THE LAW OF FORGIVENESS
August 16th ,2026.
NAGGETS OF WISDOM ON FORGIVENESS
"Forgiveness does not come easily to us, especially when someone we have trusted betrays our trust. And yet if we do not learn to forgive, we will discover that we can never really rebuild trust."
Forgiveness is not forgetting what happened but being free from its hold.
"God’s forgiveness is not just a casual statement; it is the complete blotting out of all the dirt and degradation of our past, present, and future."
"When God forgives us and purifies us of our sin, He also forgets it. Forgiveness results in God dropping the charges against us."
"In one bold stroke, forgiveness obliterates the past and permits us to enter the land of new beginnings."
"Forgiveness is one of the most beautiful words in the human vocabulary. How much pain and unhappy consequences could be avoided if we all learned the meaning of this word."
"We cannot ask forgiveness over and over again for our sins, and then return to our sins, expecting God to forgive us. We must turn from our practice of sin as best we know how, and turn to Christ by faith as our Lord and Savior."
Forgiveness is a matter of the heart, not just a number, and is necessary for our own forgiveness and healing.
The necessity to forgive and be forgiven
Introduction:
"There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers." 1
· There are probably countless people living with unforgiveness in their heart and many more that die holding onto unforgiveness. This is a tragedy!
· too many of us are walking around spiritually imprisoned while convincing ourselves we’re free.
FORGIVE FOR YOU WILL NEED FORGIVENESS.
Matthew 6 : 9; 14-15 NCV 9 Forgive us for our sins, just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.14 Yes, if you forgive others for their sins, your Father in heaven will also forgive you for your sins. 15 But if you don’t forgive others, your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.
"General Oglethorpe once said to John Wesley, "I never forgive and I never forget." To which Wesley replied, "Then, Sir, I hope you never sin."
As human beings, (human nature) living in a broken world, and redeemed by grace and the blood of Christ, we so easily tend to judge and hold grudges, and we are not that quick to forgive when we are wronged.
We like putting people in cages and holding onto the key (revenge). But we are slow to repent of our sin before God.
Tim Keller “Only God has the wisdom and right to know what a person deserves. You must never try to give people what they deserve (revenge).”
WITHOUT FORGIVENESS, YOU ARE LIKE THE ONE WHO HURT YOU
1 Samuel 26:8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.”
9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? 10 As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. 11 But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”
21 Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong.”
If David had killed King Saul (1 Samuel 26) he would have become Saul, he would have put another Saul on the throne .
· If you do not forgive, you are not better that the person who hurt you.
· If you stay angry and don’t forgive someone, you become them.
Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
· Who are we not to forgive?
· What did we do to deserve forgiveness from Christ?
Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
To embrace the image of god ,you must be forgiving/ Christian.
Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
Psalm 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. “And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Live a forgiving and repentant life.
Matthew 18 : 21-22 TPT 21 Later Peter approached Jesus and said, “How many times do I have to forgive my fellow believer who keeps offending me? Seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “Not seven times, Peter, but seventy times seven times!
· Live a forgiving and repentant life. Continuously forgive others and live a life of repentance.
· What did Jesus do when He hung in the cross at Calvary?
Luke 23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
Acts 7:54-60 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
UNFORGIVENESS BURDENS YOUR HEART AND IMPAIRS YOUR GROWTH
· Why did King Saul lose the anointing and David increased in the anointing?
2 Samuel 7:16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me[a]; your throne will be established forever.’”
1 Samuel 15:28 The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you.
· Saul was self-seeking and self-absorbed; David knew how to forgive and repent. God was his everything.
· Forgiveness always involves paying a price. That’s the gospel.
· Tim Keller remarks that you can never forgone someone to whom you feel superior to
· Forgiveness involves humility. It takes humility to forgive someone who asks for forgiveness and to ask for forgiveness from another person.
· Our modern-day culture is one of utter self-exertion. Forgiveness is self-renunciation
Job 18:4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger, is the earth to be abandoned for your sake? Or must the rocks be moved from their place?
· “You are only hurting yourself with your anger
Forgiving others is precedes God’s forgiveness.
Mark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Matthew 6:14–15 – “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
PUNISHMENT AWAITS THE UNFORGIVING HEART
MATTHEW 18:23 “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.
“His lord delivered him to the tormentors - Imprisonment is a much severer punishment in the eastern countries than in ours (Western countries).
FORGIVENESS BRINGS TRUE FREEDOM
1. The debtor was freely and fully forgiven;
2. He willfully and grievously offended;
3. His pardon was retracted, the whole debt required, and the offender delivered to the tormentors forever.
And shall we still say, but when we are once freely and fully forgiven, our pardon can never be retracted? Verily, verily, I say unto you, So likewise will my heavenly Father do to you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. “3
Closing:
"Bruce Goodrich was being initiated into the cadet corps at Texas A & M University. One night, Bruce was forced to run until he dropped -- but he never got up. Bruce Goodrich died before he even entered college.
A short time after the tragedy, Bruce's father wrote this letter to the administration, faculty, student body, and the corps of cadets: "I would like to take this opportunity to express the appreciation of my family for the great outpouring of concern and sympathy from Texas A & M University and the college community over the loss of our son Bruce. We were deeply touched by the tribute paid to him in the battalion. We were particularly pleased to note that his Christian witness did not go unnoticed during his brief time on campus."
Mr. Goodrich went on: "I hope it will be some comfort to know that we harbor no ill will in the matter. We know our God makes no mistakes. Bruce had an appointment with his Lord and is now secure in his celestial home. When the question is asked, 'Why did this happen?' perhaps one answer will be, 'So that many will consider where they will spend eternity.'" 4
Your life, my life is at all times on display to the world, the unsaved. They are looking at us as a reflection of Jesus Christ and the gospel. They look at how we forgive, how we love. Let us bring glory to God our Father each day, by His grace.
Prayer
Give me, Lord, that forgiving spirit like you have. So that should the opportunity arise and they confess and ask for forgiveness, I can truly say, I forgive you. And you can be released from that bondage that is destroying you.
My prayer to God is help me, Lord, to do what in my flesh I cannot do. Give to me, Lord, a forgiving heart. Father, that is our prayer today.
And I pray that you'll release many people today from those destructive practices of holding enmity, bitterness, anger, malice against things that have been done to them by others. And Lord, help them this day to be freed from those destructive forces and help them, Lord, to be able to forgive. Lord, we think of how much you've forgiven us, of all of the wrongs and all of the sins that we've ever committed.’
“My guilt overwhelms me—it is a burden too heavy to bear. . . . But I confess my sins; I am deeply sorry for what I have done” (Psalm 38:4, 18 NLT).
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