Saturday, September 02, 2006
‘And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.’ Matt 6: 12.
There are several biblical terms for sin: : Trespasses, transgressions. Lawlessness, debts
Why does the Lord Jesus call sin a debt?
Because it resembles it a debt. (1) A debt arises upon non- payment of money, or the not paying that which is one’s due. We owe to God exact obedience, and not paying what is due, we are in debt.
(2) In case of non-payment, the debtor goes to prison; so, by our sin, we become guilty, and are exposed to God’s curse of damnation. Though he grants a sinner a reprieve for a time, yet he remains bound to eternal death if the debt be not forgiven. (Thomas Watson)
Sin is the worst debt
(1) Because we have nothing to pay.
(2) Sin is the worst debt, because it is against an infinite majesty.
(3) Sin is the worst debt because it is multiplied debt. Forgive us ‘our debts;’
(4) There is no shifting off the debt.
Forgiveness Is Commenced At Conversion
(1) To forgive sin, is to take away iniquity, as the greek word Aphiemi implies. ‘Why dost thou not take away mine iniquity?’ Job 7: 21. Hebrew, lift off. It is a metaphor taken from a man that carries a heavy burden which is ready to sink him, and another comes, and lifts it off, so when the heavy burden of sin is on us, God in pardoning, lifts it off from the conscience, and lays it upon Christ. ‘He has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ Isa 53: 6.
(2) To forgive sin, is to cover it. ‘Thou hast covered all their sin.’ Psa 85: 2. This was typified by the mercy-seat covering the ark, to show God’s covering of sin through Christ. God will not impute it.
(3) To forgive sin, is to blot it out. ‘I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions.’ Isa 43: 25. The Hebrew word, to blot out, alludes to a creditor who, when his debtor has paid him, blots out the debt, and gives him an acquittance; so when God forgives sin, he blots out the debt, he draws the red lines of Christ’s blood over it, and so crosses the debt-book.
(4) To forgive sin is for God to scatter our sins as a cloud. ‘I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions.’ Isa 44: 22. Sin is the cloud, an interposing cloud, which disperses, that the light of his countenance may break forth.
(5) To forgive sin, is for God to cast our sins into the depths of the sea, which implies burying them out of sight, that they shall not rise up in judgement against us. ‘Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.’ Micah 7: 19. God will throw them in, not as cork that rises again, but as lead that sinks to the bottom.
(6)Forgiveness of sin is purely an act of God’s free grace. ‘I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake.’ Isa 43: 25. He forgives as when a creditor freely forgives a debtor. ‘I obtained mercy.’ 1 Tim 1: 16.
(7) Forgiveness is through the blood of Christ. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace Eph 1: 7.
‘Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.’ Heb 8: 12.
How do I get forgiveness? There are some things you don't do.
1. You don't beg. You don't say, "God, please forgive me. Please, please, pretty please... forgive me!" You don't have to beg. It's instant forgiveness.
2. You don't have to bargain with God. "God, if You'll forgive me this time I will never do it again." Confession is saying, “ God, I admit it was wrong, I’m sorry forgive me”.
3. You don't bribe. "God, if You'll forgive me, I'll read my Bible every day. ... I'll tithe 20%. ... I'll work in the Jr. Hi department in Sunday School."
4. You just believe. Believe that what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross for you, God accepts, that your sins have been paid for. You believe that God's forgiveness is instant, complete, repeated, and it's free. You accept it.
Forgiveness Is Continued Each Day.
Your Current Consciousness Of Failure
1John 1:7 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” and • walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You are right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for you at the cross. This is a once for all time event that occurred the moment you were “justified by faith”. Nothing can change that. You became a child of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As a child of God, you can never lose your family relationship to God who is your Father.
However, just like any child born into a family, you may lose your fellowship with the Father.
I was born a Grose. No matter what I will always be a Grose. My Father will always be Peter Grose. Nothing can change that. But my fellowship with Peter Grose, my human father may change. Sometimes it may be very good. Sometimes it may be very bad. Your fellowship with your human father may be good or bad. Some of you, I am aware, are not a speaking terms with your human father. On fathers day, today, if this is your fault, SHAME on you!
You should do all in your power to be in fellowship with your human father.
If you have trusted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, you have become a child of God. John 1:10He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. 12 But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood ,or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man ,but of God.
Nothing can change that. But your fellowship with the Father may not be good. You may have some sins that are clouding up your fellowship with God, perhaps its bitterness, unforgiveness, resentments, hatred, self will , lusts, selfish living? All these sins are transgressions, trespasses, and you need to sort out your fellowship with your Heavenly Father. Get into a right fellowship with Him. That’s what you need forgiveness for. The taking away of that sin problem that is causing you to be out of fellowship with God. The Lord may seem very distant iin your life this morning. Three may have been very little “joy of the Lord” filling your soul. There may be a sense of guilt that clouds it all up. There are things you have done, or left undone that are a problem. As the Prayer Book's General Confession says:
Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, who confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.
Your Cries For Forgiveness
Continual sonship, but Distant fellowship: The prodigal son.
Short accounts
Your Condition For Fellowship is Offering Forgiveness
Why should I forgive?
A captive was once brought before King James II of England. The King chided the prisoner: "You know that it is in my power to pardon you?" The scared, shaking prisoner replied, "Yes, I know it is in your power to pardon me, but it is not in your nature." The prisoner had keen insight to know that unless a person had a spiritual rebirth, we have no nature to forgive. If you are born again, it is now in your nature to forgive. If you have truly been forgiven by the Lord, then you will become forgiving in your nature.
Let me give you three reasons why you should forgive others that have hurt you.
1. Because God has forgiven me.
1. God forgives instantly.
Nehemiah 9:17 (Living Bible) "You are a God of forgiveness always ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, full of love." God is merciful and quick to forgive." Isaiah 55:7.
2. God forgives completely. He utterly wipes everything out. Completely.
Colossians 2:13-14 (Phillips translation) "He has forgiven all your sins; He has utterly wiped out the evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross."
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross he died for every sin that you have ever committed or ever will commit. There is forgiveness for past sins, present sins and forgiveness for future sins.
1 John 2:1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely. 2 He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
Jeremiah 31:34 (Living Bible) "I, the Lord, will forgive and forget their sins."
3. God forgives repeatedly. Good news for those of us who are not perfect.
1 John 1:9 says (Good News translation) "If we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right; he will forgive our sins and make us clean from all wrongdoing."
Hebrews 7:25 (Phillips translation) "Christ is always interceding on our behalf."
4. God forgives freely Romans 3:23-24 (Living Bible) "All of us have sinned... Is anybody not included in "all"? It's everybody. We're all in the same boat. ... Yet now God declares us `not guilty' of offending him IF we trust in Jesus Christ, who freely takes away our sins." Ephesians 2:8-9 (Good News) "For it is by God's grace that you have been saved, through faith. It is not your own doing but God's gift. There is nothing to boast of, since it is not the result of your own effort."
That old law about "an eye for an eye" leaves everybody blind. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude."
If you are born again, a child of God, it has become your nature to be forgiving.
2. Resentment doesn't work.
Job 5:2 "To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do
Job 18:4 "You are only hurting yourself with your anger." it's not what you eat, it's what eating you.
"The Sunflower" by Simon Wiesenthal.
SS soldier Karl asks for forgiveness. 30 troops had been killed by booby traps in Dnyepropetrovsk, Ukraine, and so 300 Jews where herded into a three-story building and set ablaze.
"I am left here with my guilt," Karl concluded at last." In the last hours of my life you are with me. I do not know who you are, I know only that you are a Jew and that is enough. I know that what I have told you is terrible. In the long nights while I have been waiting for death, time and time again I have longed to talk about it to a Jew and beg forgiveness from him. Only I didn't know whether there were any Jews left.... I know what I am asking is almost too much for you, but without your answer I cannot die in peace." Simon Wiesenthal, an architect in his early twenties, now a prisoner dressed in a shabby uniform marked with the yellow Star of David, felt the entire weight of his race bearing down on him. He stared out the window at the sunlit courtyard. He looked at the eyeless heap of bandages lying in the bed." At last I made up my mind," he writes, "and without a word I left the room."
3. I'll need forgiveness in the future.
Mark 11:25 "When you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too."
Graham Staines, martyred recently in India, and his wife Gladys answered the call. Today, the godly example of Gladys Staines, who has openly forgiven the murderers of her husband and two young sons, is piercing the hearts of millions in India. Her forgiveness of such brutality is being seen as "true spirituality" which is inherently attractive to the Hindu mind.
This "true spirituality" is what our relativistic post-modern world is crying out for. The world is looking for truth that is lived out with conviction, passion and changed lives. Each of us must decide whether we are ready to present this kind of "true spirituality" to a waiting world regardless of the price we must pay. After the murder of her husband and two sons, Gladys Staines said, "The thought of getting up and leaving has just not occurred to me once. I just feel that this is where God has called me." Even after all that she has suffered and the terrible price she has had to pay in serving Christ, she is not willing to turn from God's calling on her life. Her terrible suffering has not diminished any of the "apostolic passion" that first led her and her husband to India. May we also similarly resolve not to turn from God's calling on our lives and to commit ourselves anew to reaching the unreached peoples regardless of the cost. God's glory and worship among the nations are worth it.
HOW DO I FORGIVE?
1. NEVER RETALIATE. Proverbs 20:22 (Good News) "Don't take it on yourself to repay a wrong. Trust the Lord and he will make it right."
2. YOU DEAL WITH IT IMMEDIATELY Ephesians 4:26 (Living Bible) "Don't sin by nursing your grudge. Don't let the sun go down with you still angry. Get over it quickly." Don't nurse your grudge. "Don't sin by nursing your grudge." When you are hurt, you have four options - four things you can do with a hurt. You can nurse it, curse it,
rehearse it or you can disperse it.
3. FORGIVE THEM WHETHER THEY ASK OR NOT Ephesians 4:32 (Jerusalem Bible) "Forgive each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ."
There was a 18-year-old boy in Sydney who witnessed the murder of his mother and brother. His own neck was cut and he was left to die in his backyard at Ashfield. His life seemed ruined. He was apathetic and withdrawn, and did poorly in his work. Hooked on drugs, given a last chance by the courts, picked up at Wiseman’s Ferry on side of the road by MA Butler of Word or Life. He led him to Christ. Later, as a friend, I discussed with him how he felt about the murderer. He forgave the murderer and visited prisons in chaplaincy!
The martyr Stephen and Jesus, both filled with the Spirit, died unjustly with a word of acquittal on their lips. Stephen, on his knees among the flying stones, makes a last appeal to the heavenly court - not for his own life, but for mercy toward his executioners. Before he was finally put to silence and death, he was heart to cry aloud, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."
4. DO GOOD TO THEM. Luke 6:27, 28, 35 (Good News) "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you and you'll have a great reward."
Romans 12:17-18 The New Living Translation17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible.
Who are you still holding a hurtful memory about? Who are you still bitter against? A parent? A husband/wife? A former spouse? An old boyfriend? A teacher who said something to you in school and embarrassed you? A boss? A friend who betrayed you? Let it go! For your own sake, let it go! Do the right thing whether you feel like it or not. Don't retaliate, deal with it immediately, forgive them whether they ask or not and do good to them. They are not going to run my life any more. Not by memory and not in person. You need to let it go.
You say, "I just can't! I can't forgive." That's why you need Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Even forgive that person who doesn't deserve it. You need Christ in your life. He's the answer.
James Boice was once talking to a Christian psychiatrist about the problem of forgiveness and the need people have for it. The psychiatrist said, "As far as I am concerned, most of what a psychiatrist does is directly related to forgiveness. People come to him with problems. They feel guilty about their part in these problems. They are seeking forgiveness. In effect, they confess their sins to the counselor and find that he forgives them. Then a pattern is set up in which they can show their change of heart in tangible ways toward the other person or persons." We have a great need to be forgiven by people. This is actually only a shadow of the far greater need we have to be forgiven by God.
The head of a large English mental hospital once said, "I could dismiss half my patients tomorrow if they could be assured of forgiveness."Do you have forgiveness of your sins? Is there someone you need to forgive? Do it now!
Why does the Lord Jesus call sin a debt?
Because it resembles it a debt. (1) A debt arises upon non- payment of money, or the not paying that which is one’s due. We owe to God exact obedience, and not paying what is due, we are in debt.
(2) In case of non-payment, the debtor goes to prison; so, by our sin, we become guilty, and are exposed to God’s curse of damnation. Though he grants a sinner a reprieve for a time, yet he remains bound to eternal death if the debt be not forgiven. (Thomas Watson)
Sin is the worst debt
(1) Because we have nothing to pay.
(2) Sin is the worst debt, because it is against an infinite majesty.
(3) Sin is the worst debt because it is multiplied debt. Forgive us ‘our debts;’
(4) There is no shifting off the debt.
Forgiveness Is Commenced At Conversion
(1) To forgive sin, is to take away iniquity, as the greek word Aphiemi implies. ‘Why dost thou not take away mine iniquity?’ Job 7: 21. Hebrew, lift off. It is a metaphor taken from a man that carries a heavy burden which is ready to sink him, and another comes, and lifts it off, so when the heavy burden of sin is on us, God in pardoning, lifts it off from the conscience, and lays it upon Christ. ‘He has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ Isa 53: 6.
(2) To forgive sin, is to cover it. ‘Thou hast covered all their sin.’ Psa 85: 2. This was typified by the mercy-seat covering the ark, to show God’s covering of sin through Christ. God will not impute it.
(3) To forgive sin, is to blot it out. ‘I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions.’ Isa 43: 25. The Hebrew word, to blot out, alludes to a creditor who, when his debtor has paid him, blots out the debt, and gives him an acquittance; so when God forgives sin, he blots out the debt, he draws the red lines of Christ’s blood over it, and so crosses the debt-book.
(4) To forgive sin is for God to scatter our sins as a cloud. ‘I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions.’ Isa 44: 22. Sin is the cloud, an interposing cloud, which disperses, that the light of his countenance may break forth.
(5) To forgive sin, is for God to cast our sins into the depths of the sea, which implies burying them out of sight, that they shall not rise up in judgement against us. ‘Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.’ Micah 7: 19. God will throw them in, not as cork that rises again, but as lead that sinks to the bottom.
(6)Forgiveness of sin is purely an act of God’s free grace. ‘I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake.’ Isa 43: 25. He forgives as when a creditor freely forgives a debtor. ‘I obtained mercy.’ 1 Tim 1: 16.
(7) Forgiveness is through the blood of Christ. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace Eph 1: 7.
‘Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.’ Heb 8: 12.
How do I get forgiveness? There are some things you don't do.
1. You don't beg. You don't say, "God, please forgive me. Please, please, pretty please... forgive me!" You don't have to beg. It's instant forgiveness.
2. You don't have to bargain with God. "God, if You'll forgive me this time I will never do it again." Confession is saying, “ God, I admit it was wrong, I’m sorry forgive me”.
3. You don't bribe. "God, if You'll forgive me, I'll read my Bible every day. ... I'll tithe 20%. ... I'll work in the Jr. Hi department in Sunday School."
4. You just believe. Believe that what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross for you, God accepts, that your sins have been paid for. You believe that God's forgiveness is instant, complete, repeated, and it's free. You accept it.
Forgiveness Is Continued Each Day.
Your Current Consciousness Of Failure
1John 1:7 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” and • walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You are right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for you at the cross. This is a once for all time event that occurred the moment you were “justified by faith”. Nothing can change that. You became a child of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As a child of God, you can never lose your family relationship to God who is your Father.
However, just like any child born into a family, you may lose your fellowship with the Father.
I was born a Grose. No matter what I will always be a Grose. My Father will always be Peter Grose. Nothing can change that. But my fellowship with Peter Grose, my human father may change. Sometimes it may be very good. Sometimes it may be very bad. Your fellowship with your human father may be good or bad. Some of you, I am aware, are not a speaking terms with your human father. On fathers day, today, if this is your fault, SHAME on you!
You should do all in your power to be in fellowship with your human father.
If you have trusted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, you have become a child of God. John 1:10He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. 12 But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood ,or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man ,but of God.
Nothing can change that. But your fellowship with the Father may not be good. You may have some sins that are clouding up your fellowship with God, perhaps its bitterness, unforgiveness, resentments, hatred, self will , lusts, selfish living? All these sins are transgressions, trespasses, and you need to sort out your fellowship with your Heavenly Father. Get into a right fellowship with Him. That’s what you need forgiveness for. The taking away of that sin problem that is causing you to be out of fellowship with God. The Lord may seem very distant iin your life this morning. Three may have been very little “joy of the Lord” filling your soul. There may be a sense of guilt that clouds it all up. There are things you have done, or left undone that are a problem. As the Prayer Book's General Confession says:
Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, who confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.
Your Cries For Forgiveness
Continual sonship, but Distant fellowship: The prodigal son.
Short accounts
Your Condition For Fellowship is Offering Forgiveness
Why should I forgive?
A captive was once brought before King James II of England. The King chided the prisoner: "You know that it is in my power to pardon you?" The scared, shaking prisoner replied, "Yes, I know it is in your power to pardon me, but it is not in your nature." The prisoner had keen insight to know that unless a person had a spiritual rebirth, we have no nature to forgive. If you are born again, it is now in your nature to forgive. If you have truly been forgiven by the Lord, then you will become forgiving in your nature.
Let me give you three reasons why you should forgive others that have hurt you.
1. Because God has forgiven me.
1. God forgives instantly.
Nehemiah 9:17 (Living Bible) "You are a God of forgiveness always ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, full of love." God is merciful and quick to forgive." Isaiah 55:7.
2. God forgives completely. He utterly wipes everything out. Completely.
Colossians 2:13-14 (Phillips translation) "He has forgiven all your sins; He has utterly wiped out the evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross."
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross he died for every sin that you have ever committed or ever will commit. There is forgiveness for past sins, present sins and forgiveness for future sins.
1 John 2:1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely. 2 He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
Jeremiah 31:34 (Living Bible) "I, the Lord, will forgive and forget their sins."
3. God forgives repeatedly. Good news for those of us who are not perfect.
1 John 1:9 says (Good News translation) "If we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right; he will forgive our sins and make us clean from all wrongdoing."
Hebrews 7:25 (Phillips translation) "Christ is always interceding on our behalf."
4. God forgives freely Romans 3:23-24 (Living Bible) "All of us have sinned... Is anybody not included in "all"? It's everybody. We're all in the same boat. ... Yet now God declares us `not guilty' of offending him IF we trust in Jesus Christ, who freely takes away our sins." Ephesians 2:8-9 (Good News) "For it is by God's grace that you have been saved, through faith. It is not your own doing but God's gift. There is nothing to boast of, since it is not the result of your own effort."
That old law about "an eye for an eye" leaves everybody blind. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude."
If you are born again, a child of God, it has become your nature to be forgiving.
2. Resentment doesn't work.
Job 5:2 "To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do
Job 18:4 "You are only hurting yourself with your anger." it's not what you eat, it's what eating you.
"The Sunflower" by Simon Wiesenthal.
SS soldier Karl asks for forgiveness. 30 troops had been killed by booby traps in Dnyepropetrovsk, Ukraine, and so 300 Jews where herded into a three-story building and set ablaze.
"I am left here with my guilt," Karl concluded at last." In the last hours of my life you are with me. I do not know who you are, I know only that you are a Jew and that is enough. I know that what I have told you is terrible. In the long nights while I have been waiting for death, time and time again I have longed to talk about it to a Jew and beg forgiveness from him. Only I didn't know whether there were any Jews left.... I know what I am asking is almost too much for you, but without your answer I cannot die in peace." Simon Wiesenthal, an architect in his early twenties, now a prisoner dressed in a shabby uniform marked with the yellow Star of David, felt the entire weight of his race bearing down on him. He stared out the window at the sunlit courtyard. He looked at the eyeless heap of bandages lying in the bed." At last I made up my mind," he writes, "and without a word I left the room."
3. I'll need forgiveness in the future.
Mark 11:25 "When you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too."
Graham Staines, martyred recently in India, and his wife Gladys answered the call. Today, the godly example of Gladys Staines, who has openly forgiven the murderers of her husband and two young sons, is piercing the hearts of millions in India. Her forgiveness of such brutality is being seen as "true spirituality" which is inherently attractive to the Hindu mind.
This "true spirituality" is what our relativistic post-modern world is crying out for. The world is looking for truth that is lived out with conviction, passion and changed lives. Each of us must decide whether we are ready to present this kind of "true spirituality" to a waiting world regardless of the price we must pay. After the murder of her husband and two sons, Gladys Staines said, "The thought of getting up and leaving has just not occurred to me once. I just feel that this is where God has called me." Even after all that she has suffered and the terrible price she has had to pay in serving Christ, she is not willing to turn from God's calling on her life. Her terrible suffering has not diminished any of the "apostolic passion" that first led her and her husband to India. May we also similarly resolve not to turn from God's calling on our lives and to commit ourselves anew to reaching the unreached peoples regardless of the cost. God's glory and worship among the nations are worth it.
HOW DO I FORGIVE?
1. NEVER RETALIATE. Proverbs 20:22 (Good News) "Don't take it on yourself to repay a wrong. Trust the Lord and he will make it right."
2. YOU DEAL WITH IT IMMEDIATELY Ephesians 4:26 (Living Bible) "Don't sin by nursing your grudge. Don't let the sun go down with you still angry. Get over it quickly." Don't nurse your grudge. "Don't sin by nursing your grudge." When you are hurt, you have four options - four things you can do with a hurt. You can nurse it, curse it,
rehearse it or you can disperse it.
3. FORGIVE THEM WHETHER THEY ASK OR NOT Ephesians 4:32 (Jerusalem Bible) "Forgive each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ."
There was a 18-year-old boy in Sydney who witnessed the murder of his mother and brother. His own neck was cut and he was left to die in his backyard at Ashfield. His life seemed ruined. He was apathetic and withdrawn, and did poorly in his work. Hooked on drugs, given a last chance by the courts, picked up at Wiseman’s Ferry on side of the road by MA Butler of Word or Life. He led him to Christ. Later, as a friend, I discussed with him how he felt about the murderer. He forgave the murderer and visited prisons in chaplaincy!
The martyr Stephen and Jesus, both filled with the Spirit, died unjustly with a word of acquittal on their lips. Stephen, on his knees among the flying stones, makes a last appeal to the heavenly court - not for his own life, but for mercy toward his executioners. Before he was finally put to silence and death, he was heart to cry aloud, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."
4. DO GOOD TO THEM. Luke 6:27, 28, 35 (Good News) "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you and you'll have a great reward."
Romans 12:17-18 The New Living Translation17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible.
Who are you still holding a hurtful memory about? Who are you still bitter against? A parent? A husband/wife? A former spouse? An old boyfriend? A teacher who said something to you in school and embarrassed you? A boss? A friend who betrayed you? Let it go! For your own sake, let it go! Do the right thing whether you feel like it or not. Don't retaliate, deal with it immediately, forgive them whether they ask or not and do good to them. They are not going to run my life any more. Not by memory and not in person. You need to let it go.
You say, "I just can't! I can't forgive." That's why you need Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Even forgive that person who doesn't deserve it. You need Christ in your life. He's the answer.
James Boice was once talking to a Christian psychiatrist about the problem of forgiveness and the need people have for it. The psychiatrist said, "As far as I am concerned, most of what a psychiatrist does is directly related to forgiveness. People come to him with problems. They feel guilty about their part in these problems. They are seeking forgiveness. In effect, they confess their sins to the counselor and find that he forgives them. Then a pattern is set up in which they can show their change of heart in tangible ways toward the other person or persons." We have a great need to be forgiven by people. This is actually only a shadow of the far greater need we have to be forgiven by God.
The head of a large English mental hospital once said, "I could dismiss half my patients tomorrow if they could be assured of forgiveness."Do you have forgiveness of your sins? Is there someone you need to forgive? Do it now!
# posted by Groseys messages @ 8:48 PM 
