WEBVTT 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.080 Matthew chapter 6. 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:12.240 We finished the Lord's Prayer last week. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:13.919 We'll pick up the next two verses this week. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.559 It's Matthew 6, verses 14 and 15. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:19.120 I'll read them for us now. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:26.079 Matthew 6, 14, for if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:33.920 But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:40.719 I want to begin this morning by telling you a story of a woman that you may not have heard of before, Agnes Beaumont. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:42.079 She was single. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:45.119 She lived with her father, who was likewise single. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:47.920 Her mother had died at an early age. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:49.679 She was not raised in a Christian family. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.079 This is 1600s England. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:59.679 When she was in her twenties, there was a man in town who was an attorney and a prominent attorney, Mr. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:03.439 Ferry was his name, who wanted Agnes to marry Mr. 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:04.480 Ferry's son. 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:06.159 Agnes refused, and Mr. 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:09.439 Ferry set about making Agnes's life miserable. 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:16.480 Throughout this time, Agnes was not a believer, but the Lord used these trials to bring her to faith in Christ. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:20.319 She lived a little bit away from her church and she had to walk to church. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:27.120 And there was a particular morning where she flagged down a passing carriage to really beg for a ride to church. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:33.680 And in the carriage was none other than the church pastor, John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress, was the pastor of her church. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:35.200 She begged him for a ride to church. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:47.519 He initially refused, saying it wasn't appropriate for him as a pastor to give a single lady a ride to church in their carriage, but she began weeping and he relented and gave her a ride to church. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:48.879 This was seen by Mr. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:56.400 Ferry, who started rumors that she and Bunyan were having an affair. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:59.760 These rumors were devastating to both of them. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:04.239 The rumors reached her own father before she returned home from church. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:08.400 She walked back home from church, arrived late on Sunday night. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:12.479 Her father locked her out of her house, wouldn't let her in because of the rumors. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:15.680 And uh he said, You can come in if you promise never to see Mr. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:18.240 Bunyan and never go to his church again. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:22.159 She refused, and so she slept outside for two nights. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:30.319 It was on the third day that her father came out to her, and the two of them talked, and they were ultimately reconciled, and it was later that week that her father died. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:34.719 Well, when he died, Mr. 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:42.080 Ferry accused her of poisoning her father to death to retaliate for being locked outside. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.159 As I mentioned, he was a prominent attorney. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:48.080 Where could a single woman get such a poison that would do this? 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:48.560 And Mr. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:51.840 Ferry invented the story that John Bunyan gave her the poison. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:56.080 She was arrested, she was put on trial for the murder of her father. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:59.120 The trial took place in her house with her father's body there. 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:02.240 This is a speedier justice system than we are used to. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:09.520 The jury had to come to the house to observe her being questioned by the coroner over her father's body. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:11.039 She was acquitted. 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:14.159 Of course, there was no evidence that she had done anything. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:15.039 And so Mr. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:21.919 Ferry simply changed the rumor to this story that in front of the jury she confessed to murdering her father. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:24.879 The jury had such sympathy for her that they let her go. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:27.439 And that became the rumors around her and Mr. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:30.319 Bunyan for the rest of their lives. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:32.719 Here's a question for you. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:38.000 What should Agnes's attitude be towards Mr. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:38.800 Fairy? 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:50.719 A guy who has devoted his life to ruining hers, who has lied about her and not uh incidental lies, but accused her of murder, for example. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:54.400 All to retaliate for not marrying his son. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:57.840 What should she do if she sees him walking down the street? 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:01.039 Should she wish him well or wish him harm? 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:02.560 How should she pray for him? 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:20.879 That is the overarching question that's behind a passage like Matthew 6, verse 14, where Jesus answers it that we are expected to forgive our enemies, we are expected to forgive our neighbors, we are expected to forgive all of those who have sinned against us. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:29.120 The word trespasses in verse 14, and again in verse 15, uh is the word for sin, for transgressing God's command. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:38.319 As we have sinned against God and we have been forgiven, we are in turn expected to forgive those who have sinned against us. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:42.639 This is not a new command of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:49.600 The Sermon on the Mount began back in Matthew chapter 5 with Jesus saying, Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:52.319 And of course, we all want to be merciful. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:55.839 Merciful is a positive word, merciful has a good connotation. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:02.240 We all desire to be merciful until you have a face attached to the recipient of your mercy. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:06.480 Once it's your enemy, then mercy becomes much more harder to stomach. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:17.040 Once it is somebody who has lied about you or who has sinned against you or conspired against you, suddenly mercy in our culture or in our world becomes a detriment, not an asset. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:22.480 Nevertheless, Jesus says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:27.519 Jesus goes on in Matthew 5 to command us to love our enemies. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:32.959 And love, if you recall, love of enemy is it's a it's a carryover of the second greatest command. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:36.000 You're supposed to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:37.680 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:40.079 Oftentimes our neighbor and enemies overlap. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.680 Jesus continues in Matthew 5 and says, You want to be like God? 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:47.199 God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:49.519 God gives good things to his enemies. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:52.240 You want to be like God, you act like that. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:06:13.279 And now, after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, I mean, after the Lord's prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, you are expected to forgive not just people generically by showing mercy to the world, not just your enemies, but you are supposed to give particularly people who have sinned against you. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:20.079 This is ratcheted up language here, because Jesus says, if you don't forgive them, then you will not be forgiven by God. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:21.680 The principle is very simple. 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:29.360 If you are the kind of person that does not forgive those who have sinned against you, you are the kind of person who is not forgiven by God. 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:33.600 The stakes of this could not be higher. 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:40.160 The idea of forgiveness here is uh, of course, a prominent New Testament theme. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:44.639 What Jesus says here in verses 14 and 15, it's a carryover of verse 12 in the Lord's Prayer. 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:46.959 Back in verse 12, you can jog your eyes there. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:49.120 In verse 11, you prayed for your daily bread. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:50.800 In verse 12, you prayed for forgiveness. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:57.839 As often as you eat, you're likely sinning, and so forgive us of our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:02.160 You are expected to forgive those who owe you just as you owe God. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:04.879 And now the the Lord's Prayer is over. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:06.319 We saw that last week. 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:09.360 The Lord's Prayer concluded with the prayer for deliverance from evil. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:14.000 Some translations even have a benediction there, and then Jesus kind of attaches this at the end. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:19.279 It says transition out of the Lord's Prayer is you need to forgive those who have sinned against you. 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:22.319 Otherwise, you won't be forgiven by God. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:31.120 As I mentioned, the stakes couldn't be higher because your eternal destiny hangs in the balance of your forgiving attitude. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:35.439 Let me give you an outline as we work through the concept of forgiveness this morning. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:37.759 There are four fruits of the unforgiving heart. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.720 There are four fruits of the unforgiving heart. 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:50.160 Of course, a heart that is forgiving, that is gracious and loving and kind and merciful towards those around it is a heart that's demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:53.120 What is a heart like that is unforgiving? 00:07:53.279 --> 00:08:04.160 What kind of fruit do you see in somebody's life when their attitude towards others is a lack of forgiveness, a tracking of wrongs, a holding of grudges. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:07.439 And of course, this is a global phenomenon. 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:21.199 People around the world, in Christ, outside of Christ, hold on to grudges, hold on to bitterness, keep track of how they've been wronged, you know, have a ledger going in their mind of all the times people have sinned against them or wronged them or not treated them like they deserve to be treated. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:22.879 They keep ledgers in their mind. 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:31.759 And sometimes Christians hold grudges against those outside the church, but more frequently, human beings hold grudges against people that they know. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:38.960 And so, as Christians, most of the people you know that you are bitter towards or hold grudges towards or keep record of wrongs are in the church. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:41.679 Sometimes they're in their family. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:44.799 You might even be sitting next to one of them right now. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:52.720 Our hearts are such that we hold on to ways that we have been wronged. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:09:03.120 But that kind of a refusal to forgive wrecks your own life and it questions whether or not you've ever confessed your sins to begin with. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:05.759 The idea of forgiveness in the New Testament. 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:15.840 Forgiveness comes through confessing your sins to God, and God, who is faithful and just forgives you of your sins as based upon your faith in Christ Jesus. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.919 So you place your faith in the gospel and you confess your sins to the Lord. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:31.840 The word confess, it's the word that homologue just means to say the word, to say the word, to call your sin what God calls it, to call it the same thing God calls it, to see your sin like God sees your sin. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:33.600 So you are aware of your sin. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:40.799 You tell God about your sin, not because he doesn't know about it, but because God wants to hear you describe your sin like he describes it. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:42.799 That's confession of your sin. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:47.360 You confess your sins to God based upon your faith in Christ. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:52.480 Jesus canceled your sins on the cross when the record of your sins were nailed to the cross. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:59.919 Jesus was punished for your sins, so God can void your sins and forgive you of your sins based upon your faith in Christ. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:04.799 Your faith in Christ produces that confession and you're forgiven in that way. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:09.279 However, there is a category of people, and we'll see them again in Matthew 7. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:14.960 There's a category of people that call on the Lord, that claim to be Christians, that are lying. 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:21.600 And when they open their eyes in heaven, they will see the Lord, and the Lord will say, Depart from me, I never knew you, your worker of iniquity. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:23.519 And we get a glimpse of them right here. 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:27.600 And first off, they are in the audience listening to the Lord teacher in prayer. 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:30.480 And secondly, they don't forgive other people. 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:34.799 They are bitter and they refuse to forgive. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:37.600 And their eternal destiny hangs in the balance. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:41.600 You can recognize these people through these kinds of fruit we'll go over this morning. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:45.759 And I want you to listen to the sermon this morning, not even through the lens of other people. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:48.799 This is not one of the sermons that you really need to send somebody, you know. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:52.879 I know somebody that needs to listen to this sermon because they don't forgive me at all. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.279 No, this is a sermon for you. 00:10:55.519 --> 00:11:05.759 This is a sermon for you to apply to yourself and you to look in your own heart and take tally of grudges and ledgers that you are tracking on your own. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:10.480 So the first sign of an unforgiving heart is unanswered prayer. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:16.960 A person who refuses to forgive those who have sinned against them is experiencing unanswered prayer. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:21.200 That's the connection of this to the Sermon on the Mount right here. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:27.120 In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has just taught his disciples how to pray, and this then is coming out of the Lord's Prayer. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:38.399 So we concluded the Lord's Prayer last week, and now he says, by the way, now that I've taught you how to pray, don't bother praying if you're not forgiving. 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:40.639 That's the implication. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:46.240 Don't pray for your needs if you're not willing to meet other people's needs. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:55.279 Don't pray for what you desire unless you're willing to forgive those who have wronged you. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:58.159 That's why this is attached right here. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:01.039 This is not a new teaching of Jesus. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.200 It's not an isolated experience. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:05.519 Here, this is something he says multiple times. 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:11.360 For example, in Mark chapter 11, verse 25, he says, Whenever you stand praying, forgive. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:19.120 If you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who also is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:20.639 Notice his language there. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:25.039 You're praying, and you realize, whoa, time out. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:28.559 I have this against that person and this against the other person. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.200 Jesus says, Stop your prayers. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:32.879 Stop. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:41.440 Forgive that person in your heart, and now you can start your prayers again. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:50.159 And notice in the structure here of Mark 11, Jesus is saying, you have a bigger problem than your prayers not being heard. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:52.399 Your bigger problem is that your sins aren't forgiven. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:55.279 But in the meantime, stop your praying. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:58.240 God's not listening to you. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:02.720 Because you have things against. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:07.200 That's the way that Mark says it, Jesus says it in Mark's gospel, you have things against other people. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:09.039 It's very broad, too. 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:17.440 It doesn't say if you have things against somebody in your family, or you have things against somebody in your small group, or you have things against somebody in your ABF, or you have things against somebody in your church. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:18.080 No, no. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:24.320 If you have something against somebody in the world, anything against anyone, those are very broad terms. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:39.919 If you have something against people, you got your hands folded, your head bowed, your eye closed, and you have something against somebody, unfold your hands, lift up your head, open your eyes, and sort through in your own heart who you're bitter against and ask for forgiveness for your bitterness. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:42.480 Jesus doesn't say, go, you know, go find them. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:43.919 Go sort them out. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:46.399 And oftentimes that wouldn't even be helpful, right? 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:53.600 If I went and found somebody I was bitter at from something they did to me a few years ago, and I would say, Hey, you know, I've been angry at you for three years. 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:57.120 You might, you likely might not even remember what I'm talking about. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:02.559 And then it becomes an argument about if that really did happen, you know, because my memory's bad and it's just a strange conversation. 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:05.600 Just in your own heart, forgive the person. 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:08.559 And then go back to praying. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:14.639 Now, why is it that if you are holding things against somebody, God's not going to hear your prayers? 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:15.600 This is just a rule. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:21.200 God says, Oh, I'm not going to listen to that person's prayers because they're holding things against someone, so nope, banned. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:24.159 I think it's actually more straightforward than that. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:33.440 I think it's if you're praying for something, but you're holding on to grudges, you're placing yourself in the center of your world. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:36.240 You have your world revolving around you. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:48.639 So your prayers might start, my Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, but then the next verse of your prayer is basically, my kingdom come, my will be done. 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:52.639 God's not going to answer that kind of prayer. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:15:00.080 If you're at the center of your world, your prayers are being filtered, your prayers are being siphoned through your own myopic worldview. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:11.600 You have you in the center of your worldview, you have you in the center, and so you're praying for things that are about you, with you in the middle, other people have wronged you, you're praying, even the other people would be aware of how they've mistreated you. 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:14.720 I mean, who's God in that sentence? 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:21.039 Lord, I really pray you would open up those people's minds for not treating me as my hallowed name deserves. 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:25.200 You're praying to yourself, about yourself, for yourself, with yourself. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.759 Any other prepositions you want, yourself. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:31.360 That's not gonna answer those prayers. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:40.799 So why don't you stop your praying, start your forgiving in your heart, and now go back to praying when you put God back in the center of the world? 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:46.080 God's not gonna answer the kind of prayers that are about you and for you. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:48.639 Here's a great biblical example of this. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:50.879 Joseph in the Old Testament. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:53.759 His brothers were gonna throw him in a pit, which is bad. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:55.519 They were gonna murder him, which is also bad. 00:15:55.679 --> 00:15:59.200 They settled on selling him into slavery, which is bad also. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:04.480 He goes into slavery, and they wanted him dead, they betrayed him. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:10.000 Now Joseph goes on throughout his life trusting in the Lord, which is remarkable. 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:20.480 There's so many trials and tribulations in Joseph's life, too long to catalog all of them, but at the end of his life, he can zoom out a little bit and realize you know what, the Lord actually used all this for good. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:26.639 He could forgive his brothers because the Lord, Joseph understood the Lord used his being sold into slavery for good. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:31.039 Now, I don't think Joseph even understood the whole arc of the Genesis narrative or anything. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:33.600 Why did God allow Joseph to be sold into slavery? 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:36.320 Why did God mean it, intend it, direct it? 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:37.679 What was God doing? 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:40.639 God was getting his people into Egypt. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:48.240 So in the book of Exodus, they would be slaves in Egypt and be led out of Egypt through the Red Sea crossing, out into the wilderness for 40 years, eating manna. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:55.120 This was all a setup for the gospel story about the Israelites being slaves and led to freedom so God could be known as the Redeemer. 00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:59.200 They needed first to be enslaved in Egypt before they could be delivered into Israel. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:01.679 Joseph does not understand that. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:08.720 Joseph only understands that God is enslaving me for good. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:14.000 Somehow, I don't know what, these brothers of mine meant it for evil. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:20.240 God means it for good, and because God is at the center of my worlds, not me, I can forgive those who sinned against me. 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:27.440 If Joseph is holding on, if Joseph had a hymn in the center of the world, he wouldn't be forgiving his brothers because it'd be all about a hymn and his story. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:34.960 Instead, he forgives his brothers because he knew that God was at work. 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:39.599 So here's a question for you: Are you seeking your good or God's good? 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:42.400 Are you seeking your vindication or God's vindication? 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:43.920 And they are not the same thing. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:44.880 Stop it. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:50.160 Are you wanting to be justified and made right? 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:53.359 Or do you want God to be glorified? 00:17:54.720 --> 00:18:06.960 And if you hold on to you wanting to be justified and glorified, you wanting to be vindicated, then your prayers are about you and for you, and God does not answer those kind of prayers. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.119 1 Timothy 2, verse 8. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:19.920 I desire that in every place men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger and without quarreling. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:25.519 Paul says, I want people to pray without quarreling. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:26.960 Paul doesn't even take sides in the quarrel. 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:29.119 This is a kind of a generic command. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:32.720 You're in a fight, one of you right, one of you wrong. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:34.799 Possibly both of you are wrong. 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:37.759 Don't even need to sort it out. 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:39.279 You want to pray? 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:40.960 Stop your quarreling. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:43.839 And both of you seek God's kingdom together. 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:47.680 So, first of all, the unforgiving heart has unanswered prayer. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:50.400 Secondly, the unforgiving heart has unknown love. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:52.640 The unforgiving heart has unknown love. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:58.000 The unforgiving part is not experienced the love of God that comes through forgiveness. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:00.480 God loves his enemies. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:02.640 Jesus made that clear in Matthew chapter 5. 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:04.720 God loves his enemies. 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:06.400 What about you? 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:14.160 Very difficult to say you love your enemies when you won't overlook their offenses because love covers transgressions. 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:14.960 You know that. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:17.039 Love covers transgressions. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:25.200 Parents think their kids are the most adorable little kids because they love their kids, and love covers all their kids' offenses. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:28.799 Kids lighting the other kids' Barbie doll on fire, you're like, you know what? 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:30.240 I love that kid. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:32.720 He's just so cute when he's an arsonist. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:34.000 So adorable. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:37.759 Love covers offenses. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:43.759 When you love someone, you don't keep a record of their wrongs. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:47.279 When you love someone, love covers their offenses. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:54.480 In a sense, when Jesus says here, forgive others, this is an overflow of what he said in Matthew chapter 5. 00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:56.160 You're supposed to love your enemies. 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:00.240 I mentioned that the second greatest command to love your neighbor as yourself. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:05.599 It is the most often quoted Old Testament text of the New Testament over a dozen times. 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:10.960 And that's because, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, love keeps no record of wrongs. 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:26.160 I cannot tell you how many times I have been in a counseling situation or heard of counseling situations or marriage counseling or family counseling, where a person will have an actual notebook of the sins their wife or their husband has committed against them. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:29.119 Like they have them recorded in a notebook. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:32.400 I I saw one guy who had it recorded in a Molski notebook. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:33.119 Those are expensive. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:34.559 He invested in this. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:47.920 So he could tell you I can if I if I forgive her for what she did, then she'll have gonna she's gonna have to apologize for what she did on January 12th, 1984. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:50.960 There's a record of wrongs. 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:54.880 Love keeps no record of wrongs. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:57.680 Love doesn't have the ledger in the mind. 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:03.599 By the way, love, this is the opposite of indifference. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:07.920 You might say, okay, loving my enemies, that's too much. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:10.240 Can I at least ignore my enemies? 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:11.839 My neighbor is my enemy. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:14.720 Okay, I'm just not gonna make eye contact, walk in this other road. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:16.880 I'm gonna ignore it, live my life independently of him. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:20.960 That's I'm gonna express my love to my neighbor slash my enemy, because they're often the same person. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:24.640 I'm gonna express my love to that person by ignoring that person. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:26.559 But ignoring them is not on the table. 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:29.759 This is in indifference, it is not one of the options. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:32.400 You're not allowed to just say, I won't hate them. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:34.480 I won't wish them blessings either, though. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:37.200 Thank you very much, because that's not being like God. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:44.880 God forgives, and forgiveness is the word that means cancel, it's the word that means to literally to hurl away from you, to throw far away from you. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:46.480 That's how God forgives your sins. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:51.119 When God forgives your sins, he doesn't write them down and put them in a file to be accessed later. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:57.599 When he forgives your sins, he writes them on a record, he nails them to the cross of Jesus where they are paid in full. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.359 They're not then filed away. 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:03.680 The American uh idiom for this might be you tear up the bill. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:06.480 It's not just that the bill was paid and stamped paid in full. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:09.839 It was that after it was stamped paid in full, it was ripped up and shredded. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:13.119 And the the paper scraps were taken into two different dumps. 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:14.559 That's what we got going on here. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:17.599 That's how you treat your people who have sinned against you. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:22.880 You rip up their bill, you shred it up, and you spread the papers around. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:25.759 You're not going to be able to tape that thing back together. 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:27.440 That's how God forgives. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:29.759 He hurls the offense away. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:37.039 And when you want to forgive like God forgives, not only do you hurl it away and forgive it, but you also then want what is best for the other person. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:38.400 That's how God loves you. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:42.559 God loves his enemies by giving them what is best for them, namely himself. 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:45.599 When God gives somebody what's best for them, it's himself, right? 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:47.759 God gives himself in Christ. 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:53.519 So God doesn't merely cancel their sin, he then gives the best thing possible to them. 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:55.839 That's how you are supposed to forgive your enemies. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:59.519 You cancel their sin, and then you seek their actual good. 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:02.799 You pray for their good, you pray for their blessing. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:05.200 Another example of this. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:07.279 Well, the same example, Joseph. 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:13.680 So he's now out of slavery, prime minister, he recognizes God was doing something through this trial. 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:21.119 Again, I don't think Joseph even understood all that God was doing when he said this, but he was able to say, God meant it for, you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:22.720 Do you know what comes next in that passage? 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:24.400 We always stop our memory verse right there. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:25.759 You know what comes next? 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:30.720 Joseph prays for the children of the people who sold them into slavery. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:34.240 He wants their children to be blessed. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:36.319 That is forgiveness. 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:37.200 That is love. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:46.799 Not just saying, I forgive you, but saying, I forgive you because God was working this for good, so much so that I even want you and your children to be blessed. 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:49.519 That's Genesis 50, verse 21, by the way. 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:53.759 You're actually seeking the good for those people who have sinned against you. 00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:57.279 Exodus 23, just a humorous little command. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:00.240 So antiquated and outdated for our culture. 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:01.759 That's why it's a funny little verse. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:03.200 Exodus 23, verse 4. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:08.720 If you meet your enemy's ox wandering away, bring it back to him. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:11.519 You're wandering on the road and there goes your enemy's donkey. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:13.680 You're like, oh, that's my enemy's donkey. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:16.079 You're not commanded to ignore it. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:18.880 You can't slaughter it and eat it, not allowed. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:20.799 You can't just ignore it. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:26.640 No, you have to actually go to your enemy's donkey and bring it back to him and smile when you do it. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:28.400 Your enemy's dog runs away. 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:30.000 No, don't run over it. 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:32.559 Don't ignore it. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:38.160 Go ahead and catch it and give it back to your enemy, not even hoping for a reward. 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:50.720 Then the next passage, Exodus 23, verse 5, if your enemy's oxen falls over because of its load and you come across it and your enemy is trying to help up his oxen back up, you have to help him, it says. 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:53.359 Go help your enemy right as oxen. 00:24:53.599 --> 00:25:05.599 You're driving along the road, and your enemy, the person who's lied about you, slandered you, filed false accusations against you with the HOA, with your boss. 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:09.039 That guy, that one, called your work to get you in trouble. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:09.680 That guy. 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:14.720 You see him with a flat tire on the side of the road, you gotta stop and help him, Exodus 23 says. 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:18.480 Help him change the tire and tighten those lug nuts all the way. 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:25.839 2 Kings 6, Elisha is ambushed by his enemies. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:29.279 His enemies camp outside of his house and ambush him. 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:32.640 You can't ambush a prophet, though. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:36.079 God blinds his enemies, turns them over to Elisha. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:42.160 Elisha leads them to Samaria, the capital city, where the king comes out and says, Great, our enemies are all here and they're blind. 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:43.599 Let's slaughter them. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.960 And Elisha says, It's not right to slaughter them. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:48.240 Feed them. 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:51.279 Let's get them bread and water. 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:55.359 And then the next verse says, Then they enjoyed a huge feast. 00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:58.079 They got all their enemies locked in one place. 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:01.200 They don't just give them bread and water, they give them a feast. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:05.440 They made Thanksgiving dinner for them and sent them on their way. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:09.039 That's what forgiving your enemies looks like. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:10.640 That's what it looks like. 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:13.759 You love them, you care for them. 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:17.519 You want what is best for them. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:29.920 There was a high school soccer player I coached in New Mexico who, in high school, he had a revenge list that he kept with him at all times. 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:35.759 These are players that had uh humiliated him back when he was in middle school or a freshman. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:37.359 They had wronged him in various ways. 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:39.200 Maybe they megged him on the soccer field. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:42.000 One kid was on the list because he scored a goal with his hand. 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:45.920 He handled the ball into the goal, and that was a winning goal in a game and got away with it. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:52.640 So on the revenge list, he had an actual revenge list, like eight or nine names on it, and he always had it in his bag that he brought to every game. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:56.799 And over the course of his high school career, it was his goal, because these kids are all on different teams. 00:26:56.880 --> 00:27:03.759 It was his goal to beat every one of those teams and to get back at that guy, to avenge that guy in some way to get away with something on him. 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:06.400 And when he did it, he would cross the name off the list. 00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:11.519 By the time he graduated, he had crossed every name off the list except one. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:21.839 This guy went to go play for the University of Maryland and he kept his list with him in his bag at all of his University of Maryland games, checking the roster to see if that nemesis ever appeared. 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:25.920 And one day, his junior year, the nemesis appeared. 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:32.799 Only, plot twist, the nemesis had transferred schools to the University of Maryland. 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:35.279 They were now teammates. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:39.200 The one name left on his list was his teammate. 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:41.759 What are you supposed to do? 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:48.240 If you wish harm on that guy, you're wishing harm on your own team. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:53.279 If you want him to lose a game to learn a lesson, it's your team that loses. 00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:55.359 You see the conundrum? 00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:58.400 What's a person supposed to do? 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:01.920 Oh man, it's impossible. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:03.359 There's no solution. 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:04.960 Or you could forgive the guy. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:06.160 That would be the solution. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:07.599 You forgive. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:14.000 Do you recognize that if you're rooting for his failure, you're rooting against your own team? 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:20.640 That's what Christians are like that keep grudges against people in their own church. 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:23.759 The person transferred in. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:24.720 They're here. 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:27.200 You're gonna spend eternity with that person. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:29.359 You got a revenge list going on? 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:34.799 You're gonna wake up in heaven and that person's gonna be there. 00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:37.839 How are you supposed to wish for their harm then? 00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:40.799 And so what if there's a late transfer to the team of Jesus? 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:42.480 He'll get there eventually. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:46.319 That's so silly. 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:50.000 You love your enemies by forgiving them. 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:51.680 By forgiving them. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:29:00.079 Thirdly, the person who's unforgiving has unanswered prayer, unknown love, and thirdly, they have an unexperienced joy. 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:12.640 The person who's holding on to list in their mind of people that have wronged them, holding on to grievances, that person has a heart that is shut up in bitterness. 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:16.640 Bitterness is a poison. 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:18.400