Family Matters pt 7
FORGIVE
Matthew 6:12 NKJV “And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.”
No relationship can be healthy or deep without the practice of forgiveness, forgiveness
promotes tolerance and allows us to process failure in a healthy way.
Forgive:
Nothing characterises the nature of Christ more than forgiveness.
🙏 It is the essence of who God is, it displays the depth of His Love for mankind,
and shows us His Purpose in sending His Son, Jesus.
The key or power to practice forgiveness lyes in understanding that you have been forgiven “completely” of everything.
AND THAT
IN your very identity as a believer you have God’s DNA and therefore you have the character of CHRIST in you!
Forgiveness is the stuff of true godliness & holiness.
We always think of Holiness in terms of not been sinful, but holiness is first and foremost been CHRISTLIKE!
YOU CAN AND MUST forgive as Christ FORGAVE YOU.
🙏 That’s why so powerfully this part of the prayer starts with “forgive me my debts”
In our human nature and especially when we have served the Lord and He by grace has made our lives holy in areas, we can develop a sense of “self righteousness” and that leads to entitlement or becoming judgmental…(the older brother syndrome, God doesn’t want us to be like the Prodigal Son or the Older brother, He wants us to be like Him, a “Good Father”)
I Corinthians 4:15-17 NKJV “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.”
👊 So now when others sin we almost can feel justified in saying “they really should’ve
done better or known better”
(We obviously need to deal with things and not just sweep things under the carpet) but we
need to make sure it’s from a place of “purity” and not frustration, anger, resentment or
just been plain upset!
DEBTS: something owed or a moral fault (delinquency or offence) that which is justly or legally due…..(found guilty & under obligation)
Matthew 6:14–15 (NKJV) “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Ephesians 4:25-32 NKJV “Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, “nor give place to the devil.” Let him who stole steal no longer,
but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something
to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all lmalice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
Matthew 5:7 (NKJV) “Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.”
Colossians 3:13 (NKJV) “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
DEBTORS:
Trespasses:-
Acts 7:60 NKJV “Stephen’s last words were, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”
Luke 23:34 NKJV “Jesus words on the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know
what they are doing”
JESUS – After being betrayed, falsely convicted, beaten, spat upon, and unjustly nailed to a cross to die an agonising death, the Son of God harboured no hatred towards His persecutors but instead offered them forgiveness.
One of the things that powerfully demonstrates God’s love is His forgiveness.
A person who does not forgive is therefore a person lacking in godly character and without Christlike love and has become FAITHLESS!
An unforgiving Christian is a living contradiction of His new nature in Christ, Forgiveness is therefore the key to spiritual unity in the church because it is the key to love, and the key to all meaningful relationships.
IT TAKES FAITH to forgive!
Mark 11:22–25 NLT “Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”
Mark 11:26 NKJV “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive
your trespasses.”
- LIVE THE FORGIVEN LIFE:
- Be honest and open to the Lord daily
James 4:17 NIV “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”
– Not just what you did but what you didn’t do.
Romans 14:23 NKJV “But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.”
Proverbs 28:13 NIV “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
Confess that sin to God claiming this promise:
The word “confess” used in 1 John 1:9 means “to speak the same thing.” In other words, we must agree with what God says about our sin and be willing to turn away from it.
Beware that Satan sometimes doubles back, seeking to remind us of past failures.
Do not allow his condemnation, but resist Satan’s tactic by quoting:
Romans 8:1 NKJV “There is therefore now no condemnation to (judgement against) them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”.
- Take communion often
Paul said as often as you do this, in remembrance of…..
- Apply the blood daily
Confession’s of the blood empower our faith and activate our authority!
Ephesians 1:7 NKJV “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of His grace”
The word forgiveness is unquestionably one of the loveliest words in the Bible. It represents both the power and the tenderness of God. It is as strong as steel and as soft as velvet.
There is a glory about the truth of forgiveness that touches the deepest places of our hearts. The precious blood of Christ not only paid the price for our forgiveness but broke the power of sin in our lives, and broke the power of the enemy to bring condemnation upon our heads.
- 2. LIVE THE FORGIVING LIFE: (learn to forgive as often as you want to be FORGIVEN)
Matthew 18:21-23 NKJV “Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain
king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.”
Matthew 18:32-35 NKJV “Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.””
Beware that Satan sometimes doubles back, seeking to try and draw you back into something you have forgiven and dealt with from the past.
Do not allow his condemnation, but resist Satan’s tactic by quoting:
Romans 8:1 NKJV “There is therefore now no condemnation to (judgement against) them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”.
- LIVE CHRISTLIKE:
MAINTAIN A RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHERS:
Forgiveness is an act of the will, not an emotion.
When you set your will to live forgiven and live forgiving you pray for your offenders and your emotions will begin to submit to the Spirit of God in you.
Refuse to let self-pity crawl back into your heart. Jesus never asks us to do anything He does not give us grace and power to do, and He gives the following command to believe:
Matthew 5:44 NKJV “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,”
Repentance From Dead Words
GRACE EMPOWERS US BEYOND OUR OWN ABILTY AND FAITH
BRINGS LIFE into our ACTIVITY!
Dead works are ANYTHING we do that is NOT DONE IN FAITH TOWARD GOD.
Faith follows Repentance
Mark 1:15 NKJV “and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
The whole message of the Bible is in this order: repent and believe. There are lots of people who say they are struggling for faith. The truth is not that they are struggling for faith, but that they may have never met the condition of repentance.
False Repentance
We need to understand that there can also be a false repentance, which we call remorse.
They have never really changed their mind. They have never really made the decision to
surrender to the Lordship of Jesus in their lives. Their decisions are still made on the basis of: “If I do
this, what will it do for me?”
You see, when you truly repent, you do not think that way! It is ALWAYS “If I do this, will it glorify Jesus?”
But without true repentance there can never be true faith.
Greek metanoéō “to change your mind”—change the way you think. to literally “to turn
around.”
You have been facing one way—the wrong way, with your back to God—so you turn 180
Degrees around, face toward God, and say, “God, here I am. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
Acts 3:19 NKJV “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord
