Grace Explained 106_Forgiving One Another

In this study we will look at Forgiving one another and why we should do this today in the dispensation of Grace.

Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to another episode of Grace Explained. The last couple of weeks we've been talking about forgiveness. So today I'd like to look at the topic of forgiving one another. Many people have a hard time forgiving one another. Uh and it could be whatever you know that offense may be. Sometimes it's really big, sometimes it's small. But some people just have a hard time of forgiving other people. So I want to take a look at it from the scriptures. I want to take a look at it from the point of view of the of how God would want us to deal with it in the dispensation of grace. So we will go ahead and we'll start with Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. So as we we talk about forgiveness and we talk about forgiving one another's, we have to remember that there's two different things that were said. If you go back and you look back at Matthew chapter 6 and verse 14 and 15, you remember Christ said, he says, For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. And we have looked at and we have talked about before the difference between law and grace and how that under the law there's this if-then principle. If you do this, then I'll do this for you. If you don't do this, then I won't do this for you. And so it's an if-then principle. And so we see this when Christ is speaking to the nation of Israel. He says you need to forgive them in their their trespasses. If you don't, then your father's your father's not going to forgive you your trespasses. And so there's there's something to be said with that in the in the actual forgiveness of sins. Now, again, there's a difference between forgiveness of sin and forgiveness of sins. Christ, when he died on the cross for our sins, he died for every man's sin nature. Um, and the thing that that really forgives our sin nature and makes it so that we have eternal life is simply the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we have to have faith in whatever God has told us at that time to believe in, to have eternal life and that forgiveness of sin. Um in times past, people had to forgive to be forgiven. And again, the question would come up: well, how many times? If you remember, we looked at Matthew chapter 18 when um Peter was speaking, and he says, Then came Peter unto him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times? He's asking him, you know, should I forgive him once? Should I should I forgive him seven times? I mean, how many times should I continue to forgive my brother? And Jesus saith unto him, I say, not unto thee seven, until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Well, again, if you did the math, that's 490. And I don't think that's the number that that the Lord Jesus Christ was trying to get across. I don't think he was saying, hey, at 491 times you don't have to forgive your your brother anymore. Um I think he was trying to say was you always forgive your brother. This is something that you should always do. You should you should continually forgive your brother. And then they went on and we and we looked at the story um of a king and his and his and his servant and and how he was forgiven and and how the how the Lord was was going to to help him and forgive him. And then he goes on that same servant and another servant had wronged him, and instead of helping him and saying, Hey, I forgive you, he he went to have him thrown in jail, and then the Lord came back, the king came back and said, and found out, he says, Hey, you know, now I don't have pity on thee anymore because you didn't forgive your brother. Here, you had so I forgave you, but you didn't forgive your brother, so now I'm not gonna have pity on thee. If you look in Matthew chapter 18 and verse 33, he says, Shouldest not thou also have compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And and his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the t tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother, their trespasses. So Christ is pretty much telling him, Listen, you need to forgive your brother. Why? Because this is something God has required of you. This is something God expects from you. This is something that you should do. If you want to be forgiven, then you need to forgive. And so you kind of put yourself in a box. Folks, I know saints, I know Christians who have not forgiven other people for things. They've told me, they've talked to me, they've had people wrong them, and they're still to this day upset and bitter with them. And, you know, if they lived in this time, that you know, then you go, well, wait a second, you know, if you're not gonna, if you're not gonna forgive your brother, then God's not gonna forgive you. And can I tell you there's people today, there's preachers today, there's counselors today, there's other members of the body of Christ and Christians today who tell other Christians that today. Well, you know, you're not gonna be forgiven if you're not forgiving others. And and that's just not what God is doing. That's not what God has planned. Today, today, in the but now period, today in the dispensation of grace, God wants us and God expects us, but God's desire for us is to forgive one another. It's not a requirement, it's not something we have to do, and if we don't do it, God's not for gonna forgive us. It has nothing to do with any of that. If you look in Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 31, the apostle Paul is talking to the saints at Ephesus, and he says, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Put away all your bitterness and your wrath and your anger, put this all away. Don't don't let this be a part of who you are. Don't let this continue to um to be in your soul. You know, you hear people when someone says, Well, you know, so-and-so did this and so-and-so did that, and it's 10 years later, it's 15 years later. Um, and you hear people say, Well, they're living rent-free in your head. Why are you allowing that person to live rent-free in your head? Why are you still worried about what that person did? Why are you still concerned about what that person did 10 years ago, 15 years ago? Why are you allowing them to live rent-free in your head? It's kind of the same thing. Why are you doing you shouldn't have to do it, but look at the verse 32. Here's the answer. Here's why you don't have to do that. You can have freedom from that bitterness, you can have freedom from that anger, you can have liberty from that wrath and that evil speaking, you can have all of that not even be a part of your life, no matter what someone has done to you. And if you look at verse 32, he says, and you and be ye kind one to another. When we used to have, when we had the youth camp and we were running the youth camp, I had a dear friend of mine, um, Doug Dodd, and and he would talk to the to the to the children at the youth camp, and you gotta remember, you know, now you've got a hundred, you got a hundred kids running around. You got a hundred kids running around, you're gonna have little arguments, you're gonna have a little little little spats, and you're gonna have little fights and little, and you have people getting upset with one another. And he would always say to him, he goes, be kind. That's all he would do, be kind. All he's trying to get them to understand was be kind to one another. Well, you know what? That's the same thing that's being that's what's literally Paul saying, but he's not saying saying it to the children, he's saying it to the adults at Ephesus. He's saying it to the saints that are meeting there at Ephesus. He's telling them, and be ye kind one to another. Tenderhearted. Don't don't come a don't come across as this mean, upset, always holding a grudge kind of person. Be kind to one another. Be kind to them. You know what? You don't have to you don't have to like someone, you don't have to go to dinner with someone, but when you at least see them, you say hello. Doesn't matter if they say hello back. Doesn't mean you have to stop and and give them a hug. Doesn't mean you have to stop and and tell them your life story. It just means, hey, how you doing? And you and you keep going on and be kind to them. You don't need to have bitterness and anger and wrath. Be kind to one another, tender hearted. And so many times today, I don't think people are tender hearted. I think people are are have, you know, they hold grudges and they their their heart starts to get a little callous to other people. And again, you gotta remember who's Paul talking to. He's not talking to unbelievers. Paul is talking to other members of the body of Christ, other Christians in a local church. And he's having to tell these other Christians in a local church, be kind one to another, tenderhearted. And here's the key forgiving one another. It's not just about you forgiving me, me, for you forgiving me, and then I'll forgive you. It's not just about I'll I'll forgive you when you forgive me. It's none of that. It's forgiving one another. You need to forgive the other person no matter what they did to you, no matter what what happened, and I'm not talking to you about, hey, um, I forgive you, and I'm gonna I'm gonna let you do the same thing to me again. But it's it's the idea of, hey, I forgive you. And you know what? If you do it to me again, then I have the opportunity to forgive you again. He says, forgiving one another. I remember uh a friend of mine, Pastor Jordan, he he would say, you know, when someone wrongs you or someone hurts you or someone, you know, it's does something that that you know against you, what they've done is they've given you the opportunity to have a blessing, not to be bitter and mad at them, but to forgive them. You didn't have that opportunity to have that blessing to forgive them before, but once they wronged you, you have now that blessing and the opportunity to forgive them that you didn't have before. So we're forgiving one another, even for God, as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Why? Why are we to forgive one another? Why is the what's the reason? What's the means? What's the purpose? Why are we to forgive one another so that we can be forgiven? So that God will forgive us? No. He says, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. You see, you forgive one another because you're already forgiven. You forgive not so that God will forgive you, you forgive because you're already forgiven. God's already forgiven you. And because he's already forgiven you, and trust me, the things that you've done against against the Lord before you were saved and even after you were saved are much worse than the things that that person did to you. And here, he's already forgiven you. He's forgiven all of your sins, past, present, and future. And because all of your sins have been forgiven, past, present, and future, you know what you should do? You should simply just forgive your saints. Just forgive your brother or sister in Christ. You should do this, and not just your brother and sister in Christ, but others. I've seen things where there's been a horrible, horrific crime committed on a family and you know, someone lost a child or a loved one, you know, because someone, you know, murdered them or whatever, and you hear the people from that family talk about how they f how they're they forgive that person, how that they forgive the person who who you know did this thing to their family member. And I've heard people say, I don't understand how they can forgive them. I could never forgive them. Well, again, that's a lack of understanding of your forgiveness in Christ, and that's a lack of understanding of forgiving others. Not because I want to forgive them. Me, my, my, me, I don't want to forgive them, but Christ in me does. So why do I forgive one another? Even as God for Christ's sake hath already forgiven me. That's why I forgive one another. Uh look at Colossians chapter three and verse 13. He says, forbearing one another. That word forbearing. I mean, you know, people do things and you're just like, you know, you can say, get it, they get on my nerves. Yeah, well, there are people like that. And so, you know, as saints, as as members of the body of Christ, we're all members one of another. We're all we're all part of the same body. And you're you don't you're you don't see your hand get mad, your right hand get mad at your left foot and punch it, you know, because it did something. I mean, it's part of the body. The body tries to heal itself, the body tries to take care of itself. That's the natural, that's the natural way the body works. The body doesn't try to hurt itself. And it's the same thing with the body of Christ. So one of the things is when people do things to us, we we need to forbear one another. And he goes, and forgiving one another. You need to forbear them and you need to forgive them. If any man hath a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. What is the reason? What is my motivation? What's the purpose of me for forgiving someone else? Again, whether they be a brother or sister in Christ or or whether they be an unbeliever, why? When when it's an unbeliever, you know the best way to show them Christ's love and Christ's forgiveness is to forgive them. They will go, wow, I can't believe that. And they see God's love, they see God's forgiveness, they see God's grace through your actions towards them. So forgive one another, forbear one another, even as Christ forgave you, this is why you do it. This is the motivation, this is the purpose, this is the reason, because of what Christ has already done for you. You know, there is there's a saying that says, like, bitterness is like a cancer. It eats upon the host. When someone is bitter, and someone and that's all they want to do is completely be, you know, be upset about something and just be mad the whole time and completely bitter about it, they're not they're not allowing them themselves to heal inside, if you will. And it and it's like a cancer, and they'll eat you from the inside out. So forgive one another. Don't let bitterness continue to to reign in your lives. Don't let it take control of your life. Don't let it do that. Um there was, you know, people talk about, well, I I'll forgive them, but I I won't forget. And I would agree with that. I mean, you know, if you if you're talking about someone and they did something and they really hurt you and they really harmed you, um, no one wants to get hurt again. No one gets well, no one wants to be put in a position where they're hurt again. But the thing is, is you have to understand that that when you truly forgive someone, um, even though you may protect yourself or keep yourself out of that out of a position of having that happen again, you're going to go ahead and if you truly forgive them, you're not going to bring it up again. Um there was a a story about a lady, and she was upset. This is during the Civil War, and and Robert, Robert E. Lee went to go visit this lady in Kentucky, and she took him outside to this old tree she had out front. And and she she said, and look at this, look at this tree. This was a beautiful tree. It was a magnificent tree. And she said, and the and the limbs and the trunk, they've all been destroyed by the by the Federal, by the Northerners, by the Federal artillery fire. And she looked at General Lee for a word of condemning of the North for him to go, yeah, that's that's horrible. I can't believe, you know, that was such a, I'm sure, a magnificent tree. I can't believe that they, you know, that their gunfire and their mortars and and their and their bombs just destroyed this tree. We, you know, we should go get them. No, she was looking for that to condemn the North, or at least to feel, um, yeah, it's it's really bad, and and I'm sorry to see what it says, you know, that what they've done, and and it, you know, you still have a beautiful house, but wow, this is horrible, and it's bad at what they did. But instead, Robert E. Lee said, Cut it down, my dear madam, and forget it. It's better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain and let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life. So his point was, cut it down and forget about it. I mean, you can hold that bitterness if you want to, but it's like a poison. And you're just gonna be upset the whole time. Don't do that. When someone has wronged you and someone has done something against you, it's one thing to say, oh, I forgive you, and then two weeks later you bring it up, or two years later you bring it up, or twenty years later you bring it. If you're still bringing it up, then did you really, truly, completely forgive them? Because forgiving and forgetting are something that we need to do. And when I say forget, again, we don't want to put ourselves in a position that where we're gonna let this happen to us again, if it's something that's uh that's avoidable. But when we truly forgive someone, and we truly forgive it, then we never bring it up again. We don't when we're getting it if we get in an argument or something happening, we don't go, oh yeah, we remember when you No, we don't do that. When you truly forgive someone, then you just don't bring it up. You don't think about it again. There's there's there's but and there's things you just you just don't let it be a part of your relationship with that person again. You've completely forgiven them. So there's something about forgiving and forgetting. And I'm again, I'm not telling you forgive and forget so that you can allow them to hurt you again, but remember, if they do do something that hurts you, or they do do something that um that bothers you or upsets you, then what have they given you? They've given you the opportunity to have a blessing that you didn't have before, and that blessing is to forgive them. So if you've never been able to completely forgive someone and forget, you can do that. If there's people that you know now that you're still upset with, that you're still letting things bother you, that you're still um haven't forgiven them, you can do that. If you've never understood the forgiveness that you have in Christ, if you've never understood how that no matter what things you've done, I've talked to people and they have told me, they've said, Keith, you don't understand. There's things I've done in my life that are unforgiv unforgivable. God will well, maybe the other person won't forgive you, but let me explain something to you. God, and through the Lord Jesus Christ and His shed blood, will forgive you. And if there's not one thing that you could do that God says, nope, that's too bad. That one's so bad that my son dying on the cross and shedding his blood for your sins can't cover that one, can't get rid of that one, can't can't wash that one away, can't can't can't cleanse you from that sin. No, can I tell you that there's not one thing that you can do that God says is unforgivable. Everything that we've done in our lives, everything we thought, every action we've made, God has all he's forgiven you through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if all you if all you do is simply put your faith and trust in him, and you realize that it's through him and through God's grace, by simply trusting in what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary for you, and by shedding his blood for you, you will have the free gift of eternal life, and you will have total forgiveness of sins. If you've never put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, I would ask you to do that today. If you are saved, and you do have people that you're still bitter with, you still have people that you're upset with, you still have people that that that you have not forgiven, just remember. Just remember that that verse in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. And because God for Christ's sake hath already forgiven you all your sins, past, present, and future, guess what? You now have the opportunity and the blessing to forgive someone else. And what a joy that is. Until next time.