And, thank God, He did! The hymn writer wrote,

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

Could I forgive as Christ has forgiven? Yes, a transformed child of God, a man or woman whose life has been changed by the power of God could pray such a prayer. In fact, saints down through the ages have done so, beginning with Stephen, the first martyr in the history of the church. With rocks and stones pelting his body, Stephen graciously prayed in Acts 7:60, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” In other words, “Father, FORGIVE them.” Somewhere in the years past I read,

Anyone can love the lovely.

Anyone can forgive the forgivable.

But Christians are unique.

We are called to love the unlovely,

To forgive the unforgivable.

The way God has forgiven us through Christ is the same way we are to forgive others. All because of Calvary we can forgive. Remember Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Few acts have a greater impact on those who mistreat us and abuse us than our telling them we “forgive” them!

Third: Jesus in His prayer addresses the object, “Father, forgive THEM.” Who is included as “THEM”? Who are “THEY”? In general terms, Jesus’ request for forgiveness refers to His immediate world.

It includes every Jew who initiated the trials and planned and carried out His crucifixion.

It includes every Gentile who had even the smallest part in His death.

But beyond that immediate world, when Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them," He included ALL of humanity past, present and future; including you and I since the Bible teaches that, "Jesus tasted death for all men." in Hebrews 2:9.

Jesus prayed for me that day as much as if He had called my name and said,

"Father, forgive David Miklas. He has a part in my crucifixion.

He too put the nails in my hands and feet.

He too placed the crown of thorns upon my head.

He too sat there and scoffed while I died.

He is a Hell-deserving sinner even though he knows it not, “Father, forgive him."

When the Lord Jesus asked the Father to forgive, He had all of us in mind! In Colossians 2:13-14, the Holy Spirit, speaking through the pen of the Apostle Paul, confirms He did just that. “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (14) Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;” He forgave all our transgressions. He canceled our certificate of debt and its hostile decrees against us.

When a criminal was put to death on a cross, the soldiers scrawled out the identity of his crime on a sign that was nailed to the cross, above the victim’s head. That is why Jesus had the sign nailed over his head, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

Paul says the Lord Jesus took our guilt and nailed it to His cross. He took our sins, yours and mine, and carried them with Him as He was nailed to the cross. He died for every sin that you and I have ever committed in the past and will ever commit from this day forward. Our Saviour did not utter hollow words or an empty prayer to a silent God. The Son of God said, “Father, forgive them” and the Father replied, “I forgive them.” Talk about God’s grace! In Ephesians 1:7 we read, “In whom (that is Christ Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”

Since Christ bore our sin on the cross, we have been fully forgiven. That means we have been empowered to live differently than we did before. How then ought we to act toward others who have sinned against us? In Colossians 3:12-14 we read, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; (13) Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”

Fourth: This prayer Jesus prayed contains the reason for His forgiveness. "Father, forgive them, for they know not WHAT they do." This does not mean that the enemies of Christ were ignorant of the FACT of His crucifixion.

They knew full well that they had cried, "Crucify Him!"

They knew full well their vile request had been granted them.

They knew full well that He had been nailed to the tree for they were eye-witnesses of the crime.

What then did our Lord mean when He said, "…for they know not WHAT they do?"

They did not know it was for their sins Jesus was on the cross.

They did not know that this was the Lord of Glory.

They OUGHT to have known. They should have known. Their BLINDNESS was inexcusable.

Had not the Old Testament prophesies given sufficient evidence to identify Christ?

Had not the sacrificial system been sufficient to identify Christ?

Had not the unique teaching of the Son of God been sufficient? Even they admitted of Him, "Never man spoke like this man."

How sad to think even today this terrible BLINDNESS is still being repeated over and over again by those who still are without Christ as their Saviour.

Little do they know, they are still REJECTING God's great Salvation.

Little do they know how awful the sin of slighting the Son of God.

Little do they know the crime of saying, "We will not have this man to reign over us."

The question still comes down to, "What shall I do with Jesus, which is called Christ?" If today you are still blind to God’s saving grace, may the words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." lift that blindness from your soul so that you may see the "Marvelous, infinite, marvelous grace, freely bestowed on all who believe…"

Fifth: Jesus’ prayer, "Father, forgive them." was a prayer for POSTPONEMENT. Interestingly,

The word "forgive" is the same Greek word translated "suffer" in Matthew 19:14 when Jesus said, "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me."

The word "forgive" is the same Greek word translated "let be" in Matthew 27:49, when the soldier said, "Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save Him." Here the word means "Wait, Hold back."

Now when the Lord was using the word "forgive" He was saying, "postpone the judgment. Hold back the wrath, WAIT! They don't know what they are doing." And thank God He is still willing to hold back the judgment because He wants people to be saved. In II Peter 3:9 we read, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” But postponement does not mean escape; and unless one turns to Jesus, someday he will die and go to hell without hope of and without the Saviour.

Listen to this story taken from an incident in the war between Russia and Finland. Seven soldiers were held prisoners in the town hall in Finland. They were to be shot at sunrise. They were communists and ungodly men; they had hope for neither time nor eternity. But one of them began to sing,

Safe in the Arms of Jesus,

Safe on His gentle breast,

There by His love o'ershadowed,

Sweetly my soul shall rest.

When the verse was finished, one of his follow prisoners spoke out, "Where did you get that, you fool? Are you trying to make us religious?"

Koshinen, the singing soldier, replied, "Comrades, listen to me. When I first heard that song I laughed, too. But that song got a hold of me. It is now cowardly for me to hide my faith. The God my mother believed in has now become my God also. Last night I prayed like the thief on the cross that Christ would FORGIVE me and cleanse my sin and make me ready for Heaven. I have accepted the crucified Saviour and I thank Him. I have kept it to myself as long as I could, but within a few hours we will face the firing squad and I will be with the Lord, saved by grace."

The silence that followed was broken as one man after the other came to Koshinen and said "You are right, if I only knew there was mercy for me, too. These hands have shed blood, and I have cursed God and trampled on all that is holy. Now I realize that there is a Hell and that is the proper place for me. Tomorrow I shall die, and my soul shall be in the hands of the Devil." By 4:00 in the morning all of the red communists were saved, and by 6:00 in the morning they were marched before the firing squad. As they lined up with their hands raised Heavenward, they began to sing,

Safe in the Arms of Jesus,

Safe on His gentle breast,

There by His love o'ershadowed,

Sweetly my soul shall rest.

As each was shot, they went into eternity saved by grace. God had postponed His wrath and held back His judgment until those red soldiers knew what they were doing. "Father, postpone the judgment. Father hold back the wrath. They don't know what they are doing."

All over this area, in every community around here as well as around the world, there are people for whom God is holding back the judgment of eternal damnation. God is postponing His wrath against people to whom we are to go and share why Christ on the cross of Calvary, cried "Father, forgive them."

Here is the word of the cross that we must, first of all, take into our hearts.

Here is the word of the cross that we are to share with others before the door of opportunity closes upon them. Before they are lost, doomed into eternity without the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who for them He cried, "FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO."

Here is the word of the cross that we are to express to others when they sin against us. This is powerfully spelled out for us in Colossians 3:13, “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” Then in a related passage in Ephesians 4:31-32 we read, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: (32) And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” Remember, because of Calvary it is characteristic of believers to forgive others who sin against us.

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If God has spoken to your heart after reading sermon #1 on the Seven Words of Christ at Calvary, "Father, Forgive Them" then right now talk to God about what He has spoken to you.

Do you have the assurance that one day you will go to heaven? If you have no assurance that you know Jesus Christ, then I trust you will decide to accept Him as your personal Savior. The Bible tells us in

Acts 16:31, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…”

Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

This prayer is here for those who need to ask Jesus to be their personal Savior: “I do want to go to Heaven. I know I am a sinner, and I do believe Jesus Christ died for me. I realize I cannot buy this great salvation, nor can I earn it. Knowing Jesus died on the cross and arose from the grave to pay my sin debt and to purchase my salvation, I do now trust Him as my Savior, and from this moment on I am completely depending on Him for my salvation.”

If you made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, would you please let me know? Please send me an e-mail to pdmikBBM@aol.com. and in return I will send you some literature that will help you in your Christian life.

The “Weekly SERMON” was sent as a ministry of Bible Baptist Ministry, 48 Alexie Rd., Hanover Township, PA 18706. Privacy policy: your e-mail address will not be sold, or shared with any third party.

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In His Amazing Grace,

PS: All the Weekly SERMONS in this series on the “Seven Words of Christ at Calvary” will be part of the next book of sermons on the Journey to Calvary to be ready by the end of 2010. Each sermon will have five added features along with church and student outlines and power point suggestions.

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Steps Beyond Forgiveness – Part V

Pastor David Miklas — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:42:22 +0000

Sunday August 30, 2009	Phone: 570.829.5216
Pastor David Miklas	e-mail: pdmikBBM@aol.com
Message: Forgiveness #5	Text: Genesis 44, 45, 50; Ephesians 4:31-32

"Joseph, Steps Beyond Forgiveness – Part V"

Introduction: On Sunday mornings we have been dealing with "The Mountain Peaks of FORGIVENESS."

The Apostle Paul warns us in Ephesians 4:31 that bitterness and anger are deadly sins of an unforgiving spirit, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour (on the war path over some issue), and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." Remember, "An unforgiving spirit is the Devil’s playground, and before long it becomes the Christian’s battleground."

Then in those arresting words of Ephesians 4:32 he said, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ sake, hath FORGIVEN you." Paul expressed the message that it’s characteristic of saints to forgive. Shouldn’t we, who have been forgiven by God, also forgive others? But instead, we often shout “I have a RIGHT to be angry. I have a RIGHT not to forgive.” In truth, you don’t actually have that right, since "An unforgiving Christian is a CONTRADICTION TO THE GRACE OF GOD."

Here again is our definition of forgiveness. "Forgiveness is a choice, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin."

Forgiveness is a choice, you chose to or not to forgive.

Forgiveness is a concern "to reconcile with an offender."

Forgiveness has a cost, because forgiveness comes with a price tag.

Forgiveness carries a consequence, since true forgiveness requires you to agree to live with the consequences of that person’s sin.

We have been learning about an attribute of God that He wants to develop in our lives, that of forgiveness. Thank God:

He forgives every KIND of sin.

He forgives every TIME we sin.

He forgives the very MOMENT we sin and ask for forgiveness.

He forgives each sin FOREVER; He never brings it up again.

In light of this definition, let’s look in the Old Testament at the life of an obscure slave named Joseph, who rose to the pinnacle of power and respect. Few have learned more about forgiveness than he.

Joseph grew up in what we would call a classic "dysfunctional family." Most circumstances in his boyhood were beyond his control. After all, he was the eleventh son out of twelve, far down the line.

Joseph’s father, Jacob, favors him for some reason. Something about Joseph strikes a tender cord inside of Jacob.

All of the attention from his father turns out to be a curse for Joseph, instead of a blessing. The special coat he received from his father makes him a marked young man. The more Jacob does for him, the more his older brothers hate him. Siblings have a way of picking up on any little inequity; they notice it right away, and they resent it.

To make matters worse, when Joseph was a teenager, he tattles on his brothers. This trait does not improve the situation.

On top of all this, God began to give Joseph dreams about the future, including the future of his family who are to bow down to him. Joseph hasn’t asked for this; it just happens.

Joseph’s brothers bring the situation to a climax by grabbing him in the field, throwing him into a pit and plotting against him..

Eventually, they decide to sell him to a caravan of slave traders. Instead of going back home, these strangers grab him, roughly treat him like a piece of meat, and carry him into Egypt.

But the Bible tells us in Genesis 39:2 that, "the Lord was with Joseph."Somehow, Joseph ends up being purchased by Potiphar, a man of prestige, who makes him master of his house.

Joseph should at last be safe, but Potiphar’s wife has sexual designs on this handsome young man. In time she makes a move on him. But Joseph does not want to disgrace either God or his master by giving into this woman. If he loses God’s approval, he will lose everything valuable in life. In Genesis 39:9 he said to this seductive woman, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against Go?."

Joseph quickly wrestles his way out of his coat which the woman was holding on to and runs. Isn’t it funny how Joseph seems to keep having trouble with coats?

Potiphar’s wife cries "Rape, Rape!" and the next day Joseph’s life comes crashing down for the second time as he is arrested and ends up in prison.

Yet, even in prison, God is with Joseph. His talent and honesty rise like cream to the top of the heap. Before long, Joseph is put in charge of his cell block, however months go by and Joseph is no doubt thinking, "Where is God in all this?"

One day a couple of new prisoners show up. They are former employees, the cupbearer and butler, of Pharaoh. Both men have dreams, which Joseph successfully interprets for them. One fellow was released, promising to appeal on Joseph’s behalf, and the other was hanged.

But unbelievably, the cupbearer who was released somehow "forgets" and for two more needless years, Joseph rots in prison. And we think we have problems? How would you like to help somebody and have that person promptly forget that you ever existed? Well, that’s what happens to Joseph.

After two years, God steps in to overrule human frailty. This time, vivid dreams come to Pharaoh himself. In fact his dreams are a "double feature." Joseph is brought out of prison to interpret the dreams. In effect, these dreams pronounce that Egypt would experience seven years of prosperity and then there would be seven years of famine.

Joseph finally made it to the top of the ranks as second in command to Pharaoh. The well-being of all of Egypt was at his command.

Question, "What would you have done with all this power? Do you realize that Joseph had every reason to sever ties with his family, vent hatred on humanity, and slam the door on God…but he didn’t!

Even though Joseph was tossed into the blackest of pits, he emerged with an unbelievably positive attitude toward those who had done him harm. What was his secret? We pick up the story in Genesis 44:

A severe famine has occurred in the land, but through God’s intervention Egypt is well prepared. Joseph’s brothers have heard of the land’s abundance and have made the long journey from Canaan to obtain food. While in Egypt, they encounter Joseph, the prime minister.

What an opportunity for Joseph’s revenge.But instead of settling the score, we see a forgiving Joseph. In Genesis 44 Joseph recognized his brothers and puts them to a test.

Joseph wanted to see if they had begun to read God into their daily life, even into things that seemed unfair, even into death.

Joseph wanted to put Benjamin in the same plight he was in twenty years earlier. He wanted to see if there had been a change in their hearts over those years. He wanted to know if they would go to bat for Benjamin.

Judah, the oldest, comes out and stands up for Benjamin, who twenty years earlier had said, "Take Joseph’s life, put him into the pit, get rid of him." Now twenty years later, these are transformed men and Joseph sees it.

Now please go with me to Genesis 45:1-4 where Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers. “Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. (2) And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. (3) And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. (4) And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.” I don’t think there is any way to adequately describe the emotion at that moment. There is an overwhelming sense of emotion that is felt by these brothers, which included feelings of intense guilt.

Carefully notice verse 5a. “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither…” Can you believe it? When faced with people who had done him wrong, the average individual would say, "Get on your knees and stay there! You think you know what humiliation is all about. Just wait until I unleash it on you." But Joseph is a changed man, and his first statement is a supportive one.

Carefully notice verse 5b, “for God did send me before you to preserve life.” Joseph is saying "It was not you who pulled off what you did to me IT WAS GOD, who allowed it to happen. It was my sovereign God who looked far into the future. He chose me to be the instrument to solve the famine problem. You thought you had done evil to me. Notice in verse 7, it was God who went "before you to preserve life." Then in verse 8 we read, "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God."

Now holding your place in chapter 45 go with me to the last chapter of Genesis, chapter 50. Joseph is speaking to them at a later time, and they’re still wrestling with guilt. Here we read in verses 19-20, "And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

I do not know how you feel today, the hurt you might feel and the memories you have from that hurt. But I do know humanity well enough to know that most of us, at some time in our lives, were badly ripped-off by someone. Now you may be faced with a similar conflict, and your perspective is cloudy because:

You remember the wrong.

You remember the unfair treatment.

You remember the pain, the hurt and the rejection.

You remember that you were dropped off like a bad habit, when you truly deserved the opposite treatment.

You had given and given and given and you were still cast away. Evil was done to you, and it was meant to be evil.

Again verse 20 declares "You meant it for evil but God meant it for good."

Now go back to Genesis 45 and to verses 9-12, “Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: (10) And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: (11) And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty. (12) And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.” Do you get the picture? Joseph wants those who had done him wrong, literally to move in right next to him. Would you want to do that with a person who has wronged you?

There is usually one thing you’d like between you and that enemy – distance – unless he’s fully forgiven. But Joseph has no use for distance. He does not want to even the score. For him it was not pay back time. Oh, how sweet it would have been, vengeance at last! But that was not in Joseph’s nature.

He had forgiven his brothers years before this encounter. To understand this type of forgiveness, go back with me to Genesis 41 and let’s see what Joseph is really like, what he is really thinking.Here we read in verses 50-52,“And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto him. (51) And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. (52) And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”The name of each son is a play on words. Joseph tagged these boys with reminders of God’s activity in his life.

The first born was named Manasseh. The root Hebrew word means to "Forgive" or another meaning would be "to take the sting out of a memory." As Joseph stood there holding the infant and thinking of all that had happened, and the blessing of God he said, "I will name this boy Manasseh, because God has made me forget all the evil that has been done to me."

He didn’t say he had learned from a seven-step course on how to forgive and to forget. Instead he said, "God made me forget." God can still touch us supernaturally where no therapist can reach. Joseph was not referring to amnesia. The facts were not erased from his memory, because he talked about them with his brothers.

But God took the sting out, so there was no bitterness.

The temptation of a mean spirit was conquered.

God had cleansed Joseph’s mind of the residue that would have festered there from the mistreatment he had suffered.

What happiness would his position and wealth have brought, if he had been an embittered and angry man?

One of the subtle ways Satan hinders us is by playing unpleasant mental tape recordings in our minds over and over and over. People lie in bed at night watching old mental videos on the inner screen of their hearts.

They dream about the time someone hurt them, took advantage of them and made them suffer.

The replaying of hurtful words said by others is heard again and again.

In their mind horrible, ugly scenes are repeated hour after hour, day after day, year after year.

Whatever the situation may be in your life, I want you to know beyond a doubt that God can take the sting out, so there is no bitterness. He does not obliterate the events, but he can deliver you from the paralysis of the past.

If you are paralyzed by your past, if Satan is destroying your gifts and your calling by incessant replaying of old hurtful experiences, you’re actually being hit by a double whammy. The original damage in the past is one thing, but now you’re letting yourself be hurt and sidetracked again and again by the memory of what happened.

God wants to remind you today that the same God who dealt with every sin and wrong deed you’ve ever done has the ability to take the sting out of the negative and hurtful things in your life. The grace of God can overcome their power to haunt you. Stop for a moment and search your own soul.

Maybe you need to be challenged to give birth to a Manasseh in your life.

Maybe you have some deep hurts the Lord needs to heal.

Only God can ease the sting from your memory, ask Him to do that.

The Second born was named Ephraim. When the second son was born, Joseph chose another significant name. The root word for this son’s name means, "God has caused me to be fruitful in abundance." God taught Joseph that if you put your life in His hands, the horrible damage done to you can be turned to good. You can be spiritually fruitful even in the hardest place. Bad memories need not defeat us.

Some of them, you were responsible for; some of them someone else was responsible for. But they need not defeat anyone.

Maybe you are going through the Sunday motions and the religious exercise. You pack a Bible under your arm, yet you keep a long list of people on hand who have wronged you.

There you sit appearing a little religious, yet all the while plotting how you may get even.

Oh, I plead with you to FORGIVE. I plead with you to get rid of that bitterness, and make room for the healing. Joseph forgave genuinely and unselfishly, for in Genesis 45:13-15 we read,“And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. (14) And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. (15) Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.”

If you are at the point of unfair treatment and yet have a right attitude, you are becoming an example of what grace is all about. Joseph had a right attitude, because he had a forgiving spirit. “That’s how Joseph made it in the PIT, as well as on the PINNACLE.”

Remember my question at the beginning of this message, "Have you ever said, I don’t get mad, I just get even?" If that is your attitude, you are probably locked into a prison house with an unforgiving spirit.

Now, as you recall the Old Testament illustration of Joseph who was an example of Christ in the New Testament, let me conclude this sermon by giving you THREE significant reminders.

First: Realize forgiving is not immediately forgetting: Let me repeat that statement again as it has probably caught some of you by surprise. "forgiving is not immediately forgetting." Now, the goal of forgiving is to forget but it’s not immediate. I should immediately forgive, but I will not immediately forget.

You see "forgiving is the promise not to raise the issue again." Let’s face it, right away you are not going to forget what was done to you, or what was said about you. Rather, what you need to do is mark that file in your mind as permanently closed.

In I Corinthians 13:5 we read that love “ thinketh no evil." A genuine forgiving Christian doesn’t KEEP SCORE. Think of the people Joseph could have included on his "hate list." He had no such list. He disregarded all the wrongs against him and persevered.

Second: Forgiving is realizing God is in control of the situation: God was in control of Joseph’s future. "His brothers meant it for evil but God meant it for good."

It is God, Who is in control of the person.

It is God, Who is in control of the circumstances.

It was no accident that Joseph went through all that suffering.

Just maybe, God is using people in your life, as He has in my life, to build character traits that you would not have developed unless they had wronged you or hurt you. Have you ever thought it is God who is using these individuals to help develop you spiritually?

Third: Here again is our definition of forgiveness. "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, a choice to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin."

Every one of us has had painful experiences in life. If you’re alive and breathing, somebody somewhere, at sometime, has hurt you!

Maybe you are living with those hurtful tapes playing over and over and you are paralyzed by them. Every time the Holy Spirit nudges you to step out in faith and do something God wants you to do, this strange bondage to the past is holding you back from God’s best for your life. Remember:

God is the God of Manasseh. He can "take the sting out of your life." He can make you forget.

God is the God of Ephraim. God can make you fruitful in the midst of suffering.

Maybe your words have embittered someone, and there is a wall of division between you and a brother in Christ or some family member. Why not agree to "forgive one another just as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven us."

Maybe you need to pray "Lord I need you to protect my heart from becoming bitter and living with a resentful, unforgiving Spirit. Please help me to maintain nothing between me and them and me and you."

Forgiveness is the promise NOT TO RAISE THE ISSUE AGAIN.

Forgiveness is marked on the permanent file CASE CLOSED.

Today, and all this week put into practice Ephesians 4:32, "And be ye KIND one to another, TENDERHEARTED, forgiving one another."

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If God has spoken to your heart after reading the sermon "Joseph, a Step beyond Forgiveness – Part V" then right now talk to God about what He has spoken to you.

Acts 16:31, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…”

Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

http://TheWeeklySermon.com/2009/35/

Confession, Gateway to Forgiveness

Pastor David Miklas — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:53:55 +0000

Sunday August 23, 2009	Phone: 570.829.5216
Pastor David Miklas	e-mail: pdmikBBM@aol.com
Message: Patriotic	Text: Psalm 32:1-5; 51:1-13; I John 1:9

"Confession, Gateway to Forgiveness"- Part IV

I have found the three hardest words for me to say is "I HAVE SINNED". It’s much easier to say, "He has sinned, or she has sinned," than to say, "I have sinned." To be totally honest,I have also discovered that there is not a person in this room, including me that ought not come to God daily and say,“Oh God, I have sinned, I have sinned.”

We must face the realization that even though we are saved, we are still "bent to sin" and need to say over and over again "I have sinned." In the Bible we find 10 different individuals who came face to face with their sin, and their response was, "I have sinned."

Perhaps the most familiar who said “I have sinned” was David when he expressed those sobering words in II Samuel 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." David’s remorse and cry written over the agony of his sin is found in five penitential Psalms. Three of the well known penitential Psalms, are Psalm 28, 32, and 51. The background to David’s sin is found in I Samuel 11-12:

There was the ADULTERY with Bathsheba.

Then there was the COVER-UP of that sin.

Finally, there was the planned MURDER of Uriah.

David was a man after God’s own heart. But he wasn’t where he was supposed to be when it was time for kings to go forth to war. Instead, he was at home taking it easy. That’s where his backsliding began. He saw a woman he would never have seen, if he had been where he should have been.

Heed this warning folks, resist getting puffed-up by saying to yourself, “That was David’s sin, I could never do anything like that.” For in I Corinthians 10:12 the Bible says, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." We all have human flesh. You and I had better watch out. We are not immune. We are not exempt. If we put ourselves into the wrong circumstances, we are likely to find ourselves in sin. Remember Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 26:41, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

David in Psalm 51 was still grieving over his sin, notice verse 3 in which he says "My sin is ever before me." He was expressing guilt and grief over his sin. Please follow me as I read Psalm 51:1-13, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. (2) Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (3) For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. (4) Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. (5) Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (6) Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. (7) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (8) Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. (9) Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (11) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (12) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. (13) Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”

David KNEW the ugliness of sin.

David SAW the wickedness of sin.

David in the innermost of his soul FELT the pain of his sin.

His Joy was gone.

His Fellowship with God was gone.

His very Body ached in pain.

His Soul was out of sync and his spirit was downcast.

We can see that David KNEW the deadly nature of sin, as we continue to read Psalm 51:9-13. Do you know the deadly nature of sin, or has it become such a common thing in your life and minds that you excuse it instead of confessing it? It’s amazing how much fun sin appears to be before you get involved, and how empty it is once you have arrived!

Sin is the greatest of all detectives; be sure it will find you out.

Sin has a medium of exchange that trades in SORROW, DISILLUSION, and DEATH.

Sin and its pleasure are for a moment; its wages are for eternity.

James 1:15 puts it this way, "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

David had sinned through ADULTERY, its COVER-UP, and MURDER. His cry in verse 3 is"My Sin is ever before me." Perhaps you are crying out like David,“What shall I do with my sin?” Now, Psalm 51 should be tied with Psalm 32. Of the two,

Psalm 51 was probably written first, during the anguish of guilt under which David suffered.

Psalm 32 was written after the anguish, after his forgiveness had become a reality.

Turning to Psalm 32 we could say the theme of this chapter could be “Confession, the Gateway to Forgiveness” Notice Psalms 32:1-5.

David opens the Psalm in verses 1-2 with a shout of praise, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. (2) Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”

He then falls into a reflective mood on his sin in verses 3-5, “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. (4) For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. (5) I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”

For almost a year now, David has hid his sins and tried to avoid facing the consequences. During all this time David was scheming and trying to avoid God, his lips were locked in silence. You will notice, as long as he kept silent and refused to confess his sins, he was under the chastening hand of God.

Instead of strength, he had weakness; he was like an old man with broken bones.

Instead of enjoying freshness of life, he was dried up, weak, and without enthusiasm.

He was living in a perpetual drought instead of enjoying the showers of God’s blessing.

If you have fallen into the torments of a guilty conscience through sin, I urge you to STOP and CONFESS your sin to the Lord. In Proverbs 28:13 we read, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

David uses three different words in Psalm 32:1-2 to describe what he has done:

The word TRANSGRESSION means rebellion.

The word SIN means missing the mark.

The word INIQUITY means to be twisted or crooked.

David had rebelled against God and missed the mark because of the crookedness of his inward sinful nature that, unfortunately, we all have.

In verse 5 these same words are repeated with the added little word "my" or its equivalent, "MY SIN… MINE INIQUITY…MY TRANSGRESSION."David admitted to God that it was HE and HE alone who had sinned. Here you will notice David recognized that “Confession of sin precedes the forgiveness of sin.” Someone defined confession of sin as “our conscience telling our soul to ask God to forgive us of our sin.” Confession of our sin is the first step to forgiveness.

Now for the remainder of this message let me put some light on, “Confession, Gateway to Forgiveness.”

First: There is a THREE step process in confession of our sins. This three step process involves our soul which is made up of three parts.

The INTELLECT, what we think.

The EMOTION, what we feel.

The WILL, what we do.

Number 1: There is ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of our sin. Before we can be forgiven of our sin, we must acknowledge our sin.

Again in Psalm 32:5 we read, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”

In Jeremiah 14:20 we read, “We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.”

Interestingly the word “Acknowledge” and the word “Confess” come from the same Hebrew word. In order to confess our sin, we must first ACKNOWLEDGE we have sinned. This is the intellectual part of our soul which says I have sinned, I acknowledge it.

Number 2: There is ADMISSION of our guilt. Acknowledgement of our sin does not necessarily mean that we have admitted our guilt. That is why the second step is important for admission occurs in our EMOTION, what we feel about our sin. Here we agree with God that we are guilty of what we have done. In I John 1:9 we read, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”The word, confess, means:

We LOOK at our sins in the same way God looks at them.

We THINK about our sins in the same way God thinks about them.

We FEEL about our sins in the same way God feels about them.

By confession we admit:

God I am guilty of using that bad language.

God I am guilty of losing my temper.

God I am guilty of gossip.

God I am guilty of ______________.

So in out intellect we ACKNOWLEDGE our sin, and in our emotion we ADMIT our sin.

Number 3: There is ASKING for forgiveness of our sin. This has to do with the will, what we do. Returning to Psalm 51, we discover:

Verses 1-3 David in his intellect ACKNOWLEDGED his sin.

Verses 4-6 David in his emotion gives ADMISSON of his sin.

Verses 7-12 David in his will begins ASKING forgiveness of his sin.

The three steps to confession are Acknowledge, Admit and Ask.

Second: There is an ingredient to this process which has two parts and leads directly to confession and forgiveness.

Number 1: There is the part we call HONESTY. In order to have real confession of sin you have to come clean with yourself. No doubt you have heard the expression, “Confession is good for the soul.” The soul needs to get honest with itself when it comes to confession of sin. We all have a depraved sinful nature. There is not a one of us listening to the sound of my voice that has not sinned this past week. Let me ask you a question without you raising your hands.

How many of you in the last 24 hours , or the last week or the last month in your walk with God have acknowledged a sin, admitted your guilt of that sin and asked for forgiveness of that sin either to God or to someone else?

Confession of sin is an ongoing responsibility of the Christian experience every day of our lives. If there is no confession of sin, then there is not likely to be spiritual growth or revival in the soul.

Number 2: There is the part we call HOLINESS. The greater the emphasis we place on the HOLINESS of God in our lives, the more we are going to see ourselves as sinners and recognize our need of confession. The more we see His HOLINESS and our unrighteousness, the more inclined we are to confess our sins and short comings. Maybe the reason you are not experiencing:

The blessing of God in your life, or

The power of God in your life, or even,

The answers to prayer in your life,

is because of so much UNCONFESSED sin in your life, because you haven’t been hanging around the HOLINESS of God.

If I am to begin to experience forgiveness in my life there must be an HONEST comparison of my life to the HOLINESS of God, an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of my sin, an ADMISSION of my guilt for that sin, and the ASKING of forgiveness for that sin.

Third: There is a three-fold purpose for confession. During our consideration of the “Mountain Peaks of Forgiveness,” we have been using this definition, "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin." But before we accept or offer forgiveness, we need to consider the three purposes of confession.

Number 1: Confession leads to forgiveness. The only way a man can have forgiveness of sin is through confession. Would you notice again Psalm 32:3-4, “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. (4) For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.” Please listen:

The way to WHOLENESS and PEACE in a man’s soul is not to COVER UP HIS SINS, but to CONFESS HIS SINS.

The way to really find FREEDOM in the soul is not to blame shift sin onto someone else, but to ACKNOWLEDGE your sin, to ADMIT your guilt and then to ASK for forgiveness.

You are living in a humanistic society today that is saying you need to cover up your sins. Society is saying if you have come from a dysfunctional family it’s your parents fault. You are just a victim of circumstances. Don’t worry; you are not responsible for your actions, your wrong doing, or your sins.

No my friends, if you accept the teachings of today’s society, that is when:

Your bones will wax old, and you will have physical problems.

You will have mental problems, “for thy hand was heavy upon me.”

You will have spiritual problems comprehending the grace of God.

As soon as you have a chance, read all of Psalm 38 to discover all the physical, mental and spiritual problems David faced as a result of covering up his sin. David was internally miserable.

I believe this is so very, very true; “Just maybe your problem is not your CHURCH, or your SCHOOL, or some FRIEND, PARENT, or FAMILY MEMBER, but it is some UNCONFESSED sin in your life.”

You will NOT be a very JOYFUL Christian with unconfessed sin.

You will NOT be a very HAPPY Christian with unconfessed sin.

You will NOT be a very BLESSED Christian with unconfessed sin.

Maybe you have come into the house of God this morning with a huge weight of unconfessed sin in your life, and you know it, as there is no peace in your soul. If that is true, you need to cry out as David did in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: (24) And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” David had finally recognized what his sin was doing to him and when he ACKNOWLEDGED his sin and ADMITTED his guilt and ASKED for forgiveness, then came peace in his soul.

Number 2: The second purpose of confession of sin is to bring us back into fellowship with God and with others. Please turn to Psalm 51 and focus with me on verses 7-11, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (8) Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. (9) Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (11) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (12) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. (13) Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” In a very real sense David was saying, “O God, I confess my sin so that I can have a restored fellowship with you.” Remember our definition, “Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender…” The whole purpose of forgiveness is to restore our fellowship with one another.

There has been too much RIFT, and STRIFE and DIVISION in the family of God over stupid things, not doctrine, but over insignificant things. And I believe it all goes back to our PRIDE of unconfessed sin and the bitterness of an unforgiving spirit.

Let’s just stop, right here and now, and once and for all, get this thing right with God and with others. God is not interested in your service, or in your money, or in your activities in the church, as much as He is interested in you confessing sins and getting right with one another.

Number 2: The third purpose of confession of sin is to enable us to push forward spiritually. In Proverbs 28:13 we read, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” The word “prosper” in the Hebrew means to “move forward.” My friends, if you are covering your sins, not confessing them, you will NOT be moving forward in your Christian experience.

Stop and ask yourself, “How are you doing in your walk with the Lord.” I don’t care how old you are in the Lord, unless you are growing and moving forward for the Lord there is a high probability you have some unconfessed sin in your life or some rift with another brother in Christ. Remember “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

As we draw this message to a close,

You need to understand that God not only forgives our sins, but He also removes them from us forever, In Psalm 103:12 we read, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

You need to understand the blood of Jesus Christ not only covers ours sins; it also cleanses our sins. In Ephesians 1:7 we read, "In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

Through the wonderful and perfect transaction of Calvary, Jesus was made sin for us. Remember this “Forgiveness is not cheap, even though it is free, forgiveness came with a price tag,” Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, had to die for the sins of the world. It is on the basis of that one perfect sacrifice that God can meet the sinner at the cross and forgive his sins. Praise the Lord we can sing,

Calvary covers it all, My past with its sin and strain,

My Guilt and despair, Jesus took on Him there,

And Calvary covers it all!

Like a cool shower on a hot day, God’s forgiveness washes away not only our sins but also our tormenting guilt. The Lord went into the depths of David’s soul and provided that magnificent relief of PEACE only He can bring. God forgave completely, because David confessed completely.

If you are harboring some sin, if you are hiding a few secret wrongs, don’t expect to enjoy freedom from guilt. There is an unspoken axiom threaded throughout scripture, “SECRET SIN CANNOT COEXIST WITH INNER PEACE.

Few grinds are more galling than the grind of an unforgiven conscience, it is just awful!

On the other hand few joys are more relieving than having our sins forgiven, it is WONDERFUL.

God is so gracious! Though He prefers we do not sin, He will completely forgive and restore us, if we completely ACKNOWLEDGE our sin and ADMIT our guilt and ASK for forgiveness.

On the other hand, perhaps you are here this morning and you have never received, by faith, the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Christians everywhere will agree that you need to take heed to Romans 10:9-10, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

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If God has spoken to your heart after reading the sermon "Confession, Gateway to Forgiveness – Part IV" then right now talk to God about what He has spoken to you.

Acts 16:31, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…”

Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

http://TheWeeklySermon.com/2009/34/

Boundaries of Forgiveness

Pastor David Miklas — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 22:30:27 +0000

Sunday August 16, 2009	Phone: 570.829.5216
Pastor David Miklas	e-mail: pdmikBBM@aol.com
Message: Forgiveness — Part III	Text: Romans 13:1-5; Mark 3:28-29; Revelation 20:11-15

“The Boundaries of Forgiveness – Part III”

Introduction: Old Joe was dying, realizing that time was running out, he wanted to make everything right. But something bothered him. He was at odds with Bill, formerly one of his best friends. Joe had often argued with him over the most trivial matters, and in recent years they hadn’t spoken at all. Wanting to resolve the problem, he sent for Bill, who graciously consented to visit him. When Bill arrived, Joe told him that he was afraid to go into eternity with bad feelings between them, and he wanted to make things right. Then he reached out for Bill’s hand and said, "I forgive you; will you forgive me?" Everything seemed fine in their time together. However, just as Bill was leaving, Joe shouted after him, "But remember, if I get better, this doesn’t count!"

We smile. Yet what a picture this gives of how we sometimes treat one another! The forgiveness we profess is superficial. We may say we forgive, but when the least little friction arises, how quick we are to resurrect past grievances! As someone said we like to "BURY THE HATCHET, BUT LEAVE THE HANDLE STICKING OUT." That way it’s easy to pick it up again if we can use it for our advantage.

However the Apostle Paul in those breath-taking and arresting words of Ephesians 4:32 said, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ sake, hath FORGIVEN you." Paul expressed the message that it’s characteristic of saints to forgive. We, who have been forgiven by God, should we not also forgive others?

Here again is our definition of forgiveness. "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin."

Forgiveness is a choice.

Forgiveness is a concern "to reconcile with our offender."

Forgiveness has a cost. Forgiveness comes with a price tag.

Forgiveness carries a consequence. True forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of that person’s sin.

We have been learning the attitude of forgiveness God wants in our lives. Thank God:

He forgives every KIND of sin.

He forgives every TIME we sin.

He forgives the very MOMENT we sin and ask for forgiveness.

He forgives that sin FOREVER. He never brings it up again.

But do we understand because of the Holiness of God there are some exceptions to forgiveness? In this message, there are three exceptions I want to call to your attention wherein you will never find forgiveness.

First: Where forgiveness should never occur. Please get a hold of this, "When forgiveness should never occur is in human government." There is no passage in the scriptures that gives us a hint that human government is to grant forgiveness to human society. Go all the way back to Genesis 9:6 where God instituted human government and you will find that government is to PROTECT the innocent and to PROSECUTE and EXECUTE judgment upon the guilty. Genesis 9:6 reads, "Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man." There you have the origin and purpose of human government.

In Romans 13:1-5 the Apostle Paul instructs us about the purpose of human government, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. (2) Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. (3) For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: (4) For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. (5) Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.”

Verses 1-2 clearly teach government was established for our PROTECTION not for our PROVISION.

Verse 2 teaches those who disobey the laws of government will receive punishment not forgiveness.

Listen carefully, if God set up in every institution of man, in the family, in the church, in the work place, among our neighbors and human government a system of forgiveness, there would be total anarchy. If this was true, you would have people running around saying

"It doesn’t matter what I do, you are supposed to forgive me"

"It doesn’t matter if I lie, steal, cheat, commit adultery, murder…you are supposed to forgive me."

Because of the depraved nature of man, there had to be one institution where there would be NO forgiveness, so there would be terror to those who, in their sinful nature, do evil.

You sin against me and as a CHRISTIAN, I’ll forgive you.

You sin and confess it, as a CHURCH we’ll forgive you.

However, if you violate the laws of the government, they are not going to forgive you. Government was not established to PROVIDE for its citizens. It originated to offer PROTECTION for its citizens. In order to protect, it has to have PURE JUSTICE. In PURE JUSTICE, there is never room for forgiveness. Notice again verse 4, "For He ( that is the government ) is the servant of God to forgive of your evils you do." No, it reads, "He is a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."

We have this upside down in our society. It seems:

in our churches today,

in our families today,

in our work places today,

with our neighbors today,

there is no place for forgiveness!

Instead, more forgiveness is found in our government than in our church where those who do wrong ought to find forgiveness. Our government is not in the forgiving business. It is not to forgive sin. It’s supposed to execute wrath. Where are we to find forgiveness?

Where forgiveness ought to occur is in your family. All individuals ought to find forgiveness in their family

Sometimes your brothers, sister, parents, or children have done something to you and you won’t forgive them. You live on and on in bitterness, anger and family crisis.

Sometimes within families there are those who have an unforgiving spirit towards another member who has done nothing wrong to you at all. But you carry the same grudge against them.

That, my friends, is not God-like nor is it scriptural. Where forgiveness should occur is in your family.

Where forgiveness ought to occur is in the church. My friends, every person who enters the doors of this church ought, if they desire restitution and they desire to get right, to find forgiveness and restitution in this church. That is what the church is all about. The church is about forgiveness and helping people restore their lives. Because they, like all of us, are a bunch of wicked old sinners, and we ought to forgive them. Does not Ephesians 4:23 say, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ sake, hath FORGIVEN you." Where we ought to find forgiveness is in the church.

Where forgiveness ought to occur is in the Christian’s work place. There are Christian employers who will not forgive their employees. There are some employees who will not forgive their employers. Yet, we ought to be able to go to our work places where Christians are and find forgiveness.

In the Gospel of Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus illustrates the meaning of forgiveness in the parable of a king who had a servant who owed him 10,000 talents. The parable comes in answer to a question of Peter in verse 21, “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” and the Lord’s answer in verse 22, “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”

The 10,000 Talents owed by this man was so much money it’s hard to conceive how one could owe that much. How much was this? One talent was worth about 6000 denarii, and one denarius represented an ordinary day’s wage. It would take this servant, working 6 days a week, 1000 weeks or about 19 years just to earn ONE TALENT! This was AN IMPOSSIBLE SUM TO REPAY. THIS SERVANT OWED WHAT COULD ACTUALLY BE 10 MILLION DOLLARS, which is inconceivable when an average day’s wage was 16 cents.

But in verse 27 it says, “Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.” The king who represents God and the servant who represents all of us, owed a debt we couldn’t pay, yet God forgave us ALL OF IT.

The story doesn’t end there. Notice what this servant did in verse 28, “But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.” The servant who had been forgiven of an insurmountable debt refused to show mercy and forgive one who only owed about 3 months worth of debt.

When the king found out about it, he was furious and said to him, verse 32-34, “Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: (33) Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? (34) And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.” Now notice verse 35, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” What a picture of somebody who wants to take all the forgiveness God can give, but isn’t willing to give it to somebody else.

DO YOU SEE YOURSELF THERE? HAVE YOU TOO SOON FORGOTTEN THE MERCY THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED FROM GOD?

My friends, forgiveness does not belong in human government. It doesn’t belong in the White House or in Washington D.C. or in Harrisburg, but

Forgiveness belongs in your life.

Forgiveness belongs in your family.

Forgiveness belongs in this church.

Look, if you have been unforgiving to someone in your life, now is your chance to get it right with God and them.

Second: How forgiveness would never occur. According to Mark 3 forgiveness would never occur when one blasphemes against the Holy Spirit. This passage speaks about the UNPARDONABLE SIN, the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

In Mark 3 the Pharisees were accusing Jesus of being Satan because he cast demons out of people. Jesus comes back in verse 23 and says, "How can Satan cast out Satan?" Then he comes to verse 28-29, “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: (29) But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:” Please notice right at the beginning of verse 28 Jesus gives perhaps the greatest statement on forgiveness found in the entire Bible. Here it says "ALL sin shall be forgiven unto the sons of men…" In other words, THERE IS NOTHING YOU COULD EVER DO THAT COULDN’T BE FORGIVEN BY GOD.

No matter what sexual sins you have ever done.

No matter what lie you have ever said.

No matter what you have stolen in the past.

No matter what you did in the past or are doing in the present, my friends, God can and will forgive you of that sin. However, verse 29 gives to us another exception to forgiveness.

What does it mean to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit? The word "blaspheme" means "to hurt, to injure, to slander." It actually means "to resist, or to fight back." When you resist the Holy Spirit’s working in your life, you are forever CLOSING THE DOOR TO FORGIVENESSIN YOUR LIFE.”

Don’t panic! Let me clarify this by saying, "No SAVED person can ever commit the UNPARDONABLE SIN." I Pastor DAVID MIKLAS can never commit the UNPARDONABLE SIN. Why, because as a 6 year old, I put my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. All my sin was forever forgiven. Let me put your mind at ease. If you have trusted Jesus as your SAVIOUR, you can NEVER COMMIT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN.

The deal is settled.

The case is closed against you.

Your SINS are FORGIVEN FOREVER.

Jesus said in John 5:24 a verse you ought to not only memorize but underline in your Bibles, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

On the other hand, there are those who have closed the door to the Holy Spirit’s working in their lives. This is the ONE SIN that will send a person to eternal damnation. If you are listening to me this morning, and you have never received Christ as your Saviour, yet

You are playing the game of church, or

You are playing the game of trying to be holy and righteous, and

You think that by doing that you are saved, my friends, you are in danger of eternal damnation in an eternal hell.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is CLOSING the DOOR of forgiveness forever. That’s why it’s the unpardonable sin. Forgiveness would never come to the individual who would willfully reject truth and resist the Holy Spirit, who is obviously working in your life for your salvation.

First: Where forgiveness should never occur would be in human government.

Second: How forgiveness would never occur would be for resisting the Holy Spirit in Salvation.

Third: Where forgiveness could never occur. Where forgiveness could never occur, would be in hell. My friends, if you go to hell, unforgiven of your sins, you will NEVER BE FORGIVEN ONCE YOU GET THERE.

Once you go to hell there is no forgiveness.

Once you go into eternity without Christ, there is no forgiveness.

In Revelation 20:11-15 we have the passage concerning the Judgment of God at the Great White Throne. “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. (12) And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (13) And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. (14) And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (15) And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” My friends, everyone standing at this judgment will be condemned to hell. There will never be a TIME or PLACE for forgiveness after that. You may cry out,"O God, forgive me God, I am sorry for my sins." But after you have passed into eternity there is no more opportunity for forgiveness. After you die on this earth, there is NO more forgiveness, if you haven’t received Christ.

There is never going to come a time even at the Great White Throne Judgment where you will be able to repent of your sins and receive the forgiveness of God.

There will never come a time even after a billion years that you will be able to repent of your sins and receive the forgiveness of God and get out of hell and go to heaven.

Perhaps there is someone saying, Pastor that kind of hell fire and damnation preaching is not right, it is cruel and unkind. You are trying to scare a person out of hell and into heaven. No, my friends, the worst kind of preaching is to withhold that eternal truth from people. Notice again verse 15. Does it say "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was given a chance to beg for forgiveness?" It doesn’t say that at all. It says they were "cast into the lake of fire."

Now is the only time you can get forgiveness from God for your sins. I ask you today, have you ever been forgiven of your sins? In your lifetime, has there ever been a time, you prayed to receive Christ as your Saviour, believing that what Christ did on the cross would cover your sins? If you have, then you have been judicially forgiven by God and are saved from being thrown into the lake of fire.

Where forgiveness should never occur would be in human government.

How forgiveness would never occur would be for resisting the Holy Spirit in Salvation.

Where forgiveness could never occur, would be in Hell.

Again from Ephesians 4:32 we read, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ sake, hath FORGIVEN you." Maybe the problem with our forgiveness is we have forgotten of how much we have been forgiven by God. Certainly, we are not going to hell if we have received Christ as Saviour. But, Oh,

When our fellow Christian says something about us,

When our fellow Christian does something to us,

When our spouse does something we don’t like, we hold it over their heads.

We hold them in bondage to that sin or offense. Do we not realize of what we have been forgiven? Because when we realize that we have been forgiven by a Holy and righteous God, there should be nothing any one could do to us that could not be forgiven.

By God’s grace may our church be a haven for those desiring RESTITUTION, RECONCILIATION, and RESTORATION. May this always be a church willing to forgive others people’s sins. Who do we think we are that we shouldn’t forgive others as we have been forgiven by God? "Have you buried the HATCHET and the HANDLE?"

Remember, "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin."

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If God has spoken to your heart after reading the sermon “The Boundaries of Forgiveness – Part III” thenright now talk to God about what He has spoken to you.

Acts 16:31, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…”

Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

http://TheWeeklySermon.com/2009/33/

Two FORGIVE

Pastor David Miklas — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:13:40 +0000

Sunday August 9, 2009	Phone: 570.829.5216
Pastor David Miklas	e-mail: pdmikBBM@aol.com
Message: The Mountain Peaks of Forgiveness – Part II	Text: Mark 2:1-12; Ephesians 4:31-32

“Two FORGIVE – Part II”

Introduction: After World War II was over, a US serviceman was assigned to Japan during the occupation. For the first 6 months after his arrival, there was the constant flow of letters back to his wife and children in the USA. However, the letters from this serviceman became fewer and fewer, until one day his wife and children received a devastating letter from their husband and father. The letter said how he had met and married a Japanese woman, and that he would not be coming back to the USA. Then after several years, they received another letter, just as devastating. This man now had several children by this Japanese woman, and he wrote that he had terminal cancer and would soon die. He asked if after his death would his American wife help to financially support the Japanese woman and her children by him, as she would be left penniless.

The American wife responded with a letter in which she wrote, "Sorry that would be absolutely impossible for us to send support money for we barely have enough to live on. However, if you will make the arrangements for your Japanese wife and children to come to the United States, we will do what we can, nurturing them, teaching them and caring for them." That’s exactly what happened. The Japanese woman came with her children and this serviceman’s American wife in turn cared for them as they were nurtured into the American way of life.

My friends, the only way this story is even believable or could have taken place is through an understanding of God’s forgiveness. This story is an illustration of the definition of forgiveness. "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin."

Did you take note of that last part, "…and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin."? Literally that America woman agreed to live with the consequences of her husband’s sin. She truly forgave that man. To recap the definition of forgiveness, "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin."

Forgiveness is a CHOICE. In order for you to truly forgive, it has to be a choice of your FREEWILL.

Forgiveness is a CONCERN. You must be concerned "to reconcile with your offender."

Forgiveness has a COST. It cost the forgiver to forgive the forgiven. Forgiveness comes with a price tag.

Forgiveness carries a CONSEQUENCE. True forgiveness comes when you agree to live with the consequences of what that person has done to you.

In Ephesians 4:32 we again read these breathtaking and arresting words, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ sake, hath FORGIVEN you." What a phrase, "FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ sake, hath FORGIVEN you." The hymn writer wrote:

Since the Lord our debt did pay, Saved our soul in grace one day

We like Him should try to live, Always ready to forgive.

Now as we continue our study of "The Mountain Peaks of Forgiveness" we want to look at “T-w-o Forgive – Part II.”

There are T-W-O, Two PARTS of Forgiveness.

Number 1: There is Judicial forgiveness. Please turn with me to Mark 2, where there is a story of a paralytic man who couldn’t get to Jesus because of the crowds. Four of his friends carried him up to the roof top, where they proceeded to remove some of the roof tiles and then they lowered this man down through the roof to Jesus. Jesus was so overwhelmed by their faith, He healed that man first of his sins and then he healed the man of his physical infirmity. Please follow me as I read, beginning with verse 4 on through to verse 12, “And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. (5) When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. (6) But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, (7) Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? (8) And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? (9) Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? (10) But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) (11) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. (12) And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.”

Notice in verse 5 it was Jesus who said, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee."

Notice again in verse 7 the question of the Pharisees, "Who can forgive sins but God only?"

Notice in verse 10 that the Lord (the Son of man) was proving Who He was by forgiving this man’s sins.

What I want you to note is that it is God who forgives sins. This is what is called JUDICIAL FORGIVENESS. All sin is a violation of the Laws of God and only the Judge of the universe, God himself, can forgive us the penalty of our sin.

So when we receive Jesus as our Savior, all our sins are erased and forgiven forever. That is JUDICIAL FORGIVENESS.

Ephesians 1:7 reads, "In Whom (That is in Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

I John 2:12 tells us, "I have written unto you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name sake”

Psalm 103:12 declares of God, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He (God) removed our transgressions from us."

Number II: There is Fellowship forgiveness. In Matthew 6, the Lord gives us a pattern for prayer. In verse 12 we can read a part of this prayer, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Then in verses 14-15 Jesus goes on to say, "For if ye forgive men their trespass, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive NOT men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Notice the first two words of this prayer in verse 9, "Our Father". Those two words make this a fellowship prayer between us and our "heavenly Father." My friends, you are NOT in fellowship with God unless you are in right fellowship with one another.

If you are a believer, Judicial forgiveness has been granted forever, and you will never be held responsible for those sins here or in eternity. But my friends, to think you can withhold forgiveness from others, and maintain fellowship with your "Father in Heaven," you are mistaken. Again note verses 14-15, "For if ye forgive men their trespass, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive NOT men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Just like you forgive others to have continuous fellowship with them, so God forgives us in order to maintain fellowship with us.

If you are not right with those who have done you wrong, then don’t think you are going to be right with God. This is why we call it FELLOWSHIP FORGIVENESS. Here again is that definition of forgiveness. "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin."

If you do not forgive those who have sinned against you, then don’t expect God in Heaven to forgive your sins against Him.

The entire book of I John speaks of our fellowship with God and with one another. In I John 1:7 we read, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another…" Then in verse 9 we read, "If we confess our sins, He is FAITHFUL and JUST to FORGIVE us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Now if we confess our sins, God is FAITHFUL and JUST, that is He grants fellowship forgiveness so we can stay in fellowship with the Lord.

You know, I think some of us have problems with forgiveness because we think we have the ability to grant to or withhold judicial forgiveness from an individual.

Pastor, I have a RIGHT to be unforgiving. Look what he did to me.

Pastor, I have a RIGHT to be angry. She said that about me.

Therefore, you are unforgiving. The offense may not be something big, like abuse; in fact it may be something very small.

It may be that you did not like their decision over some matter, or

It may be they did something or said something to you.

My friends please allow me to remind you that only God has the right to give judicial forgiveness, only God can forgive them of their sins.

We can’t hold their sin over them.

We don’t have that right to withhold forgiveness of their sins.

How can we hold a sin over them when we don’t have the power to do that?

If someone comes to you and asks forgiveness, who do you think you are to say NO to them? You are trying to put yourself in the place of God when you say, "I’m not sure if I am going to forgive you." Well excuse me, if you want to really see where the lightening will strike, it won’t be upon the one asking for forgiveness, but it will be upon you, the one who is unforgiving. Our fellowship forgiveness comes when we forgive another and things are made right between us. That brings restoration. Oh, how God desires that there be restoration between bothers and sisters in the Lord.

As I mentioned before, there are TWO PARTS to forgiveness, Judicial forgiveness and Fellowship forgiveness.

Next: There are Two PLANS related to Forgiveness.

Plan A involves the one who was OFFENDED. Here we need to understand what our Lord said to us in Matthew 18:15-18, “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. (16) But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. (17) And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. (18) Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

The Key to this passage is RESTORATION.

The Goal of this passage is RECONCILIATION.

Notice please verse 15, “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” If you are sinned against, it is your responsibility to go to that individual in PRIVATE. DOES NOT THE TEXT SAY "Go and tell him his fault between thee and him ALONE?" Great good can be done by a Christian who quietly and privately approaches another Christian.

Notice the important aim of this private visit: "thou hast gained thy brother." Your primary aim above all else, is to go to him with the idea of winning your brother, NOT WINNING AN ARGUMENT. IT IS POSSIBLE TO WIN THE ARGUMENT AND LOSE YOUR BROTHER. If somebody has done you wrong:

There are things you need to consider, before you go.

There are things you need to consider, when you go.

There are things you need to consider, after you go.

Now this person perhaps has said something bad about you, maybe they have misrepresented you, or gossiped about you, or sinned against you.

First: There are things you need to do before you go to the person.

1. Before you go be sure you have an attitude to forgive them. If your attitude is, "I am going to show them a thing or two," then my friends, don’t go to them. If you don’t have an attitude to forgive them don’t go, because the whole purpose of going is to gain thy brother and the only way to do that is to forgive the offense..

2. Before you go make sure your motive is to "RESTORE" the broken fellowship that has come between you and thy brother or sister.

3. Before you go be sure you get the BEAM of Matthew 7:1-3 out of your eye before you get the speck out of your brother’s eye.

4. Before you go have all the facts right.

Second: There are things you need to do WHEN YOU GO to this individual who has sinned against you.

1. You need to be LOVING but HONEST. Remember the whole purpose of Matthew 18:15 is to restore a brother. So be LOVING but HONEST. Don’t go and sugar coat their wrong.

Yes, they did do you wrong, there was an offense.

Yes, there was a sin against you.

But in going be LOVING but HONEST.

2. You need to be OPEN but DEFINITE. Be open, they may have something to say, details to give or circumstances to reveal that you did not know about. Often time we come with a closed mind, or an attitude which says, "Boy, I am going to correct that person, I’ll show him a piece of my mind." Perhaps there was a reason for their action, or reaction, or decision. However if your facts are right and there was a sin or offense be clear and definite with them to identify that sin or problem.

3. You need to be TENDER but STRONG. In Ephesians 4:32 we read, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another…" Tenderness is not a weakness. Yet at the same time strength is needed because you ARE confronting them about a serious sin, wrong, or trespass.

There are things to do BEFORE you go to an individual.

There are things to do WHEN you go to an individual, and

Third: There are things you need to do AFTER YOU GO. When you have gone to this individual, and met with them ALONE, and you have gained a brother, and you have now left them, there are two things you need to do.

1: You release them from that offense or sin against you. You have forgiven them and now you need to release them.

2. You are to remember that sin or trespass NO more. As we said last Sunday, this doesn’t mean you’ll forget what they did immediately, but it does mean that you DON’T keep bringing it up to them. You no longer hold it over there heads or use it against them any longer. There you have Plan A, the things that the OFFENDED are to do

BEFORE you go,

WHEN you go, and the things you do

AFTER you go.

Plan B is for the one who was the OFFENDER. Here we need to apply the instructions of Matthew 5:23-26, “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.” If you are the OFFENDER who has committed the wrong and you know you have done it, it is much easier if you the OFFENDER would go to the OFFENDED and ask for their forgiveness. It is much easier for that individual to forgive you when the offender initiates asking for forgiveness. Here is what the OFFENDER ought to do.

1. Confess your sins to God and then to the one or ones you have sinned against.

2. Don’t defend or even try to excuse yourself.

3. Don’t be general, but be specific with your sin. Here is the classic statement that doesn’t cut it, "I want you to forgive me for all the things I have done to you?" No, No, No! Be definite in what you did as you ask for forgiveness.

4. Clearly ask for forgiveness of the specific sin you committed against the individual. Spell out what you want them to forgive you for, not this general stuff, "If I have done anything wrong please forgive me."

We have discussed the two PARTS of Forgiveness.

We have discussed the two PLANS related to Forgiveness.

There are also TWO PURPOSES for Forgiveness. As I bring this message to a close, let me call your attention to the two purposes for forgiveness.

First: Forgiveness is meant to comfort us.

Second: Forgiveness is meant to convict us.

I am sure glad God does not go by my list of sins, or by your list of sins. We certainly have our lists. If someone commits one of those sins on our list, we sit there in judgment and decide whether we are going to forgiven them. I remind you, God forgives every kind of sin.

Thank God, with Him, sin is all the same.

Thank God He doesn’t have a TOP 10 LIST.

God forgives every KIND of sin. Aren’t you glad for that?

God forgives every TIME we sin. Can’t you rejoice over that?

God forgives the very MOMENT we sin and ask for forgiveness.

Aren’t you glad God is not having these thoughts?

"I’m not ready to forgive him."

"I need some more time to think about what you did."

"Let me think it over before I say, I’ll forgive you."

Does it not comfort your heart that God forgives us the moment we confess our sin? Praise God, He not only forgives the offense, He doesn’t ever bring it up again. That too is a comfort to my heart. As the song goes, in God’s sight "Yes, my sins are Gone, Gone, Gone G-O-N-E, Gone!"

You can not study forgiveness and it not COMFORT your heart.

You can not study forgiveness and it not CONVICT your heart.

Again in Ephesians 4:32 we read these breathtaking and arresting words, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ sake, hath FORGIVEN you." When somebody does something wrong to you, think about what Christ has done at Mt. Calvary by comforting you with forgiveness, and then do the same.

You can FORGIVE that guy at work.

You can FORGIVE your brother or sister or parent or children in the flesh.

You can FORGIVE your brothers or sisters in the faith.

You can FORGIVE your husband or wife.

You can FORGIVE anyone of anything without carrying a grudge.

My friends, if that American woman can forgive her husband for leaving her and her children and then receive into her home the children and wife from his other relationship, then God can forgive you of the sin you have committed against Him.

There are people, sitting in churches all across America today, maybe even right here that have grieved the Holy Spirit of God because they will not forgive. And we wonder why we don’t have revival in the church or victory in our lives. If Jesus Christ could hang on a cross and pray, “Father, forgive them.” How much more should we forgive? You say, “It’s hard.” Yes, it’s hard, but it’s possible.

In fact if you have never experienced God’s forgiveness in your life and the cleansing of your sin by the blood of Jesus, then right where you are all you need to do is recognize you are a sinner and believe that Jesus died for you, and right there say simply "God be merciful to me a sinner and save me for Jesus sake."

**********************************************

If God has spoken to your heart after reading the sermon ““Two FORGIVE – Part 2” then right now talk to God about what He has spoken to you.

Acts 16:31, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…”

Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

http://TheWeeklySermon.com/2009/32/

What is Forgiveness?

Pastor David Miklas — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:01:30 +0000

Volume No. 2009 Issue No. 27 Date: August 2, 2009

Publication of the BIBLE BAPTIST MINISTRY, 48 Alexie Rd, Hanover Township, PA 18706

Phone: 570.829.5216 pdmikBBM@aol.com pastormiklas@aol.com

"What is Forgiveness?" – Part I

Have you ever said, "I don’t get mad, I just get even!"? Or perhaps you said these words, "Yes, I will forgive you, but don’t expect me to forget what you have done to me." If you have said those words, or something similar, you need to listen to this message. My friends,

The most thrilling realization in life is knowing that all your sins have been forgiven at Calvary.

You’ve not fully experienced life until you have realized that Jesus Christ has cleansed you of your past and present and future sins by the Blood of the Lamb of God.

Nothing in life will compare to that experience.

It’s more blessed to experience the forgiveness of your sins than to experience the greatest of HEALTH.

It’s more blessed to experience the forgiveness of your sins than to experience the greatest of ATHLETIC ABILITY.

It’s more blessed to experience the forgiveness of your sins than to experience the greatest of ADVENTURES.

I believe the most thrilling realization in life is the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. The second greatest aspect of forgiveness comes when someone forgives you for a wrong you have committed against them.

Please turn to Ephesians 4:31-32 and follow me as I read these two breathtaking and arresting words. “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: (32) And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Would you notice again verse 32, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ sake, hath FORGIVEN you." In your lifetime, I don’t believe you will have the ability to forgive another until you have understood and experienced the forgiveness of God. What a phrase, "even as God has forgiven you, so we forgive one another." If we don’t know how God has forgiven us, and what he has forgiven us of, we are going to have a difficult time forgiving one another.

My Friends, it is characteristic of saints to forgive. We who have been forgiven by God should we not also forgive others? Paul warns us about bitterness and anger; both are deadly sins of an unforgiving spirit. Someone said, "An unforgiving spirit is the Devil’s playground, and before long it becomes the Christian’s battleground."

Pastor, I have a RIGHT to be bitter, look at what I have endured.

Pastor, I have a RIGHT to be angry, look what he did to me.

Pastor, I have a RIGHT to give that person a piece of my mind.

No, you don’t have that RIGHT, Notice again v. 32a. "And be ye KIND…, TENDERHEARTED, FORGIVING…"

Notice at the end of verse 32, we are told why it is characteristic for the saints to forgive, "even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you." Even though neither you nor I deserve it, God’s character is revealed when He says,"I don’t care what you’ve done to Me; I’ll love you, be kind to you and tender to you, and forgive you, regardless!"

Forgiveness follows the example of Christ. The abuses which come against us are TRIFLING compared to the mountain of sins Jesus washed away at Calvary on our behalf. There on the cross, in the tense of the language of the first words of the cross, Jesus repeatedly said, "Father forgive them, Father forgive them, Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing."

None of us have endured what Christ endured, yet He forgave us all our sins, totally and completely.

He who cannot forgive others burns the bridges over which he himself must pass.

An unforgiving Christian is a CONTRADICTION TO THE GRACE OF GOD.

“Since the Lord our debt did pay, saved our soul in grace one day we like Him should try to live, always ready to forgive.”

This Sunday morning and for the next four Sunday mornings I am going to speak on "The Mountain Peaks of Forgiveness." Today, we are just going to answer one question, “What is Forgiveness?”

As we begin, let me start by defining for you what the word "Forgiveness" is NOT. There are three actions "Forgiveness" is NOT. Upon hearing these “Not’s” of forgiveness, I trust you will firmly and finally put them out of your mind.

First: Forgiveness is NOT tolerating Sin. Forgiveness is not accepting, or overlooking, or tolerating someone’s sin. Upon hearing this fact some people will say,

“You are not very forgiving, if you cannot accept the way I live.” My friends, if you need forgiveness, then the way you are living is sinful.

“You Christians say you are loving and forgiving, but since you won’t tolerate my sin, isn’t that a contradiction?”

My friends, when you understand what forgiveness is and

if you accept their sin,

if you overlook their sin,

if you tolerate their sin,

then you are making a MOCKERY of sin. The best the world can do is to tolerate sin, by accepting the sin of other people. But those who are Christians go much further than that,

We don’t accept the sins of the sinners.

We don’t overlook the sins of the sinner.

We don’t close our eyes to the sins of the sinner.

WE FORGIVE the sinner of his sins! That’s what God has done for us. God does not show love to the sinner by accepting their sin. That wouldn’t change the person. God doesn’t tolerate sin. Rather, God’s justice must punish sin. Romans 6:23 tells us, "The wages of sin is death…" But beyond that, because of the blood of Christ at Calvary, God forgives sins. Remember this, “Forgiveness of sin is light years beyond toleration of sin.”

If a person’s lifestyle is sinful, don’t tolerate that sin, but show them they can have forgiveness in Jesus Christ. NEVER equate forgiveness with toleration of sin because the two are not the same. Even the Bible says, "Love rejoices NOT in iniquity." Love and forgiveness will never join in the toleration of sin.

Second: Forgiveness is NOT immediately forgetting. Let me repeat that statement again as it has probably caught some of you by surprise. "Forgiving is not immediately forgetting." We have got to get this settled in our minds once and for all that "forgiving is not immediately forgetting." We have the idea that if we forgive someone, we will have AMNESIA of the facts of what they did. That is not what forgiveness is.

Now the goal of forgiving is forgetting, but it’s not immediate. We should immediately forgive, but we will not immediately forget.

You see "forgiving is the promise not to raise the issue again." Let me also repeat that statement,"forgiving is the promise not to raise the issue again." You are not going to forget right away. Rather what you need to do is mark that file in your mind as permanently closed. Remember, "love thinketh no evil." A genuine, forgiving Christian doesn’t KEEP SCORE!

Now when it comes to God, thankfully we find he does have AMNESIA to our sins. God’s Word tells us in:

Hebrews 10:17, "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."

Isaiah 43:25, "I, even I am He Who blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."

Psalm 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us."

In these verses, what God is saying is He will never again bring up our sins in a court of law, nor at any judgment seat! Those sins will never be used against us again. Thank God, we are never going to see those sins again. Now

First: Forgiveness is NOT tolerating Sin.

Second: Forgiveness is NOT immediately forgetting Sin.

Third: Forgiveness is NOT the absence of consequences. Please underscore that in your mind and listen to this carefully, "Forgiveness is NOT the absence of consequences."

Just because you have been forgiven for a wrong done in some area of your life, it doesn’t mean that there will not possibly be some consequences. Even if you carry an emotional remorse in your soul, the consequences may remain.

The consequences may involve your HEALTH, if you have not been living right.

The consequences may involve your FINANCES, if you have misused funds.

The consequences may involve JAIL, if you have committed a crime.

However, in the sight of God, the consequences are there but they are not there for the sake of PENALTY, but for PURIFICATION, so that we don’t repeat the sin ever again.

As Pastor, over the years I have heard this phrase repeatedly,

"The consequences to my sin should never affect me again, since I have been saved. I did things before I became a Christian. God has forgiven me, so now I should be free from any consequences."

Wait, my friends. As I understand forgiveness, I understand that your relationship with God is now forgiven. But for you to claim that everything you did before you were saved should have no consequences now is simply not true. Praise God you have been forgiven, but there are still consequences to your sinful actions. All of us in some way are a living testimony of this point.

So…what then is a Biblical definition of FORGIVENESS? How about this?

"Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin." Let me repeat that, "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin."

First: Forgiveness is a CHOICE. It doesn’t matter who is offering forgiveness – you, God or somebody else. In order to forgive, it has to be a choice of the FREEWILL of that individual. Forgiveness occurs in the will. The individual has to choose to forgive.

God made that choice, according to Ephesians 1:7, to forgive us before the foundation of the world, "In whom (in Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Long before Eve ever reached up and took a bite of that fruit from the garden and handed it to Adam to eat, in the heart of God His Son had already died on the cross to forgive you and me of our sins. Do you realize that before any of us ever existed:

God knew the awful sinful things we would commit.

God knew the terrible sinful things we would say.

God knew the sinful thoughts we would think.

Regardless, He still created us and chose to forgive us in His heart, even before we did those terrible, awful things in life. Forgiveness is a CHOICE God made.

My friends, you and I will never forgive anyone until it is an act of our will to choose to forgive that person.

If you feel it is your OBLIGATION to forgive, or

If you feel it is your DUTY to forgive, or

If you feel it is your RESPONSIBILITY to forgive,

Then there cannot be true forgiveness. OBLIGATION and FORGIVENESS can NOT be seen together. That is why one of the most divine things we will ever do in life for our fellow man is to forgive them.

Do you remember the incident in John 8 with Jesus and the woman taken in the act of adultery? Jesus said to those standing around "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Hearing that, all those standing around left until finally it was only Jesus and the woman. At this point Jesus had the right to pick up that stone and kill the woman. However in John 8: 10-11 we have recorded this dialog. “When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? (11) She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” My friends, Jesus made a deliberate CHOICE to forgive that individual.

Second: Forgiveness is a CONCERN. According to our definition we have a concern "to reconcile with our offender." The point here is to be RIGHT with the one who has offended or sinned against us.

It ought to be a concern that our RELATIONSHIP with that person is not right.

It ought to be a concern that our FELLOWSHIP with that person is not right.

We must forgive that person

so that we can be reconciled again.

so that we can be friends again.

so that we can have a relationship again.

My friends, God did that for us in Romans 5:8-11 where we read, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (10) For 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. (11) And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” God reconciled with us so that He could have a relationship with us. As Jesus was being nailed to the cross you recall he kept on repeating, "Father forgive them, Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." Why was He saying that? Because Jesus wanted to provide the means for God to again be reconciled with us.

Third: Forgiveness has a COST. It cost the forgiver to forgive the forgiven. If you owe me a debt of $1,000.00 and I forgive you of that debt, that means it will cost me a $1,000.00. Here is where we struggle with forgiveness in the human flesh.

We say, “they did me wrong, they owe me.”

We say, “they hurt me badly, I forgive them, but they will pay.”

We say, “they said some mean things about me, so vengeance is mine.”

My friends, forgiveness comes with a price tag. You will pay a price to forgive. Let me pause for a few minutes and let the Word of God remind you what it cost the Lord Jesus Christ in Isaiah 53:4-11, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (4) Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (7) He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (8) He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. (9) And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (10) Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (11) He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” Do you realize the enormous cost God had to pay for your sins?

It cost Jesus heaven’s Glory and fellowship with the Father during that trip to the cross.

It cost Jesus His blood to cover your sins and mine.

Pastor, I accepted Christ as my Saviour. I know that one day I’ll go to heaven because of my faith in Jesus. My friends, if you can say that, that’s nice, and I am glad for you. But again I ask you: Do you realize the cost paid by Jesus to forgive your sins?

If we each realized the cost Jesus paid for our forgiveness, neither you nor I would ever want to sin again after salvation.

Fourth: Forgiveness carries a CONSEQUENCE. Listen again to the definition of forgiveness, especially the last statement, "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin." Here is a point at which many of us stop short when offering forgiveness to one another. We refuse to live with the consequences of what that person has done to us. However, true forgiveness occurs when we agree to live with the consequences of what that person has done to us.

You see, by forgiving me, God has to live with the consequences of my sin. I messed things up with my sin, and now God has to live with the hurt of my foul-ups. When you sin:

you are messing things up in your HOME’

you are messing things up in your LIFE, and

you are messing things up in your RELATIONSHIPS.

Whenever you sin, there are always consequences, and the person who forgives you agrees to live with those consequences. That means, please listen, if I am the forgiver:

That means I never ever bring that sin up again.

That means I never ever will open the file of the hurt again.

That means I never ever will bring up that offense again.

That means I no longer hold that sin over your head.

2000 years ago Jesus went to the cross willing to pay the debt of the consequences of our sins. There at Calvary was the mountain of all our sins. What a mountain that was.! On top of that mountain stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of shame and suffering. That was where "In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

That’s why I say the most thrilling realization a person will EVER experience will be the forgiveness of their sin. Remember there are several types of forgiveness:

There is the God given JUDICIAL forgiveness of our sins that we experience by faith in the finished work of Christ at Calvary.

There is the God given FELLOWSHIP of forgiveness we can enjoy daily as found in I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Finally, there is the forgiveness we either receive or give to one another as found in Ephesians 4:32 "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ sake, hath FORGIVEN you."

Have you used the statements I mentioned at the beginning of this message – "I don’t get mad, I just get even." or "Yes, I will forgive you, but don’t expect me to forget what you have done to me."?

Maybe your words have caused a wall of division between brothers in Christ or several family members. Why not agree to" forgive one another just as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven you!”

Maybe there’s someone against whom you have a grudge, or perhaps a grudge is brewing against you. You’ll do yourself a tremendous favor if you go to him or her and get it off your chest by either forgiving them or asking them for forgiveness of you. Forgiveness is the promise NOT TO RAISE THE ISSUE AGAIN. Forgiveness is marked on the permanent file: CASE CLOSED.

Maybe this morning you need to experience the forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He died on the cross of Calvary to save your soul, to forgive your sins, to provide for you eternal life with Him in heaven. If that is so, right now in your heart, look up to heaven and say, “Lord Jesus right now I accept you as my Savior. Save me in Jesus name.”

Praise the Lord! Because of the cross of Christ, we can sing:

Calvary covers it all, My past with its sin and strain,

My guilt and despair, Jesus took on Him there,

And Calvary covers it all.

**********************************************

If God has spoken to your heart after reading the sermon "What is Forgiveness?" – Part I then right now talk to God about what He has spoken to you.

Acts 16:31, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…”

Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

In His Amazing Grace,

David Miklas" src="http://theweeklysermon.com/images/Pastor_David_Miklas.gif" />
PS: In order to access the Weekly SERMON, please click the link to Weekly Sermon Library, where you will be able to choose: Plain Text (TXT), Microsoft Word document (DOC), Microsoft Word 2007 document (DOCX), Rich Text (RTF), Web Page (HTML) or PDF (Portable Document Format), any of the format(s) you desire. After you decide on the appropriate format(s) you may then print a copy of the Weekly SERMON, save it to a file on your computer, or download it and save it to a disk for future use. Your use of this material is meant to be flexible.

http://TheWeeklySermon.com/2009/31/

Forgiveness is a CHOICE (Intro)

Pastor David Miklas — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:51:16 +0000

Sunday July 26, 2009	Phone: 570.829.5216
Pastor David Miklas	e-mail pdmikBBM@aol.com
Message Forgiveness is a CHOICE	Text: Luke 7:40-50

In the Gospel of Luke 7:40-50 we read,

“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. (45) Thou 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.”

Looking at the woman at His feet, Jesus felt His Father’s compassion rising up from within Him. It was then that He spoke to her: "[Woman], thy sins are forgiven" (Luke 7:48). The woman’s upward look of surprise could be matched only by the words and shocked expressions of those who had gathered for the evening meal. Her presence had drawn a flurry of disapproving remarks from Simon and his fellow Pharisees. Their whispered comments and cynical remarks only added to the tension that was growing in the room.

Guests had taken their places for the evening’s banquet, but this woman had come in and fallen at the feet of Jesus. She was well-known in the city, a reported sinner. Many scholars believe she made her living as a prostitute.

At first, Jesus remained unmoved by Simon’s disapproval. He simply allowed the woman to bathe His feet with a mixture of fine oil and personal tears. She had taken the time to do for Him what no one else had offered to do.

When the hostile comments became numerous and hurtful, Jesus addressed their complaints by directing His words to His host, Simon in verses 41-42,

“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?”

Simon answered wisely and chose the one who had the greater debt. Then Jesus’ attention turned to the woman at His feet in verses 44-47,

"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. (45) Thou 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."

Forgiveness is a balm of healing to the soul and a constant reminder of God’s grace freely distributed. But only the Lord has the wondrous ability to forgive with an eternal impact while offering the sinner another chance.

The woman who anointed Jesus’ feet had one goal in mind and that was to demonstrate her love and devotion to Christ. And Jesus did not disappoint her when He said in verse 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."

True forgiveness begins with Christ. This is where our need for forgiveness is eternally satisfied. It is God’s love that draws us to Himself. And it is here in the embrace of His love that we find instant and complete forgiveness for our sin and shame. It is also where we find the reassurance we need to continue. In talking about forgiveness, Corrie Ten Boom often said that when God forgives He tosses our sins in the deepest sea and then posts a "No Fishing" sign.

Jesus did not answer this woman’s shame and sorrow with a list of things to do in order to be forgiven or accepted. God’s love is not based on spiritual performance or deeds well done. It is unconditional and comes to us as a result of His grace demonstrated at the Cross on our behalf. We must accept God’s forgiveness for ourselves.

Mentally, spiritually, and physically, we must act, and believe that we are forgiven. Two of Satan’s most destructive weapons are false guilt and disbelief. He is relentless in his quest to convince us that we are unforgiven, that God does not love us, and that the Lord has abandoned us. This is not true. God loves us with an eternal love, which is not based on anything that we do or don’t do.

The enemy knows sin erodes our fellowship with God. He also knows that when we yield to sin, he can use our sin against us by accusing us. He recoils over the truth that God’s love is both eternal and unconditional. And he is repulsed by the fact that Christ has the power to forgive sin.

The woman who anointed Jesus’ feet knew she was a sinner and longed to be forgiven. Few of us have to be told when we do something wrong or something that is in opposition to God. We feel the shame and conviction that accompany sin. The Holy Spirit’s responsibility is to prick our consciences in such a way that we acknowledge our sin and turn from it. When we ask for God’s forgiveness, we essentially agree with God that our behavior is sinful, and we are determined to turn away from it.

In Ephesians 5:31-32 we read, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: (32) And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” There are many aspects to forgiveness, but there is one that is crucial to our spiritual growth: forgiving those who have hurt us. Forgiveness sets us free to enjoy life. When we refuse to forgive those who have hurt us, we are the ones who suffer.

A spirit of unforgiveness can hold us back from enjoying the blessings of God. Like a bird tethered to the ground by a very long string, the person who refuses to forgive is restrained from flying to new spiritual heights. Bitterness, anger, frustration, and depression are just a few of the results of unforgiveness.

The one thing to keep in mind when dealing with the forgiveness of those who have hurt us is this: forgiveness does not mean what the offender did was right. Forgiveness simply states that we are willing to forgive and allow God to contend with those who contend with us. He is the final judge of mankind, and He will make sure justice is complete. Our responsibility is to forgive because we have been forgiven, and then to allow God to take the responsibility of dealing with our offender.

When we harbor an unforgiving spirit, we quickly become consumed by maintaining its existence. The result is a dry and weary spirit that has little emotional time left for loving God.

The first step to forgiving others is realizing that we are forgiven and deeply loved.

The second step is to forgive the person who committed the sin against us. Release our offender mentally and emotionally. This is what God has done for us. He has released us from a debt that we cannot pay. The number of times God forgives us is infinite. Jesus modeled forgiveness with His life, and this is what He wants us to do for others.

The third step to forgiving others is acceptance. When we internalize the fact that God accepts us just the way we are, then we can accept and forgive more freely.

The fourth step to forgiving others is to view them as tools in God’s hand. God can bring good out of horrendous circumstances. Perhaps the best illustration of this is in the life of the Old Testament character of Joseph. We may not understand how, but God knows. His sovereignty has not and will not change. He is over all things, good and bad. Though we live in a fallen world where bad things happen to even the best people, God is in control, and He will rescue and restore each person hurt by the sin of another.

The final step to forgiving others is reconciliation. If there is a life-threatening circumstance involved, God will not require this step. However, if the offense is something that God seeks to heal, then reconciliation is the way. Like forgiveness, reconciliation is an act of the will.

We must choose to respond to others with the love of Christ. Paul admonishes us to be reconciled one to another. When there is division within the body of Christ, everyone suffers. When there is division in the home, the entire family suffers. The same is true for our offices and churches. Animosity, bitterness, vengefulness, and resentfulness are obvious signs that something is wrong and the need for forgiveness is being ignored.

That day in Simon’s house, Jesus was not moved by the powerful presence of His peers. He saw the humility and love of one woman, and His heart was touched with compassion. Nothing can stop the love of God. The forgiveness that was extended is eternal. It was this woman’s faith in Jesus Christ, and God’s ability to forgive and restore her, that saved her. With great joy, Jesus told her in verse 50, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” This is what He tells each one of us. It is not our works that save and restore. It is our faith in Him that heals and washes our lives with purifying hope.

This letter has served as an introduction to a new series of Weekly SERMONS. Beginning next week and for the following five weeks, attention will be focused on the subject of Biblical forgiveness.

The foundational text is found in Ephesians 4:31-32 where we read these breathtaking and arresting words. “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: (32) And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

The foundational definition of forgiveness is defined in these words, "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin."

The topics and scriptural passages for the five Weekly SERMONS will be as follows.

August 2, What is Forgiveness? Ephesians 4:31-32

August 9, Two Forgive, Mark 2:1-12

August 16, Boundary of Forgiveness, Romans 13:1-7; Mark 3:28-29; Revelation 20:11015

August 23, Confession: the Gateway to Forgiveness, Psalm 32: 1-5; 51:1-13; I John 1:9 and

August 30, Steps Beyond Forgiveness, Genesis 44-45; 50.

In His Amazing Grace

Pastor David Miklas

The Weekly Sermon » Studies on Forgiveness

Words of FORGIVENESS, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

Steps Beyond Forgiveness – Part V

Confession, Gateway to Forgiveness

Boundaries of Forgiveness

Two FORGIVE

What is Forgiveness?

Forgiveness is a CHOICE (Intro)

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