Christ's Passover Sacrifice Makes Forgiveness Possible

In the last couple of weeks, we have been getting ready for the Passover. I have given a couple of sermons along those lines to prepare us. Today will be another one in the same series. Two weeks ago, we talked about the foot washing. We went through John 13. The title of my sermon two weeks ago is that the Passover reminds us that we've been called to a life of humble service. Last Sabbath, we talked about the bread. The title of the sermon last week was Passover as a Time to Reflect on a Dedication of Jesus Christ. Last Sabbath, we looked at Christ's dedication to the mission, Christ's dedication to us. We began before there was a universe. We began before there was time.

Before there was a universe, before there was time, and we documented this scripturally, Jesus Christ was dedicated to you, to being your Savior. Today, since we've gone through the foot washing, since we've gone through the bread, today we want to talk about the wine, the blood of Jesus Christ.

What I normally do at this time of the year is I review years past. I go back normally about 10 years or so and take a look at what I've given you. I don't want to keep on going over the same things. I want to hit things from a little bit of a different angle from time to time. I've done that today. Today will be, as yes, last week's sermon was a different kind of a sermon. I don't know if I've ever given that sermon before. The same thing would be true for today. Today, I'm using the Life Application Bible Commentaries, where I'll barns notes in the preparation of the message. I'd like to begin our discussion today over in Exodus 12. We're going to take a look at the original Passover here in Exodus, Exodus 12.

I want to highlight something in particular. Exodus 12, verse 7.

The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. What we learn from this short passage here is that the blood symbolizes something. The blood symbolizes deliverance. It delivered the nation of Israel if they had that blood on their doorposts. For you and I as Christians today, the blood of Jesus Christ also is a symbol of deliverance. We are delivered, we are freed from ways to produce death. We are freed from slavery to an old way of life. And we have freedom to move forward in serving God and Jesus Christ. Just as the nation of Israel was free to leave Egypt, we are free to leave spiritual Egypt and serve God.

Let's go over to Revelation, the other end of the Bible, Revelation 12. Want to notice something else about blood? Revelation 12, the blood of Jesus Christ, not just any blood, but the blood of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12 deals with the history of the church. And here in Revelation 12, verse 10, we read, And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ, have come. For the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

They overcame by the blood of the Lamb. They overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb. So here we see blood symbolic of something else, symbolic of being able to overcome Satan.

Let's look at one other scripture before I get into the topic title for today. It's found back in Leviticus, a book of holiness, Leviticus 17, verse 11.

So here we see a third thing that blood represents, and of course this would represent Christ's blood. The blood of Jesus Christ is symbolic of a life of atonement.

So very quickly here we've seen the blood represents deliverance, overcoming Satan, and atonement.

Now I want to take this a little bit further since we're talking about blood today. I went to the Internet. I was wanting to find out exactly what the physical blood we've got coursing through our veins right now. What exactly is the purpose of blood that we have go through our veins? As I took a look at that, I found it to be very interesting. I'm going to read a short paragraph from the Internet, from Wiki Answers, a little short article titled, What Blood Does. As I read this, I want you to be thinking about the spiritual analogy here. Here's what the physical blood in our bodies does. It says, and I quote, Blood doesn't have a function. It has several. It carries food and oxygen to cells. It carries waste away from cells and serves as a carrier for various disease-fighting cells, such as the white blood cells.

It also has a means of puncture-proofing the body. It clouts. It seals up small holes quickly. Blood is also important in maintaining a constant temperature in your body. Now, when you think about it and you analyze this from a spiritual perspective, you take a look at this and draw the analogy from physical to spiritual, we see that the blood nurtures us.

We see that blood ridges the body of toxic material, toxicity. In our case, the things that are toxic would be sin, bad attitudes, things that shouldn't be in our hearts and minds. We see where blood protects from attack. We read in Revelation about how we overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb. We see where physical blood defends us from hurt.

Certainly, if we have the mind of Jesus Christ, and we are living as we see there in John 13, and we have a frame of reference where we're humble, if we're living according to what the bread instructs us and we're dedicated to live as Christ lived, then we won't be defended from hurt. We won't be easily offended. We also see that the blood balances the body. In the physical case, it balances temperature, but in our spiritual case, it balances a spiritual ache.

So what do I want to get at today as we talk about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ from a spiritual perspective, from looking at His blood? The title of the sermon would be this, if you want to write it down across the top of your paper. Christ's Passover Sacrifice makes forgiveness possible toward God, man, and self. Christ's Passover Sacrifice makes forgiveness possible toward God, man, and self. Now, as you're writing that down, you're looking at the first portion of it. You're saying, say what? Forgiving God? How does one forgive God? Why would one forgive God?

As I was meditating upon the sermon today and thinking about the Christian experience, I was thinking about this very topic because I've had a number of people come to me and discuss this over the years, over the decades I've been in the ministry. I've been in the ministry now over 30 years. When I'm talking about forgiving God, here's what I'm talking about, and please understand and please listen carefully. Obviously, God has never sinned. Jesus Christ has never sinned. They don't need forgiveness along those lines. God and Jesus Christ have only done beneficial, loving things for mankind. In that sense, they don't need any forgiveness. So why do I bring up that topic? Well, let's be honest about some things. Because of what God has done in our lives, there are times when some people are angry at God. There are times when people are upset with God. They're put off by God. They are, you know, they simply understand God. They become bitter toward God. How many people have I seen leave the church who had issues with God? Now, it's not that God has done anything wrong. As you and I typically think of forgiveness, He doesn't need our forgiveness. But we need, sometimes we need, to get rid of the anger, the resentment, the bitterness, you know, being put out, being so upset with the great God. So, from our perspective at times, we need to have a forgiving spirit. And I think, if you're honest, as you go through trial after trial in your life, there have been times when you may have, what in the world, God, are you doing? And why are you, why do you keep on doing it to me? I thought I learned that lesson. So, let's take a look at this idea about forgiving God, about us draining the anger we may have in our hearts and minds toward God. Remember the concept of the blood. The blood in our physical bodies removes things that are toxic out of the system. We need to use the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to move things toxic out of our system spiritually. If there's anger and bitterness toward God or Christ, it needs to go.

As I was thinking about this, and as I was putting down my notes this past week, several things came to mind about what I've noticed over the years, where people get angry with God. And I'll just simply give these to you. We need to forgive God for your life's, or my life's, circumstances. Sometimes people get angry because of the circumstances of their life. They know that God has allowed them to be in those circumstances. He's allowed it. He's God. He could have changed things. He could have with His power and His might. He could have made things different in our lives, but He didn't. And we have a certain set of circumstances. And sometimes we get angry with our circumstances. We get angry that life is turning out the way that it is.

But where you and I need to stand back in a humble John 13 attitude, where we need to remember our dedication to the program God has called us to, we need to remember that God uses the challenges and the circumstances He allows in our life to build something marvelous in us. He is a loving being who only has our best interests at heart. And if our circumstances aren't what we would like, well, you know something? There's a greater mind behind our life than our own. And that greater mind has something beautiful in mind for us. Now, it may entail that there be some really bad circumstances we go through.

We have the chapter of Hebrews 11 to look at, people who have had some really bad times in their life. God loved each and every one.

Living in the dens of the... living in rocks and caves, being tortured.

Not very good circumstances at all.

But again, God loved those folks and He was building something powerful in their lives. Let's go over to Mark 6.

Take a look at circumstance.

Mark 6.

And let's be honest, time and circumstance happens to all people, happens to us in a church. We're not immune from time and circumstance. It's not to say that God isn't performing things in our lives, that He's not in charge, that He's not looking after us.

But there are things for us to learn in terms of what happens in our set of circumstances in life.

Here in Mark 6, we see a discussion here, and I'm not going to go into it in depth, verses 31-44. Mark 6, 31-44.

Here you've got the example of the loaves and the fishes, where there was a need. There was a need to be fed. There was a need to be sustained. There was a need for a miracle to be fed and sustained, and a miracle was performed, and thousands of people were filled. There was such abundance from God through a miracle that they had to cart off an X number of baskets full of scraps.

Now, that is a background. Let's look at Mark 6, starting here in verse 45.

Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida while he sent the multitude away.

Jesus Christ here is scripting the circumstances. He's telling his men to go away, to go to a certain place. He's setting them up for something. Just as you and I have been set up for various situations. When he had sent them away, he departed to the mountain to pray. How many times in our life have we felt God was off on some mountaintop somewhere? He's off somewhere. Where is he? Well, he's up on the mountaintop. That's nice. Verse 47. Now, when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. Jesus Christ sent them into the lake, sent them into the sea. He's now going to send a storm their way. He's going to allow them to work against the storm. He's going to allow them to be exhausted. They're going to be beside themselves, and God is controlling all of those circumstances. Verse 48. Then he saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. And again, how many times do you think, man, we need God in our life, and where is he? And there he goes, strolling on the river there, strolling on the sea.

But Jesus Christ was in control the whole time. He loved them the whole time. He wasn't about to let anything happen to them the whole time. Verse 49. And when they saw him walking on the sea, they suppose it was a ghost. They didn't understand. They cried out. For they all saw him were troubled. But immediately he talked with them and said to them, Be of good cheer, it is I. Do not be afraid.

Now, there are other... I can go to other portions of the Scriptures that talk about the same incident. You know, Peter called out, let me come to you, and he came out, and he was actually walking on water for a while. Until he said, hey, I'm walking on water. But then he began to sink. But notice here, Christ says, Don't be afraid. I control the circumstances of life. I know exactly what's going on. I know exactly where you are. I know exactly what your needs are. There's no need for fear. I'm right here.

Verse 51, Then he went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased.

He started the storm of life. He ended the storm of life. They were exhausted, but he came to them. Brethren, just as you and I get exhausted by life's circumstances, we cry out to God, and He is there. We may not see Him. We may not understand Him. In this case, He was going to walk by, see if they were to cry out, see if they were to pray. When you're crying out to God, that's praying. Are you going to pray to me? You've got the storms of life happening here. You're afraid. You think you're going to sink. They cried out, and he came. He responded.

Brethren, as you and I go through the storms of life, let's remember that the blood of Jesus Christ, our sacrifice, puts us into a very special relationship with our Father. It puts us into a very special relationship.

We're family. Family doesn't desert other family. Not the spirit family. So understand that about your life's circumstances. Christ, God, they are in control. They love you. They're going to do what's best for you. The second thing we want to talk about, about forgiving God, is something that's very much related. And that's forgiving God for the trials you go through. Forgiving God for the trials you go through. We've got people in this room who have fought the fight against cancer.

We have got people in Ann Arbor who are currently doing the same. We've got people who lose their physical life to cancer, and they win spiritually. But sometimes we wonder, why is God doing what He's doing? Let's take a look at Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12 and verse 5. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons.

And by son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. Don't allow the trials of life to get you down. Yes, we know it's not pleasant. But look at the bigger picture. For whom the Lord loves, He chastens. Of course, I've teased many of you in this room as you've gone through life's trials.

I've said, boy, you know, God really loves you. All these trials you're going through, He must really love you a lot. For whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father doesn't chasten? So again, we have the assurance here that our Father lovingly is looking after our circumstances.

And if He presents a challenge to us and form a trial, it's for our best interests. We are here on this planet not to go through life unscathed. We are not to go through life on easy street. What would we learn? What would we learn? There's an old saying, you can't climb a smooth mountain. If you're going to get to the mountaintop, you need some of the things that stick out, things that are hard to get around, you're on the other side of a rock climbing over.

It shows us that we're God's kids. Verse 8, But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we've had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them some respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? If we understand why our mothers and fathers physically corrected us, so we would be better kids, better adults, we understand that. Shouldn't we understand that God is doing the very same thing spiritually? Verse 10, For they indeed for a few days chasten us, have seen best of them, but he for our prophet, and let's notice this, for our prophet that we may be partakers of his what?

Of his holiness. This is a beautiful thing that God is working in us. Verse 11, Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. The days of Unleavened Bread, which we are about to enter here in just a few days, talk about bringing in the righteousness of God. And we need to be trained in righteousness. It's not something that we just automatically default to. We need to be trained in righteousness.

And when we walk off the path, God in his love for us will help us to get back on that path. And sometimes that requires a difficult, challenging trial. Now there are some thoughts here I want to just walk through. I'm not going to read these verses. But as you and I go through the trials of life, the storms of life, they help us to look upward and forward.

If we don't look at trials properly, we look inward and backward. We don't want to do that. We don't want to look inward and backward. Because then we'll become depressed, discouraged, give up, walk out of church, never come back. We don't want that. We want to look upward toward God and forward as God told the nation of Israel back at that first Exodus.

Tell the children of Israel to go forward. So some things we learn about trials, some lessons. Trials help us trust God's sovereignty and purpose in our lives. I've been with you for a good many years now, since 1997. And we've gone through a number of trials together. I've seen you go through trials. You've seen me go through trials.

You've seen me go through some very difficult things in life. You've seen me stand in front of you crying on a number of occasions. I've been with you as you've cried on a number of occasions. As we've gone through these things together, we understand something that was written there in Romans 8.

I'm not going to turn there. You might in your notes want to jot down Romans 8, 28, and 29. Where it says, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.

And that's you. You love God. You've been called according to His purpose. And sometimes, just as Jesus Christ had to suffer, we too have to suffer. We know that trials do something else for us that's very beneficial, and that trials enable us to serve our fellow man and love our fellow man all the more. Again, I won't turn to the Scripture 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3-5. 2 Corinthians 1, 3-5.

The gist of this says that the Father of compassion, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves have received from God.

Yeah, we go through trials. We go through difficulties. And the purpose of that is not only to help us stand straight and narrow, but the purpose of that is also so we can be with other people and help them as they are going through life's storms. One other and one last thing we learn from our trials is that trials really do help us to mature. They help us to mature. James, chapter 1, verses 2-4. Again, I won't turn there. James 1, 2-4, where James says, My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

There's yet one other thing I want to discuss. I'm sure I can go through a whole laundry list of many other things where we need to, quote-unquote, forgive God. I think sometimes we need to forgive God for the tragedies we see in the world around us. Forgive God for the tragedies we see in the world around us. We talked about our circumstances. We talked about our trials. But how about what other people are going through? You know, there are some events that most of us in this room have seen and have gone through that, till a day we die, we'll never leave us.

You probably, though, again, depending upon your age, those of you who are of a certain age, you remember where you were, what you were doing, the time you heard that John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. You know where you were when you heard that Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, or Bobby Kennedy.

You know, and you remember, where you were when you saw the space shuttle Challenger explode. You remember seeing all those younger men and, what was their name, McCullough, the young teacher, all smiles going into that shuttle. You saw the shuttle launch, and then you saw the whole thing blow apart before your eyes. And those promising young lives snuffed out. You remember the day when you were watching on TV when the two Twin Towers went down. And we think about some of the things that are happening in Japan right now. The tsunami, the earthquake, the nuclear situation. You've got engineers in Japan right now who know they're dying, these men who are working in that nuclear plant.

Their feet are burned on the bottom. They know what their life will not be, what it could have been. Their feet are already burned from the radiation. Just yesterday or the day before, another aftershock, 7.1 on the Richter scale.

What's an aftershock? It's the same thing as any earthquake. It's just what normally what you have is the large event, and then every event after. All those aftershocks are nothing more than earthquakes, but we call them aftershocks. 7.1 is pretty powerful. I lived through a 6.9 in California. I know what that's like. Threw me out of bed. Killed 60 people. Those things are frightening. But let's take a look at what Jesus Christ says about tragedies in the world. Let's go over here to Luke 13.

Luke 13 There were certain circumstances that happened in society back in those days. Christ wanted to teach a lesson. It's a lesson we need to understand ourselves. Luke 13, verse 1. There a president that season, some who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices.

Pilate was a guy he didn't want to be in Jerusalem. He didn't want to be in Judea. That was the end of the line for any politician who had any aspirations of greatness in the Roman Empire.

The idea of going to this forsaken land and dealing with these people who believed in Jehovah. He didn't want that. And he became a little bloodthirsty.

Jesus answered and said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? Were the poor Japanese people over in Japan worse sinners because of what's happened to them recently? Verse 3, I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

As we look at the circumstances around us, it should tell us something. Christ says, look, understand something. Life is fleeting. Life is fragile. No one is guaranteed the next breath. You never know. You never know. Just last week we asked for prayers for somebody that Alan Patterson knows. The person has got an aneurysm between the chambers of their heart.

To me, that would be pretty frightening. They have an aneurysm that can blow at any time in the chambers of your heart. Between the two chambers.

Verse 4, or those eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them. Do you think that they were worse sinners than all the other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Christ wants everyone to realize just how short and fragile life is.

He was dedicated. We talked last week about how Christ dedicated Himself to mankind before the foundations of this universe were built, before there were any planets. Thus meaning before time existed.

He was dedicated, but He wants us to be dedicated. He wants us to have a sense of urgency.

Let's take a look at James. Let's keep in mind what we've just read here in Luke. Keep that in mind. Let's go to James 4 and tie in a principle over here. James 4.

James 4, starting here in verse 13. Come now, you say, today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.

Yes, tragedies happen in the world. And God allows those tragedies to happen because God is a teacher. He wants us to realize that no one is guaranteed tomorrow. And we need to have a sense of urgency for our life today. So the first thing we want to think about as we're thinking about the Passover sacrifice is that whatever it is that you hold against God, if you hold anything against God, maybe you don't. But if we are angry or bitter or resentful, put out, regarding something that we feel God has done or not doing in our lives, maybe you feel God's performing a sin of omission. It's not that He's done something to you, it's that He's not doing other things for you. He's not gotten you this or that or the other. If you fill in the blank. Well, again, the sacrifice that makes us at one with God, remember we talked about the blood giving us atonement, it should help us to think differently. We need to allow the blood to remove those toxins away from us. Now, secondly, I said that Christ's Passover sacrifice makes forgiving our fellow man possible. Let's discuss this. Christ's Passover sacrifice makes forgiving our fellow man possible.

Here we'll go over to Colossians chapter 3.

And in verse 13, Colossians 3, 13, Bear with one another, forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, even as Christ forgave you, so you must, must do. Must do. Now, in other contendations, I've got the new King James I use. It talks about a complaint. But other translations, like the new international, use the word grievance.

The new living talks about offenses, being offended.

The Bible in basic English talks about wrongs done to us.

You know, if we feel there are people, you know, we've got complaints against people, people have grieved us, offended us, done wrong to us, again, we can find ourselves bitter, angry, upset, put off, wanting revenge, wanting to give back. We need to let the blood take those things away, remove that toxicity from our systems. To understand this even a little more, let's go to Matthew 18.

We went through this some months ago when we were going through the parables, Matthew 18. I think it'd be good for us to review it now.

The parable of the unmerciful servant, Matthew 18, verses 21-35.

Matthew 18, verses 21-35. Let's go there. Matthew 18, verse 21. Verse 21 frames the issue. Verse 21, then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him, up to seventy times. The response, verse 22, Jesus said to him, I do not say it to you seventy times, but seventy times seven.

Seventy times seven. Christ says, no, you must forgive an infinite number. Keep on forgiving. Why? Because unlimited forgiveness is what God gives toward us. If we are people who are repentant and are seeking God's forgiveness and wanting to straighten up and fly right, then there is unlimited forgiveness that's available toward us.

We are to becoming more like God. And if God is one who has unlimited forgiveness, then we need to begin to learn that trait. And it's going to be a hard trait to learn. It goes very much contrary to our human nature.

But, brethren, what happens if we don't practice that? If we are not forgiving people, if we are people who give in to, as they say, the dark side, what will we become? Well, take a look at this parable and see what we can become.

Matthew 18, verse 23-27, we see where a servant goes before a king and asks for forgiveness. Start here in verse 23, Matthew 18. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When he begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. A great deal!

But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded he be sold with his wife and children all that he had in the payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.

Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

You very much know the analogy there. We have a great debt that we owe before God, to God in his compassion, because of the blood of Jesus Christ has been merciful to us and has forgiven us the entire debt. The entire debt.

So we are like this servant here who has been completely forgiven. But now notice here in verses 28, 29, and 30, his response to other human beings. Verse 28. But that servant went out, found one of his fellow servants, one of his peers, who owed him a hundred denarii, a much smaller amount.

And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me all you owe me. So his fellow servant fell down at his feet, begged him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.

Now it's very clear here that both people are saying the same prayer. They're making the same, they're pleading the same thing.

The fellow who had just been forgiven by the king should understand and have empathy, but he does not.

Just like you and I, because we have been forgiven by the great God, we should have empathy toward those who we need to forgive.

Who we need to forgive.

Verse 30, And he would not, but went and threw him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

Brethren, I don't know if you've ever really thought about it, but when you're thrown in prison, how are you going to pay that debt?

It's impossible.

So basically, the person who was being unforgiving, the man who had been forgiven himself, was putting one of his brothers, a peer, in a tenable position, an unworkable position, and putting him in prison, he would never be able to pay off the debt.

Never.

The point that we see here is, again, unlimited forgiveness by God is to be demonstrated by us. Again, no one's saying that's easy. And I'm not saying, brethren, when we're talking about forgiving somebody, that we're letting anybody off the hook. I'm not saying we're condoning whatever anybody's done to us.

I'm not saying that we're just suddenly saying, oh, you know what? That's okay. Well, it wasn't okay. We were hurt. Maybe we were badly hurt. Maybe we've been damaged for life. We're not trying to erase any of that.

But as I've said so many times in the past, we forgive other people because it drains the poisons out of us.

We have to use the blood to get rid of that toxic waste out of our lives.

Thomas Adams said this, He that demands mercy and shows none, ruins the bridge over which he himself is to pass.

William Arthur Ward said this, Life lived without forgiveness becomes a prison.

How true.

We have to ask ourselves, each and every one, when it comes to some individuals in our lives, are we in a prison? Because we won't forgive. Because we won't drain the bitterness, the anger, the resentment. Because we want revenge. Life lived without forgiveness becomes a prison.

There's another reason that we need to forgive our fellow man. I touched on it a few moments ago. We need to forgive our fellow man for the sins of omission. Things people didn't do to or for us. The sins of omission.

Now, these are very dangerous sins. This whole situation is very explosive. The sins of omission are not necessarily easily seen. The waters there are kind of murky.

We may deny we did something by omission. We may not have the proper spiritual vision. We may have blinders on. We may not have a very wide range of vision. And we've hurt people. James 4, verse 17. James 4, verse 17.

You know, at the beginning of this chapter, James is talking about where do wars and fighting come from among you? Well, it comes from our hearts, doesn't it? But not unless what it says here, verse 17, therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. It is sin.

Probably every one of us in this room is guilty of the sin of omission. Maybe you have been hurt by the sin of others, omission. Over the years, I've had people come to me and say, you know, Mr. De Los Andros, I found myself in a really bad spot. I was really hurt. But my friends, people in the church, my relatives, they saw where I was going. They didn't agree with where I was going. They knew there was pain was going to come, and they said nothing. They said nothing.

Until it was too late. They were already in the quicksand. And then after the person gets through with the trial, I say, well, we didn't think you should have married that person, or we don't think you should have done this, or gone this direction, or whatever.

Maybe all of us have been guilty of that. Maybe we thought, well, is it my place? There's some room to be thinking about whether it's our place. But sometimes, brethren, it is our place. We've got Matthew 18 to think about. We've got Galatians 6 that says we should be bearing one another's burdens. We've got many busy bodies, but we are here to love our...we are our brother's keeper.

Maybe we could have headed off some trouble for people if we had gone to them and said, look, I've come to you in the spirit of John 13. If this is not my place, if this is the wrong time, let me know, but I think you're heading for some real problems. Or how many times have you and I been in need? I mean, we're right in the...like that storm we read about earlier. We're right in the midst of something that's really bad. And we know there are people around us that can help. And we know they aren't helping. They don't offer encouragement. They're just not there for us. How many times has that happened? How many times have we been guilty ourselves of that? The sin of omission.

The last thing I want to talk about about forgiving our fellow man is forgiving our fellow man for unintended consequences. Unintended consequences. And again, I think we've all been there. We've all done things. We've all taken action. And there have been consequences we never foresaw. And people got hurt as a result of our actions and the consequences which were not intended. Let's go over here to Luke 23. Look at something from the life of Jesus Christ. Luke 23.

I believe we read this last Sabbath. Luke 23.

And when they had come to the place called Calvary, they crucified Him. And the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

Oh, they understood that they were crucifying a man. They were dying. Actually, three men here. It wasn't that they didn't understand that. But they didn't understand all of the ramifications of what they were doing. They didn't understand who Christ really was. They didn't understand when they stood at His feet, looked up at His body and said, Hey, you're the great deliverer. Deliver yourself. When He said He thirsts and they put this hyssop, some sour wine on hyssop, and put it up on His face, well, the hyssop is like cactus. It's used to scour things. So is that something you would want when you're hurting up to your mouth? Somebody would throw some cactus in there with sour wine? They really didn't know what they were doing. And to me, as we said last time, Christ's statement, Your Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. We're talking about here real spiritual maturity. The Apostle Paul, when he was thinking about what he had done to Christians, when he had had them dragged out of homes, when he had them tortured, murdered, when he had them blasphemed because they couldn't take the torture anymore, he wrote that he did it in ignorance and unbelief. God Himself winked at the ignorance of the Gentiles, the Bible says. So I think we need to remember, brethren, that there are times when people around us do things. It may hurt us grievously, but it was unintended. And we need to be like Jesus Christ. Father, forgive them, for they really don't understand what they just did. The word they just said, the action they just took, they really don't understand how deeply that hurt me. And we need to let that blood remove that toxicity away from our system.

Normally, I would have stopped right there, but last Sabbath, I had a conversation with somebody in the Ann Arbor congregation, and they brought up another point, because I was saying about what I was thinking of giving this today. They said, well, you need to add something else, Mr. Delisandre. And I said, what is that? And they said, you need to discuss forgiving ourselves. So my last item here is, Christ's Passover Sacrifice Makes Forgiving Ourselves Possible.

Brethren, forgiving ourselves is essential. There, I think, is a tendency, and probably all of us, to hold ourselves more accountable than we do other people. Perhaps you've been one who can justify forgiving others for certain sins. Even if you commit those sins, you may not forgive yourself, but you can forgive others because they are worthy of the blood of Jesus Christ.

But somehow, you can forgive others, because they are worthy of the blood of Jesus Christ. But somehow, maybe you've even done something worse. Or maybe they've done something worse, I should say. And you'll forgive them, or realize God will forgive them, but you don't want to forgive yourself.

Perhaps you believe that forgiving yourself is not even a consideration. I've noticed people who deal with a lot of depression in their lives. They don't think that they are due the forgiveness of God. They don't feel that God would consider them. And so they are embroiled in their own negativity. They feel that they are to be in a constant state of remembrance of all their faults and weaknesses. Is that scriptural?

Does God want us to go through life in a constant state where we remember all of our faults and weaknesses, all the ways we've fallen short? Is that why we every year at Passover Time examine ourselves, to just drudge up the past? Of course not. I would love to turn to a juicy scripture that says, forgive yourself.

There is no such animal, but I'm aware of it. Now maybe you can think of one, and if you can't please tell me after services. But I don't think there's a single place in the Bible that explicitly says we should be able to forgive ourselves. Now that doesn't mean the principle is not valid, because I think the principle is valid. I do want to go through a number of scriptures with you that I think show that that principle is valid.

Let's link a number of scriptures here together, and if you suffer, or you know somebody who suffers, from the inability to forgive themselves, then please pay very close attention and take very good notes. Over here in Jeremiah 31. Here's a section we've read on so many occasions about another issue, but let's take a look at this.

Jeremiah 31, verse 34. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, said the Lord. For I will forget their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. So God is able to forgive, and he's able to forget. Now we can't forget, but the idea here is God is forgiving. So we want to keep that in our mind. Now we go over it, and we want to add these things together. We're going to build on something here, build a number of principles, one on another.

Let's go to Isaiah 38, and verse 17. Indeed, it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness. Now we talked about this earlier on in the sermon. There are times when we go through life's trials. God allows us to have certain sets of circumstances, and they are bitter. But if we handle it in the way that Christ would handle it, and God wants us to handle it, and it says, it was for our own peace that we had the great bitterness.

But you have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption. Notice, God is a loving God, even though he allows times of bitterness to happen. But you have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

Now there is a principle that we need to grab hold of, especially if you know somebody who fights depression all the time, and just always wants to live with negativity about themselves. God says, He takes our sins and throws them behind His back. Now He has the ability to forget. We don't. Most of us don't. Maybe as I get a little older, a little more senile, I'll be forgetting everything, forget my own name.

But one of the things that I think we learn here as a principle, and that is that by principle we learn that when these negative things want to percolate to the front of our mind, we put them to the back of our mind. We put them to the back of our mind.

Now I want to turn to two more scriptures, which I think really help nail down this thought of being able to forgive ourselves. One is over here in Acts 10. I'm going to put all these together in just a moment. Acts 10, verse 34, then Peter opened his mouth and said, In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

So let's kind of put some things together here. If God doesn't show any partiality, that means He doesn't show any partiality when it comes to forgiveness. If He forgives person X for doing what you've done, He will forgive you for what you have done. If He's cast the sins behind His back of person A, and you've done the same thing as person A, He will cast your sins behind His back. God shows no partiality in His love or in His forgiveness. God does not choose to forgive one person and let another person roast on the spit.

He forgives everybody who comes to Jesus Christ in His Spirit that we see in John 13. Humility, repentance, He will forgive. Forgiving yourself is not about forgetting. It's about not bringing the offense up to yourself in negative ways. Again, over and over and over, I see this in people who have issues. They want to bring up their own... they've got this negative self-concept. And let's be honest, probably everybody in this room, myself included, we deal with that. So many times, all of us... I hope I'm not misstating this. Maybe you're a little different, if you are, then fine. I think a lot of us look at ourselves too many times through our weaknesses.

We look at ourselves through our negative points. And we become obsessed with the negativity in our life. Again, we understand we need to repent, we need to examine, but God doesn't want us to be obsessed with the negative in our life. He wants us to appreciate we do have a Savior, we do have a sacrifice. And the fact that God shows no partiality in His forgiveness. We need to let go. And again, people who fight these issues won't let go of the negative. We need to let it go. Now, let's go to one last scripture here along these lines. Philippians 4. I think there's a powerful scripture here.

I really didn't quite see it this way until just this week. You know, this beautiful thing about the Bible, you see different things at different times as you've got need.

The Bible is a living book. You know, God's Spirit flows from Him to us, and we see the beauty that is here. Let's take a look at something again. Philippians 4, verse 9. Philippians 4.9. The things which you've learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. Now, if we do the things, Paul says, I've taught you, then notice the result. And the God of peace will be with you. Not depression, not negativity. If you do certain things, the God of peace will be with you. What are some of those things we are to do? Well, we go back to verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

So we're told to look to the positive. God moves on. He forgives us and moves on. We read about that in Jeremiah 31 and Isaiah 38. Brethren, if God has moved on, why shouldn't we? Why shouldn't we?

Now, there are some consequences if we don't forgive ourselves. I've seen this so often, and I wanted to bring this up here, because somebody brought it up to me last week over in Ann Arbor. And I thought, yeah, it would be good to touch on this. Because over the years, I've seen so many fine people in God's household struggle with this. Let's go over to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 16 is a couple of scriptures here in Proverbs 16. I want to look at Proverbs 16, verse 25. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. We need to be able to change a losing ball game, a game that's heading for death.

We go up a little bit farther, same chapter, chapter 16, verse 18. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Now bear with me as I discuss why I'm quoting these two scriptures. To those who have a hard time forgiving themselves, let's understand something. That a lack of personal forgiveness exhausts us. It takes energy to harbor anger and hatred and resentment toward ourselves. We loathe ourselves. We loathe what we've done. We loathe what we are. We loathe our position in life. We loathe, in some cases, that we feel we can't change. Although we can, with God's help, we can do anything.

But sometimes we really don't harness the power of God. It takes all this energy to have all this negativity. This is where we need the blood of Jesus Christ to help us overcome. We talked about how the blood helps us to overcome, become at one with God and Christ, to take away the toxicity out of our lives. Lacking personal forgiveness exhausts us. Why do I read a scripture about pride? Because a lack of personal forgiveness is a lack of personal forgiveness.

A lack of personal forgiveness is a form of pride. We don't want pride during the days of Unleavened Bread. If you do not forgive yourself of past sins, it's a form of pride. Whenever we enact a set of different set of rules, a higher set of standards for ourselves over others, that's pride. When we confide it within ourselves to forgive others, but not ourselves, we are saying that we are less capable of making poor decisions.

Now, we don't come at it that way, but that's really basically what we're saying. We're less capable of making poor decisions than others. We shouldn't be forgiven. We're not as human as the other people. We're superior. We should know better. We are somehow more intuitive. We are somehow wiser. We are more insightful. We're more caring. We're more loving. We're more converted. Blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Because of that, people say, I can't forgive myself. Well, that's a form of pride. When we reject forgiveness, extend it to us by God and others. When we refuse to forgive ourselves, what we're doing is setting ourselves above others, and that is prideful. Please think on that. There's one other item here I want to discuss with you when it comes to lacking personal, lacking the ability to forgive ourselves.

And that is, as you will not forgive yourself, if you are the kind of person who does that, you will hurt other people. Be advised, you will hurt other people. Forgiving yourself is important for those in your sphere of influence, whether it be your family, your co-workers, your next-door neighbors, your spouse, your kids, your grandkids. If you can't forgive yourself, if you're going to walk around life wounded, then you ultimately will wound other people.

It's a well-known fact, been documented time and again, that hurting people hurt others. None of us in this room want to do that. We don't want to be hurting people that hurt others. We have the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We have the ability to allow God to heal us. He wants to heal us. We shouldn't stand in the way of that.

Brethren, we can't change. Let's take a look at all of our lives. We've all done things we wish we hadn't done. We've all said things we wish we hadn't said. We can't unring the bell. The bell has been rung. We can't always restore things to the way they were. We would like to try. Sometimes we can get close, but we can't always restore things to the way they were. But we can make a difference as we go forward as Christians.

As we embrace the forgiveness that God asked for us as we embrace a different way of life. We can impact people's lives for the positive. And in that sense, we can give back some of the things maybe we've taken from people in terms of our hurting them. So we need to be able to forgive ourselves and let the healing begin. Brother, that's the end of the three-parter I have for you. I wanted to discuss the foot-washing. I wanted to discuss bread, which shows our dedication to the great God.

I wanted to discuss the wine representing the blood of Jesus Christ. Today's sermon was entitled, Christ's Passover Sacrifice Makes Forgiveness Possible Toward God, Toward Man, and Toward Ourself. Hopefully this Passover season will be a very meaningful one for you. And hopefully the material we've covered not only here, but as I've sent you the midweek studies, and I've tried to coordinate those with the sermons, hopefully those will be of help to you.