Forgiveness
By: Aron Wilburn
Intro by: Paul Washer Have you ever known someone to whom you’ve said, “You need to forgive that person.”
And they reply “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I just can’t. They’ve done me so much wrong I just can’t forgive them.”
What they are really saying is, “The animosity, the bitterness, the hurt that I cling to in my heart, keeps me from forgiving them. I need it. I’m not letting go of it. I don’t care what Jesus said about forgiving others. I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I’m going to hold on to this if it kills me, just to show them how much they’ve hurt me.” ……………………………….
If this is You, there are a few things you may want to consider.
First, the ENTIRE message of the Gospel is one of Forgiveness. Forgiveness is extremely important to your Father.
Forgiveness is an act of Love. If God is Love, then Forgiveness is of God. If you refuse to forgive others, if you hold bitterness in your heart, if you refuse to lay the wrongs others have done you at the feet of Jesus, then you have opened your heart to sin, and are actively choosing that sin over God’s will for your life.
This may sound harsh, but it is true. If you refuse to forgive others, then you are living in sin. Sin CAN NOT take front stage in a vessel filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
Sure, even if you are truly converted, truly saved, you can commit sin. You can be tempted and fall short of the mark. However, if your are truly saved, that sin will pierce you like the lance that pierced Jesus’s side. Being DEAD to sin, makes sin a branding hot coal in your being when you give in to it. God can not abide the presence of sin, and if God is in you you should not be able to stand it either.
If you hold onto bitterness, spite, offense, hurt feelings, or old wounds that others have visited on you, and you are not sickened by it, burned up with guilt because of it, then Jesus Christ does not dwell in you at the level he wants to and deserves to. Your body of fallen flesh is not who you are. If you are truly born again you are a NEW CREATURE!
You are not the lies your old self is telling you. You are not a slave in bondage to Satan’s desire to keep your heart hard as stone and dead to Christ and his plan for your life.
You are not “just a wretched old sinner saved by grace.” That is who you WERE!
All things have been made new in HIM! True conversion leads to the confession of sin, the true Repentance of sin, and ultimately to your Forgiveness of that sin. It is a constant and ongoing process. Repentance and Forgiveness is not a one time thing. It is an ongoing life-long process.
If you are holding blame and have an unforgiving heart, no matter what you think, one day you WILL care what Jesus said about Forgiveness. You can say, “take me as I am” all you want, that you’re “saved by grace” all you want, that you’re just set in your ways all you want, but when you enter the presence of the Almighty God on Judgement Day, you will will fall on your face crying “Holy, Holy, Holy!” begging forgiveness for your hard-hearted stubbornness, your pride, and your rebellion against his second commandment “Love others as I have loved you.”
It is true that you are Saved by Grace and not Works. But Grace will change change you. There is no option, for if you truly die to sin and God begins a good work in you, you can rest assured that He WILL FINISH IT. The evidence that you are truly saved is that you will CONTINUE repenting and believe. You will continue to walk and grow in Holiness.
If you are living life right now with bitterness, offense, hurt, or blame in your heart, fall on your face, place that idol at his feet, and as His forgiveness for loving your sin more than Him. After Jesus forgives you, rise with forgiveness in your heart and truly Forgive the one you held blame against, and if possible talk to them, confess your sin, let them know you forgive them and ask their forgiveness in return.
If you humble yourself before God, humble yourself before your brothers and sisters, and forgive others, a healing will begin in you and the one who offended you.
The fact of the matter is that Forgiveness is more for you sake than the one who offended, or hurt you. Forgiving another, even though they may not deserve or want it, is you mirroring what Christ Jesus has done for you.
Forgiveness is a path to inner healing. I’ve seen those very close to me, hold on to bitterness and offense for years and I’ve seen what that has done to their physical bodies, and to what it has done to their walk with God. It’s not a pretty thing. I’m still praying that The Father will soften their hearts and help them let go. But, at this point, their bodies and souls are so wracked with pain they suffer every day.
You have a choice, obey and forgive or suffer the consequence of disobedience. I am not saying any of this in judgement, in condemnation, or in self-righteousness. I love each of you, and I don’t want to see you suffer needlessly. As they say, a grudge is the heaviest of burdens to bear.
Mark 11:25 25″Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. 26″But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”
Leviticus 19 17’You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. 18’You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am YAHWEH.
Hebrews 10:29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Matthew 18 The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[g] 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”