A Lesson in Forgiveness

Well, we are here in a time of year where we now have been through the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. And we begin to look forward now to the Day of Pentecost, which is coming. We know at its core the Day of Pentecost represents the bringing together of God's Church. His men and women to whom He would call, who He calls to then stand shoulder to shoulder to move forward and work together in the work that He's placed before us. We're going to look at a topic today which is fundamental in how we deal with each other, not only in our nuclear families, but also in our spiritual families. So the title of the sermon today is, A Lesson in Forgiveness. A Lesson in Forgiveness. And I invite you to open your Bibles. And let's turn to Genesis, chapter 45, if you will. Genesis, chapter 45, and we'll begin our study here in the life of Joseph. Again, as we come to this most important and crucial matter of forgiveness, forgiveness in the life of Joseph is one of the most dramatic elements which unfolds for us here in this chapter, chapter 45. So we're going to break in here to a very dramatic and impactful moment. Let's read together. Genesis 45, let's read verses 1 through 15. Genesis 45, verse 1 through 15.

Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those that stood by him, and he cried out, Make everyone go out from me. So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he went aloud, and the Egyptians of the house of Pharaoh heard it. Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Does my father still live? And his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.

Joseph said to his brothers, Please come near to me. So they came there. Then he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years of famine have been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will neither be plowing or harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a prosperity for you and the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

So now, it was not you who sent me here, but God. And he has made me a father to Pharaoh, Lord of all his house and ruler throughout the land of Egypt.

Verse 9, Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt. Come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, and your children's children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. There I will provide for you, lest you and your household and all that you have come to poverty, for there is still five years of famine.

And behold, your eyes in the eyes of my brother Benjamin, see that it is my mouth that speaks to you. So tell my father of all the glory in Egypt and all that you have seen, and hurry and bring my father down here. Verse 14, Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept. Benjamin wept on his neck. Moreover, he kissed all of his brothers and wept over them. And after that, his brothers talked with him. Let's stop there.

Well, quite remarkable, I'm sure you agree, that this young man, to whom we might estimate, was about 17 years old, was sold by his brothers, taken off into a foreign land to where he would spend the next 22-some years of his life, separated from all that he had known, at a very young age.

And with that then, he would respond in this way to his brothers, his deplorable brothers, we could say. Quite incredible. And I want to think through this morning, particularly about this whole matter of forgiveness, because it's a quite impactful topic. Because we could say that the unhappiness of countless men and women in our society, in the Church, that that unhappiness can be traced back to a singular root. And that singular root is this issue of forgiveness and unforgiveness. It can be assessed that those unhappy individuals have never truly experienced forgiveness from others, or in turn themselves remain unwilling or unable to extend forgiveness to those who seek it from them.

So whether it be in the inability to receive it or to grant it, many of us, many of us today, are trapped in unhappiness because of this. We might agree with that. It's been said that forgiveness is as indispensable to the life and the health of the soul as food is for the body. And so we open up our scriptures and we realize that forgiveness is not just some little extra.

You know, it's not just some small, special dimension in the the Christian's life or the Christian's experience. Rather, it's at the very heart of it. Why? Because matters of forgiveness, as it relates to our spiritual lives, are some of the most difficult matters. Absolutely. I know you've experienced this. One way to test this, I won't ask you to do this test, but if I if we were to go through an exercise where I had you write down, think about and write down this morning, what are some of the phrases, and let's just keep it to three words each, three words each.

What are some phrases that you can think of which are the hardest to express?

What are some phrases, three words each? Let's keep it to that, where you know the hardest to express and to truly mean. We would get a variety of responses, I think, but I think we would discover that maybe a reoccurring two phrases that would come are the expressions, I am sorry, and I forgive you. Three and three of the hardest phrases to get out of our mouths and to truly mean.

And every honest man or woman, I believe, will acknowledge that, myself included, because our pride can be so severe that we're, first of all, reluctant to ever admit that we're wrong, and at the same time, and perhaps even sadder, we're slow to grant forgiveness to those who seek it from us. Choosing, rather, to, we feel the need to hold on to it as some kind of mechanism by which we have leverage over them to where we can constantly be returned in them over and over again to the indebtedness which they owe us and which remains. We do this, parents, to children. We do this sibling to sibling. You see it in all facets of life. We deal with each other in this way, husband-wife, spiritual brothers, spiritual sisters. We deal with each other in these unforgiving ways, and we want to deal with this today. You may have heard, to return evil for good is devilish. To return good for good is human. To return good for evil is divine. To return evil for good, devilish, good for good, well, that's human. Good for evil, well, that's divine. And I think what we have here in the 45th chapter of Genesis is this. It is Joseph standing at the forefront and giving us this expression of divinity. This is a divine example of forgiveness. I'd like us to trace a line through this incredible act here. Let me first, though, set the context here. Some of you are familiar with this story, but this serves as a refresher. Let's go back to a few chapters to Genesis chapter 37, where we discover the jealousy of Joseph's brothers. Genesis 37, here is a 17-year-old boy. He's dreaming some pretty impressive dreams. He's wearing a pretty jazzy coat that his father had given him and hadn't given the other brothers. He's reporting back to his dad all of his brothers' dirty tricks. So all this is going on, and so all of that with other things it creates in the brothers such a spirit of jealousy, resentment, hatred, that they're determined and they've determined amongst themselves at the first opportunity they're going to seek to deal with him. Once such opportunity arises, when Joseph's dad sends Joseph to check on the brother's well-being and give a report back. So here we pick up the story chapter 37, the second half of verse 17. Chapter 37, second half of chapter 17, Joseph went after his brothers. He found them in Dothan, but verse 18, now when they saw him from afar off, even before he came near, they conspired against him to kill him. Let that sink in. They saw him from afar off. They plotted to kill him. Now, you and I, we may not have a good family background. We may even have some animosity in our family. Each of us are touched in that way, but I don't know if we've ever reached this level, you know, where you're sitting there with your sibling. You see another sibling come in and you begin to conspire, you know, how we can get rid of him or her. That's exactly what they're doing. Here comes the dreamer. Let's kill the dreamer. We'll throw him, tell you what, we'll throw him into one of these cisterns. We'll say that a wild animal came and devoured him, you know. Let's see what comes of his dreams then. You know, dead men don't dream.

However, their plan is altered when a group of Midianite traders come. That's verse 28, staying here in chapter 37, verse 28. The Midianite traders passed by, so the brothers pulled Joseph up, lifted him out of the pit, sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver. They then took Joseph to Egypt. So they dig him out of the pit, 20 shekels, that's not a particularly large amount, sold him to the Ishmaelites. They, in turn, took him into Egypt. As a result of being in Egypt, he finds himself on the slave block sold into slavery, again, where he remains for the next some 22 years of his life. All can be, that half a stone can be traced back to the human perspective of jealousy of his brothers.

Now, if you and I have been on the receiving end of this, and all that's happened, and now you see your brothers come into your sight, what do you think you would do? Let's turn back to chapter 45. That's what makes this chapter so striking here. Chapter back to chapter 45. Then the second half of the chapter goes through his actions and his response to his brothers. And as we read this, I want you to think about the contrast. How his brothers treated him and how he now treats his brothers here. Let's pick up in verse 22, chapter 45. He, Joseph, gave to all of them, to each man, changes of garments, and even to Benjamin, he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. So, in contrast, his brothers tore his clothes off of Joseph. Joseph gives them clothing. His brothers sold him for money. Joseph gives them money. Verse 23, and he sent his father these things. He sends back with them ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, food for his father, and for the journey. So, his brothers took everything from him. He fills the carts with good things for them. Provisions, clothes, cash, even counsel. Give them counsel. Look at verse 24. This is astonishing to me. Verse 24. So, he sent his brothers away, and they departed, and he said to them, as they're leaving there, you know, see that you do not become troubled along the way. He didn't want them to be in anguish, because all that has now transpired.

What's happening here? What's happening? Well, this is, in simple terms, an illustration of a forgiving heart. Admittedly, a dramatic illustration of a forgiving heart. A forgiving heart. Dramatic. Again, put yourself, you know, it wouldn't be too hard to conceive of a situation where if we found ourselves here, that we would be prone to say, what? We would be justified to say, listen, guys, you stuck it to me for 22 years, and now I'm going to stick it to you. You're now going to know what it's like to know what I experienced. You took from me everything. You took my life. I haven't been able to see my dad. I don't even have my own language here. I was 17. I wasn't able to be with my friends to date. Some of the young girls I admired. None of it. You changed everything in my life. You took it all from me. Now I'm going to change your life. You're going to pay. You're going to know what it is to live in a pit and to die in a pit. And I don't know. I'm still thinking about it, but some of you may even know what it is to die before the pit, you know.

After all, you deserve it for what you've done to me. Well, what we find is that none of that is here. None of that. In fact, if you allow your eyes to go up to chapter 4 here. I'll stay in the chapter here. Verse 4, though, this dramatic phrase. You'll see a dramatic phrase come again and again. Verse 4, Joseph said to his brothers, please come near to me. We want just the opposite. He says, come near to me. Now they might have been thinking, that's okay. You know, Benjamin, you go. You got us into this mess. I'm not going up there. You know, they didn't know perhaps he was going to crack him on the jaw. They didn't know if perhaps he they were whoever steps up first is going to be the first on the chopping block. You know, I'm not coming close. They could have never anticipated what would happen next. Verse 4 and 5. Joseph says, come, please come near to me. So they come near. Then he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold in Egypt. But now do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life. Can you imagine? He who was reviled by them, who would ever want them to be close to him again. I want you to come here. Come close. Listen.

Don't be hard on yourself. You know, don't be grieved. It's okay. It's okay.

You know, and they must have been looking at each other just mystified. You know, mystified first, if this is even their brother. Royal Egyptian garb, you know. I can almost imagine he had a hood on, maybe with a robe, and he, you know, as he reveals himself, he pulls the hood down, and you're mystified by that. And then even more mystified by the tender words. Tender words, which come from his mouth. It speaks with tenderness. It embraces them. Verse 15 says, he kissed his brothers. He wept over them. This is dramatic. This is dramatic. And he revolutionizes their life. He revolutionizes their life with forgiveness. And that is what we see in the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who revolutionizes our lives with his forgiveness.

Why? You know what we're going to see today, and this is the connection we want to make here with this story, is that Jesus Christ revolutionizes our lives with his forgiveness for a specific purpose. And he revolutionizes our lives with his forgiveness in order that forgiven lives might be revolutionary in their impact. That's the reason.

In this position, as pastor that I've had for a few years now, it's a wonderful privileged position. I've had the privilege to see some family feuds. I've had them in my own family, and to be able to try to help in this situation. I've listened to stories of the most dire of circumstances, situations. I've experienced it myself. She said this. He did that to me.

She took that from me, you know, or he took that from from her. Never paid it back. So on, so on it goes. And you're dealing with some of the most embittered, sad, lonely people you've ever met in your life. And they're hanging on to these circumstances. And they find themselves refusing and somehow, and also just unable, to forgive. And they're chained, and they're enslaved. And if you find yourself in an unforgiving position this morning, I want to tell you lovingly that you're chained, and you're enslaved, and you're in a pit. Not Joseph. In fact, we won't turn there, but what you find Joseph, and what he's living out here, in these, he's really living out the words that Jesus Christ would speak later. He's a living illustration. We won't take the time to turn there. Very familiar passage, but it's Romans 12, where Jesus Christ says, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him drink. Then Romans 12, 21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. That's what we're seeing here. This is a revolution. This is Joseph Revolution. It's a Jesus Christ revolution, if you will.

So you want to have a revolution? Well, you know.

That's John Lennon. Now, for young people that didn't know that, he had no idea how to get it inside. He had no clue how to put it together, but what he was expressing maybe was the voice of much of humanity. We long to be freed.

We long to be able to forgive others. We long to be forgiven. Long for that peace. Jesus Christ, again, came to bring this kind of revolution. Why? He revolutionizes lives in order to... that forgiven lives might be revolutionary in their impact. This is the great impact of the church. This is the impact that we're supposed to make. We're supposed to be the the forgiving gang. That's what we're supposed to be. That's exactly what's happening in verse 45. The brothers see the carts. They see the clothes. They see the silver. They hear the tender counsel. And they're mystified by it all that they who have offended so greatly against their brother should be on the receiving end of such a dramatic illustration of forgiveness.

And this is the illustration. This kind of forgiveness is what you and I are called to. This level, this high level of forgiveness, this is what we're called to here.

It's a great challenge. It's a great challenge. But you see this call throughout all of Scripture, maybe one of the most telling and direct calls, is found in Matthew 18. Let's turn there for a moment. Matthew 18. Because it's here in Matthew 18 that we find an explanation of this higher level of forgiveness, the nature of it that God's people are to achieve in receiving and bestowing forgiveness here. Matthew 18, let's read verse 21 here. Now to begin. Matthew 18 verse 21. Here Peter approaches Jesus Christ. He asks a question. I believe he thinks it's a good question. We will see it's not such a great question. Matthew 18 verse 21. Then Peter came and said to him, Jesus Christ, he said to him, Lord, so Peter's talking to Jesus, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Let's stop there. Peter thought that might be was a good question. Maybe Peter was a little proud. You know, he was wanting to let Jesus know, you know, I'm aware of Jesus that we're supposed to, first of all, I know I'm supposed to forgive those who offended against me and I'm even aware that we're not supposed to do it just once. You know, I understand we're supposed to do it multiple times. So with that, I was wondering if seven would be okay. You know, whereby I can write the individual's name on the top of the piece of paper. You know, you get to five, six, seven, and then you're ready, you know, to have harsh actions against them. Would seven be okay? Well, Jesus responds. Here you'll see verse 22. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. So, Peter, forgiveness is not a matter of calculation. We're not to forgive our husband or our wife, our children, our spiritual brothers or sisters on the basis of how many forgivenesses have I given to them, you know.

It's not on that basis. You know, I've got seven nerves. I want to let you know you're on my seventh one, you know. You're about out.

It's a matter of heart, Jesus is saying here. He says, I tell you, it's seven, not seven times, seventy times seven. Ah, says somebody. 490 times. That's good because I have a few that are in the high 300s. I'm sure they'll be there by the end of the month, you know. No, you know, 490,000. Jesus has taken, he takes a perfect number seven in biblical terms. He takes another perfect number ten, multiplies them together, takes the seven again, multiplies it against that. It's a picture of forgiveness on an unlimited level. And he's saying, you know, essentially saying, Peter, if you knew what forgiveness was, you wouldn't even be asking that question, you know. And then he goes on to say, let me tell you what it's like, Peter. And he gives this parable here that follows. It's a parable of the unforgiving servant here in Matthew 18. It begins there in verse 23.

We won't take the time to work through this in an exposition, but it is a wonderful, insightful story. So I just want to hit the highlights here for you. A servant here who owes an unpayable, insurmountable debt throws himself at the mercy of his master, to whom he owes that debt. Verse 26, The servant therefore fell down before him, the one to whom he owed, saying, Master, have patience with me, I will pay you all. Then moves with compassion, the master releases him from all the debt.

So releases the servant from this insurmountable, unpayable debt. That's there in verse 27. Then the master of the servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But, get this, the forgiven servant returns home with a forgiving, grateful heart. No, not at all. He leaves this circus dance, goes finds a fellow servant who owes him a few bucks, and begins to choke him. Now that's verse 28. Verse 28, But that servant went out, found one, so this is the forgiven servant, you know, mind you, found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denari. He laid his hands on him, took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what you owe. The guy says, I can't pay. The story goes on. The forgiven servant is choking him figures. Well, I probably won't give, I'm sure he figures, I'm not going to get any money if I kill him. So he throws him into jail. Maybe I'll have a chance to wait it out to get my money. So, in summary, despite the fact that he had been forgiven, an insurmountable, unpayable debt, he still goes, chokes someone almost to death for a few bucks that they owe him. Unimaginable. Can't imagine, right? Let's forget money for a moment.

In Christ, we have been forgiven an insurmountable, unpayable debt, right?

So, the question with that, are you then going to go choke a brother or sister, husband or wife, you name it, for the few offenses that they owe you?

As you consider that, look at the verse 32 and 33 here. Verse 32 and 33. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, You wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?

So, this is the lesson. Matthew 18 is the lesson in Genesis 45.

I'll give it to you in as few words as I can. Here's the lesson. The forgiven servant, prompted by gratitude, must always, and in every case, do everything in their power to forgive the one who has offenses against them. So, the forgiven servant, prompted by gratitude, must do everything in their power to forgive whoever has offended against them. In other words, we must do everything in our power to bring about complete reconciliation just as Jesus Christ has brought us complete reconciliation. We must do all in our power to bring about complete reconciliation as complete as the reconciliation that Jesus Christ has brought to us, back to us, Father. That's the totality of it all.

And so, in seeking to really unpack this, let's really unpack this principle, I want to give you five kind of rapid-fire understandings that will glean from Scripture about this whole matter of forgiveness. It's five understandings, absolutely crucial in understanding the nature of forgiveness. We will never know what it is to be forgiven or to forgive others without understanding these truths. Again, without major exposition, we're going to go through these.

Lunch is cometh soon, so we won't spend too much time. We're going to just nail it down here. So, we'll start with the first. We're going to build on each other. Five understandings regarding forgiveness. Number one, we are all debtors to God. That's number one. We're all debtors to God. The verse for this number one point is found in Romans 3 verse 23. Let's turn there, if you will. Romans 3 verse 23. So, this number one point, this number one understanding, we're all debtors to God, is here in its clarity. Familiar verse. Romans 3 verse 23.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So, that's the unifying truth of all of us here today. We're all debtors to God. We've all sinned. All of us have fallen short of His glory. We don't deserve to have access to His glory. We've missed the mark of the target of His righteousness. We've stepped out of the boundaries of His law. We've messed up. If you doubt that, you can just start reading the Ten Commandments. If you're like me, you won't get past the first one. And you realize, okay, I'm already off. And so, the wages of missing the mark is death. So, we have this debt. It's a debt of death, if you will. A condemnation to death. We're all debtors to God. That's number one. Number two is on its heels. Number two, none of us are able to pay our own debt. That's number two. None of us are able to pay our own debt. We're unable to pay it. Could Joseph's brothers pay back all those years? No. No way. There's nothing they could do to give Joseph back that. None of us can pay our own debt. This understanding is found in verse 20. So, staying here in Romans 3, going to verse 20, none of us can pay our debt. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, it says, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. It's the knowledge of sin. So, there's no deeds the brothers could do. There's no deeds we can do to be justified for the debt we have.

In other words, no one will be declared righteous in God's sight simply by our deeds. By the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. But by the law is the knowledge of sin. So, none of us are able to pay the debt. The law gives us knowledge of the sin. The law helps us. The law is wonderful. It gives us understanding of where we're off so we can, with God's help, get back on track. But it's not the justifier. The law is crucial in giving us understanding of how we should live. However, observing the law is not the ultimate means by which we're justified in God's sight. The law is not the justifier. The keeping of the deeds is a good indication that you've been justified. It's a good indication. But the law is not the justifier. So, we have this debt. We can't pay it. It brings us to number three understanding. Number three, while we cannot pay it, we are, number three, freely justified by His grace. That's number three. We cannot pay our own debt, but we are freely justified by His grace. None of us could pay our debt. That's the bad news. We're in this debt. We can't get out of it. However, the good news is the one to whom we owe our debt has now sent someone to pay our debt on our behalf. To make it possible a dramatic transformation. So, the grace, the debt being paid, then makes it possible for a radical transformation in us. The Scripture reference for number three is found a few verses down. Look at verses 24 through 26. So, Romans 3, staying here, but verses 24 through 26. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God sent forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness because of His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to forgiveness. To demonstrate, verse 26, at the present time, His righteousness, that He, not the law, but that He might be the just and justifier of the One who has faith in Jesus. Okay, we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came through Jesus Christ. So, when we think about this third point, our thoughts really need to go to what was actually happening there when Christ was hanging from that stake in His crucifixion. What was actually happening there? Our thoughts need to go to that.

During the Passover season, we tear up. Some of us even weep. I know I did at certain times when you think about all the events of that crucifixion. And we weep and we feel tremendously sorrowful that a good man, the perfect man, was there, tortured, and went through the crucifixion. However, we can't solely weep for that alone. We have to understand what was occurring on there when He hung there. What was actually occurring? We must bring our minds to this and truly understand what He was doing upon the stake. And what He was doing is that He was paying my debt. At that moment, He was paying your debt. He was paying our debt. And when we get that, that's when the lights go on, I think. That's when the lights go on. I am so in debt. Father, there's no way I can pay it. But I understand Jesus Christ came and He paid the debt for me. And that, when you get that, it'll fundamentally change a man or a woman. That's what fundamentally changes us. When you get that part.

And what does the fundamental change look like with our topic at hand? What does fundamental change? If you say, I get that, and I am fundamentally changed by it, what does it look like? What does the fundamental change look like with this matter that's before us? Simply put, the forgiven will forgive.

The forgiven will forgive.

That brings us to number four. Number four. In knowing our debts are cancelled, in knowing that, we ourselves must cancel the debts of those who are indebted to us. Again, in knowing what occurred, in knowing our debts are cancelled, we must then, therefore, cancel the debts of those who are indebted to us. In other words, if you and I have experienced the assuredness of His forgiveness, then we must be eager to forgive others. Eager to extend that forgiveness, to pass on that forgiveness. We know this to be shown in the model prayer. Let's turn there for a moment to see this verse for this fourth understanding. It's found in Matthew 6 and verse 12. We'll turn there for just a moment. Matthew 6 verse 12. Again, it's here for us in the model prayer. Very familiar verse, but very powerful. This is a transforming verse for us. Matthew 6 verse 12 shows us this fourth principle. It says, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. That's a big one. Forgive us our debts. We're asking God to forgive us as we present tense forgive our debtors. And I don't think it's solely that we forgive others God forgives us. It is that. We're actually going to read here in a moment. It is that. But I don't think it's solely, we forgive others God forgives us. There's something deeper here.

And the deeper aspect, I think, is this.

It's in our forgiving of the offenses of others that we reveal the fact that we've been forgiven. It's in our forgiving of others that we reveal that we ourselves have been forgiven.

Again, in the forgiveness of other people's offenses against us, we reveal the fact that we not only understand Christ's sacrifice, but also we reveal the fact that we've accepted it, truly accepted it. We reveal that. In other words, another way to put it, if you and I are unforgiving, if we remain unforgiving, we call into question whether we truly understand and whether we've truly accepted the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and His atoning blood. We call that into question. If we're carrying around this unforgiveness, where we're not giving the evidence that we ourselves have been forgiven.

We have to get that. We have to get that because when we do get that, it is life transforming because we then realize that what we owe God is infinitely more than what men or women owe us. What we owe God is infinitely more than what men or women owe us. It's the principle understanding that I'm bankrupt, but I am saying because I acknowledge I'm bankrupt, I'm very willing then to go and release all the debts, all these other debts, these grudges of someone else. If I know myself to be a wretched sinner before God, it puts me in the proper posture to be forgiving of others.

That's crucial because it brings us to number five, our last understanding, directly related here. Number five, the unforgiving person will never come into their destiny with everlasting life with God. The unforgiving person will never come into their destiny of everlasting life with God. That's a big one, but it's very plain here. Allow your eyes to continue here. Let's look staying here in Matthew 6, verse 14 and 15. We have this fifth and final principle given to us. Matthew 6, verse 14 and 15. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Verse 15. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

So as we think that through a little bit, okay, so the truly forgiving person is the one who gives evidence that they've been forgiven.

And if they've been forgiven, then God will forgive them, which will open up everlasting life with God the Father.

So if I'm unforgiving, in a sense, I reveal myself to be unforgiving. If I'm unforgiving, I'm revealing myself to be unforgiving. And if you're not forgiven, you'll never make it to your destiny of joining God's family.

So there is a seriousness of this matter today, forgiveness and unforgiveness. Well, a few words of application here in conclusion. First, the question to be answered. I have to answer this today. You have to answer it. Only you can answer. Only I can answer it for me. Have I come to God in response to His invitation, come close to me? So God the Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ, has extended us an invitation. Come close to me. Have I then come close, acknowledged then the enormity of my sin?

You know, come close to me. Come close, God, I am bankrupt. Just think of Joseph and the brothers. Their response. There's nothing I can do to give you back, to repay this debt. I'm totally in your debt. I can't get out. But I ask you on the basis of the sacrifice, Father, of your Son, Jesus Christ, to forgive my debt. That's our prayer today. Come to God on your knees, acknowledge and then ask for forgiveness. Because once we've acknowledged the debt, ask for forgiveness, be forgiven, call upon that grace. What a powerful thing. Then and only then, then and only then, are we able to make progress in the challenge that's before us.

Then and only then, can we actually begin to utter those words, I'm sorry, I forgive you.

Then and only then will we be in the right posture to bring forth this kind of revolution. We're the revolutionary party. We're not supposed to be known by the way we dress, our singing, the structure of services, whatever it may be. By this, all men will know that you're my disciples if you love one another. Very clear. It does not say, by this, all men will know that you're my disciples if you love the one who has no offenses against you. It does not say, by this, all men will know that you're my disciples if you love the one who has changed their offensive behavior and they've asked for your forgiveness and you've forgiven them. It doesn't say that.

You know, Jesus, he forgave in the midst of the offense occurring. He said, forgive them just before they thrust his spirit aside.

You see, I think sometimes we get it backwards. Sometimes we get it backwards because we think that forgiveness comes after the change in the individual. When, in fact, the forgiveness may be the catalyst for the change in the individual.

That's a big one. Your forgiveness may be the means by which the individual can change.

So, the challenge is this. Do you love your brother or sister who's made an offense against you? Do you love them? Truly love them? Well, then come out of the pit today and forgive them. This is not a skin-deep smile. It's a genuine heart-wrenching, soul-searching, gut-wrenching forgiveness. You stop dragging up the old offense. If God drove up the old offenses, who among us would be standing today? Rather, God calls for a higher level of forgiveness. If we truly desire it toward another, he will give it to us. But you see, the old offense is not a good thing. He will give it to us. But you see, the process, the posture, begins with us and our acknowledging and coming close to him and realizing our debt and calling upon his wonderful grace.

Then a revolution can begin.

I'd like to conclude today, and we'll conclude with this. This is a part of a song written by Rosamond Herclots. This is in the 1960s. I think it summarizes it pretty well. This is titled, Forgive Our Sins As We Forgive. And with this, we'll conclude.

Father, forgive our sins as we forgive. You taught us to pray. But you alone can grant us grace to live the words we say. How can your pardon reach and bless the unforgiving heart that broods on wrong and will not let old bitterness depart? In blazing light, your cross reveals the truth we dimly knew. How small the depths men owe to us. How great our debt to you. Lord, cleanse the depths within our souls and bid resentment cease. Then reconcile to God and man. Our lives will spread your peace.