Forgive and Be Forgiven

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Let's examine the Bible topic of forgiveness, and see what's involved in it, and also what's expected of us. 

 "If you're upset all the time, I'm sorry if I offended you, I'm sorry if your feelings are hurt, I'm sorry if you have a problem with what I did - essentially that 'I'm sorry if I hurt you', means you're the one with the problem.  And there's an "if" there, which I'm not  even sure you are hurt, but if you are , it's your problem.  I'm ignoring it, and unless you make a big deal out of it, I'm just saying I'm not even apologizing, because it's only if - if  it offends you, or if somehow you're impacted."  Why should we have to apologize; why should we have to seek forgiveness?  Why not just say "suck it up and move on, fellow", you know -  "it's life; deal with it."  It's kind of a mentality of the age, you know, that we're kind of unthankful, un-thoughtful, and unholy as human beings, and we just expect that it's part of life that "I'm barging through your life, and if you don't like it, well then tough it up, or deal with it." 

Now, why can't we just ignore the mistakes we make, and expect other people to forgive us?   Well, part of the answer lies in how you, yourself, and I feel about the mistakes that we make.  Often we don't feel too much about our mistakes.  And when we do make mistakes, we expect to be forgiven - I mean , "It's me, you know, so of course people are going to forgive me, and besides I don't make mistakes that really hurt people very much, not like they do to me - no, my mistakes are small, and I'm special , and therefore, of course people are going to forgive and forget."  We feel that mistakes we make are rather incidental.  Part of the answer also lies in how others feel when you and I make mistakes against them ; that feelings a little bit different.  They may not be so ready to forgive us just instantly, or let it float off, or bounce off, or ignore it - it may actually hurt them.  They may think about it; dwell on it.  They may be hurt to the point where what they have to bear , that you have placed on them, is quite a load.  And so consequently, there may be offense that is carried for quite some time.

"Well, what's the big deal about forgiveness?  Everybody makes mistakes" - again, "I don't make big mistakes - you are the one that makes the big mistakes because those are the ones I feel.  The mistakes I make, I often don't even notice, they're so small - let alone feel ."   So, let's examine the Bible topic of forgiveness, and see what's involved in it, and also what's expected of us.  The title of the sermon today is:  Forgive And Be Forgiven .  And it's a principle in the Bible that we're going to see is expounded over and over, and actually is a requirement if you want to be in the kingdom of God.  Who made a requirement that we must be forgiven, if and when we make a mistake?  Can we just "get over it and move on?"  Can we just say, "okay",  and move on?  Can we just realize, "I'm imperfect" and keep going?  Why do we have to stop and think about it and receive forgiveness for the mistakes that we make.

Well, we get an idea about who made the requirement when reading Leviticus, Chapter 4.  Turn with me there, if you will - Leviticus, Chapter 4 - it's one of those chapters that is in the Pentateuch - the thing that God taught to Israel.  Israelites were much like us in the sense that they were human beings, going about life, wanting things good in their lives and their families.

Leviticus 4:1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
See All...   And the Lord spoke to Moses saying,

Verse 2:  "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: - now here we come in - 'If a person sins unintentionally …. now, of course that's what you and I do - we're not one of those big sinners that goes around just being, you know,  evil and mean - we're the ones that sin unintentionally:  "these are the ones I didn't even know about; I didn't know I did it.  And if you tell me about it I'll probably argue with you, and say it was your fault anyway"…. But,  'If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord, in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, - any of them …  

Verse 3:    'or if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. 

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa - hey, hold on…this was an unintentional sin… "What's with the bull?  The bull… that's the new young bull that we had, finally, that we've been raising…he's really going to be the prize, and I've got to kill him over an unintentional sin?    That's going to thin down my herd - this is going to take away my prize…can I give you that old cow over there?  She's quit milking, she's a vagabond, sick all the time."

Verse 4:   'He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle … the door of the tabernacle of meeting… I've got to now, go right up in the front row…some of you don't  like sitting even in the back row…some would never want even come in the room, if they could help it,  but here, come up right to the front, in front of everybody,  with your bull, and make an admission of guilt… and lay hand on the bull's head, and kill the bull before the Lord. 

You take a knife and you grab this bull by the head, in front of everybody, and you essentially say:  "I have done something so bad , look, I have to take this life…I have to get blood now spurting all over it , and all over me, and all over this area here in front of the temple…and now the bull's lurching around and spewing blood on everything…it's a real huge mess, and this is not going well, and I'm a mess…"  see what's happening here?  God is bringing to our attention that our unintentional mistakes are bad; they have huge consequences. 

Verse 5:    'Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull's blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting. 

Verse 6:    ' and he'll dip his finger and sprinkle some seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil of the sanctuary… right there in front of this big veil … the priest is now doing this.   Now we're getting in deep here. 

Verse 7 :   'And then the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the alter of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour the remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the meeting.

By now you are really embarrassed…you've lost your bull, you're here before God, and He will take the first meat from it, all the fat…now you're cutting this thing up, and the fat which covers the entrails, and the fat which is on the entrails…now we're dealing with entrails, and all the stuff in there has got to come out, and it doesn't always look good…doesn't smell good…

Verse 9:   'the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys,  he'll remove that,

Verse 10:     'as it was taken from the bull of the sacrifice… the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering. 

Now the whole thing gets lifted up to the altar, and right there in front of everybody this slow burning process takes place.  I don't know if you've ever seen an animal roasted, but if you take a bull, even a young animal, and put it on a spit and roast it, it takes a long, long time to get this thing ready…not being just sort of a flash, and poof it disappears …next!  You've got  a big animal here:

Verse 11 :    'And the bull's hide and its flesh, with its head and its legs, and its entrails and its offal  -

Offal gives you an idea of what offal is…it smells "offal"! 

Verse 12 :    'and the whole bull he shall carry outside the camp …now, you've got to take all this stuff and you've got to haul it outside the camp of Israel…that's a big camp by the way.. a lot of Israelites there…this all has to be trucked out.  And you find a clean place that hasn't been used, where the ashes are then poured out, and you burn it on wood with the fire;

You know, do you know what it's like to find ashes out in the wilderness?  You know, you're not in the forest, typically….I'm not talking about…not ashes, but wood, the wood to make ashes, the wood to burn this.  You know, they didn't have McCullough chain saws in that day!  When somebody says you've got to have wood to burn a hide and all the stuff, you had to have some wood , and somebody had to do a lot of work just to make wood on a fire, and carry all this stuff…wow!  And so it is that when you look down through this Chapter and:

Verse 27:   'If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally by doing something against any of the commandments of the Lord …which ought not to be done …

Verse  28:    'or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, - if he should think about it - comes to his knowledge, then he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. 

See, now you take this little female animal… these cute little goats and sheep…these are cute little animals, and you have to take one…you don't just sort of "send it"… "Hey, will you run this up to the temple there…I made an 'oopsie'".  No, you take it up , and then you say …(everybody's like, "Ah, that's cute…can I pet it?")…."No, I have to kill it."  "Well, aren't you a" … you know,  the one, that would have to kill this…especially, the kids are probably crying, because they want the pet…. And guess what, now it says:

Verse 29:    You have to lay your hand on the head, and kill it yourself.

It didn't just die like in the movies - I don't know if you've been around animals much, but they don't just sort of fall over - there's a process , and it's not pretty, and it's sad.  When we make mistakes, and when we sin, when we hurt other people, it is a big deal, because God made it a big deal, even if we do something unintentionally.  Even if we don't know it, and then we think about it,  then do this is what God tells us.  When you and I slip unintentionally, we are responsible for putting our Lord and Savior through a similar process of dying, of shedding His blood for that sin; it is a big deal .  It's a huge deal.

Notice that it's God who holds us guilty when we sin, and what does holding us guilty when we sin mean?  We'll find out in Ezekiel, Chapter 18, Verses 20 through 24 - Ezekiel, Chapter 18 beginning in Verse 20:

Ezekiel 18:20The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
See All...   It begins with saying:  " that the life, or the living person who sins will die"… that's the big deal right there;  that's the long and the short of it.  If we sin, we're going to die eternally.  Now you and I might say, "Oh, I just made mistakes…no big deal."  Well, God just made it a big deal, because that was a sin, it was a trespass; that was an offense that was not according to His law, and therefore the penalty of that is death.  Going on, it says:  The son shall not bear the guilt of his father …one can't bear it for another… nor the father the guilt of the son.   The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

He can't say:  "Well, I'm in the church, so my little 'oopsies' don't count."   No, each one of us, no matter who it is, bears our own responsibility here.  But, Verse 21:

Verse 21:   " If a wicked man turns from all his sins, which he has committed, keeps My  statues, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; and not die. 

Now, that's the choice and consequence we have; that's the decision making process that God offers us, and a direction then that we can head is towards life.  And as we put away the decision to sin, or be selfish, or uncaring, or un-thoughtful, and then begin to embrace the loving, concerning thoughtful deeds of a God-being, we trend towards life. 

Verse 22:   "None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.

That's part of the process that God created, the generous forgiving, the generous graciousness that He has towards children who are trying to be like He is. 

Verse 23:   "Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?"  says the Lord,    (and they're going to) "and not that he should turn from his ways and live?

Your life and my life is all about that very thing right there: turning from our ways and living.  That's what the Days of Unleavened Bread, that festival of seven days pictures, your entire life, turning from sin and heading to life. 

Verse 24:   "But, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live?  No - you see, God isn't looking to play favorites - he doesn't give us little passes of grace , to people He likes, or the people that have, you know, been baptized.  No, He really needs people who have His nature, so He can elevate them into His family… All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, and because of them he shall die.   

Again, let's ask the previous question: Who made it a requirement that we must be forgiven when we make a mistake?  Can we just get on with it , get over it, and move on?  The answer is, no, you cannot; I cannot -  nobody can.  When a person makes a single mistake, sin, whatever you want to call it, he or she is slated for eternal death - that's the rule.  It's a simple rule; it's an emphatic rule.  There must be death.  In Romans, Chapter 5 through Verse 12, we see that this is common to humans - Romans, Chapter 5 and Verse 12 - it's common to humans, but there is a silver lining on this very dark cloud, because God also created an out for the perplexing conundrum that we find ourselves in, which the Apostle Paul so well expressed:  "that which I want to do I don't do, and that which I don't want to do I end up doing that."  So, we all just run over the cliff like a herd of lemmings and commit suicide, because there is no help - no hope?  

Romans 5:12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
See All...   Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned --

Now we've got to stop there and think, wow!  That's a foreign concept to society.  Modern society doesn't think that way, that death is spreading, and all the stuff that's going on in the world, and all the bad examples, and all the entertainment and all the warring that's going on, and this "heated up" desire to have acquisitions of power and wealth and more and more food.  This breeding, growing, fermenting thing is not of God, and it is sin, and it's spreading through people.  Society doesn't like to think that way - it popularizes things like, "I'm bad" - "I'll stick that on my car."  "I'm a rebel" - things like that; "Naughty but nice";  "I'll go on vacation to "Sin City."   I'll stick on my truck:  "Get over it, or get out."  It's stuff like that, you know, and it's just the mentality of society.  But you remember those young animals in Leviticus 4 that we read about?  You had to grab it by the head - you had to kill it; you saw the blood, you got the smell of the insides and the burning, and you got the stuff on you, and that's a requirement, because we humans  don't tend to think about sin and how bad it is.  We don't tend to realize that it's bad, and that's why we have Passover every year.  And that's why they had sacrifices all the time - because we need the reminder that,  "Oh wait a minute, this human thing that we are, that we do, is not good, and it is not leading to life, but rather, to death." 

When you went to tabernacle, the tent of meeting of the temple, with your animal, that thing which "Oh, if I hurt you, and you're offended"… if, if, if, if…that thing, you see, all of a sudden changed into something that you experienced with all five senses:  sight, touch, the smell - the taste would perhaps be involved in some of the sacrifices like the Passover lamb…that was a real thing that God created to bring to us in every imaginable way, so that we come to realize that sin is ugly;  then it requires your death, or if you can get a Savior to come save you from death and die in your place, then he can die.. somebody's  going to die. 

Now, remember our Creator…He interrupted His life to come down, to live, to suffer, to bleed, so that He could forgive you and me, so He could give you forgiveness, that one thing remember at the beginning, we think we didn't even really need:  "Well, if I've offended you, I'm kind of sorry."  He interrupted time , in the sense that He lived forever, and then He ceased to live forever, and He is the one God-being at this time that has not lived forever - He's lived forever in the past; He's lived forever in the future, but there were three days and three nights where He ceased to live.  And He interrupted that life, and He interrupted His glory in a spiritual state for thirty-three and a half years, plus nine months of pregnancy, and three days and three nights - that's a big interruption, to what He was and what He is.  It begins to show you how important forgiveness is in God's eyes - at least the eyes of the Father, and the eyes of Jesus Christ, forgiveness is everything, it's huge;  It's big enough to do that for.  Certainly a lot bigger than just going through the process of killing an animal, and immensely bigger than you and I give sin credit for when we tend to flick it off and say, "Oh, deal with it." 

Sin is a big deal, but righteousness is an even bigger deal with God.  Sin is big enough that Jesus Christ did that, but it's smaller than righteousness, because the biggest deal, as it were, in the universe, is God's Holy righteous character.  He can forgive sin but He cannot create Holy, righteous character, of and by Himself, in you or me or in anything.  So that becomes even more precious.  And so part of His existence here, was a come down and be an example of Holiness and righteousness, and show character, but also through His sacrifice and His forgiveness, to be the One that gives us the tools, and the ability to develop that Holy, righteousness character.  Now that is really worth something - the combination is just pure, pure…it's better than gold. 

In Romans, Chapter 6, Verses 10 through 14 , we see a vast description, as it were, an overview of that which our Lord did for us - Romans, Chapter 6, beginning in Verse 10:

Romans 6:10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
See All...    For the death that He died, he died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, he lives to God. 

The death is important, and the Passover is very important - it unlocks all kinds of opportunities for us, by forgiving us of our sins.  With the life that He lived then - and notice,  He lives now , He lives to God. 

Verse 11:    Likewise you also, - an imitation of Him - reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Verse 12:    Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey sin in its lusts.

There's the fight; there's the wrestling that Paul talked about.  There's the helper, as well, when he said:  "Who's going to deliver me from this body of death?  I thank Jesus Christ, my Lord …yeah, there's my help."  We're wrestling; we're in the fight; we've put on the armor of god; we go to work developing that Holy, righteous character. 

Verse 13:     Do not present your members  as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 

That is the beauty of where we go once we are forgiven - once we recognize, once we repent, once we say "I'm sorry again" for the fifty-millionth time, and we stagger up and struggle down that difficult, challenging road.  You know, this walk is difficult, it's challenging, it's very, very "undoing" sometimes, of our own ability, to feel like we're making progress.  You know what the solution to that is?  The solution to that, partly, is you - you!  It's where we're told to come together every Sabbath.  It's why it says in Hebrews, Chapter 9 :  "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together - especially as you see the day approaching."  Why?  We, as a body, it says in Ephesians 4, Verse 16, are to be stitching ourselves together through the loving work that each one of us supplies. 

I don't know about you, but it's hard to get through a week without you , and if you're not here on the Sabbath, then you can't be helped by us, encouraged, lifted, and you can't help us be encouraged and lifted!  No one knows the battles that everyone else goes through, the thoughts that you have in your mind, the struggles, the challenges, the sins you see - but you.  In that sense, it's an individual walk that you have.  But you're not alone in it - you have God with you, and you have God helping you.  But we are to help one another; we are to bear one another's burdens; we are to encourage; we are to support; we're to not only pray for, but we're to talk with…forgiveness is an important aspect of the family, and being forgiving and be forgiven is part and partial of this "stitching together mix" that we have. 

Do you ever think, "Well, I don't think I'll go to Sabbath this week -  I'm too down."  Huh - guess what!  You're going to cut yourself out of the strength to fight that battle, to do that wrestling, to stay in there.  And you would have let down others who are perhaps needing to hear of your struggle, if for no other reason, that they can recognize their struggle isn't alone; their struggle isn't unique.  Their fiery trial isn't something because they're such a rotten sinner, or so low, you know, in God's eyes, that they're being allowed to go through this.   That's why we visit people  in prison; visit people who are sick.  That's why we care and are concerned.  God has called us to be free of sin and fight this battle, but we can't do it on our own.  And so we need to "lock arms" and we need to be part of that encouraging body of Christ.  Even as we are called sheep in the Bible, and He the great Shepherd, God has put within sheep the nature of flocking, and they have this incredible nature that they have to be together.  And it's almost a push, shove - when you see sheep, you don't see one over there, and one over there, and one over there - especially if there's any danger, they just run together …they're all bunched up.  We need that.

We need to be forgiven, we need to be forgiving, and if we're not, then this sin, this putrefying stuff, like yeast that bubbles, and putrefies - it literally does within bread - it corrupts us, and we have to be putting that out.  It will cause our deaths if we're not forgiven.  If any of us quit, maybe we say,  "Ah, I'm just tired of fighting - I think I'll just walk over here by myself, and get eaten by a - by a wolf!"  You know, all the other sheep will go baaaaah , - no, no, no, no, no!  "Well, I was thinking about just jumping off the cliff" -  "no, no, no, no, no - you come over here!"  It says, you know, in the Bible, if you reach out and you rescue someone, if you bring a brother who is straying back, it will be to your credit.  We must fight it; we must root it out; we must be washed; we must be clean; we must be forgiven, or we will die.  And that is the lesson, one of the lessons, of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.  But we do this as a body, we do this as the church .  We have an example; we have a helper.  We also need to all be involved in forgiving and being forgiven on a daily basis.

Let's go to I John, Chapter 1, in Verse 7:

I John 1:7The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
See All...    If we walk in the light - notice, it didn't say if I walk in the light;  if we - if we are walking in the light, as He is in the light - now, what is He talking about here?  We are in a world of darkness, and this world is an evil place.  You've seen it yourself this week in many different facets, on your job, you've seen it around your neighborhood, you've seen it on the news, you've seen it in the grocery stores…you see the lowering of the standards of humanity as things get a little tighter, a little worse.  But He says:  If we walk in the light as He is the light , - that's Jesus Christ shining through the darkness and lighting this narrow, difficult path - then we have fellowship with one another, -  Wow!  There it is:  Fellowship with one another - and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

We have to obey God's commandments of love, but we also have to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, of our sins, of which we are repenting of…we have to be forgiven of them if we want to walk on that path, in the light. 

Verse 8:   Now if we say we have no sin,   - "well, I mean, we're talking about me here - huh!  Don't see anything, and I de-leavened this week…not sure why…didn't really see anything.  I did a self-examination, but I thought of you more than me."  You know, that's how we are as humans.  If we say we have no sin …"Oh come on, that wasn't really a sin - I didn't really hurt you, but if I did, get over it."  Then, guess what:  We deceive ourselves.

You and I are full of sin ; our houses are full of sin.  That de-leavening we did this week was a cursory glimpse at the yeast, at the spores, just like any look at ourselves at any time, an examination, will be a glimpse at the highlights and we will not see the evil that really lurks, even in our good deeds.  Not only do we deceive ourselves, but it says:  the truth is not in us.  It can't be in us if we're deceiving ourselves, it's not truthful, we're not saying, "Well - Oh I think I'm pretty good!"  Well, that's a lie; it's not truthful.  Deceived - deceived means that you can't know what's actually going on; you actually think that it's something else.

Verse 9:    But, if we confess our sins,  - if we really get in and we start looking and we say: "Look, what about this, what about the good things that I am - let's make a list.  What about those good things?  Why do I do that?  Oh - yeah!  How do I feel after I do that?  Oh well…how does this make me feel?  How many times do I say 'I and me' when I'm describing something that's beneficial -or 'you, and him and her', if it's not so good" - you know.  It's all these little things in there that just are bubbling around in the brew of sin -  If we confess that, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us - clean us up - from all unrighteousness .

That's a wonderful, wonderful blessing, but it's something we need, and we need it daily.  Now there's a component of human nature that says, do unto others as they do unto you.  And we pretty much follow that as humans.  I know we're in the church, but we still follow it - "They did that to us, we ought to do this to them."  If you don't believe it, watch the news next time, and what do you say ought to happen to that group, that people, that person who did whatever that was to our group, that nation, that person…(growl…) that's how we think.  Whatever is done - you do back.  Straighten this out or be just…wipe out a few  people!  But, is that what we're supposed to do?  In Matthew, Chapter 5 , and Verse 38 Jesus said:

Matthew 5:38Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
See All...     "You've heard it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

It's kind of our mind-set, it's our mentality, and this has everything to do with forgiving and being forgiven :  "If you don't forgive me, buddy, why am I going to forgive you?"  You know.  That's what we carry around:  "You hurt me, so I don't have to forgive you - you did something to me and I'm remembering it, and I'm keeping it, and you deserve for me to not like you, and to think about you once in awhile."  See that's the 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' principle? 

But Jesus gives saints a new directive in Verses 44 and verse 45 - He says:

Verse 44:   "But I say to you, - (I'm not talking to the world, I'm talking to you now) - love your enemies - those are the ones shooting at you, harming you, trying to take you down - bless those who curse you - those are the ones who are saying your name, really loud, with a whole bunch of profanity and awful things that, you know, basically erase any contribution you have made to the human race during your lifetime - you are to do good to them - you are to bless them , you are to love them - pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you… Now spite means, " I'm going to go do you some harm here, and I'm going to persecute you; I'm going to get on the Internet, I'm going to do something…I'm going to really make your life awful."  And what are you supposed to do, you're supposed to pray for those . 

Now what would you pray about for someone like that?   My wife was bringing this passage to me this morning as we were having a talk - she said, "You know, when you pray for someone who really is doing something against you, you might start out praying kind of thinking of that person, 'well, that kind of hurts, what they're doing', but it's not long until you're not thinking about that anymore - you're actually thinking about them ; you're wanting God to bless them; you're wanting God to forgive them; you're wanting God to help them in their life, come to repentance, ultimately have a great life now and ultimately be in the resurrection, be in the kingdom of God, and reign… You know, all the bad stuff is gone.  Now we're thinking solely on good things."  That person is forgiven as you're praying for them in the sense that you are not attributing or wanting any harm to come to them.  We need to pray for people who transgress against us in order to be able to forgive them, to truly go before God on their behalf, and want the very best for them, and ask specific things to help them.  Notice Verse 45:

Verse 45:    "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; - that's what God does; that's what a God-being does; that's how a God-being thinks; that's how they act; that's what your Lord and Master did, when He was first in heaven and came down here - it was all about praying for you, thinking of you, loving you; living and dying for those who slandered, persecuted Him, killed Him, and He just keeps on creating a beautiful future for all of them and all of us.

What would we pray?  He set us a great example in Luke 23, Verse 34 - as they were finishing Him up, and all the things that He had gone through as our Passover, and they were just finishing Him up, He said:

Luke 23:34Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
See All...   " Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." 

He had no hatred for them; He had no hard feelings.  He said actually, "Father, forgive them …because - He had thought beyond what they were doing - because.  Whatever it is they are doing, they don't know what they're doing; they don't realize.  You see, He realizes, in humans we tend to say, " If I did something wrong; if, I don't think so, I don't think about it much - I'm just bumbling along" -  They didn't realize what they were doing.  And you know, when people hurt you, they don't realize what they're doing either; they're just bumbling along through life, taking the shortcuts, doing the selfish things, not thinking about you - and you get hurt; you get stung.

We need to be of Christ's mind to pray for those who spitefully use us by asking for their forgiveness.  It doesn't matter that they hadn't apologized; did anybody apologize to Jesus?  No!  Don't be the one that has to place…keep score - let's see, seventy times seven, have we reached that yet?  Look at the disciples :  "How many times do I have to forgive this person?"   Do they have to apologize first; do they  have to mean it - does a tear, or two tears, mean serious apology?  Does a card, does it take a phone call?  What is the criteria?  There's the criteria:  they don't even know they're doing it - please forgive them. 

Wait - I could say, wait, wait, wait - "You don't know how much that person hurt me - I can't just forgive them like that."  We could say, wait, you don't know how much Jesus Christ was hurting, and He forgave just like that .  And we're told:  " You do the same, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."   If you want to be in the family of God, that's how the God-family thinks and acts.  The point is, the God-family forgives.  Now, contemplate that; the God-family forgives .  It's not something they just do; it's something they are .  Something they're about.  They forgive.

To know a God-being means to know a loving being; but to know a God-being means to know a forgiving being - one who doesn't keep scores.  One who doesn't care to remember; one who would much rather forgive and forget , than remember and punish.  That's what God is - that's what He's about.  It's a trait - think how deep this trait runs through the God family.  God is deeply invested in forgiving, because He gave His only begotten Son for forgiving; His only begotten Son gave His life for forgiving .  They are deeply invested in forgiving.  Now ask yourself:  How invested are you in forgiving?  You can say, "Well, I don't have to forgive - I don't have a stake here."  Oh well, that's true in a sense - you don't have to forgive and you don't have a stake, but you could have a stake in the family of God - so could I…it's our choice.  And that stake begins with not sinning, repenting of sin, and becoming a forgiving being, like they are.  Do you want to be in the God-family?  The lesson is:  Be like God is.  Jesus said in:

Luke 6, Verse 40   "A  disciple is not above his teacher,  - " if I come, and I lay down My life, and I give and I forgive , you can't come along somehow above Me and say, 'Well, you're just the servant (with a capital S) - you just have to die, you have to go through all this, and you have to forgive my sin, but I'm the student - I'm higher than you, I don't have to touch that kind of stuff."  He says:  No, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

And so you see, you and I, as we think of the Passover, if we prayed for forgiveness, and we want what Jesus Christ did for us, need to imitate Him, and become like Him - and not just receive the forgiveness, and receive the remission of sins, but also to become a giver of forgiveness, and a giver of the remission of sins.  It's an aspect of the nature of those who are forgiven.

Let's take up the account in Luke, Chapter 6, Verse 35 through 37 - Luke, Chapter 6, we'll begin in Verse 35 - Jesus says:

Luke 6:35But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
See All...    "But love your enemies, - these are just words, love your enemies ; throw it out there, hear it, say it, move on.  Love is a mentality, coupled with a concern that results in an action that is for the best of someone else, and an enemy is one who is out to get you, to do you in, to do you harm, maybe even to kill you.  So, right there in that phrase you have opposites of what we can even comprehend as humans, but a God-being would love his enemies , just as Jesus did.  He would do good to them, and lend, hoping for nothing in return;  and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.  Why?  Because that's what God-beings do.  And you're imitating them.  For He is kind to the unthankful and the evil.

Verse 36:   "Therefore be merciful, just as your Father in heaven is merciful.  Do you see why?  What you receive is what you do because the One you receive it from is who you're trying to become like; you're trying to become Christ-like.  So, learn mercy, because your Father in heaven is also merciful.

Verse 37:   "Judge not, and you shall not be judged.   Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 

That's where the title of this sermon comes from.  It's a whole different mind-set than you and I have when we wonder,  "Well, do I really have to worry about forgiveness - do I  really have to worry about forgiving others?"  Forgive, and you will be forgiven .  It's not a suggestion - if not just sort of "if you do these things you'll be blessed."  Now, forgiving others and repentance is the requirement for receiving God's grace.  God will be gracious to you and give you forgiveness - if you forgive others.  But God will not be gracious to you if you're not repenting, and if you're not being gracious to others - if you're not repenting and forgiving everyone, of everything.  Why?  Why do we have to forgive others?  Well, as we're beginning to see here, forgiveness is an integral part of God's love.  Loving others cannot, you know, combine somehow with hating others.  You can't love God with your heart, soul and might, and love all humanity as much as you do yourself, while at the same time you have spiteful thoughts, you're holding people hostage, you're wishing them harm - just doesn't work.  And so Jesus said in Luke 6:31And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
See All...:

Luke 6:31And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
See All...    "Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

Remember that concept of, "I don't really do things that hurt other people?"  That's kind of an assumption on our part - "I don't really harm, or sin, or hurt other people much" - that's how everybody feels.  And therefore:  "Just as you want them to do to you - which is to easily forgive and forget, and realize that nobody's thinking they're hurting anybody else, but we're all just sort of carnally making a lot of "oopsies" - so do to them…do to them likewise.

Forgiving others is actually built into our daily prayer, or maybe every prayer.  Jesus gave us that model outline to pray by, in Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 9 through 12.  And this is a really deep outline - you could really mine it in a lot of different levels, and use the same outline for every prayer, and yet it takes you different directions on different days, and different things - it's a real living outline.  He says in:

Matthew 6:9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
See All...    "In this manner, therefore, pray:  Our Father - our Father ; our Pater (the Greek word), are the One that we are being influenced by, and the One that we are trying to become perfect like - You, the ultimate aim, the ultimate goal, that which we want to be - Holy is your name.

Verse 10:    Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  In my life now, help me today to do your will.

Verse 11:    Give us this day our daily bread - that un-putrefied, un-yeasted boiling brew , gone from an unleavened bread of your Son, the perfect sweet bread that we can eat, and we can ingest, we can take Him in…

Verse 12:   And forgive us our … the Greek word would say:  transgressions - would be a good term there.  It means something that you're indebted for.  We're indebted because of the transgressions that we make.  Forgive us our transgressions, as we forgive our transgressors.  The two words are similar; one is plural, and one is singular. 

Now, notice, it wasn't forgive me my - it's forgive us.  Remember, we're in this together; we're in the body together, we're being stitched together.  We're trying to grow into the Father and the Son, as one - Forgive us our transgressions, as we forgive our transgressors.  In other words, God, by our own prayer, is only expected to forgive you of your sins as you are forgiving everyone else of theirs.  And the prayer we pray, we pray for forgiveness based on that - based on that . 

Let's go to Matthew, Chapter 18 - well, before we do that, let me just mention that God has a lot invested in us…He's taken billions of years to create the universe, He is giving us a place in His family, He's prepared a place for us, He died to forgive us our sins, He's created His kingdom that's coming…if we go to Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verses 4 through 8 - Ephesians, Chapter 1 and Verse 4, I just want to note something here briefly:

Ephesians 1:4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
See All...    He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world , - He has a lot of time invested in you - that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,     

That's His goal:  holy and blame… without blame means He's a forgiving God, and He wants us to develop His love,

Verse 5 :   having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

This is what He's done.  Now, going on:

Verse 6:   To the praise of the glory of His grace, (or graciousness), by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 

We are here in the Beloved all because of Him.  That's what He's done for us.  Now, going on:

Verse 7:    In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins , - how priceless is that?  It's stated in the next phrase:  according to the riches of His grace. 

Riches means the worth; the value, the extreme - I mean the blood of Christ, for all He's done…you couldn't buy that stuff, to forgive your sins…and God is giving it to you free.   

Verse 8:    Which He made to abound toward us…

God will freely forgive you of your sins if you will learn to freely forgive others of their sins, and you will repent of those sins and become more like Him.  Just notice how valuable , how rich that is.  Now the only fair thing that you and I could possibly do after receiving all that, is to imitate Him, and to pass that free gift of repentance on to others…the free gift of forgiveness on to others.  Not to hold on to it; not to be stingy with it; not to squander it, but to freely give it as we have freely been receiving it. 

Matthew 18 , Verses 23 through 25 , there's a parable of an unmerciful servant, and you can read it.  The parable, the story He created whereby somebody was forgiven, but then somebody owed him something, and he said, "Oh now, I'm going to take you to court and make you pay every last farthing."  We cannot receive this most valuable thing God has given us and then stingily withhold it from others.

Immediately following the model prayer in Matthew, Chapter 6 and verse 15 He makes this statement: 

Matthew 6:15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
See All...   "If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

That's something for us to stop and contemplate with fear - fear , brethren, because that's the condition, one of the conditions, that your forgiveness is based upon, is your forgiving others.

In conclusion, God is a good God… very, very, good God .  He gave you life; He gave you the promise of a future; He's creating a place for you.  And then He came, lived and died here on earth for you.   And He will give you eternal life.  In Verse 14 of Matthew 6, Jesus said:

Matthew 6:14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
See All...   "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

That's the if , that's contingent on your being in the family of God.  As we approach the greatest gift ever given, that precious blood of our Lord and Savior, the only Son of God the Father, for the forgiveness of our sins, realize the condition that's placed on you receiving God's grace and you receiving eternal life…forgive and you will be forgiven