God Forgives You and You Are to Forgive Others; By Refusing to Forgive Someone, You Break Your Fellowship with God Making You the Sinner

God Forgives You and You Are to Forgive Others; By Refusing to Forgive Someone, You Break Your Fellowship with God Making You the Sinner

 MESSAGE SUMMARY: In Matthew 25:21-38, Peter asked Jesus how many times one should forgive someone that has wronged them: “Then Peter came up and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him’, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything’. ‘And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying’, ‘Pay what you owe’. ‘So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him’, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you’. ‘He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him’, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you’? ‘And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.’”.

When you run into some barriers for forgiving someone else, Jesus, in Matthew 18:15-17, gives us guidelines for dealing with those with whom we believe “Have wronged us”: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16†But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”.

What do you think about forgiveness and unforgiveness in your life relative to others? In essence, Jesus told Peter that the limit on the number of times we should forgive someone is, basically, unlimited. Like the king in Mathew 18, God's nature is to forgive. Should we not approach the forgiveness of others in our lives like Jesus in order to be Christ-like in our lives while permitting others to see Jesus in the way we live our lives? However, when the servant did not forgive those with a small debt to him, the master withdrew his pardon to his servant for his larger debt. God forgives us just as we forgive others. Unforgiveness, when we refuse to forgive someone, breaks our fellowship with the Lord and we become the sinner.

Archbishop Beach, at the end of this teaching regarding Unforgiveness, discusses questions, from a previous sermon, that we need to ask of ourselves when we come before the Lord in our prayers. The Gospel is based on both the Old and the New Testaments. The Gospel must go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit – the Gospel is a Spiritual message.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 25:21-38; James 2:13; Matthew 18:15-17.

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WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””:  www.AWFTL.org/watch A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

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