I see. God's marvelous grace calls me
to dwell in this wonderful place. God sees my Savior, and then
He sees me in the middle of it, accepted and free. ? Take my retreat ? ? In the Beloved
? ? Accounted complete ? ? Who can condemn me ? ? In Him I am free ? ? Savior and
keeper ? ? Forever is He ? In the beloved God's marvelous
grace Caught me to dwell in this wonderful place Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 6? Matthew the sixth chapter. Now when our Lord taught his
disciples to pray, he taught us what the disciple really is. And if you listen to this, you
can see whether or not you are the disciple. Let's read this
prayer together. Verse 9, After this manner, therefore
pray ye, Our Father. A believer is in that great group,
Our. This is speaking of the elect
of God. Those united to Christ. That's
their first identity. who they are in Christ. Our Father. A believer is a child of God. Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. A believer, a true disciple,
is a worshiper. Hallowed be thy name. He worships God for who he is
and he wouldn't change him if it were in his power. He loves
all of his glorious attributes. Hallowed be thy name. Verse 10, thy kingdom come. The believer is a subject. This great kingdom. Thy will
be done. A believer is a servant. Thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. Verse 11, give us this day our
daily bread. A believer is someone who is
completely dependent upon the Lord for all things. then we read in verse 12 and
forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors a disciple is a sinner
who continually has to pray forgive us our debts always never get past that then he says in verse 13 and
lead us not into temptation A believer is so weak that if he's even
led into temptation, he knows he'll fall. So he prays, don't
let me even go there. Lead me not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. I need delivered from evil. I
need delivered from this evil person. I need to be delivered
from the evil one. I need to be delivered from this
evil world. I need delivered. A disciple
is one who needs the Lord to deliver him from evil. Most especially this evil. And look at this ascription of
praise. The disciple knows who gets the
glory. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. Now in that brief prayer,
I was talking to some of the brethren last night and we commented
on books about prayer. They ought to be burned. They're
just no good. But boy, this is glorious, isn't
it? And we find out what true prayer is, but I think it's very
interesting that the only part of this prayer that our Lord
commented on, He gave no explanation to anything else, but look at
this part of the prayer He commented on. Verse 14, For if you forgive
men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you forgive not men their trespasses, Neither will your
father forgive your trespasses." That's the only part he commented
on. I want to attempt to preach. I hope the gospel is preached
in this message. If it's not, it shouldn't be
preached. Pray for me that I preach the gospel as I preach this message.
But I want to deal with the subject of forgiving others. forgiving
others. Look once again at verse 12.
The Lord says, when we're taught to pray, you know we always pray
as a sinner, don't we? Can you ever come into the Lord's
presence and not have some awareness of your need, your personal need
of forgiveness? Every time I pray, I can't pray
without some awareness of this, forgive me of my sins. For Christ's
sake, forgive me of my, let him be blotted out. Let him be done
away with. Cancel him. Oh, I'm a sinner
and I need forgiveness. I need cleansing in the blood
of Christ. I need forgiveness. And when
we come into the Lord's presence in prayer, coming only in the
name of the Son, our prayer continually is forgive us our debts. Now notice he says forgive us
our debts as. That little conjunction means
in the same manner. It is also translated even as,
like as. You forgive me even as I forgive
those who are indebted to me. those who sinned against me. You forgive me with the same
principle that I forgive them." Can I pray that? Really? Father,
forgive me in the same manner that I forgive those who have
sinned against me. And then our Lord's comment that
I've already read, for if you forgive men their trespasses,
your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your
trespasses." Now we see this is a gospel issue, isn't it?
This cannot be looked upon separate from the gospel. Turn with me
for a moment to Mark chapter 11. You know, when I read passages
of scripture like this, really, and think about it, it kind of
blows my mind. I think, what? Really? Look at Mark chapter 11. Verse
25. And when you stand praying, forgive if you have ought against
any. forgive them right now while
you're praying forgive if you have aught against any that your
father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses
but if you do not forgive neither will your father which is in
heaven forgive your trespasses when you pray make sure you forgive
now do I need to remind us that we're commanded to forgive others
and if we do not it is sin we are commanded by our Redeemer
himself to forgive now you and I will be wronged We will be slandered. We will be sinned against. We
will be maligned. We will be misrepresented. We
will be judged harshly. We will be criticized. We'll
be thrown under the bus. And I think of some of the horrible
things that people have had happen to them, people who have been
abused. horribly abused in a way that's unconscionable and wicked
and they've been done wrong, been done terribly. The abuse
men have brought upon other men and women. Oh, what a horrible
thing. You know what else? Not only will
we be wronged, me and you beginning here, we'll wrong other people. We'll throw other people under
the bus to save our own skin. We'll judge and criticize other
people. We'll attribute things and project
things upon people that really are not so. Me and you will be
guilty of that. You know what it's called? Life. In a fallen and sin-cursed world. What are we to do? Forgive. Forgive. I'm either a forgiving
person or I'm harboring bitterness, resentment, and anger for how
I perceive that I have been wronged. All of us know that feeling. Forgiveness is a gospel issue. The Lord tells us plainly, if
I fail to forgive, I will not be forgiven. I don't know how else to comment
upon that, but the Lord said it. Somebody says, is that works? No, you know I don't believe
in works and you don't either. I hope you don't, but our Lord
still says this. The first thing I'd like to say
about forgiveness is I love to think of gospel forgiveness. All false religion has the forgiveness
of sins at the end of the process. If you do this, this, and this,
and stop doing that, and start doing this, and straighten up
that, you'll have the forgiveness of sins. That's what's called
salvation by works. That's all it is. Salvation,
God's salvation, begins with the full, free, frank forgiveness
of sins. That's where salvation begins.
You're forgiven. Well, I didn't do anything to
get it. I know you didn't. You're forgiven. That is the gospel. Forgiven
for Christ's sake. Well, I'm thankful it's that
way, aren't you? What if you had to do something in order
to achieve forgiveness? It would be over for you. You wouldn't
be saved. But thank God, God's salvation
begins with the fool. free, frank, complete forgiveness
of sins. When you're reading that passage
of Scripture in Psalm 32, 1 and 2, blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. I thought, isn't that wonderful? To just have your
sin... How blessed is that man? God
says, you're forgiven. You're forgiven. Your sins are
covered, covered in the blood so that they're not. You see,
when God covers sins, when they're covered up, they're not still
there under the covering, they're gone. That's what our Lord did. He put them away. Oh, blessed
is that man to whom the Lord will not impute a sin. You know,
everything you think about yourself, bad, it's worse. It is, it's
worse. But thank God, It's not charged
to you. It became Christ's and He suffered
and bled and put it away. What wonderful forgiveness. Forgiveness is a gospel issue. And if I fail to forgive, I certainly
do not understand the gospel. You see, you don't forgive somebody
because they deserve it. You don't forgive somebody because
they've apologized and got everything straightened out. You forgive
somebody if God has forgiven you. Be ye kind, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you. Now, forgiveness is not optional. I am commanded to forgive, and
the Lord tells us plainly, if we do not forgive, we will not
be forgiven. And forgiveness, this thing of
forgiveness, is ongoing and it's continual. How often shall I forgive my
brother? Till seven times? No, till seventy
times seven. That's 490. That doesn't mean
after 491 you don't have to do it anymore. That means continual,
nonstop. And I think of my dear wife,
any relationship she's going to have with me, she's going
to have to continually forgive me. Continually. She knows it so. Look at her
laughing. She doesn't have to, but she
will. I hate it when people, you need to forgive me. No, I'm
not, if you're going to say that. I'm not. You just forget it. Forget that kind of stuff. But
at any rate, forgiveness is continual. That means all the time. 70 times
7 is not a mathematical equation. It means all the time. 70 times
perfection. You're continually sinning, and you need continual forgiveness. When we have this problem forgiving
people, and we always do, we always have, we project our attitude
on God when we sin. We think He's like us, and we
think He's holding us off and feeling resentfulness toward
us, and we're afraid to come into His presence, and we think,
well, I need to get things better before I even come into His presence.
I need to get more spiritual or get rid of this shit. No,
come right now, and you'll be received completely. That's the
way he forgives. Now the first time forgiveness
is mentioned in the scripture is in Genesis chapter 50. Would
you turn with me there? Verse 15, And when Joseph's brethren
saw that their father was dead, They said, uh-oh, we are in trouble. The only reason we've been preserved
up to this point is for daddy's sake. Now he's gone, they're
going to get us. or he's going to get us. And
you understand why I would. Verse 15, And when Joseph's brethren
saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure
hate us and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did
unto him. And they sent a messenger unto
Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died. You know,
I kind of doubt that this really happened. I think it was a lie. They were trying to cover themselves,
but they were scared to death. They thought we're going to get
it. So shall you say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee, now the
trespass of thy brethren and their sin, for they did unto
thee evil. And now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants
of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake
to him." That's the first time the word forgiveness is mentioned
in the scripture. Now, these fellows at this point
didn't really understand forgiveness because they thought Joseph would
be like them. They knew what they would do.
This story of Joseph is an amazing story of forgiveness. Now you remember the story. Turn
to Genesis 37. I'm going to briefly go over
this story. Verse one, and Jacob dwelt in
the land where his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan.
And these are the generations of Jacob. Joseph. If you read the previous chapter,
the generations of Esau, he had all these dukes and sons and
grandsons and uncles, all kinds of people mentioned. But when
we read of the generations of Jacob, that Jacob who God loved,
here it is, Joseph. This is about Christ. This is
concerning him. Joseph is such a beautiful type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in verse 3. Now Israel loved
Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his
old age and he made him a coat of many colors. Now can't you
imagine that would create all kinds of issues for his brothers?
Sure it would. Sure it would. And when his brethren saw that
their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated
him and could not speak peaceably unto him. They despised him.
And you can kind of understand where they would. They shouldn't
have, but they did. This is flesh, that's what we're
dealing with. Fallen men and women. And I'll tell you what,
the patriarchs were something else. You read the history of
these guys, this is not family friendly, this story of these
guys. Let's go on reading verse 5. And Joseph
dreamed a dream and told it to his brethren, and they hated
him yet the more. And he said unto them, Here I
pray you this dream which I've dreamed. For behold, we were
binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheep arose and also
stood upright. And behold, your sheep stood
round about and made obeisance to my sheep. And his brethren
said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou
indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more
for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream
and told it to his brethren and said, Behold, I've dreamed a
dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars
made obeisance to me. to me." And he told it to his
father and to his brethren. His father rebuked him and said
unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall
I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves
to thee, to the earth? Yes, they will. They don't know
it yet, but they will. And his brethren envied him,
but his father observed these sayings. Now you remember what
his brethren did to Joseph. They conspired to put him to
death. When he comes to them, they said, here he comes, let's
kill him. One of the brothers stopped him, said, no, let's
throw him in a pit and we'll sell him as a slave to the Midianites
when they come through. And they stripped off his coat
of many colors. They dipped it in the blood of
a slain animal. And they showed his father this
coat. Is this your son's? We don't
know. We found it. And they sold him as a slave and he was sold
into Egypt. How cruel. How cruel to do their
dad that way. How cruel to do Joseph that way,
this dreamer. Well, while he's in Egypt, he's
sold as a slave into the house of Potiphar and he excels. He
does very well. And what happens? Potiphar's
wife desires him. She comes after him and after
him and after him. He said, no, I won't do it. How
can I see it against God and do this? And so she finally grabbed
his clothes, cried rape, and he was thrown in her prison because
of that. In his innocency, he didn't do anything. How much
he's wrong there, he sits there in prison. What else could go wrong? Well,
while he's in prison, he excels in prison. The jailer, or whatever
he was, the prison keeper, made him the head over everything.
And while he was in prison, there was a butler and a baker. Both
of them had dreams. And Joseph interpreted those
dreams. The butler was going to be released. The baker was
going to be put to death. And lo and behold, what he dreamed
took place. And the butlers thought, I'll
remember that. But you know, he forgot about
it. He forgot Joseph, didn't think a thing about him, and
Joseph stays in that jail. The scripture says his ankles
were hurt with the fetters of iron. He was in there for another
two years. Wonder what all went through
his mind after all the bad things that happened to him. Well, you
remember the story how Pharaoh had the dream about the seven
skinny ears of corn eating seven fat ears of corn, and seven skinny
cows eating seven fat cows, and he didn't know what it meant,
and he asked all the Magittians of Egypt, they didn't know what
it meant, and so he, the butler remembers, I remember a man in
a prison, I remember my fault this day, there's a man who interpreted
dreams, and Joseph's brought out, and he gives the Pharaoh,
the interpretation of the dreams. The seven skinny ears of corn
and the seven skinny cows are years of famine that are going
to eat up the seven fat ears and the seven fat cows and the
seven fat ears. It's all going to be done away
with and what you need to do is to find somebody wise to oversee
all the Egyptian crops and save your food because we're gonna
have seven years of plenty but after that there's going to be
seven years of famine such that the world has never seen and
you know Pharaoh said where would we get such a wise man who could
oversee everything so you know he made Joseph the top dog he
was the most powerful man in all the land he and if you got
food you'd have to go to him for it I mean Joseph Christ,
our Lord Jesus. If you're going to have salvation,
you're going to have to go to Him for it. If you're going to have any
favor from God, you're going to have to go to Him for it.
Well, Joseph has wisely managed so much food, they had just storehouses
of corn. And when Joseph would go through
Egypt, they'd say, bow the knee to Joseph. I love that. They
were made to bow the knee to Joseph. Joseph was the king. Now, during this time, there
was a famine in Israel, too. And they started getting hungry.
And Jacob said, I've heard there's corn in Egypt. So he sent those
boys. He wouldn't let Benjamin go.
Benjamin was now his favorite. He thought Joseph was gone. Benjamin
was Joseph's brother. They had the same mother. And
so he left him behind, sent the ten. And they come up to Joseph,
wanting food, and they didn't recognize him. But Joseph knew
them. He knew them all together. And
the scripture says he spake roughly with him. He said, you're spies
coming into the land. No, we're not. We're true men.
We just want food. We're the son of one man who
had 12 kids. He gives him some of his family
background. And he said, you're spies. But
he went ahead and gave them food. And he said, I'll tell you what,
when you come back, Don't come back without your little brother.
That's going to prove whether you be true men. So they go off
back, plenty of food, and it lasts, I don't know, a few months,
but they run out again. They come back to Joseph, and
Joseph says the same things. He says, you're going to have
to have your little brother. Now pick up with me reading in
chapter 43. This is right before they go
back the second time. And the famine was sore in the
land, and it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which
they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them,
Go again, buy us a little food. And Judah spake unto him, saying,
This man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, You shall not
see my face, except your brother be with you. If thou wilt send
our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food. But
if thou wilt not send him, we'll not go down. For the man said
unto us, you shall not see my face, except your brother be
with you. And Israel said, wherefore dealt ye so ill with me as to
tell the man whether ye had a brother? And they said, the man asked
us straightly of our state and of our kindred, saying, is your
father yet alive? Have you another brother? And we told him, according
to the tenor of these words, could we certainly know that
he would say, bring your brother down? And Judah said to Israel,
his father, send the lad with me and we will
arise and go that we may live and not die both we and thou
and also our little ones I will be surety for him of mine hand shalt thou require
of him If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee,
let me bear the blame forever." Is that the gospel? Our surety. He said, regard Judah. What tribe did Christ come from?
The tribe of Judah. He said, of my hand shalt thou
require of him, speaking of me. He took responsibility for my
salvation before I was ever born. You know when I was saved? I can
tell you exactly when I was saved. When he said, I'll be surety
for him. Well they bring Benjamin now. And we read in chapter 44, beginning
in verse 14, And Judah and his brethren came
to Joseph's house, and he was yet there, and they fell down
before him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them, What
deed is this that you have done? This is after he planted the
chalice. You remember they planted the chalice when he sent them
back, so they would have to come back, and he was going to get Benjamin
to stay there. And Joseph said unto them, what deed is this
that you've done? What ye not that such a man as I can certainly
divine? And Judah said, what shall we
say unto my Lord? What shall we speak, or how shall
we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants,
both we and he also with whom the cup is found. And he said,
God forbid that I should do so. But the man in whose hand the
cup is found, that shall be my servant. As for you, get ye up
in peace to your father. You go on back, and you leave
Benjamin with me. Then Judah came near and said, O my Lord,
let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my Lord's ears,
and let not thine anger burn against thy servant, for thou
art even as Pharaoh. My Lord asked his servants, saying,
Have you a father or a brother? And he said unto my Lord, We
have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little
one, and his brother is dead, and he left alone of his mother,
and his father loveth him. And thou saidst unto thy servants,
Bring him down unto me, that I may set my eyes upon him. And
we said unto my Lord, The lad can't leave his father. For if
he left his father, his father would die. And thou saidst unto
thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, you
shall see my face no more. And it came to pass, when we
came up unto thy servant, my father, we told him the words
of my Lord. And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little
food. And he said, We can't go down. If our youngest brother
be not with us, then we'll go down. For we may not see the
man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant,
my father, said unto us, You know that my wife bare me two
sons, and the one went out from me. And I said, Surely he is
torn in pieces, and I saw him not since. And if you take this
also from me, and mischief befall him, you shall bring down my
gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, when I
came to thy servant, my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing
that his life is bound up in the lad's life. It shall come
to pass, when he see that the lad is not with us, that he'll
die, and thy servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant.
Our father was sorrowed at the grave, for thy servant became
surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto
thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. Now therefore
I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman
to my Lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how
shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with me, lest
peradventure I see the evil that shall come upon my father? Then
Joseph could not refrain himself before all that stood by him.
And he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there
stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto
his brethren. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians
and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Do you reckon they freaked out? I am Joseph. I know everything that was going
through their mind. Payback time. We're getting what
we've got coming. Doth my father yet live? I don't
know if they even heard that part. They're still remembering. This is Joseph before us. And his brethren could not answer
him for they were troubled. They were terrified at his presence. And Joseph said into his brethren,
come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said,
I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now I've
heard people say, if you don't forget, you've never forgiven.
not he remembered you sold me into Egypt you did this now therefore be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither for God did
send me before you to preserve life For these two years hath
the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years
in which there shall neither be earring nor harvest. And God
sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth
and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not
you that sent me hither, but God. He did this. Now, understanding and forgiveness
is rooted in some understanding, if that's the right word, because
we don't really much understand it, but it's rooted in some understanding
of the sovereignty of God. Whatever has taken place, He
did this. Amen? He did this. Now, Joseph had been horribly wronged
and He forgave him. And He forgave them before they
asked for forgiveness. They were just laying down in
the dirt. They couldn't speak. And he drew
near to them, and he let them know that they were forgiven.
Now, I've heard people say, you can't really forgive somebody
unless they apologize. Now, I understand that in the
sense that, yeah, you can forgive somebody if they haven't apologized.
That relationship with them may not come or will not come until
they apologize. I realize that. But did Christ
wait for you to apologize before he forgave you? Father, forgive them. And you know what the Father
did? He forgave them. Everybody that
the Lord prayed for was forgiven. That wasn't some generic desire
for the Father to forgive. Everybody He prayed for, the
Father forgave. How many sins have you committed
that you've never even confessed? Because you didn't even know
you committed them. How many thousands of those? How many
millions? and you were forgiven. Forgiveness is sheer liberality. You don't forgive somebody because
they deserve to be forgiven. You don't forgive somebody because
they've asked to be forgiven. True forgiveness, like God's
forgiveness, is sheer liberality. If you back into my car I get
a little bit irritated. I got a 2013 Toyota Avalon. It's black. It's shiny. It doesn't
have any marks on it that I know of. And I'll forgive you. Give me your insurance card. That's not forgiveness. I'll
tell you what forgiveness is. If I say, you're forgiven, I'll
take care of it. I'll take care of it. And that's
the way the Lord does. sheer liberality. When we forgive, we remove our
right to make that other person pay. I forgive you, I just don't
want to have anything to do with you anymore. That's not forgiveness.
That's still punishing the person for what they have done. Now
I want us to remember this, if a believer wrongs you, and I
want to say this reverently, I'm always scared saying something
like this, but I want to say, if a believer wrongs you, do
you know Christ paid for that sin? It was placed upon Him. And God is satisfied. You be too. If an unbeliever wrongs you,
he's going to perish forever in hell. Not just for that sin,
but for all of his sins. Do you want to add to that? When we refuse to forgive, in
reality, And I want to say this carefully because I think of
how some people, I've had it relatively easy in my life. I've not had as many bad things
happen to me as a lot of people had. I mean, horrible things,
terrible things. And I want to be very careful
in saying this, but it's still true. When we refuse to forgive,
it is hypocrisy. But I don't deserve to be treated
like that. No, you deserve worse. I deserve
worse. Now, I'm not saying any kind
of abuse is okay. No, but I'm talking about the
way I've sinned against God, my sin against the Lord, my continual
sin, committing the same sins over and over and over again,
sinning against light, sinning against love, sinning against
His mercy. No, I deserve worse. What if I really believe that?
Big talk! I deserve worse. You think of
the Lord's forgiveness, the way He forgives. How many times, and I don't want
you to answer this, how many times have you confessed a sin
knowing you're going to commit it tomorrow? How many times? How many sins?
There are sins that you and I have committed hundreds of thousands
of times, I imagine. Yet God continues to forgive.
And that's scary to say something like that. But it's true. It's
what the Scripture says. Why does God continue to forgive?
Well, He does it for His glory. How He's glorified. How His mercy
is magnified in forgiving somebody like me. Oh, I'll be an example. Here's an example of sheer free
grace. This is what glorifies God, that
He can forgive somebody like me. He continues to forgive because
that's who He is. He delights in forgiveness. He forgives because every believer
is justified. And there's really nothing to
condemn us for. If Christ died for me, you know how much sins
I have? Zero. And I am justified before God. I stand without guilt before
God. He continues to forgive because
the ground of forgiveness is always the same. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you." That never changes. The ground is always
the exact precise same thing. Forgiveness for Christ's sake.
Forgiveness because of His blood. He continues to forgive because
all those sins have already been forgiven. Forgiven before they were even
committed. And He continues to forgive because
of our great intercessor. These things write I unto you,
John, said that you sin not. And every one of us ought to
make this our resolve, I'm never going to sin again. When you do, we have an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. He's
an advocate that has never lost a case, and his father's the
judge. Talking about pool. And he is
an advocate that will not tell us to plead not guilty, but he'll
make us plead guilty. Guilty as charged. and he'll
get every one of us off scot-free justified. What a lawyer we have.
That is why he continues to forgive sin. Joseph forgave all they did because
he had an understanding. Beloved, regarding everything,
God did it no matter how painful. He did it. Joseph said, it was
not you that did it, but God did it. And we recognize God's
sovereignty and man's responsibility. That isn't getting men off the
hook for what they've done. Not in any way. Well, I don't
need to worry about it that I did that because God ordained it.
Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Don't talk like
that. This is never a reason for fatalism or indifference
or an excuse for sin. If we can't forgive because someone
has not asked or is not sorry enough or has not confessed it
sufficiently, we say we really don't believe that salvation
is all by grace. That's what we're saying. How
much, my dear friends, how much of salvation is by grace? How
much does you being forgiven have to do with anything you've
done? It's for Christ's sake. That's it. And let me remind
you, forgiveness is not optional. It's a command. And we're told
plainly that if we don't forgive, we'll not be forgiven. Now let
me say this to everybody in here. Please be quick to ask for forgiveness. Don't be one of these people
who hold out. You're just making it hard on
that person you sinned against. Be quick to ask for forgiveness. Be quick to confess what you've
done. Be quick. Don't be remiss in
this. Now I want to conclude. I've
preached too long, but let me give you three scriptures regarding
the biblical rule of forgiveness. Turn to Colossians chapter 3. Glad nobody said amen when I
started to preach too long. Verse 12, put on therefore, Colossians
3 verse 12, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and
beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another.
If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you,
so also do ye. Now how did he forgive you? Completely. Freely. and he brought you back
in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32 and be ye kind one to
another tender-hearted well I want to be that don't you? kind the
world is so mean the world is so cruel I want to be somebody
who's kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's
sake has forgiven you. His one reason for forgiving
you is for Christ's sake. It's not because of anything
you did. It's for Christ's sake. And finally turn to Matthew chapter
18. Verse 21, Then came Peter to
him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against
me? And I forgive him, till seven times Jesus saith unto him, I
say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times
seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven like unto a certain
king, which would take account of his servants. And when he
had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him that owed him
ten thousand talents. Now that's millions of dollars.
But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him
to be sold, and his wife, and his children, and all that he
had, and payment be made. The servant therefore fell down
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me. I will
pay thee all. Now, that was a lie. He didn't
have the ability to pay them all. And this was all hot air. It was all talk. Then the Lord of that servant
was moved with compassion and loosed him. and forgave him the
debt. But the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence.
And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying,
pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down.
Now that's about $15. Remember the one was millions
and the other 15 bucks. That's not that much money. I
got more down my pocket right now. I could come up with that
easy. I could borrow it from somebody. If I didn't have any,
you'd give it to me. Surely you would. But he was
having this person thrown in prison. Verse 30, And his fellow servant fell down
at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me,
I will pay thee all. And he would not, but he went and cast him
into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow
servant saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and
told unto their lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after
that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant,
I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldst
not thou also have compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as
I had pity on thee? And his Lord was wroth, and delivered
him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto
him. So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if you
from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. That's what the Lord says. Now, the Lord forgives and forgets. He says, their sins and iniquities
I remember no more. And the reason He can forget
is because He makes it to where they're not there anymore. They're
gone. When Christ said it is finished,
the sins of all the elect was cancelled, put away, blotted
out, gone. I love His forgiveness. And do
you know, and I want to say this reverently, but the most God-like
thing me or you can do is forgive somebody. May the Lord make us
forgiving men and women. I've enjoyed being with you so
much. So thankful to see the Lord's mercy and grace upon this
assembly, and this is such a blessing, such a blessing being with you.
Thanks, Pastor. No wonder the Apostle John broke
into praise. I know some of y'all need to
catch flights that are leaving, so. John, with great exclamation,
said, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. We've experienced
His love here this weekend. I'm so thankful. I'm thankful
for you all. I'm thankful for our guest. It's
been such a blessing to our fellowship, to meet some of our brethren.
I'm thankful for our people here. I really am. I'm so proud of
you. You've been so gracious to our guests and I'm thankful
for you. Matthew, thank you for helping
us with the music and all those that did special music. Todd
and Lynn, thank you all for coming. Mike and Sandy and David and
Teresa, we love you all. We appreciate your ministry. I hope you'll be able to sing
number 509 from your heart with some understanding. We chose
this hymn as a closing hymn for our meeting because we felt like
that it just expressed our hearts. Number 509, the sands of time
are sinking. After we sing, we'll have a word
of prayer. And I think the ladies are setting
up the food in the yard. over on this side of the building.
So that door is going to be blocked, but we've got six other doors
to get out. So, Tom.