Forgive…And Leave the Results to God

day and I thought good for you and shame on me for asking so what a great song right God forgave our sins in Jesus name I’d been born again in Jesus name and in Jesus name I came to you to go tell people what I’ve shown you basically and free freely you received everything you have but you’re not a you’re not the Dead Sea wasn’t meant to be beautiful truth and water that flowed into your life it’s most it’s meant to flow through your life right

freely freely you have received Now open up the channels the floodgates and freely freely give that song of course came has so loaded with special meaning and and memories for me and for Debbie and for many of us and it was music it really it was music that came from the kind of the the Genesis of modern Christian music actually Maranatha music in in Southern California and actually a place called Costa Mesa California and how many of you have seen the Jesus Revolution I have not

we have not but we lived it we were there and yes I’m that old but anyway it is a movie that’s now on Netflix you can still get it there and watch this movement of the spirit of God pour into Southern California and Costa Mesa we used to just call it Costa and and it was a little church I don’t want to spoiler alert I’ll shut up right now but watch it and I’m told by people even this morning it’s a really outstanding movie but the

Jesus Revolution is really the music of that Revolution was Maranatha music and then there’s no getting away from that it’s really powerful truth perhaps you already knew when we sang it with such meaning that it’s more than a song it’s actually words that Jesus spoke just put to music and my Bible’s open to those words right now in Matthew chapter 10. You want to just take a quick peek you can see that he actually spoke these words after we’ve talked about this recently he looks upon

a crowd and they were they he he was bothered by what he saw it’s like you and me going to a sports event maybe you know the Hillsboro Hops baseball you look out there and people are wildly cheering for the Hops but Jesus if he were there might have a different look on his face this is an example like that because Jesus looked at the crowd at the end of chapter nine and he sees something that nobody else saw that they were oppressed distressed and downcast

the the text says and they were like sheep finished my sentence without a shepherd and who was and who is the great Shepherd Jesus John 10 tells us that so you have this sense of Jesus that these people need something and I am that something but they don’t even know it and and so Jesus after that experience at the end of Matthew chapter 9 in chapter 10 he says to his disciples there were 12. I’ve got some things for you to do and I’m going to

send you out to do it and he still says that today I’m reading from verse 7 as you go as you go out Proclaim this message the kingdom of heaven has come near the king is here heal the sick raise the dead cleanse those who have a skin disease known as leprosy and drive out demons what a power move right then he says at the end of verse 8 freely freely you have received freely freely give six incredibly inspiring words that are meant to empower the

listener they’re meant to empower us that in everything we as let’s just say we’re part of the widened circle of disciples everything that we say and do in Jesus name those words are meant to remind us you got it freely give it freely say it with me you got it freely give it freely let’s go personal I got it freely I’ll give it freely see how it works and that’s Jesus intent here and those six words nothing is more difficult to get freely that’s easy but

to give freely that’s hard when it comes to forgiveness there’s a hush in the room for a reason because you are I think somewhat Like Me Maybe in every way like me you have hold backs you say yeah but some won’t listen from this point on you’re glazing over and part of you has a maybe the idea of forgiveness is a trigger for you that says I can’t do it and I won’t I know the Mountain’s tall I I do most difficult thing we are called

to say and do as Christians to say and do I forgive you why why is it so difficult I just kind of sat and stared at that question really not wanting to deliver anything to you yet it was really a question I had I could have you show hands but you’d say the same thing that’s that’s Mount Everest in my life not in every way not in every case but I got one I get it so why why is that because listen to this when someone

sins against you and we all could raise our hands and and say that’s that’s happened to me the pain is personal it is and the hurt is unfair you could say and you would be accurate in saying many of you I did not deserve that this is not a Galatians 6 7 I’m reaping what I sowed no that did not that does not tell the story in this case so it’s it’s the pain you feel is personal the hurt is incredibly unfair and the injury goes

deep I’m not talking about I got we’re taking down trees doing all kinds of things in the yard right now and I’ve just I looked like I was in a fight and I was but I got new bumps and scrapes they’re superficial though can you see it probably not and it’s not that big a deal either and here’s one more for you this kind of pain or someone sins against you in a lot of cases you don’t see it either I don’t see yours either but

it’s there and it’s real but the difference is it’s deep it’s really deep I want us to take a peek at some of the most I’m going to call them what they were for me okay jolting words found in Jesus epic sermon there is no better sermon and you have to back up the bus five chapters to chapter five six and seven which make up the spread that it took in the Bible to cover the Sermon on the Mount I want you to stop in chapter

six okay so I just give you a point of reference you’ve heard that sermon label The Sermon on the Mount it covers Matthew 5 6 and 7. And in my estimation if you’re not sure what to read in the Bible go there and you won’t hear a preacher like me you’ll hear somebody that at the end of this sermon everybody said oh my goodness you’re better than any preacher I have ever heard Jesus you your words ring so true and it says there at the end

you have such Insight such at the on reading chapter 7 at the end when the sermon was done and he sat down the mic if so to speak you would have been one in the crowd that went I can’t even put my words to it I gotta I gotta they didn’t have recordings in I got to hear that one again and right here in the middle is where the words that I want us to look at that Jesus wants us to look at are in bold

print they are jolting words I want to warn you on the front end and they explain how to pray Jesus is dealing with practical things how many of you have wondered at times is prayer really working is one of my prayers have you wondered that have you wondered how to pray raise your hand if you wondered how what’s the effective way to pray well we’re not the only ones that have our hands in the air the disciples did they said verse 9 show us how you

should pray you’re a praying man Jesus help us become praying people this is then how you should pray Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from the evil one and most of us because we’ve memorized this have added what was part of later manuscripts of this

prayer for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen new international does not include that but it does so at the bottom in the margin okay so there is the model prayer all right beautiful words from what what has come to be known as The Lord’s Prayer verse 12. Happen so fast that most of us miss the jolt this morning look at it as I read it again and forgive us our debts as we also have been forgiven our debts forgive me

as I forgive others is the correct way to read this that’s what we’re seeing and it’s a big deal am I really let me ask you the question that I sat there and I maybe maybe Judy heard me outside in her office but am I really okay are you really okay Steve praying verse 12. We must listen forgive us our debts forgive us our sins as we forget forgive those who have sinned against us we said it some versions say our trespasses that’s a big one

same deal okay are you really okay and let me let me get this will bring it into Focus for us how forgiven would I be if God forgave me you know where I’m going the way I forgive others hmm it’s a bone in my throat and apparently apparently Jesus was not kidding and not exaggerating otherwise how would you explain what I didn’t read in the next two verses chapter 5 verse chapter 6 but verses 14 and 15. For if you forgive others interesting he circles back

to verse 12. If you forgive other people when they sin against you your heavenly father will also forgive you verse 15. But if you do not forgive others their sins your father will not forgive your sins I will not be the preacher that says that was hard to hear uncomfortable to the core so I better soften it there’s voices out there that would say well you know it didn’t really mean what you think it means in the obvious reading I’m not going to go there and

you’ll see why C.S Lewis was spot on he observed this to be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you come it’s so easy to notice it in that person and forget it in this person we’re not going to go there this morning but you really do need to read the story in Matthew 18 and it’s a verse 21 it’s in your notes at the bottom to verse 35 really really good and it frames exactly more of this and

it’s a story it’s a parable that Jesus taught about forgiveness so you need to go there so it means to forgive the inexcusable that that’s what being a Christian means to forgive what people did to you that was inexcusable because God forgave the inexcusable in your sin and what you have done that means the horizontal meets the vertical right there they do they come together and to not let them come together is to settle for hypocrisy it is it’s to go freely freely you have received

let’s go home right I was in seminary a long time ago I went golfing with one of my professors around grade time so yeah you’re right anyway to soften him up around grade time right as we played I asked him a question hey Neil what what you know my future is in the Pulpit I think I think God’s calling me there what would what would be the one you know you had one crack in the Pulpit what would you what’d you preach on forgiveness before I

got the words out forgiveness that’s what he said and then he added this which kind of made me well he added these words most of the ground Satan gains in the lives of Christians is due to unforgiveness and I did what you just did I stopped in the middle of the Fairway you’re stopping in the middle of my sermon and you’re thinking so the devils playground is my unforgiveness is that what you’re saying pastor and I think that’s what Neil told me and I I mean

right there in the Fairway his words completely threw off my golf game I know there were other reasons but I want to I want to frame it for you I worked really hard on these words so let me let me State them for us okay Satan wants me and you to feel forgiven while ignoring Jesus words if you do not forgive others you read them already so did I because we’d like to say well if Jesus sort of meant if you do not forgive others I

understand man it’s pretty hard to do anyway no that is not what Jesus said verse 15 again if you do not forgive others your father won’t forgive you at the very least however we land on a discussion about what that might or might not mean at the very least can you agree can I agree that that would create a problem in my relationship with my father that’s got to be something we can embrace might theologically say no no you know we’re sealed and that’s true Ephesians

1 Ephesians 4. So I’ve got different voices I could speak to this right now but I want to stay with just this one voice what did Jesus say I want to remind you of something that Jesus also said about the devil okay and he actually sometimes I say he pulls the curtain back he went like this wow when he said the thief comes to steal kill and destroy the thief in that sentence in John 10 verse 10 is Satan and Jesus in one says let me

tell you what Satan is up to and it’s like something that was hidden from you and that’s frankly where the devil wants to keep it no no don’t listen to Steve right now get good and distracted and you’ll miss all of this that’s his hope the Hope won’t happen because the holy spirit says listen to God’s word you need to know you have an adversary the devil that means an opponent someone that’s opposed to you and wants as his end game to steal kill and destroy

does anybody need to know steal what kill who destroy how no you just know those are not words you want to invite into your kitchen and have dinner with your family right that’s me I don’t want that I don’t want him to steal kill and destroy and contrast that with Jesus words in the second half of that statement he says but I came to give life and abundance amen you ah how does the devil steal kill and destroy but I’m going to say that’s a good

study for all of us you could come up with lots of reasons but I don’t think anybody can come up with a more effective tool that the devil that Satan is using to still kill and destroy then unforgiveness I really think that’s the truth of what God’s saying to us and if we refuse to forgive we have what the Bible describes as a seed bed of bitterness bitterness steals kills and destroys Hebrews 12 reads this way these are all in your in your notes make every

effort to live in peace with everyone foreign I was followed down the street coming to worship this morning by somebody that they have no idea who they are but I should because they were maybe six inches from my bumper and I thought it’s a it was a little car and I thought at the very least pay attention to a vehicle that’s three times your weight my truck and if I just happened to hit the brake hard this won’t go well with you and I remember thinking

you know what you you are you’re you’re I said Lord I don’t need that person in my rearview I don’t need them to do that and I’m thinking you know it just ticks me off and I was not at peace with somebody I never met and start whoa Lord help that person drive better so okay so back to Hebrews Hebrews 12 verse 14 make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy without Holiness why is that a big deal because you won’t

see the Lord he says not done quoting see to it that’s always there meant to tell you and me I don’t care your age or stage in life you can do this so see to what see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God he would not say that unless it was a possibility that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no here’s why Bitter Root grows up to cause you to stumble and defile be defiled did you

know bitterness has roots it’s not a insight it’s a truth if you’re taking down trees you know about roots we know big Roots right now but plants and and bitterness has roots that begin as something really small actually it’s a Seedling and it’s got little Roots but they’re underground you don’t see them and they’re really little they’re not that big a deal if you pulled that seedling they’ll they’d probably come out with roots and all but they get bigger because they grow and forgiveness removes the

weed of bitterness get this at the root at the root I have a habit of seeing a weed I don’t like I just knock it off I use my weed whacker and it’s gone is it no got to get the root another professor of mine at a second Seminary Louis Meads showed I think incredible Insight on something that maybe you’ve heard traces of this statement it came from him when he described this systemic effect not a bitterness but of forgiveness what happens when we do forgive

as we’ve been forgiven his words the first and often only person to be healed by forgiveness is the person who does the forgiveness in Jesus word as we have forgiven our debtors smeed says that that person That Forgives his or her debtor is the person that is well healed by the act of forgiving when we genuinely forgive smedes concludes we set a prisoner free free and then we discover that the prisoner who was set free is me can I get an amen is that just like

huh I’ve forgiven some people recently this isn’t back when I was in seminary this is recently and I and and I hope I’m not bearing too much you wouldn’t know these people but it’s like this load lifted like like zazo in Lion King huh I’m alive and I’m free man that’s a good one and indeed Those whom the son sets free John 8 tells us will be free and truly free free indeed it’s beautiful so in every aspect of Jesus life he is the example of

how to live we get that we understand that’s why we focus on Jesus all the time and he was the one that said actually I’m the way the truth and the life John 14 6. So when it comes to forgiveness do you see my simple connection here when it comes to forgiveness how he forgave shows us how to forgive so I just want to leave you with two thoughts under the heading forgiveness Jesus way okay you ready for him the first one we’ve talked a lot

about it already but Jesus forgave freely yet a great personal cost he forgave freely and he paid for it dearly see the difference here he took the hit for us it’s why communion so significant on a Sunday with this topic on our minds he took the hit for us it was apparently very hard to do which explains Jesus words moments before the cross as he contemplated the cost in front of him to make it possible to forgive you and me prayed Jesus not once or twice

three times and presumably that meant multiple times he said if it’s possible father he’s talking to his father take this cup from me why would he say that I’m going to tell you I think why it was hard I think it was scary I think it he knew it was incredibly costly I can I pay money for lots of things and oftentimes I say that’s a lot of money this that’s expensive inflation do you know what there’s no cost greater than my own life and that’s

the cost Jesus knew it would be very costly forgiveness then isn’t sentimentalism like saying you’re sorry hey I’m sorry and usually we say I didn’t mean it I’m sorry that’s a step toward forgiveness I didn’t mean it means okay did I get the words out come on done it I know it it’s an act of the will that says forgiveness biblical Jesus forgiveness is an act of the will that says I forgive you whether you’re sorry or not it’s really he forgave freely at a great

personal cost so so must we all of us and secondly it’s quick principles he forgave fully fully he held no grudges and the Bible repeats repeatedly says he remembers our sins no more in fact I love Micah the prophet chapter 7 verse 9 he actually says he took our sins and threw him in a shallow pond no the ocean now you could say if you’re a cynic or a Critic you could say well yeah he threw him there but he knows where they are and you’d

be right he of course he knows where they are he’s he’s omniscient he knows all things so to say Steve are you sure God forgave your sins and remembers them no more does he somehow Etch A Sketch go this way every day and get rid of it no what’s going on here is it forgetfulness no doesn’t forget what we did but he will never go fishing for it and bring it back up and say hey dude you’re doing it again not going to happen I can’t

erase the past either what I’ve done or what others have done to me and neither can you but I can choose empowered by Jesus forgiveness of me to Let It Go and so can you can I say that again you will need you will not succeed in forgiving it will come back it will say I’m back and I’m going to stay back and I’m going to keep haunting you I’m going to keep stealing killing and destroying because that’s what the devil wants so when you forgive

I’m not just talking in that moment but a month later or an anniversary of what that person did to you or the smell of somebody’s cologne or perfume that was part of a marriage that failed horribly and you just this trigger I it’s all there a song that used to be our song but it’s not our song Anymore and then accidentally somehow you hear it see and in those moments in every moment in between you are the only way you’ll succeed in forgiving is empowered by

the reminder of the Cross what Jesus did to set you free to forgive you fully and that’s what we want to do this morning if there’s if there’s unforgiveness let’s not leave here the same I’d like you to Bow your heads if you would this morning through forgiveness God tears Down the Walls people he does and they’re walls that we have built we know about them I’m going to ask the lights are going to come down for you and me to really be able to to

take in some time that we’re done early this morning in in the message part of our morning but there’s some movement part that needs to happen in our hearts and and they begin with the walls that are in the way of moving forward freely fully forgiveness may be described as a decision imagine standing on the deck of a ship out in the deep ocean not near the shore where the analogy is lost but out deep fathoms and fathoms deep and you’re standing on that deck of

the ship and you’re symbolically releasing something throwing something that’s weighty and the moment it hits the water it sinks and there’s nothing to stop it from sinking to the bottom of the ocean forgiven

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 4,355 words.