Last week we considered what our obligation to those who would mistreat us. God expects us to be people who know how to forgive. However, as Christians, this seems to be one of the hardest things we are called upon by God to do. It is a wonderful thing to know the forgiveness of God, but we must also demonstrate that forgiveness to others.
If we don't know how to ask for forgiveness, we won't be able to handle sin properly. We also need to know how to grant forgiveness to others. And we need to be able to teach this subject thoroughly to our children.
I. Understanding Forgiveness
A. Misconceptions concerning forgiveness.
1. That it is synonymous with apologizing "I’m sorry" is not the same as "Please forgive me."
2. You haven't forgiven unless you forget, we dealt with that some last week.
3. Others look at forgiveness as primarily a feeling.
B. Key to understanding forgiveness.
1. Understanding the way God has forgiven us
2. (Eph 4:32) "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
C. How does God forgive?
1. By Declaration
a. It is not a feeling - God tells us (declares to us) that He has forgiven us.
b. (Isa 43:25) "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."
2. It is a Promise.
a. To "not remember"
b. "Forgetting" is passive, but "not remembering" is active
c. When God forgives us, He promises to "not remember it"
d. That’s the meaning of our sins being cast as far as the east is from the west.
e. Biblical forgiveness is first and foremost a promise not to bring the issue back up as a basis of how I will treat you.
(3 JOHN 1:10) "WHEREFORE, IF I COME, I WILL REMEMBER HIS DEEDS WHICH HE DOETH, PRATING AGAINST US WITH MALICIOUS WORDS: AND NOT CONTENT THEREWITH, NEITHER DOTH HE HIMSELF RECEIVE THE BRETHREN, AND FORBIDDETH THEM THAT WOULD, AND CASTETH THEM OUT OF THE CHURCH."
II. Biblical Truths About Forgiveness - Luke 17:3-10
A. An initial warning
1. ‘take heed to yourselves’ or (be on your guard)
2. Why would Jesus say this in his opening remarks?
3. What does this tell us about the subject of forgiveness?
B. The situation
1. A brother trespasses against you.
a. This is a very general category - these kinds of things happen to us all the time
b. It is this very issue that destroys marriages, parent/child relationships
c. The question is - what do I do when this happens?
C. Our first obligation: Rebuke.
1. Don’t have a pity party, blow up at them, or begin to gossip to others.
2. Rebuke him: talk to him about what he's done
a. There are two words translated rebuke
b. One means "to so prosecute a case against another that he is convicted of the crime of which he was accused"
c. The other means "to rebuke tentatively" - that’s the one that is used here.
3. Why is this necessary?
a. For obedience to God’s Word.
b. To get the facts - you may find out the person didn't sin against you at all!
c. Some folks stay mad at others for years because of a misunder- standing.
d. If one person would have obeyed the scripture, the whole problem could have been avoided
D. Our second obligation - forgive him
1. Excuses
a. I don't have enough faith - 17:5
b. Jesus said the issue isn't faith, the issue is obedience - 17:6
2. The person isn't showing fruits of repentance. - 17:4 - "...saying..."
a. The Lord didn’t leave it up to us to determine repentance.
b. If they say they repent, we are to forgive.
c. True "fruits" take more than a day to grow.
3. What if I don't feel like it? - 17:7-10
a. Just as a servant may feel tired and hungry, but still must do what the master requires...
b. We must obey Our Master, regardless of how we may feel.
III. Are We Growing In Forgiveness?
A. By promising:
1. Not to bring it up to the person's face
2. Not to bring it up behind the person's back
3. Not to bring it up in our minds and dwell on it
B. Refusal to forgive is a decision for vengeance.
(GEN 50:19) "AND JOSEPH SAID UNTO THEM, FEAR NOT: FOR AM I IN THE PLACE OF GOD?"
1. We might think that if anyone deserved to ‘not forgive’ it would have been Joseph.
2. Circumstances will not overshadow the Scriptures.
3. Jesus warned of the danger when it comes to forgiveness.
Forgiveness is such an important thing for us to understand. God has forgiven us. This was made possible through the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary. Now that we are forgiven, He calls upon us to forgive others.
Have you experienced the forgiveness of God upon your life? Are you demonstrating that forgiveness toward others. Are we growing in that forgiveness?