Why We Must Forgive!

Well, I have to stop it once again.

Well, the past few Sabbaths, we have been on a journey to discuss a number of topics that I think are very critical to our calling and our Christian way of life as we continue to prepare for the Passover this year, which is now less than five weeks away.

I'd like to talk about one of the most fundamental qualities of both Judaism and Christianity, and it's perhaps the most neglected quality because it's really hard to live by. Easy to talk about. We can talk about it in theory. We can read scriptures all day long, but it is really hard to do. It is a quality that results in many lingering problems in our world and even in our own lives in the Church. It's a basic concept, and that concept we know of as forgiveness. Again, forgiveness is so easy to talk about, but it is so hard to do. It seems to be contrary to the way that we are wired as human beings to be willing to forgive other people when we are hurt or when we are offended. But I think it's a very important topic, particularly as it relates to the Passover each and every year. I'd like to give you a definition, as I like to begin a lot of sermons, and this definition is going to be on the word forgiveness from the Holman's Bible Dictionary. Here's what it says. It says, an act of God's grace to forget forever and not hold people of faith accountable for the sins they confess, to a lesser degree the gracious human act of not holding wrong acts against a person. Forgiveness has both divine and human dimensions. In the divine relationship, it is, first of all, the gracious act of God by which believers are put into a right relationship with God and transformed from spiritual death to spiritual life through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is also in this divine dimension the ongoing gift of God without which our lives as Christians would be out of joint and full of guilt. In terms of a human dimension, forgiveness is that act, an attitude towards those who have wronged us, which restores relationships and fellowship.

I think there's a very good definition in a nutshell of what forgiveness is. First, the forgiveness of God offers us that we are reminded of each and every Passover and the forgiveness that we need to extend to one another.

Where can we begin learning about forgiveness? Well, actually, it's pretty early in Scripture. It may be earlier than you realize. Let's go to Genesis chapter 3 beginning in verse 6. I'm going to take a look at a few Scriptures that most people turn to when they're talking about human sin. The first human sin and the results of sin. And we are the descendants of Adam and Eve. And just like their generation, every generation, including ours, has sinned far and short of the glory of God. So, we look at these Scriptures and we often understand and look at them for guidance on what sin is and how sin is punished.

But what we often overlook is the fact that God gives glimpses. God gives a symbol. He gives something that points us to forgiveness. The fact that He forgives us and, by contrast, the fact that we should forgive one another. So, let's begin there. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 6.

So the woman saw that the tree was good for food. She had been deceived by the serpent. And that it was pleasant to the eyes. It was tempting. It looked good. And the tree desirable to make one wise. She took up its fruit and ate. And she also gave to her husband with her. He ate. And the eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. Now, what's going on here? Well, for the first time they felt a sense of shame and humiliation. Their private parts were not covered. Their father would soon be walking through the garden in the cool of the day, as his habit was. God would be walking through the garden. And for the first time ever, they were... They felt feelings that they were unfamiliar with. They felt a sense of humiliation and shame because certain parts of their body was now exposed. Verse 8, And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And again Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? So he said, I heard your voice in the garden. I was afraid. Wow, he was afraid. Remember what that... two sermons ago. What did that one servant say who buried his talent? Remember, I was afraid? Amazing how that keeps coming back. How fear keeps coming back to be so destructive in the Word of God. I was afraid because I was naked and hid myself. And he said, and God said, Who told you that you were naked? When did you acquire this sense of shame that particular parts of your body are now exposed? And you should feel humiliation for that. You didn't have that problem before. Both of you romped through the garden without any concern about nakedness before. You weren't conscious about my presence in your lives before. But suddenly everything has changed. Who told you you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? So, you see here that Adam and Eve sinned. And those who have a conscience, and thankfully they do, and that seems to be getting more rare in our modern society today. But those who have a conscience do feel shame and humiliation when they sin. This is the way Adam and Eve felt. They had disobeyed their father and their creator, and they felt a sense of shame. They needed forgiveness. For the first time in their lives, they felt shame and guilt that their private areas were exposed. So, they made a very crude attempt to cover themselves with mere leaves. Now, the problem with covering yourself as leaves, first of all, I'm sure they did it in a hurry because they sinned. And they knew in a short period of time, God would be walking through the garden. They felt shame that they were exposed. So, they used fig leaves, and however they put, whether they layered them over each other, or sewed them with some type of thread or whatever, they made garments for themselves.

Verses 19-21. We're going to pick up the story now a few verses later when God is making a statement to them. Deceit and early indication of forgiveness. Often overlooked. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread to you, return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are, and the dust you shall return. And Adam called his wife, saying, Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Also, for Adam and his wife, the Lord God, the Lord God Yahweh, made tunics of skin and clothed them.

So, he says, forget the leaves. Here are tunics of skin that I have made for you to cover up your shame and your nakedness. There's a lot of symbolism, brethren, in this scripture. Adam and Eve will have to pay for their sins for the rest of their lives. Their action was a betrayal of God's trust, and they hurt their father by their disobedience. Yet God's action of making a covering of skin for their bodies shows his love for them, and shows them an ultimate act of forgiveness. He made something to cover their shame. Do you understand that? His deep love for them, an ultimate forgiveness, was represented by the fact that God made tunics. He covered their shame. You know, when someone makes cloths for you, it's an expression of love. Has anyone ever made, like, a comforter for you? When someone goes to all the time and effort to make you a comforter, it's because they're saying, in essence, I love you. I'm thinking of you. I care for you. I remember many years ago, when my wife and I were early married, she used to make clothes for me. She made once a bright red dinner jacket that had white trim around it. It was almost like iridescent, it needed batteries. It glowed in the dark. She made that because, either she was trying to humiliate me publicly, but I considered that. She made it because she loved me. And when we were first married, she made some pajamas for me once. She made a prayer rug for me once. People make things for other people because it's an expression of love. That's why they go to that time, that effort to do that. And God made tunics of skin to clothe Adam and Eve as an expression of love, because he wanted to lead a symbol that he would, ultimately, forgive them. He was giving them something to cover a deep sense of shame in their nakedness. God could have commanded them to live the rest of their lives naked in perpetual shame. He could have done that. But he didn't want them to live in perpetual shame and humiliation, because he knows that when you live in shame and humiliation, you are emotionally disabled. And us, brethren, he doesn't want us to live in humiliation and shame and guilt, because he knows with his own children, his own spiritual children, it just disables us emotionally, right up here, and stumps our ability to grow and to become all that God wants us to be. God began the process of granting grace to the human race by personally making Adam and Eve a covering, a covering of animal skins. Adam's own covering for his nakedness was barely adequate, but God provided a more suitable and a durable covering. It is implied from the description of God's procuring skins to clothe Adam and Eve that a sacrifice occurred. This was actually the very first animal sacrifice ever for the atonement of man's sin, and it prefigured the death of Jesus Christ on the cross to forgive sins many, many years later. So, even in the garden, even this early, even this soon after sin has occurred, God is beginning to represent to them and to symbolize to them the concept that we're going to talk about today, and that is forgiveness. This verse also prefigured the necessity of shedding of blood and the death of something innocent for the guilty. The animal that was killed had its blood shed. The animal whose skins were used to cover Adam and Eve had its blood shed. It was murdered. It was killed. And God acted in mercy to picture a way of salvation for the future sacrifice of Jesus Christ through the sacrifice of this animal. He demonstrated His grace to cover the shame of man. And symbolically, again, this verse deals with both sin, but we often overlook the fact that it's also dealing with forgiveness.

Because that's what our calling is all about. It's about forgiveness. Gone. Forgotten. Put away. Emptied. Our sins removed. Forever. That's about what our calling is. Let's go to Numbers chapter 14 and verse 7. We'll go up to take a look at the journeys of Israel wandering in the wilderness.

Israel rebelled against God over and over. It's like they knew what God's hot buttons were. And they would constantly try to provoke God by rebelling against the laws that He had given them. And once again, they had rebelled against God. They had broken His commandments. And thankfully, Moses intervened on their behalf. And here, we'll see what it is that He asked of God.

Numbers chapter 14 and verse 17.

He says, And now I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as you have spoke in saying, The Lord is long suffering and abundant in mercy, for giving a nickwity a transgression.

But He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children for the third and fourth generation. Pardon the iniquity of this people. I pray. Moses says, Please, Lord, forgive this people. According to the greatness of your mercy, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt until now. Forgive them one more time, Lord, He says, just as you have done it over and over and over again. Verse 20, Then the Lord said, I have pardoned according to your word. But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, because all these men who have seen my glory, and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and it put me to test now these ten times, and if not heeded my voice, they certainly shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected me see it. But my servant, Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him, and has followed me fully, I will bring him to the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. So between the time of Adam and Eve that we just read, and the time of Moses here, you actually don't find the subject of forgiveness in the Old Testament written very often. Moses understands here that God is willing to forgive at this point, even though they have pushed the great God of the universe near his breaking point, and even tested the limit of his great patience. And forgiveness is a godly trait that Yahweh was willing to give people, even if they didn't deserve it, even if they didn't ask for it. And in the same way, you and I need to be willing to forgive people who have heard us and offended us, even though they don't deserve it, and even though they haven't personally come up to us and apologized or asked for it. You know, in many cases, they don't even know that they offended us. We are the ones hurting, and they're just going through life just totally unaware that we've been crushed emotionally, or that we've been hurt, or we've been offended.

So, brethren, we need to follow the example that God establishes here. Let's now go to Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10. We know, of course, when Israel entered into a covenant relationship with God, that there were many different types of offerings. There were thank offerings, there were fellowship offerings, there were sin offerings, there were many different types of offerings that deal with different types of attitudes or sins. But all of those offerings just pointed to one thing. They pointed to Jesus Christ, who would be the complete whole offering, and would make it possible for forgiveness to be available to us so that we could become the children of God. Hebrews chapter 10 beginning in verse 10. Paul writes, by that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. We only need to be sanctified once through that one sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Verse 11, he says, In every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. Verse 12, But this man, speaking of Christ, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. From that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool, for by one offering he is perfected forever those who are being sanctified. And that's because Christ lives in us. And when the righteousness of Christ lives in us, we are perfected. Even though we are limited, even though we struggle with weaknesses and temptations and the kind of thoughts we shouldn't have, and I have terrible news for you, we'll be struggling with those things until we draw our last physical breath. The good news is because the righteousness of Christ came inside of us when we received the gift of the Holy Spirit. His one offering has perfected forever those who are being in the process of being sanctified. Because they're growing and they're changing and they're using God's Spirit to become the children of God. Verse 15, But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them, after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds I will write them, and that's what God has done for us. It's all about this spiritual intent of the law. You may remember our discussions a few weeks ago. Verse 17, Then he adds, Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. What is that? That's called forgiveness. If God says, I'm not even going to remember the way you acted and your deeds and your disobedience. I'm not even going to remember it anymore. That is the ultimate form of forgiveness.

Verse 18, Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us, through the veil that is his flesh. Remember to get into the Holy of Holies of the Old Temple. There was a veil, and only the high priest himself, once a year, could go through that veil and enter the Holy of Holies and see the Ark of the Covenant. And he even had to have a censor of incense. He couldn't even look directly at the presence of God represented by that Ark. He had to have all this smoke build a room. Because if he would have looked directly at the presence of God, he would have been struck dead. And what Paul is saying here is because of what Jesus Christ did for us, we can have the boldness to go directly to the throne of the Father. And say, Father, I want to have a relationship with you. Father, I want to know you. I want to love you. I want to feel your love. I want to understand what total and complete forgiveness is. Because I've determined to be a new creature in Christ. The way Paul puts it here, he says, a new and living way. Verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God. Of course, high priest is Jesus Christ.

I'd like to read verse 18 from the translation of God's word for today. It says, So Paul tells us here that the single sacrifice for all sin was completed when Jesus Christ shed his blood.

And there's no longer a personal need for you and I to sacrifice animals like occurred in the Old Testament.

Forgiveness is one of the most powerful tools that a Christian has. And if we don't forgive others, it debilitates us. It stumps us.

We're like a car that stalls out in the middle of the freeway. We're trying to go in a direction in life. And if we're holding anger and resentment and bitterness towards another human being, it stalls out our growth.

A lack of forgiveness stunts our ability to develop and to be the kind of person that God wants us to be.

Matthew 6, verse 9. Let's go there and see what Jesus said when his disciples asked him to teach that.

Let's see how he taught him how to pray.

This is the scripture we read before every passover season. Because it deals with forgiveness, it is both encouraging and it's a warning.

Matthew 6, verse 9. Jesus, I will just read part of what's traditionally known as the Lord's Prayer. Jesus said in this manner, therefore, pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

He says, forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Then Jesus wants to, now that the prayer is over, he wants to expand upon this statement he made about the debtor.

He says, verse 15, but if you do not forgive men, their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And, brethren, no matter how we examine this scripture, Jesus puts the responsibility directly on my shoulders and your shoulders to be people who forgive others of their transgressions against us.

In this sample prayer, the degree of forgiveness received by God is equal to the degree in which we're willing to forgive others.

That's powerful, because I think all of us want to be totally forgiven by God.

And when we come to the Passover that night, we want to know that all of our sins and our transgressions are totally forgiven by God.

But, if we come to the Passover and there are people that we despise, we resent, people who have offended us, and it could be last week, five years ago, ten years ago, thirty years ago, and we're still reliving those hurts.

We are still holding that bitterness and anger and resentment in our hearts.

If we come to the Passover with that, that is definitely a problem.

Let's go to Luke, chapter 23 and verse 32.

Now, we know, of course, that Jesus Christ was the perfect example.

But did He practice what He preached? We just ran here. What He taught His disciples in what's traditionally called the Lord's Prayer.

Did He practice what He preached? Or was He giving like so many leaders that I recall in my lifetime, including a lot of business executives that I work for, it's do as I say, don't do as I do. It's like one standard for the upper crust, and then everyone else has to live by a different, usually a higher standard.

Was that the kind of God that we worship? Is that the kind of Savior that we have? Well, let's read about it here in Luke, chapter 23.

He's been arrested. He's going to be, terribly, He's going to be crucified, picking up in verse 32. There were also two other criminals, led with Him to be put to death, and when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

He's asking the very men who mocked Him, who spit in His face, who slapped Him, who jammed a crown of forms into His forehead that caused blood to flow, men who drove metal stakes through His hands, through His feet, into a wooden upright stake. He's asking His Father to forgive every one of them, in spite of the cruel torture that they inflicted on Him, because He is Christ, the perfect example. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do, and they divided His garments and cast lots, and the people looking on, and the people still looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, He saved others, let Him save Himself if He's the Christ that chosen of God. Verse 36, the soldiers also mocked Him coming and offering Him sour wine, saying, If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. So even while dying when nailed to a wooden post, Jesus willingly forgives those who tortured Him and put Him to death.

That is how important this concept of forgiveness is that we're talking about today. You know, in His mind, He had already forgiven them. He publicly spoke the words, so that they could be recorded in this Gospel.

So that 2,000 years later, you and I could recall the words of Jesus Christ and realize how important it is to forgive others who have offended us. Now, I have been offended in my lifetime, but never what He went through.

I mean, they say sticks and stones can break your bones, but words will never hurt me. Words do hurt, don't they? Aside from that silly saying that we uttered as children, words can hurt. They can cut very deep. But none of the words that I've ever heard in my lifetime cut as deep as the flesh of Jesus Christ and what He went through for you and for me to be our Savior.

Now, let's go to Acts 7, verse 54. I'm wondering if other people follow His example. Were there other people who were courageous enough to be like Jesus Christ, who were beaten and humiliated, mocked, who were so forgiven, they even asked their Father to forgive people who were hurting them? Well, there was. And very early on in the history of the Church, there was a remarkable demon named Peter. He was totally a remarkable man with a lot of incredible gifts. He gave a sermon that was so powerful that the result was that the Jews who did not accept Jesus as the Messiah decided they were going to snuff Him out.

They were going to stone Him. They were going to kill Him. So, we'll pick it up here in Acts 7, verse 54. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed at Him with their teeth. They're grinding their teeth. They're so angry at Him. You can hear their teeth grinding. But He, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed in heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

I want to stop right there and tell you how remarkable this was. I have read about the death of hundreds of righteous people throughout history. And I don't recall too many people who had the privilege that they were so full of God's Holy Spirit that they literally looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God and saw Jesus Christ at the right hand side of the Father.

That is remarkable. And He said, look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. And they cried out with a loud voice. They stopped for their ears. They didn't want to hear about it. And they ran at Him with one accord and they cast Him out of the city and stoned Him. Stoned Him for blasphemy, which was according to the law of the Old Covenant.

That's what they accused Him of. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice. Not a soft voice. Not a gentle voice. But loud voice because he wanted everyone to hear what he said. He said, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. That is code language for Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.

They're just acting like carnal, uncalled human beings. Please, Father, don't hold this sin against them because they are murdering your servants. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. So he died. Here's the example of the first Christian martyr. Luke records that again, that this righteous man looked up, standing at the right-hand side of the Father and all his glory was Jesus Christ. So what kind of a Christian was he that was so blessed to see this miracle and whose example is recorded here in the book of Acts for all history?

Well, he was a simple believer who accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. He dutifully observed the Sabbath and the Holy Days. No Gentiles have yet been called. He respected God's law. He never read one word from any of Paul's epistles because Paul isn't even writing epistles yet. Being a Jewish believer, he didn't accept the Trinity. He would know nothing about Christmas or Easter.

And he was canonical enough to die for his faith. You know what he would be called today, by the way? He'd be called a legalist by the standards of today.

Because of what he believed, the Sabbath, the Holy Days, that Jesus was a Savior, and a rejection of pagan ideas into Christianity, he would be called a legalist by today's terms. But God had another term for him. He just looked at him as his beloved son. And again, what were the last words before he died? Lord, do not charge them with this sin.

So, forgiveness, through the example of God himself, through the example of Jesus Christ, through the example of Stephen, is a very important concept for us to understand. We're going to be coming to the Passover in a few weeks. We're going to partake of bread and wine. We're going to renew our baptismal covenant. And ask God to confirm in our hearts and minds the knowledge that Christ died for every one of our sins, and that we are totally and completely forgiven. We'll be reaffirming our desire for God's complete forgiveness, and mercy, and compassion on our wrongs. Will we come to the Passover prepared? Will we be able to come to the Passover truly having forgiven people who have offended us? Because to really get the most out of what God intended in the Passover, He expects nothing less from us. I have to tell you that, for me, it's shocking to hear or read brethren write things that condemn or criticize other brethren for offenses that occurred five, fifteen, twenty-five years ago. It just absolutely, absolutely stuns me. You see, brethren, to really understand the meaning of the Passover means that we have to forgive, and we have to forgive right now. The most common word used in the New Testament for forgiveness is a thesis, and it's used fifteen times as a noun and forty as a verb. And you know what the root meaning of that Greek word is? It means letting go. Don't we want to let go of the hurts? Don't we want to let go of the anger? Don't we want to let go of the bitterness of people who have done us wrong, who have hurt us, who have offended us? Don't we want liberty so that our hearts and our minds are no longer burdened by shame or guilt of things that we've done for others or that others have done against us? Don't we want to live with a clear conscience? Don't we want to grow to our maximum potential and not be held back by fear, by guilt, by shame, by resentment, by bitterness towards other people? I believe that we do. There are three areas of the remainder of the sermon today. Three types of forgiveness that are needed by all of us. Three areas. Three types of forgiveness that we need to ponder as we prepare for the Passover this year.

The first type of forgiveness is forgiveness of other people. Number one is forgiveness of other people. It's difficult to forgive others over a real wrong or something that we have perceived to be wrong. Oftentimes, they're not even aware of it. Oftentimes, they don't even know what's going on. I've had a number of people over the years come up to me and say, I'm really sorry about that comment. I made you last Sabbath about it. It's something you said or did, Mr. Thomas. I really apologize for that. And I didn't take it as criticism or offense. And there have been times when I've done the exact same thing. I've called someone on the phone and said, I'm sorry that I said such and such last week, till the other day. And the person says, I'm sorry. I didn't even perceive it that way. But now that you mentioned it, I am offended. So sometimes people aren't even aware of it. We've already seen in the Lord's Prayer and in the death of Christ and Stephen how important the quality of forgiveness is. We don't want to be victims for the rest of our lives. There was a gentleman who was buried a few weeks ago who I knew for about 40 years. And at his funeral, I'll give you a backtrack a little bit, he had been disfellowshipped from an organization that doesn't even exist any longer in the mid-1980s.

And he lived with that anger and bitterness so much that at his very own funeral, the minister mentioned how much he struggled with being disfellowshipped from a particular church around 1985, 86, somewhere around then, and how much it affected the rest of his life.

And someone who was at that funeral passed it on to me and I thought, how sad. He allowed himself to be a victim all those years. He just didn't let him go.

Tell me what benefit there is to resent an organization that doesn't even exist any longer. To resent an organization where every property it ever had has been sold off. The name has been changed. It is dead! So what benefit is there 30 years later to be struggling, angry, bitter, or something that's deadly gone?

What advantage is there to have anger or bitterness towards a minister who 20 or 30 years ago doesn't even believe in the faith that he had then that may not even be in the ministry anymore?

To relive those episodes over and over again in our lives is like a 100 pound gorilla on our backs every day just aggravating us. And the more we think about it, we get angry all over again. And I should have said this, and I should have done this, and living in regret and frustration for year after year after year, brethren, what is the meaning of the Passover after all?

If not, then let it go! That's something that we need to do. Let's go to Matthew chapter 18 and verse 21. Matthew chapter 18 and verse 22. I've also known, sadly, of many marriages in the church that have been crippled because of unforgiveness. I've known married couples and been married together for many, many, many, many, many years. And their marriages are not what they're able to be because one of the spouses are holding on to bitterness and anger and resentment of the way they were treated five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago. And we just have to let it go. Whatever happened, whatever was said, whatever was done, you've got to let it go. Matthew chapter 18 and verse 21. Then Peter came to him, said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him? Up to seven times? Peter might have thought, well, that makes sense. Seven is a biblical number. There are seven days in the week. So, seven times. Isn't that right, Lord? I can just forgive my brother seven times. And Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. All right, Mr. Thomas. I'm up to four hundred, right? Four hundred and forty-eight. You're in deep trouble. What Jesus is saying here isn't the actual number. He's saying as many times, as a matter of fact, in Luke's account, Jesus says, if someone forgives you seven times in a day and comes back to you each time and says, I repent and I'm truly sorry. He says, you must forgive him just for that single day. So, it isn't the number. Jesus is getting the point across that there's no limit. Not a. Verse 23, he tells a parable, and we like parables, don't we? He says, therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. A certain king is God, and the father of settling accounts is like the Judgment Day. And when he began to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. That is a lot of money. Look at that! As a million dollars. Someone came to him and owed him a million dollars of big debt. This was a huge sinner. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had in that payment be made. The penalty of sin is death. It's everything, isn't it?

Verse 26, the servant therefore fell down before him, saying, Master, have patience with me, and I'll pay you all. Then the master of the servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him of the debt. The Jesus crisis, your sins were forgiven. Verse 28, let's see what happens.

Quote, the exact same words that the first servant himself had said to the king. Quote, have patience on me, and I will pay you all. And he would not, but went and threw him in the prison till he should pay the debt. Now, I want you to feel shame and guilty. I want you to wallow in unforgiveness. I want you to wallow in your sin. So, when his fellow servants saw that what had been done, they were very grieved, and they came and told their master all that had been done. Good power of prayer. When his master, since then his master, after he had called, said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all the debt because you begged me. Should you not also have compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you, I forgave you a million bucks. And you wouldn't even forgive your brother if the twenty bucks that he owed you? Shame on you, he says. Verse 34, And his master was angry, and he delivered him to the torturers, until he should pay all that was due him, symbolic of the lake of fire. So, my heavenly Father also will do to you, if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses. Pretty stern words, pretty strong words from our Savior, Jesus Christ. He warns us that an unforgiving attitude and contempt towards another person is unacceptable. Consider, he says, what God has forgiven you of as an individual.

Of course, we're all familiar with Matthew chapter 5 and verse 24, where Jesus said that if you're ready to give an offering to God, if you're ready to go to the temple, and you're ready to give an offering, and you still have something against your brother, he said, go leave your gift there at the altar, and go and make peace with your brother first, then come back and make your offering. Then God can accept your offering because your heart is right. The second area of forgiveness I would like to discuss is forgiveness towards God. What? Forgiveness towards God. Please understand what I mean here. God does not need to be forgiven of anything. However, we may become angry with God and harbor frustration and resentment towards Him because of life's circumstances, or being disappointed with the church, or being disappointed with the ministry. We can take it out and actually be angry with God. And if that's the case, we need to deal with this situation. It is certainly possible to become angry with God and not fully realize it. And I know that the various splits and breakups in the church over the years has caused many to be angry with God. They may vent their frustration towards the ministry or for organizations, but many of them are very angry with God.

Also, in life, physical health problems can make us angry with God, if we've been struggling with it for a long time. Chronic discouragement can make us angry with God. Some bad breaks in life can cause us to be very angry with God. And trials occur when they mount up as easy to wonder, where are you, God? Why are these bad things happening to me? And many people secretly blame God for not being more than they are. Many people blame God for not being happier or more fulfilled than they are. And here are some points to consider about the things that we go through in life. As we think about not being angry with God and forgiving Him. God is certainly concerned with our daily lives, but many things happen to Christians that are just the result of life. And indeed, God is looking out for us. It's our challenging life experiences that mold us into who and what we are. I have never grown in periods of my life when things were good. I've never developed fruit in my life, in periods when there was plenty of money and I was in great health and everything was going fine. You know what happens when that usually occurs? We begin to even forget about God. We begin to think it's all me. I've achieved these things. I've done these things. Didn't ancient Israel do that over and over again? When do we really grow? When do we get a swift spiritual kick? It's usually when the growth occurs. It's our challenging life experiences that mold us into who and what we are. Both good and bad experiences test our attitude, our humility, our generosity. Life is a combination of good and bad events. And if anyone, any minister, anyone ever told you that life is supposed to be good all the time, they lied to you. Because the meaning of life means that there are ups and downs, there are good days, there are bad days, there are days that are challenging.

Even a good man like Stephen was allowed to brutally die a young man, wasn't he? So that's the first thing to consider. The second thing is we need to judge all events that happen to us in a proper perspective. I had a friend in a master college who viewed almost every event as woe is me. It was a trial. Everything that happened to him was a trial ordained by God.

And you know what? I experienced many of the exact same things he did. When a policy or procedure was changed, it affected me just as much as it affected him. It affected everyone to the same degree.

You see, there was just a different perspective. To me, things occur in life and sometimes bad things occur in life because, as we say in the gardening world, compost happens.

You know, sometimes stuff happens in life. And they aren't brought down from God. Because they happen doesn't mean that God doesn't care. They happen as a consequence of being given the greatest gift that you could ever be given. That gift is called life.

Life means there will be good times, there will be bad times, there will be challenges, there will be blessings. That's what life is all about.

And with a proper perspective, we don't look at the glass as half empty, but half full. We don't count our losses and our setbacks, we count our blessings.

The third thing I would like you to think about regarding being angry towards God.

Indeed, there are times when God desires to correct us and he'll allow trials and problems to enter our lives.

First of all, we have to realize that 99% of the bad things that happen to us is a result of our own making. They're not manufactured by God.

He just takes advantage of those things that happen to us to get us where we need to be.

He uses the circumstances to teach us to rely on him more and not to rely on ourselves or other people.

And we have to always remember that God is interested in the long-term growth in our lives.

He isn't bothered by seeing us experience pain for even 20 or 30 years or more if it means the end result is we will have eternal life in his family.

He looks at the long-term. Is it easy to get angry towards God? You bet it is. Let's take a look at an example of a man who did and his name was Jonah. If you go to Jonah chapter 3 and verse 5, let's take a look at this scripture.

We're going to see that Jonah gets very angry with God. He was a prophet sent to Assyria to warn this pagan nation of God's severe judgment on them. He didn't want to do this. As a prophet, he didn't want to make this journey. He tried to flee to another direction.

But God intervened and he swallowed him with a large fish. And after three days and three nights of smelling fish breath, he decided it might be a good idea to repent.

And he was spit up on the shore and voila! Guess where he's at? So he repented and he preached a message of judgment on the capital city of Nineveh. Let's pick it up now in chapter 3 and verse 5.

So he preached and he was a powerful preacher, apparently, because they did repent. It says, So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed to fast and put sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. The word came to King of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne, and he laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

And he constantly proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything, do not let them eat or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God.

Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we will not perish?

Then God saw their works and they turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon him, and he did not do it. So the preaching was effective. Now, Jonah is pleased.

He is not, as we say in modern terms, a happy camper. He is upset for a number of reasons. First of all, he's a prophet. This is the nation who will destroy his beloved nation of Israel from the northern kingdom. He knows that this is the nation if they repent, they will still survive and be the one that God uses to punish the nation of Israel. So that bothers him. But he's a little bit of a bigot, too, because these are a pagan people. He has no love for these pagan peoples.

Let's read about it, Jonah chapter 4.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord and said, Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish. For I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm. Now therefore, O Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.

And the Lord said, Is it right for you to be angry? Is this, God says, a right attitude to have? Verse 5, So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and he made himself a shelter and sat under the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. You see, even after we repent it, he despised these people so much, he sits in that shelter and says, Smoke of the Lord!

Nuke him! Let him have it, God! Verse 6, And the Lord, God wants to teach him a little lesson about compassion. And the Lord prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shaved for his head, to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant, but a cute little plant probably had a nice little flower on it, maybe a little pink flower.

And he became kind of enduring to that little plant. Kind of developed a little bit of affection. I mean, I grow plants. I can understand where he's coming from. But as the morning dawned the next day, God prepared a worm. And so it damaged the plant and it withered. And it happened when the sun arose that God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself and said, it is better for me to die than to live. So he's in his little pity party.

Oh, whoa, is me! These people are going to live after all. Oh! Then God said to Jonah, he said, right for you to be angry about the plant. And he said, it is right for me to be angry, even to death. You bet I have a right to be angry. Isn't that how we feel sometimes when we've been offended, when we've been stomped on by someone? You bet I have a right to be angry. I have a right not to like this person. Verse 10, but the Lord said, you have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night that lasted one whole day.

And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left and much livestock, God said, there are 120,000 children in this city.

And here you are, careless, uncaring, unloving Jonah, more concerned about a plant that lasted a whole day, that I planted, that I caused to grow out of the ground. You have more compassion for that plant than for 120,000 children who live in that great city. You see, God wanted him to understand that forgiveness is a very important concept. Jonah needed to learn the right perspective on events, and the right perspective is that repentance and forgiveness are essential, Godly qualities. It's not optional, brethren. We cannot forgive someone when it's convenient for us.

We cannot forgive someone when we want to. We need to do it now. To prepare for the Passover to get the most out of the real and rich meaning of the Passover, we need to forgive other people who have hurt us and offended us. Let's take a look at the third and final area. And that is forgiveness of ourselves. Forgiveness of ourselves. I think this is an insidious, silent killer within the human race, and it's also a killer within the Church of God. It often affects our own self-worth. It affects how we view ourselves. There's so many dysfunctions in our society, and those dysfunctions enter into our own families. And we all have frustrations, don't we, in life?

Some have frustrations because their careers haven't gone the way they wanted them to, because of a lack of education, some struggle, relationships, bad relationships with others, some of the brethren struggle, moral obligations, sometimes we fail to meet our moral obligations and live by God's law. We may have personal responsibilities we're not living up to, and because of past experiences, or our backgrounds, or personal weaknesses, we sometimes make really big mistakes, even those of us that are in the Church of God.

Sometimes we make stupid mistakes that hurt us and hurt the ones that we love. Some of these mistakes are life-altering. We pay the price for some of these mistakes our entire lifetimes, either physically, emotionally, sometimes financially. The result is natural and right that we accept personal responsibility and accountability when we make a mistake and that we seek repentance. That is certainly correct. However, the problem is we can become so disappointed in ourselves that we fail to forgive ourselves.

And if we don't forgive ourselves after a sincere repentance, we continue life living chained to the past. We continue living life chained to that mistake, chained to that error. And we drag it around like a ball and chain every day. It makes us feel poor about ourselves, our self-image, our concept of who or what we are. Our concept about how much God loves us is distorted because we carry around with us that emotional ball and chain because we are frustrated with ourselves in literally grieving for something that we've done.

We may even feel that God or others who know us feel the same way about us we do. We can go through our entire lives with this wrong perspective and feelings of hurt and guilt and shame. But don't ever forget that just as God compassionately clothed Adam and Eve, these are not feelings that are intended for people to carry throughout their lives, especially those whom he has called and those whom he has forgiven.

So one of the concepts of forgiveness is to forgive ourselves, because far too many of us are still struggling with serious issues and mistakes we made in the past.

And we haven't even forgiven ourselves. And it's holding us back and it's pushing us down. Let's take a look at a man who just could not be...he came close to this threshold but just couldn't do it. Matthew chapter 27 and verse 1. We all know about Judas Iscariot and I think at times we don't totally understand that he too was deluded. That he was a betrayer. Certainly he was a thief. But he was deluded. He was a human being. He did not have God's Holy Spirit. And when Jesus said, Father forgive them, they know not what they do. That he meant Judas Iscariot as well. Let's see what happens here. Matthew chapter 27 and verse 1. When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then Judas the Betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was...he meaning Jesus...was remorseful. And brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priest and elder, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. And they said, what's that does? It's your problem. That's not our problem. If you're struggling with guilt and shame, we don't have that weakness here in the Sanhedra. So that's not our problem. What is that to us? You see to it. Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. The New Century version translates verse through Judas, Judas, the one who had given Jesus to his enemies, saw that they had decided to kill Jesus. Then he was very sorry for what he had done. So he took the thirty silver coins back to the priest and the leaders. You see, Judas, he was on the right path towards repentance and forgiveness, wasn't he? It says he was remorseful. He was very sorry. He even brought the money back to try to make up for the fact that he had betrayed his Christ. He told them, he said, this man is innocent. This isn't right. I should not have done this. Here is the money back. He was very sorry for what he had done. God, and especially Jesus himself, was ready to forgive him. But Judas was unable to forgive himself.

And that's why he took his life. God's mercy is abundant. God's forgiveness is incredible. But Judas would not forgive himself for what he had done in his own life.

And, brethren, in a spiritual way, how many of us, because we have not forgiven ourselves of things that we have done in the past, that, yes, were shameful, that we're not proud of, that maybe hurt people that we love dearly, how many of us have been committing spiritual suicide ever since by carrying through life that ball and chain of guilt and shame and doubt and putting ourselves down and reinforcing negative self-talk, telling ourselves that we are unloved, that we are worthless, that we're not good.

And, brethren, God does not want us to have that perspective about him or that perspective about human life.

Well, in conclusion, we've looked at three important areas of forgiveness today. You may have noticed that I didn't talk about God's forgiveness towards us because that's a given. I didn't see any reason to discuss that. I did see a good reason of things that we have to forgive three areas. And I encourage you to study the subject of forgiveness before the Passover this year. We are obligated to forgive others, even if they know they have caused us hurt and they've never made an effort themselves to show any shame or repentance that doesn't matter. We just need to forgive. The ability to forget, forgive others, is freedom. Spiritual freedom from anger, bitterness, and shame and guilt. The ability to forgive ourselves is like a 100-pound weight lifted off of our minds and lifted off of our hearts. And it allows us to move forward rapidly.

As God, go to God. As our God, go to Him and ask Him to teach you how to forgive, to teach all of us how to forgive. Look at His examples in Scripture like we read today. Study His great love towards us in spite of our weaknesses and flaws. For our final Scripture, let's go back to Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19. This will be our final Scripture for the day.

I'd like to read just verses 19 through 24 again.

Because what I'm about to read here is only possible when we understand the concept of forgiveness when we have accepted the complete and total forgiveness of God towards us, and when we have accepted our need to forgive everyone, and I mean everyone who has ever hurt us or offended us in any way. He says, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus Christ, to go to the throne of grace with confidence and boldness, knowing that our prayers will be heard and answered by a new and living way which He consecrated for us. That new and living way does not include shame, guilt, humiliation. That all began with the sin of Adam and Eve and has been carried down from generation to generation into our very own lives. By a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil that is His flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance. No gop, no gilt, no shame. A true heart with full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, having our conscience just cleared, swept clean, totally and completely, and our bodies washed with pure water, just like we came out of that baptismal tank the first time.

Came out of that baptismal tank forgiven, done! All of those sins forgotten separated as far as the east is from the west. Our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promises faithful. And let us consider one another to stir up love and good works. So let's think about the power behind the concept of forgiveness as we prepare for the Passover this year. Have a wonderful Saturday.