Forgive One Another For Christ's Sake

Q: What does the Bible say about forgiveness in Ephesians 4?

Ephesians 4 teaches that we are to forgive one another as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us. In Ephesians 4:32, the Apostle Paul instructs believers to be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God has forgiven them for Christ's sake. This passage emphasizes that our forgiveness is not based on the merit of the offender but is rooted in the grace that God has shown to us through Jesus Christ. As we reflect upon God's act of forgiveness, we are called to extend that same kind of grace to others, embodying the love and compassion that defines our Christian witness.

Q: How do we know that God's forgiveness is unconditional?

God's forgiveness is unconditional; He forgives freely and based on Christ's sacrifice, not our works. In the sermon, it is emphasized that God's forgiveness is unconditional, demonstrating that it is not based on our merit or any actions we perform. The preacher illustrates this by recounting the story of the woman caught in adultery (as found in John 8), highlighting that she did nothing to earn her forgiveness. Christ forgave her freely, showing that His grace is given out of love for sinners without requiring any prior righteousness. This unconditional forgiveness is foundational to the Reformed understanding of grace, as it underscores that salvation cannot be earned through works—it is the result of divine mercy alone.

Q: Why is forgiveness important for Christians?

Forgiveness is essential for Christians as it reflects God's grace and maintains unity within the body of Christ. Forgiveness is vital in the Christian life as it reflects the very nature of God who forgives us for Christ's sake. We are called to forgive not only to reflect God's mercy but to preserve unity among believers. Ephesians 4:32 reminds us that as God's forgiven people, we are to be kind and tenderhearted towards one another. This directive ensures that the church body operates in love and harmony, enabling us to exemplify the Christian virtues of compassion and grace. Furthermore, withholding forgiveness can lead to bitterness and division, which are contrary to the unity that Christ desires for His church.

Q: What is the significance of forgiving others as God forgives us?

Forgiving others as God forgives us signifies the transformative power of grace in our lives and relationships. The significance of forgiving others as God forgives us cannot be overstated; it serves as a tangible expression of the grace that we ourselves have received. The sermon emphasizes that our ability to forgive comes from understanding the depth of our own forgiveness in Christ. Just as God forgives us freely, completely, and unconditionally, we are to extend that same grace to others. This act not only beautifies our relationships but also serves as a powerful witness of the gospel, drawing others to the transformative grace of Christ. In recognizing that we have nothing to offer in our own worthiness, we learn to forgive others from a place of humility and gratitude.

Turn over to Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. Look beginning with verse 17. Ephesians four, verse 17. This I say, therefore, in testifying the Lord that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. And the apostle says, but you, you have not so learned Christ.

If so be that you've heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. Listen, if the Lord has spoken to you, Paul's saying if the Lord's spoken to you through his word and by his spirit, if he has truly taught you the truth in Christ, then we're to put off that old man.

Not to indulge him, but to put him off, to put off that old manner of life. That old nature, it's not to rule over us. The old nature with its lust and desires, listen, they're deceitful. That's what scripture says, it speaks of the deceitfulness of sin. Sin promises pleasure, sin promises profit, but it provides neither. put off the old man.

Now let's read on here, verse 23. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, renewed through prayer, through worship, through reading God's word and continually feeding upon Christ. That's how the believer is fed, through the word. That's how the spiritual man is refreshed and revived and renewed, through his word. Verse 24, and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and in true holiness.

Wherefore, putting away lying, speaking every man truth with his neighbor, for we're members one of another. speaking not lies, but speaking the truth. Verse 26, and be ye angry, and sin not, and let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the things which is good, that he may give to him that needeth. corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good, that which is through the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Put away anger. You see that? Put away bitterness. Put away resentment and rage and a bad temper. You know not one of these things is consistent with the grace of God in the heart. Let all contention and strive and quarreling along with slander, let all these things, the Apostle Saint, let those things be put away.

But then look at verse 32. This is verse 32. This is where I want to spend some time here this morning. Much of what we've read in these previous verses is kind of wrapped up in this verse. Look at it, verse 32. Be kind one to another. Tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Be kind. I say, is that that hard? But it is, isn't it? Be kind. Don't be harsh. Don't be bitter. But kind and gracious. Be pleasant one to another. Tenderhearted. You know, to be tenderhearted is to be compassionate, to show compassion. It's to be sympathetic.

And then he says this, forgiving one another as God. Listen to these words here, for Christ's sake. as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. I know we hear these three words out in the world, for Christ's sake. Now, we don't hear it in this context. When we hear it, usually men are upset. They're often using blasphemy, but listen to it in light of God's word. forgiving one another as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Now these are, and we say this often, but these are, this is just a foundational word of the gospel.

For Christ's sake. Now this religious world, would try to convince men that you're forgiven in return for something you've done. That you're forgiven for your works. What does scripture say? We just read it. God for, there's one reason he's forgiven us. And it's for Christ's sake that he has forgiven us.

It's not because you, listen, that you're better than your neighbor. Now, I say that there's certainly nothing wrong with being a good neighbor, is there? But listen, it's not for being better than your neighbor. That's not what we need. What did we just read here? Go back to it again. As God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. He doesn't forgive us because we do a lot of volunteer work with the kids. He doesn't forgive us because of any good deeds. He doesn't forgive us because we made a decision when we were 12 years old. Listen, it's not even because of faith. Listen to this scripture again.

What's it say? As God, for this reason, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Listen, because Christ loved you. because Christ died for you, because Christ intercedes for you. For Christ's sake, he hath forgiven you. There's nothing to add to that, is there?

God has forgiven his people for Christ's sake. In light of that comment, in light of that word, how has God forgiven his people? Let's look at just a few things here together this morning. And one is this, how's he forgiven his people? He's forgiven his people freely, freely. We have done absolutely nothing to deserve his forgiveness. We've not earned it, we've not merited it, we don't even deserve it. But he has forgiven us, his people, freely.

In John chapter eight, I won't have you turn there, but the scribes and Pharisees, they had brought a woman before the Lord. They did this as the Lord was teaching. They brought her into the temple and they set her in the midst of all who were there, put her on display.

She had been taken, scripture said, she's been taken in the very act of adultery. Now I ask you, can you imagine her shame, being drug in before all these people in the service? And listen. The scribes and Pharisees, they said, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law says she should be stoned. She should be, her shame, in hearing that, I mean, can you imagine hearing those words like her shame, but also fear? of what might happen to her. Fear of judgment, fear of death. The law says she should be stoned, but what sayest thou? And the Lord Jesus, he stooped down and he began to write on the ground with his finger.

He just wrote on the ground like he didn't hear him. And they just kept asking him. And they kept asking him. And finally he got up and said, He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone. There were no stones thrown that day, were there? They got up and they walked away from the oldest to the youngest.

And then it was just that woman and the Lord Jesus Christ. And he looked at her and he said, where are thine accusers? And she said, no man hath condemned me. And the Lord Jesus Christ said to her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now he didn't say she wasn't guilty. She was. Every son of Adam is guilty. But he did not condemn her. Go and sin no more. I ask you, how did he forgive her? What did she offer? What good work had she done? None. He forgave her freely.

Second, he forgives completely. Completely. My sins against a holy God are forgiven. My sins against his holy law are forgiven. My sins against the gospel, what about those? Forgiven. My sins against his body, forgiven. Sins against my neighbors, forgiven. My sins, we sing that chorus, my sins have been taken away. They've all been taken away. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. That's complete forgiveness. Third, he forgives lovingly, lovingly. In Ephesians 5, 2, you can turn there, Ephesians 5, verse 2.

Walk in love as Christ also loved us. and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice unto God for a sweet-smelling savor." We also read this in scripture, that God, that Christ also loved us and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God. We read this, unto him that loved us, and did what? Washed us from our sin in his own blood. God commendeth his love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Lovingly, lovingly, for Christ's sake. We also read this, that love covers what? A multitude of sin. He forgives lovingly. He forgives unconditionally. God hath forgiven us for Christ's sake alone. Again, not for your faith, not for your repentance. Faith and repentance are both the gifts of God. How could we ever brag about something like it was our own when he's the one that gave it to us?

He delights to show mercy for Christ's sake. And that forgiveness is unconditional. Turn to Luke chapter seven. Luke chapter 7, look at verse 36. Unconditional forgiveness. Verse 36, and one of the Pharisees desired him, desired the Lord Jesus Christ that he would come and eat with him. and he went to the Pharisee's house and he sat down to eat and behold, behold, draw your attention to this, there was a woman in that city which was a sinner.

And when she knew that the Lord Jesus Christ sat at meet in the Pharisee's house She brought an alabaster box of ointment. And this is what she did with it. She stood at his feet, behind him, weeping. And she began to wash his feet with her very tears. And she wiped them with the hairs of her head. And she kissed his feet. and she anointed them with ointment.

And that Pharisee that had invited the Lord to his house for dinner, when he saw this, he which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself. That's what we do when sometimes we're ashamed to say something out loud, isn't it? He spoke within himself. And he said this, he said, this man, If he were a prophet, if he were truly a prophet, he would know who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him.

For she is a sinner. Our Lord knew who and what manner this woman was, didn't he? That is precisely who he came to save. He came into the world to save sinners. This woman who washed the Lord's feet with her tears and wiped them with her feet and her hair, wiped his feet with her hair. If he were a prophet, think about that. If he were a prophet, he would know who and what manner this woman is, for she's a sinner.

I ask you, was she deserving of mercy? We could say that about it. Is anyone truly deserving of mercy? Was she worthy? Had she done something to make herself worthy of forgiveness? She is a sinner, a sinful woman. And religious men like this Pharisee, would have forgiveness to be conditional, that it would be based on my worthiness, on the sinner's worthiness, on the sinner's works.

If that were the case, would this woman have any hope at all? Would that woman have any comfort at all? I take it further, would any of us have any hope? Would there be a place for any of us to find comfort in anything that we would do? We would have no hope, would we? Scripture says this, there is none that doeth good, no, not one. But listen to the words of our Lord. We'll skip down a few verses. Verse 47. Verse 47.

Wherefore, I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are what? Forgiven. Forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her again, thy sins are forgiven. Now was that based on anything she did? No. Unconditional forgiveness.

Here's another point. He forgives eternally. Eternally. An eternal forgiveness. Listen, when sin is forgiven, when it is truly forgiven, it is put away. Now we, we have a tendency to do just the opposite of that, don't we? We forgive people all the time. We even say to them, I forgive you.

Until what? Until they cross us again and then we, what do we do? We go right back to the last time they harmed us or did us wrong and we bring that up, don't we? Isn't that us by now? It's me. Maybe it's not you. Maybe you're a lot better. Our Lord never, I don't know that he ever brought up a past offense. He doesn't wait and say, well, you know what? I've had great patience with you, but now I'm going to go back and I'm going to deal with you according to your sin.

Scripture says this, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Our Lord said, he said, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath, what kind of life? Everlasting life, eternal life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He doesn't go back and repent for something He's given or repent for forgiving one of His sheep. What He has done is done forever.

There is therefore, what's Scripture say? There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. What else do we read in scripture? It says this, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? Eternal forgiveness, eternal pardon, eternal salvation in Christ and Christ alone. And then one more point in closing. He forgives continually. Continually. Peter asked the Lord one time.

He said, how often should I forgive my brother? Is seven times, is that enough? Is seven times enough? That seems like a lot, doesn't it? Seven times. What did our Lord tell him? 70 times 7. What does that mean? Continually. Continually. That's to forgive. What was the text again?

To forgive as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us. That's how we've been forgiven, isn't it? Well, I can't think of any greater example in scripture than that of the children of Israel. How often, how often did he forgive them? Could you put a number on that? It was continual, wasn't it? Continual. And why did he forgive them? Same reason he's forgiven all of his people. For Christ's sake, look at, turn to Psalm 106. Look at verse, beginning with verse seven.

It says, our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude of thy tender mercies. They provoked him at the Red Sea, even at the Red Sea. They provoked him continually, didn't they? But look at verse eight, nevertheless, nevertheless, He saved them.

For what reason? What's it say there? For His namesake. For His namesake. That He might make His mighty power to be known. For His namesake. For Christ's sake. Listen, despite all their sin, despite all their rebellion, He saved them for His name's sake, saved them continually. That's the kind of forgiveness I need. That's the kind of forgiveness I must have. And you would think, knowing something of how the Lord has forgiven us, Wouldn't it be great if I could be maybe a little kinder, maybe a little more tender-hearted, maybe a little more forgiving, to forgive one another as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us, that he would, listen, save me.

For what? For his name's sake. For his name's sake. There's a reason he saves us, and it's for his namesake. And I came across this a while back. Let me just read this to you. He saves for his namesake. Do you need wonders? What's his name? His name is wonderful. Do you need counsel and direction? What's his name? It's the counselor. Do you have mighty enemies? What's his name? He is the mighty God. Do you need fatherly pity? He's the everlasting father. And as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

Do you need peace? We desire peace, don't we? Peace outside, peace inside, eternal peace. What's his name? It's the Prince of Peace. Do you need healing? His name's Jehovah-Ropha, the Lord that heals. Maybe you need pardon. His name's Jehovah-Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness.

Seek Him. Seek Him for His namesake. His name is Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our banner. Seek Him for His namesake. Are you in want of provision, in need of provision? His name's Jehovah Jireh. What's that mean? The Lord will provide. Do you need his presence? Jehovah Shama, the Lord is there. His name is Emmanuel. Don't we love that name? What's that mean? God with us. Do you need strength? He's the strength of Israel. Do you need shelter? He's those cities of refuge all the way throughout the Old Testament. Whatever you need? Whatever our want or need is, he has the name to satisfy it.

He has wisdom to guide, he has power to keep, he has mercy to pity you, truth to shield you, holiness to sanctify you, righteousness to justify you, grace to adorn you, glory to crown you. What are we left to do? Trust Him. Trust in Him who saves for His namesake. Nevertheless, He forgave them. For what? For His namesake. Let me just read this in closing. Be ye kind. Be ye kind one to another. tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. All right. Isaac, come lead us in closing hymn.

Forgive One Another For Christ's Sake

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about forgiveness in Ephesians 4?

How do we know that God's forgiveness is unconditional?

Why is forgiveness important for Christians?

What is the significance of forgiving others as God forgives us?

Sermon Transcript

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Forgive One Another For Christ's Sake

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about forgiveness in Ephesians 4?

How do we know that God's forgiveness is unconditional?

Why is forgiveness important for Christians?

What is the significance of forgiving others as God forgives us?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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