SERMON OUTLINE

Forgive and Be Forgiven   Matthew 6.12, 14-15

Introduction

-Those who have received God’s forgiveness must forgive their brothers and sisters from the heart.

Jesus is Not Teaching:

1) That because we forgive we are forgiven. That is earning forgiveness by works and we are forgiven by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1.7

2) That God forgives us in the same way as we forgive others. God does not imitate how we forgive rather we learn to forgive by how God forgives us. Psalm 103.12

3) An order of priority. We forgive because God forgives us. Colossians 3.12-13

Jesus is Teaching:

4) That the person who truly knows and accepts the forgiveness of God will forgive others. Professing believers who refuse to forgive those who sin against them and seek their hurt and revenge have not been broken of their pride by a conviction of their own sin before a Holy God, and have not been humbled and made grateful and gracious by the forgiveness of God. Those who have been truly forgiven are eager to love and forgive others.  A  professing   Christian  who  does  not   forgive

may not be a Christian.

Repentance is a condition for forgiveness. Those who do not forgive others express an unrepentant heart and not the conditions to be forgiven by God. Luke 7.47

5) A constant reminder that we must forgive others daily. Ephesians 4.32

Forgiving:

1) May be an ongoing struggle but one worth fighting for. Ephesians 4.26-27

2) Does not remove consequences to God and others.

Conclusion

Forgive where forgiveness is required.

SERMON NOTES

Forgive and Be Forgiven

-Last week we studied the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18. In this parable is a servant of the king with an immense debt that is impossible to pay. This servant pleads for time to pay the debt but the king knowing that the debt is impossible to pay completely forgives his debt. This forgiven servant goes out and demands payment of a small payable debt from a fellow servant who also pleads for time to pay the debt but the unforgiving servant will not even give him time to pay the debt and puts him in jail. Because of his lack of mercy to his fellow servant the king throws the unforgiving servant in jail to pay his impossible debt. Jesus sums up the teaching of the parable by saying that his Father in heaven will do the same to everyone who does not forgive his brother from the heart.

-Jesus told this parable to teach that those who have received God’s forgiveness must forgive others or God will not forgive them. Jesus directly states this teaching in his explanation of part of the Lord’s Prayer. Turn with me to Matthew 6.12, 14-15 [Read].

-Jesus makes our forgiving others a condition for God forgiving us. How does that work? What is Jesus teaching here?

-I am going to make a number of points this morning and want to acknowledge Arthur Pink’s comments on the Sermon on the Mount for some of these ideas. First three negative points.

1) Jesus is not teaching us that God forgives our sin because we forgive those who sin against us. That would be earning forgiveness from God by our works which contradicts the teaching of the NT that God forgives sin because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. God forgives our sin because we put our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and not because we forgive those who sin against us. “In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1.7)

2) Jesus is not teaching us that God forgives us as “we have forgiven our debtors”. God does not imitate our shallow and reluctant forgiveness of others. God fully and completely and abundantly forgives our sins. We would be in real trouble if God forgave us as we forgive others. “As far as the East is from the West, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103.12)

-It is God’s forgiveness to us that teaches us how to forgive others. We do not teach God how to forgive in the way we forgive others. Rather we are to forgive as God has forgiven us.

3) Jesus is not teaching an order of priority for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus is not saying that God only forgives us after we forgive others. As in the parable in Matthew 18, the king first forgave the indebted servant and then expected the servant to forgive his fellow servant. The apostle John teaches us that we love God because God first loved us. So we forgive others because God has first forgiven us. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and 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 forgive.” (Colossians 3.12-13) Those who have been forgiven by God must forgive, and those who forgive others have been forgiven of God.

4) What Jesus is teaching in this statement is that a person who truly knows and accepts God’s forgiveness will show that they know and accept God’s forgiveness by forgiving others. I interpreted the behavior of the unforgiving servant toward his fellow servant in the parable last week as his refusal to accept the mercy of the king and a refusal to be forgiven of his debt, with a proud determination to pay his own debt. This is the attitude the unforgiving servant expressed toward his fellow servant. Professing believers who refuse to forgive those who sin against them and seek their hurt and revenge have not been broken of their pride by a conviction of their own sin before a Holy God, and have not been humbled and made grateful and gracious by the forgiveness of God. Those who have come to truly know the extent of their sin before a Holy God and the fullness of God’s forgiveness are eager to forgive others and express to others the love that God has shown to them. A person who is unforgiving toward a brother may profess to be a believer but may not be a believer because he has not truly known and accepted the forgiveness of God in his own life.

–Repentance is a condition for forgiveness. In order to repent we must acknowledge our sin, be sorry for our sin, and then turn away from our sin and seek God’s forgiveness. There is no sign of the servant in the parable being sorry for his debt or grateful for the king’s forgiveness of his unpayable debt. He was proudly determined to pay back his debt and showed this condition by not forgiving the debt of his fellow servant. By not forgiving others we demonstrate an unrepentant heart and do not satisfy the condition for God’s forgiveness. “Forgiveness not shown is forgiveness not known.”

-In the NT we have the story of a woman who washed Jesus feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, kissed them and anointed them with ointment. Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven – for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7.47) This woman showed a great love for Jesus because she knew that she had been forgiven of her many sins. Simon the Pharisee in this story knew nothing of God’s forgiveness and resented this woman’s love and affection for Jesus. True repentance and forgiveness from God brings love, humility and forgiving grace in our dealings with others.

5) This teaching of Jesus that God’s forgives our sins as we forgive others their sins is a constant reminder to us that we must forgive others as God has forgiven us. That is why Jesus put the statement “forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors” into the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer that is to be the pattern for our daily prayers. As we come to God for forgiveness of daily sins we are reminded to examine our lives to see if we have forgiven our brother from the heart, if we are holding a grudge, resenting someone, preventing a blessing from reaching them, putting obstacles in their path, not fully and completely forgiving as we must. Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 4.32, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” When we ask God to forgive our sin and we sense that His forgiveness is being withheld it is cause for us to examine if we have refused to forgive a brother or sister who has offended us.

-Imagine never being able to ask for God’s forgiveness again. Imagine living without the sense of God’s love and fellowship. That is the condition we put ourselves in if we do not forgive from the heart our brothers and sisters who sin against us. God’s Spirit will not allow peace to rest in our hearts until we are reconciled to our brothers and sisters. We must forgive our brothers and sisters before we can be refreshed by the forgiveness of God.

-Forgiving a brother or sister from the heart is not easy, especially if you or your family have been deeply hurt, shamed, or deprived of material blessings by another. Nevertheless you must forgive your brothers and sisters from the heart. You may verbally extend forgiveness and yet continue to struggle in your heart with bitterness, anger, depression, a desire to hurt, but you must continue to take these feelings and desires to God and ask for His Grace and His love to replace these temptations to sin in your hearts. You may struggle with some of these resentments for the rest of your life and you can be certain that the Evil One will try to use these sins and misunderstandings of others against you as a grip to lead you toward sin. Paul writes in Ephesians 4.26-27, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” Fight your way to full forgiveness from the heart toward those who have offended you. When you do not forgive a brother from the heart you are rebelling against God and that is sin. To be forgiven by God of your sin you must repent and be reconciled to your brother.

-Another thing I want to mention this morning is that forgiving someone does not remove the consequences of their sin against government law and God’s law. You are only releasing them from their sin against you. In reading the parable in Matthew 18 and the king’s forgiveness of the man’s debt and the expectancy of his forgiving his fellow servant’s debt, we might get the idea that forgiveness removes all the consequences of the other person’s sin, but that is not the case. If a person’s sin has broken the law of the land we may forgive them for what they have done against us but they still have to suffer the consequences of their sin before the courts. We may forgive a person for their sin against us but only God can forgive their sin. God will forgive them if they are truly repentant of their sin but God may still choose to discipline that person for their sin to sanctify them. Our part is to forgive them for their violation against us and to hold no personal judgment over them and no grudges. There may still be civil judgments and God’s judgment to account for.

-Last year at the Elisha House banquet we heard from a brother who sexually abused his sister for a number of years. When they were both adults this was revealed. After much counseling the sister was able to fully forgive her brother but the brother still had to face criminal charges and pay for the crime that he committed even though both were Christians and both forgave each other.

-I want to close this morning by pleading with anyone here who knows they need to forgive their brother or sister to forgive them so that you may be forgiven by God when you ask God to forgive you.

-Make sure that you have been sinned against before you go out and forgive your brother or sister. You may dislike or even resent a person because of the way they speak and act, their lifestyle, their preferences, their children, their social status, etc… That is not being sinned against by your brother. You need to ask God to forgive your unloving attitude but you do not need to forgive your brother for who they are and for their lack of maturity and conformity to your image. Don’t talk about them and don’t put them down because then you are sinning against them. Pray for them, encourage them, help them, love them.

-If a person’s words or actions have truly hurt you then go and tell them about it and then forgive them. Ask God for the right words and the right timing and then verbalize your hurt and your forgiveness from the heart to your brother or sister.

-In two weeks I want to take one more Sunday for us to think together on forgiveness. There is a verse in Luke 17.3-4 which adds more to what I have said this morning. Let me read it to you.

-This verse teaches that we are to forgive others if they repent. Does that mean we are not to forgive those who do not repent? We shall see. We need to talk a little more about how to forgive others and we will do that in two weeks. Next week we will look at the Glory of God in the Church as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together.