Don Wood

To forgive is Divine

Scripture: Ps. 37:1-11
The Purpose: To set people free from wrath within so that they can escape the wrath from without. To help people see how an unforgiving heart reduces us to an animal level and defaces the image of God in us.

I was full of rage! I could not control my anger over what had happened to me.

I was a victim of clear cut wrong.

I watched as evil was plotted. The wrong and hurt were not imagined; it was real.

I lost the battle and I could not forgive. This was not on the street. This was not on the job. This was in the church. I could not forgive. All I could think about and talk about was the wrong that had been done. It was so clearly wrong that I could not even pray right.

Then the words of Jesus came to me like a leaden fist in the gut—Matthew 6:14, 15

1. If you forgive men their trespasses, the Lord will forgive you, but
2. If you do not forgive the Lord will not forgive you.

This made me mad and frightened. I tried to dismiss it thinking that perhaps it didn’t apply in this case. Certainly, what happened to me was not what Jesus was talking about, but down inside I knew I was in trouble on this matter because Jesus left no loopholes and no wiggle room on this matter of forgiveness.

In this episode, the lord revealed to me that there are some important things that I needed to consider as I experienced this horrifying revelation: my spiritual life was hanging by a thread. This was the most serious crisis I had faced. Not the conflict in the church—the war with God over his word.

I am glad that I lost the war. God taught me three key lessons about forgiveness in my blessed defeat.

1. Forgiveness is about impossibility—this is a supernatural gift that we all must have. We must seek it. We cannot be free of the evil attitudes that boil in us without a change of heart.
   Forgiveness is more than the words.
   Forgiveness is having God’s attitude, without qualification toward those that have wronged us. If we are not God, we can’t have this attitude.
   Some of us suppress anger but suppressed anger without a changed heart is internalized fire. Go to psalm 37. Chimera and aph
    Solution: You must be born Anew! Nothing will show us the unconverted nature of our hearts better than our attitude toward those that have wronged us!
   
   
2. Forgiveness is about Faith—You’ve heard the old expression that God’s biddings are enablings. We must believe this. Remember the feeding of the 5,000? Look at Matthew 14:14-18
             a. Big crowd—Jesus told the disciples: "Give them something to eat!"—impossible
              b. Bring what you have to me.—It is done. Matthew 28:18 All power is given unto me. Colossians 1:16-23a; John 1:12, 13; Isa 40: 29; Ps. 37:3-7
   Finally, James shows us that we must act on our expressed beliefs otherwise the faith we say we have is nothing more that empty words. Like the disciples, we must bring our meager store to Jesus in obedience to his command—Forgive!
   
   
3. Forgiveness is about Responsibility—As ambassadors for Christ we always carry the high level responsibility to represent to a hostile world the character of Jesus which is the foundation of the principles of the government of God.
   1. We must be new creatures in Christ.
   2. We must recognize that we are agents for God; we are not God himself—note Moses’ fall in Numbers 21:8-12.
   3. Moses, the meekest man ever, lost the opportunity to enter the promised land because he let rage and disgust cause him to disobey the express command of God.
      
      
   4. He misrepresented the character and attitude of God before the people. Not even Moses could get by on that score.  God was ready to work positively in the face of the ugliness of the people. But Moses got ugly in the name of God. He took the Lord’s name in vain.
      
      
   5. Conclusion—someone reading this today is dealing with real hurt. You cannot forgive and it is ruining your joy and putting your spiritual life in jeopardy. God wants to set you free, today. You thought forgiveness was saying, “Oh, it’s all right. What you did wasn’t a problem.” That’s a lie! It was not all right. That’s why it hurt and still hurts. Jesus forgave us because he paid the high price for our sin with his blood. Now that we are free from the guilt of that sin, he calls us to set others free by his grace. But first we must own the freedom. Give Him the impossible load of hurt and say here are the loaves and fishes. Forgive me for holding the anger and bitterness against your children. Set me free. I cannot forgive, but you can give me the power and the gift. In faith I say I forgive Mary, I forgive Jim. I begin in faith today to accept your power and to obey your command because my life depends on it and your word demands it. I want to be your child. Thank you for your mercy. Amen!