Transcription
Today's scripture, it comes from the book of Colossians, uh, chapter 3, 12-15.
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. And if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these things, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful."
This is the word of our Lord. Thank you.
"To err is human." Can I get an amen? Yeah. Or better said, "All have sinned and fall way short of the glory of God." And we all make mistakes. Some big ones, those are the bad ones. You want to limit those. And then the small ones, the ones we regret. We all have occasional missteps. Maybe you had one recently. We all fumble at times. All of us require forgiveness. Amen.
"To err is human." Oh boy, is it. Someone said you should spank your children every single day. And if you don't know why, they will. "To err is human." It was Alexander Pope who, in 1711, you were roommates, weren't you, at Oxford? He wrote in 1711. He was writing an essay and he wisely wrote down those words: "To err is human." Do you remember the rest? "To forgive is divine."
I think what he was saying is, making mistakes just comes naturally to us, right? Sinning is just natural. While a person who can forgive, I think he was saying that's unnatural. It's unnatural. It's, and it's far more divine in character to forgive. Well, our text was from Colossians, and we'll get to it in a little bit. But first, I want to divi-define what it means to forgive.
In the scripture, to forgive means to release. I want you to picture it. This is unforgiveness. This is unforgiveness. This is forgiveness. It's to release. It means to, to let it go instead of holding on. Holding on to that event that happened maybe recently or years ago. Holding on to that person who hurt you. To forgive is to release it. To release them. There's two sides to that coin.
One side of that coin has to do with our forgiveness that we've received in Christ. When you are forgiven, you are released. God releases you from all those sins that you have committed. All of them. Your past, present, even your future sins. He, upon that moment that you placed your faith in Christ, what he did on the cross for you. Remember on the cross he said, "Father, forgive them." And he has. If you're in Christ, he has. He has forgiven you. You have experienced total and complete healing of all your sins. And speaking of Jesus, what he provided for us on the cross and his resurrection, Paul says in says in Colossians 1:14, "In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness, forgiveness of sins."
Well, that same coin, we, we, we turn over that coin. The attention of scripture, after it deals with us and what we have received from Christ, our, our total forgiveness, points in our direction now. And, and the Bible says with lots of reminders because it's easy to forget this side of the coin. Ephesians 4:32 says, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another." As God, look at the qualifier. As God, in Christ, forgave you. In fact, if you see that as it's just as, just as Christ has forgiven you, you also forgive one another.
Now granted, for some of the saints, doesn't it seem odd to call us saints? St. Bruce, come on. You know, St. Nancy, St. Susan, no question about that one. For some saints, to, to forgive can be difficult. To forgive an undeserving person. And that's what they are. They're undeserving of your forgiveness. She doesn't deserve it. Mom doesn't deserve it. And you're right. You would be right. She doesn't. He doesn't. But the other side of the coin, did you, do you deserve it? Really deserve the forgiveness that you've received through Christ?
To some Christian folks, we think if we forgive him, if we forgive her, aren't we letting them win? And they shouldn't win. They should not win. They caused me so much pain, so much suffering over the years. I don't want them to win. It seems to us, doesn't it? If I forgive an abusive uncle or a nephew or someone in my life, a neighbor, if I do that, they win. They win. We think that. To forgive is to allow winning. But nothing could be further from the truth. No, they don't win. They never win. You win. You're the winner.
To forgive. I mean, emotions certainly play into it. Our emotions control a lot of what we do and think. Our willingness to forgive often is dependent upon them. To forgive a monstrous deed. How can I? The person doesn't deserve it. That's foremost. Even if they ask you to forgive them, they don't deserve it.
Forgiveness is a responsibility. It was God's responsibility. No one else could do it. That's what he said, "Father, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me." There was no other way. It was God's responsibility because if he didn't do it, it wasn't going to happen. And if you don't do it, neither will it occur. Forgiveness is a responsibility. It is a choice. A choice God made. Choice we make. You choose to do it. Not because you are asked to do it, but by your own desire to set them free because you've been set free from your sins.
To be set free means this: you open the prison door of your heart. You've kept them prisoner. Is there someone kept prisoner in your life today? To forgive is to open the prison door and release them out of your life. You win when they're out of your life, out of your heart. Because this is what Christ has done for you. All of your sins, past, present, and future, they've been forgiven. All of them. If not, your life in you would be pris-imprisoned your whole life with chronic conscious guilt, and it would accumulate. It's why unbelievers don't sleep well. They don't. And they don't know why. And it's why they mask the guilt with drinking and drugging, or maybe career, or buying stuff. Guilt. Chronic conscious guilt. You don't have it. You don't because you've been forgiven.
Forgiveness is the most significant part of your salvation. We think, well, it's going to heaven. That's a part of it. It's a small part of it. The biggest part of your salvation is forgiveness. It's number one. When our Lord forgives us, all of them, all of our sins, all of those sins are erased. The record of sin against you is expunged. It's as if you have never sinned. You are righteous before God. Here's a fact: it is not possible to have salvation without first experiencing forgiveness.
Repentance, big word. To repent means this: "God, I need to be forgiven." And you turn to the only one who can do it. Forgi-Repentance is dealing with your sin. Fortunately, Jesus said the Holy Spirit's going to be involved because he's going to make that come home to your heart. He's going to convict you of your sin, righteousness, and judgment. Repentance is an awareness of sin and turning to God, the only one who can deal with it.
You know how many people, they come into a pastor's office, they've come into my office because they have trouble. There's trouble. They want to get out of trouble, right? They have a crisis in their life and they don't like it. And they feel so guilty about the crisis. And so they come to my office and they say, "I, I want Jesus in my life." No, they don't want Jesus in their life. Because they've never repented, and they go right back to the old life. I had a gal who said, "I want to get out of my lifestyle." She was a lesbian. She was involved in this lifestyle. So she felt terribly guilty about it. She didn't, she wanted to start over, sort of. And so she comes to my office and she poured out her heart and this and that and the other, but she never repented of her sin. And within about six weeks, right back. I got a hold of her and I told her this. I said, "Just because you prayed with me in my office, don't think you came to Christ." Jesus said, "Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish." So forgiveness starts this thing off. Salvation, that salvation without forgiveness is not possible.
Unforgiveness. Say, Bible says this, unforgiveness, if I harbor it in my heart, do you know what? If you're a Christian and you're harboring unforgiveness in your heart, this is what you're doing. You're bringing sin back into your heart. You're sinning. Yes, what he did to you, what she did to you was terrible. But if I harbor sin in my life, if I harbor unforgiveness in my heart, it is as terrible. It is. It is a sin. You're sinning. It's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
1 Peter 3:12 says this, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." It is doing evil to harbor unforgiveness in your heart. The face of the Lord is against you, the Christian.
Mark 11:25 says this, "Whenever you stand praying, forgive." Isn't that interesting? You come to church, when you're, you're praying, you're worshiping, forgive. "If you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven may forgive you, forgive you of your trespasses, may forgive you."
Can I tell you one of the reasons why you should forgive someone besides for the obvious one that you have been forgiven so much in Jesus Christ? One of the reasons is this. It is recorded in Psalm 66:18. And I, I particularly like how the Amplified Bible reads. Here it is in the ESV. "If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." But the, the, uh, Amplified Bible says it this way: "If I regard sin and baseness in my heart, that is, if I know that it is there and do nothing about it, just let it sit there, the Lord will not hear me."
Listen, this is what unforgiveness does to you. It causes God to turn a deaf ear to you. In Jesus, remember he said, the, the disciples said, "Lord, teach us how to pray." And he said something about, "Forgive us our debts as we what? Forgive." When you pray, you better not have any debts. It is a sin to harbor unforgiveness, and it will impact your prayer life. See, that's a reason to forgive. Your prayer life is impacted by it. Answers to prayer don't happen because of unforgiveness in your heart.
When you stand before the Lord, he says, "And you have ought against your brother, go to that brother, go to that sister, deal with it, then come back and offer your offering to God. Deal with that." If you happen to be here and you're a victim, I feel for you. If you're a victim, but if you have deliberately made the choice to harbor unforgiveness, you are disobeying the Lord. You're turning away from his command. You are regarding iniquity in your heart. You're keeping it there. Keeping them there.
Here's what the Bible says: Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Release her. Release him into God's hands. And granted, for some of you, this may be the most difficult thing you've ever done in your whole life. But if you do not do it, this is what happens: resentment and bitterness and a desire for revenge will be in your heart, and it will consume you, and you will not get past the past if you don't let it go. With God's help, you can. You can get past the past. It will no longer hold you captive. If you will release them out of your heart, you will win. You will.
Forgiving someone will benefit you in so many ways. You know, one of the ways you, it will benefit you is this: your self-esteem. Self-esteem is how you feel about you. Lots of books written about self-esteem, how to improve your self-esteem. Here's one way. And I, I'm not, I haven't written a book. I'm not, I'm not peddling a book today. I wish I, I wish I had. I could sell some. Your self-esteem will be impacted. How you feel about you. You know what? You're gonna like you more because you like you less if you harbor unforgiveness. Instead of disliking yourself because of your willful disobedience and your feel, unwillingness to forgive, you will see in yourself a quality of self that you too will admire. You're going to like this about you. And that's a big deal.
To forgive is divine. It's divine, heavenly. And you will uproot out of your heart a root of bitterness. You know, bitter people are people who have unforgiveness in their heart. They become bitter. Bitter. You want to become nicer? Get that stuff out of your heart. Uprooted.
And maybe you're here. Maybe you're here. Maybe you're a bit bitter because you're the victimizer. And you think, I have to imprison myself. I did this so long ago, and I have to hurt myself by not forgiving myself. Are you harboring iniquity about yourself? Don't do it.
Colossians 3: "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy, beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must must forgive. And above all. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
Forgiveness is powerful. Forgiveness brings shalom, peace into your life, into your emotions. Forgiveness has a calming effect. I, I, at a point in my life, I had lost my peace. I had lost my shalom. And it was because of someone. And it wasn't until I went to the church and got on my knees and released him to God that the peace returned. I'd lost it because of unforgiveness, but it came back.
Before we pray together, I want you to hear me say something that's very important for you to hear. Forgiving someone in no way is in no way condoning what they did. What they did was terrible. Many times, evil. You were hurt by that person. You were a victim. God will deal with them. He will. The writer wrote, uh, Paul in the book of Romans said this in chapter 12: "Behold, never avenge yourselves, believe it to the wrath of God. For it is written, 'Vengeance is mine. I will repay,' says the Lord." He will.
Finally, when you forgive, hey, and they might not be alive. They might not be alive. Doesn't matter. If they're dead and there's still unforgiveness, you got to deal with it. But they're dead. No, not to you. They're still alive to you. Forgive. But if they're alive, if that person is alive, listen, forgiveness never, ever, ever requires the continuation of a relationship with them. No. The Bible says this, "Where it is possible, be at peace with all men." Where it is possible. Sometimes it's just not. You aren't required. You forgive them. You're not required to ever see them again, talk to them again, respond to them again, email them, or respond to theirs. No, you're not required to interact with that person. If you choose not to, it's your choice. And it's fine if you don't. What is required is that you release them.
So, we're going to pray together. And there might be just one person here who has harbored iniquity in your heart, maybe a boss that fired you a long time ago. And you say, "I got over it." No, you didn't. Because if something terrible happened to that person, you'd be glad. You'd say the opposite. Oh, did you hear about it? Are you praying for him? You hypocrite. Hey, if you're harboring it, let's get rid of it today. Can we do that? Come on.
All right, we're going to close our eyes. We're going to pray this way. You put that person in your hands like this. You put them in, you name them. Put them in the hands. You might have two hands. Maybe it's two people, three people, maybe whoever. Put them in your hands right now. And before God's presence, hey, I want you to do this. I want you to let them go. Can we do that? Let's pray.
Our Father, this sermon is good news for us. This is great news for us that we don't have to carry these, these hurts. And so, Holy Spirit, today, as we're in your very presence, we put her in our hand right now. We put him in our hand right now. And we hold tight for just a moment, symbolizing that we have shut them up in the prison house of our heart. And right now, in Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we release them. We open our hand. We release them to you. We release them to you. And we are so grateful that we can. Because we're mindful of the fact that that's what took place on the cross when you said, "Tetalsti," it is finished, cancellation of debt, all our sin debt. We release them. You release them. And you do it by faith in Jesus. Amen.