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Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Matthew 6:14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you.
Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses.
Bible word pictures for forgiveness
To forgive is to turn the key, open the cell door, and let the prisoner walk free.
To forgive is to write in large letters across a debt, “nothing owed”
To forgive is to pound the gavel in a courtroom and declare, “not guilty!”
To forgive is to shoot an arrow so high and so far that it can never be found again.
To forgive is to bundle up all the garbage and trash and dispose of it, leaving the
house clean and fresh.
To forgive is to loose the moorings of a ship and release it to the open sea.
To forgive is to grant a full pardon to a condemned criminal.
To forgive is to relax a stranglehold on a wrestling opponent.
To forgive is to sandblast a wall of graffiti, leaving it looking like new.
To forgive is to smash a clay pot into a thousand pieces so it can never be pieced
together again.
Quote
“I don’t know why, but for some reason my mother could not forgive my brother
for leaving home as a teenager. Even in later life when my brother tried to reach
out to her, my mother was so filled with anger and bitterness, that she was unable
to forgive him. I watched as her inability to forgive hurt her more and more.
It destroyed my mother so much, that she was not able to bring herself to attend
my brother’s funeral. I learned firsthand how a lack of forgiveness can destroy
a family, can destroy relationships, can stop people from moving forward,
but ultimately the one it hurts the most in the end, is the one who will not forgive.”
I. FORGIVENESS AS A BRIDGE.
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin
against us.
O the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin
against us.
Luke 6:37 “… Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
John Irving said “The man who refuses to forgive destroys the bridge over which
he himself must cross.”
James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.
Forgiven people forgive people.
II. FORGIVENESS AS A DEBT.
Luke 11:4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted
to us.
Matthew 6:12 (PHILIPS) Forgive us what we owe to you, as we have also forgiven
those who owe anything to us.
Hell is a place where people pay an unpayable debt, that’s why it’s forever.
Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us …
Luke 1:77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their
sins,
III. FORGIVENESS AS AN INFINITE NUMBER.
Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times
shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?
Matthew 18:22 Jesus answered, I tell you not seven times but seventy times seven.
Matthew 18:32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked
servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
Matthew 18:33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant,
just as I had pity on you?’
Matthew 18:34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until
he should pay all that was due to him.
Matthew 18:35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from
his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
even as God in Christ forgave you.
1. Forgiveness is not, denying a wrongdoing,
Acts 2:22 Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by
God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your
midst, as you yourselves also know—
Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
2. Forgiveness is not forgetting.
Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter
and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying,
Be saved from this perverse generation.
Acts 2: 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized;
3. Forgiveness is not approving or diminishing sin.
Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what
they do.”
The three rules of forgiveness
Golden Rule
You should forgive others the way you would want others to forgive you.
God’s Rule
You will be forgiven the same way you forgive.
Grace Rule
The way you should forgive is the way God has forgiven you.
Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my
anxieties;
Psalm 139:24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting.
