Turn back to Matthew chapter
6. And the Lord was teaching us of prayer. And in this prayer, he teaches
us to pray in verse 12, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. The little word as is a conjunction
meaning in the same manner. It's also translated even as
or like as. Can I pray this prayer? Father,
forgive me the way I forgive other people. That's what our
Lord is teaching us to pray. Father, forgive me in the same
manner like I forgive other people. Look in verses 14 and 15 of the
same chapter. 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. You know, that kind of blows
our mind, doesn't it? Blows our mind. Is that works? Is that what that's teaching?
That we won't be forgiven unless we first forgive? That almost
sounds like works. That's what we think. Look in
Mark chapter 11 for a moment. Verse 25. Mark 11, verse 25,
and when you stand praying forgive if you have ought against
any." It's almost as if he says, don't even continue praying until
you get this straightened out. You forgive if you have anything
against anybody, forgive them. 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. And there are two different ways
to take that. Do I need to remind us that we
are commanded to forgive? This is a commandment. And if
we do not forgive, the Lord tells us plainly, in no uncertain words,
we will not be forgiven. Now, you and I will be wronged. You've been wronged before. We
will be sinned against. We will be slandered. We will
be maligned. We will be misrepresented. We
will be judged harshly by people. We will be criticized and thrown
under the bus. We'll have things attributed
to us and projected upon us that are not true. Anyone else? We'll do the same. How many times
have I maligned somebody? How many times have I slandered
somebody's character? How many times have I misrepresented
somebody, judged them harshly, projected things upon them that
were not true, and thrown them under the bus? Huh. You know what this is called? Life. Sinners being around other sinners.
Isn't that so? What are we to do? forgive. I am either a forgiving person
or I am harboring bitterness, anger, and resentment for how
I perceive I have been wronged. I'm one of those two people.
I'm either forgiving or I'm harboring resentment. I might do a good
job of masking it, but it is still there. Now, understand
this about forgiveness. Forgiveness is a gospel issue. If I fail to forgive you, I prove
by that I don't really understand the gospel. You see, the gospel,
and this is one of the things I love about the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel begins with the forgiveness of
sins. It doesn't end there. There's
not a process we need to go through in order to merit forgiveness.
The gospel begins with God freely, frankly, and completely forgiving
me of all my sins for Christ's sake. Isn't that glorious? Forgiveness is not optional. I'm commanded to forgive, and
if I do not forgive, I will not be forgiven. And this thing of
forgiveness is ongoing and continual. When the Lord said, you're to
forgive 70 times 7, now that's the 488th time. I only got two more times and
then I can start getting mad again. That is, means continual,
non-stop, non-stop. Seventy times seven is not a
mathematical equation. It means all the time. And when we have a problem with
this thing of forgiving someone, forgiving him from our hearts,
if we have a problem with that, when we see him, We project how
we are on the Lord. We think, well, he resents us,
and he's mad at us, and he's angry with us, and he's, we project
the way we are upon him. I think it's interesting when
the Lord said in Psalm 50, thou thoughtest I was altogether such
a one as yourself. Well, aren't you glad he's not
like me and you? That's so glorious. Now the first time forgiveness
is mentioned in scripture, I think this is interesting, whenever
I'm going to try to deal with the subject, I always like to
look at the first time it's mentioned. The first time it's mentioned
is in Genesis chapter 50. That's the first time the word
is used. Turn with me there for a moment,
Genesis chapter 50. Now this takes place 17 years after Joseph had made himself
known to his brethren. We'll get there in Genesis 45
in a little bit, but it's the most beautiful picture of forgiveness.
And now Jacob has died, and Jacob's brother says, uh-oh, payback
time. The only reason he is not dealt
with us in justice, it's because of our father. But now that our
father's dead, he's going to get us. You see, they were projecting
upon Joseph the way they were. Now look in Genesis chapter 50,
verse 15. And when Joseph's brethren saw
that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will perventure
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. I don't know if he really did
this, but they said that. Thy father did command before he
died saying, so shall you say unto Joseph, forgive. There's
the first time we use the final word in the scriptures. Forgive,
I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin
for they did unto the evil. And now we pray thee, forgive
the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And
Joseph wept when they spake unto him. You remember the story, Joseph
with, turn back to Genesis 37. Joseph was the favorite of his
father. Look in verses three and four.
Now Joseph, 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. 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." Now, we can see where
these fellows have issues, can't you? I mean, he really wasn't
right in showing that preference, although we know that this is
a beautiful picture of the gospel, and we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the favorite of his father. We know that. But still,
you can see where they would hate him for that. They were
jealous of him. His father showed that preference to him over them.
Look in verse 5. And he said in 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 have dreamed. For behold, now we were
binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose, and also
stood upright. And behold, your sheaf stood
about me, and made obeisance to my sheaf. You worship me.
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 behold, he told it to his brethren, behold,
I am to him to dream more, and behold, the sun and the moon
and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his
father and to his brethren, and his father rebuked him and said
unto him, What is this that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy
mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to
thee on the earth? and his brethren envied him,
but his father observed the same." Now, you can see where there
were some issues going on here. I mean, that's easy enough, isn't
it? I mean, look at the way his father was doing. Now, you remember
what they did to Joseph. They said, we're going to kill
him. That was their intention. When they see him coming to bring
them back something from their father, they see and they said,
we're going to kill him. And so they conspired to kill him,
and they thought, well, we can't get any benefit out of it. So
they ended up throwing him down in a pit. taking his coat of
many collars and dipping it in blood, so they can tell their
father that he was devoured by an evil beast, and they sell
him as a slave to the Midianites." Now, you want to talk about cruel
and unusual treatment of their brother. I don't care if they
did envy him. Look at the way they did him.
And look at the way they did their dad. I mean, here this
was their dad's favorite child. He's dead. He's dead. They lied
to him, let him go through that grief to get rid of Joseph. Now
you go on in the story of Joseph. He's sold to Potiphar. And there
he does very well. Potiphar gives him control over
all of his goods. And then Potiphar's wife tries
to get David to commit adultery with her. Not David, but Joseph.
And Joseph wouldn't do it. He said, how can I sin against
God? Your husband has committed everything to me. And I'm not
going to do that. And so she accused him of rape
when he wouldn't touch her. And he's thrown into prison.
And there he sits in prison, talking about a man who had one
bad thing after another happen to him. And there he is in prison. And while he's in prison, there's
a butler and a baker who have some dreams. He interprets the
dreams. You can go back and read what took place for yourself.
And his interpretations came to pass. So sometime later, a
couple of years later, he's still rotting in prison. And Pharaoh
has some dreams. And the butler remembers, there's
a man in prison that knows how to interpret dreams. And all
the wise men of Egypt couldn't interpret the dreams, so Pharaoh
has Joseph brought in to see if he can interpret the dreams. And beginning in verse 25 of
chapter 41, I want you to see where Joseph is brought after
all this. And Joseph said unto Pharaoh,
The dream of Pharaoh was won. God has showed Pharaoh what he's
about to do. The seven good kind are seven years, and the seven
good years are seven years. The dream is won. The seven thin
and ill-favored kind that came up are the seven years, and then
seven year empty blasted with east wind shall be seven years
of famine. This is the thing which I've spoken unto Pharaoh.
What God is about to do, he showeth unto Pharaoh. And he let Pharaoh
know what was going to take place. There were going to be seven
years of plenty, and after that, seven years of famine. And the
Lord is letting Pharaoh know this so that all kinds of food
can be saved and that's what he put Joseph in charge of. Joseph
was in charge of saving all the food so they could survive those
seven years of famine and Joseph became the most powerful man
in the world. in the world at that time. Pharaoh
said concerning him, anything you're going to have, you're
going to have to ask Joseph for it. Isn't that a beautiful picture of Christ?
Anything you're going to have, you're going to have to ask Christ
for it. He's the only way you're going to have it. And he becomes
the most powerful man in the world. Now, the famine comes
in. And it happens to Jacob and all
of his sons where they're at in the land of Canaan. The famine
comes in and they're starving to death. And Jacob hears there's
corn in Egypt. There's a place you can get food,
Egypt. So he sends his boys to Egypt
and they're brought before Joseph. They have no idea that it's Joseph. No idea. Joseph knows who they
are though. He remembers them, but he goes
ahead and speaks in the Egyptian language, and he speaks to them
roughly, and so on. And he starts asking about, he
said, is your father alive? Do you have a younger brother?
He remembered Benjamin. He remembered all those things. I mean, he saw them clearly and
started asking these questions. They were scared to death. How
does he know this stuff about us? What's going on here? And
he said, I'm going to give you this food, but you're not going
to be able to get any more food unless you bring your younger
brother, his brother, Benjamin, the last of the 12 patriarchs. You're not going to get anything
unless you bring him back with you. They said okay, so they
go home, get their food, and after some time they run out
again. And they need to go back to get more food. Now look in
chapter 43. And the famine was sore in the land, and it came
to pass, when they'd eaten up the corn which they'd brought
out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a
little food. And Judah spake unto him. Remember, Judah's the
seed to whom Christ came. He's the lion of the tribe of
Judah. And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly
protest us, saying, You shall not see my face, except your
brother be with you. If thou wilt send our brother
with us, we'll 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 you had a brother? And they said, the man asked
us straightly of our state and of our kindred saying, is your
father yet alive? Has he yet another brother? And
we told him according to the tenor of his words, could we
certainly have known what he'd say, bring your brother down?
And Judah said unto 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 my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ said of me. I'll be surety for him. Of my
hand you'll require of him whatever you require of him, you look
to me for. And if I don't bring him, let me bear the blame forever. So you know the story. They go
back with Judah. Judah, as the surety of Benjamin,
I'll guarantee the boy's safety. So they come. He sees Benjamin. Joseph sees Benjamin. He still
recognizes him. They don't know who he is, but he knows who they
are. And he gives them food, and he sends them back, and he
plants a chalice, his own drinking cup, in Benjamin's sack. He plants it. And then when they
leave, he has people go there, and they're accused of stealing
that. And he said, so Benjamin's going to stay with me forever.
You remember that? And that's when Judah said, it'll
kill his father. I agreed to be surety for him. And then in chapter 45, we have
this. This is when Joseph could not, look at chapter 45, verse
one. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried, cause
every man to go out for me. And there stood no man with him
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. Can you imagine
how they freaked out? I bet they were scared to death. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians
in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. I bet they didn't hear anything
else. Oh no, after what we've done to him and here he is with
us in his hands, we are in trouble and where we should be. Does my father yet live? And
his brethren could not answer him for they were troubled at
his presence. And Joseph said to 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 before
we go on, how many times have you heard, if you don't forget,
you've not forgiven. Joseph said, I remember. You sold me into Egypt. I know exactly what you did and
it was wrong as it can be. But look what he says next in
verse 5. 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 the which
there shall neither be yearing nor harvest and God sent me before
you to preserve your 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. And he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt." Now, he had forgiven his brethren.
He didn't forget it. He knew exactly what they'd done. I'm
sure he remembered it many times, rehearsed it over in his mind.
but he forgave them. Do you know that true forgiveness
from the heart is rooted in some kind of spiritual understanding
of the absolute sovereignty of God? You did this, he did it. He did
it for wise, holy, good, and glorious purposes. You did this,
he did it. How can we reconcile man's responsibility
and God's absolute sovereignty? They don't need to be reconciled.
You did it, he did it. And what we're doing when we
ask that question is God needs to give an answer to me. No,
he doesn't. No, he doesn't. He gives no account of his matters. Who are you to reply against
God? Who am I to reply against God? He doesn't owe us an explanation.
It's ours to trust. God did this. He did it to preserve
life. He did it for wise and holy purposes. And he forgave them before they
asked for forgiveness. I think this is interesting.
I've heard, well, you can't really forgive unless somebody asks
you to be forgiven. Oh, let's analyze that for a
moment. When the Lord said, Father, forgive them, had they yet asked
for forgiveness? No, not at all. As far as that goes, if you can
only be forgiven for the sins you've asked for forgiveness
for, I would say most of the sins you and I have committed,
we don't even know about. Most of them. I mean, we're so ignorant
and many of the things we do are sinful and we don't even
know it. We didn't confess them. Forgiveness is sheer liberality. I love to think of the Lord's
forgiveness. Here's an earthly illustration
of forgiveness. I've got my Toyota Avalon outside,
black, shiny, just washed it yesterday. I always try to wash
it before Sunday so it doesn't look bad when I bring it in.
I like that car. One of y'all run into it and
put a dent in it, I forgive you. Give me your insurance card. That is not forgiveness. I forgive you when I said, you're
forgiven, I'll take care of it. Nothing you need to do. When we forgive, we remove our
right to make the other person pay. I'll forgive you, I just don't
want to have anything to do with you. That's not forgiveness at
all. That is still punishing. Now,
a couple of things I want me and you to remember. When a believer
wrongs you, Christ was punished for that
sin. And God is satisfied. you be satisfied too. If an unbeliever wrongs you,
don't forget he is going to perish forever in hell, paying for his
sin. Do you want to add to that? Forgive. Forgiving, and I say this reverently
and I say this fearfully, Forgiving somebody else is the most God-like
thing me or you can ever do. To forgive as we have been forgiven. Now when we refuse to forgive,
you know what it's called? Hypocrisy. But I don't deserve to be treated
like that. No, you deserve to be treated
worse every time. What we have done toward the
Lord is certainly much worse than what any son of Adam has
done toward us in our sin against him. Now, in this thing of forgiveness,
I love to think of the way the Lord and this is such a this
is a horrible thing to think about. It's a hard thing to think
about, but it's a glorious thing to think about. I commit the same sins over and
over and over. Do you? I mean the same sins
over and over and over. And you know what the Lord does?
He forgives over and over and over. Now how does the Lord continue
to forgive when my sins are so grievous, when they're so familiar,
when they're so repetitive? How does he continue to forgive
those sins? I brought a message a couple
of months ago on why God continues to forgive sins out of numbers.
It was on Wednesday night. Some of you heard it, but the
point was Israel said, we're going back to Egypt. We've had
it with, we're not going this direction anymore. We're going
back to Egypt. They kept doing the same thing over and over
and over again. Lord said, I'm going to kill them all. I'm going
to smite them with a pestilence. And I'm going to make, he says to
Moses, I'm going to make of you a greater and mightier nation
than they. And Moses started praying for him. He said, oh,
look, Lord, forgive him. If you don't forgive them, here's
what's going to take place. The Egyptians are going to say,
because the Lord wasn't able to save them, He slew them in
the wilderness. Now the issue of forgiveness
is God's ability. Does God have to have anything
to work with to forgive you? How sorry you are or how you
intend to never do it again or how much better? No, God doesn't
have to have anything to work with. He forgives because it's
for His glory. How He's glorified in forgiving
somebody like me. How He's glorified in forgiving.
It magnifies His grace. He forgives sins because that's
who He is. He said, I'm the Lord, the Lord God, merciful, gracious,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. He forgives because
that's who He is. He forgives because of justification. You see, He's made it to where
you're not guilty. Those sins you've committed,
they've been blotted out. They're not guilty. They're no
more. You're justified before God. It's like you had no sin
before Him. If you're in Christ, so you're
forgiven. He forgives you because all those sins you've committed,
they've already been forgiven. When Christ said it is finished,
they were all forgiven. He forgives because the ground
of forgiveness is always the same. It's always the blood of
Christ. It's always the same. There's one reason why He forgives
and that's always powerful and fresh before the Lord. That's
why Christ is called the new and living, freshly slaughtered
way. His blood is always powerful
before the Lord. When I see the blood, God said.
Not when you see it. Not when I see your sorrow or
your asking for forgiveness or your intentions to never do it
again and all the lies we tell. But when I see the blood. I will pass over you. God's reason
for forgiveness is always the same. He forgives because of
the Lord Jesus Christ, for Christ's sake. Now Joseph forgave all
they did because he had an understanding. And beloved, regarding everything
that happens to us, God did it. Everything, the good stuff, the
bad stuff, the painful stuff, doesn't matter what it is. God
did it for your good and his glory. And Joseph said, it wasn't
you who did it, but God. If we can't forgive someone,
because he's not asked, or he's not sorry enough, or he hadn't
confessed it sufficiently. Here's what we say by that. I
don't really believe that salvation is all by grace. That's what I'm saying. I don't
really believe that salvation is all by grace. Brethren, beloved,
we forgive because we have been forgiven. That's the only reason we need.
We forgive because we have been forgiven. What a blessed thing
it is to have your sins forgiven, blotted out, washed away, canceled,
so that I stand before God without guilt. without sin, justified. And I can't forgive somebody?
No. Now, I want to close this message
by giving you three biblical rules of forgiveness. Turn with
me to Colossians chapter three. Colossians, the third chapter. Paul says in verse 12, put on
therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies,
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, here's one thing I want
to bring out about how Christ forgives. He forgives all sin. There's nothing that he doesn't
forgive when he forgives. He forgives A-double-L all sin. Completely. And when He forgives,
He doesn't continue to punish us or withhold Himself from us. He receives us completely. He receives us just like Joseph
did his brother. And turn back to Genesis 50 for
a moment. His brothers are scared to death,
verse 15, and when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead,
they said, Joseph will prefer adventure, hate us, and will
certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. You
see, they were attributing to him what they were. That's the
way they would handle things. They don't yet understand forgiveness.
And they sent a messenger unto Joseph saying, thy father did
command before he died, saying, so shall you say unto Joseph,
forgive, I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren. Isn't
it irritating when somebody expects you to forgive them? Lynn, don't
look at me bad. You know, you ought to forgive. You ought to forgive. You ought
to forgive. 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 unto him. And his brethren also went
and fell down before his face. And they said, Behold, we be
thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I
in the place of God. You don't need to treat me like
that. I'm not God. But as for you, you thought evil
against me, there's no question about that. But God meant it
unto good to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much
people alive. Now therefore, fear ye not, I
will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them and
spake kindly unto them." Isn't that beautiful? Now turn to Ephesians
chapter 4. First rule of forgiveness, forgive
as Christ forgave you. This is a verse of scripture
I quote a lot, verse 32. And be ye kind one to another. That word kind means easy, it's
actually translated easy, gracious, not holding somebody's feet to
the fire. Be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Oh,
may I have this easy, non-harsh, non-judgmental, tender-hearted,
compassionate attitude, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. You realize that salvation
is for Christ's sake. You realize that forgiveness
is for Christ's sake. You realize that it comes wholly
because of him. And you forgive for the same
reason. Finally, 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? I mean, is
that the limitation? Seven's a lot. Jesus saith unto him, I say unto
thee until, not, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until
seventy times seven. That means continually. Therefore
is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king. Now remember,
this thing of forgiveness has something to do with the kingdom
of heaven. It has something to do with the gospel. It has something
to do with whether I really believe the gospel. Let's go on reading.
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a certain king which
would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon,
one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents, a debt
that he could not possibly pay. But for as much as he had not
to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and
children, and all that he had in payment to be made. The servant
therefore fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience
with me, and I will pay thee all. Now that was a lie. He could
not pay this debt. It would be impossible for him
to do that. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion. And he just forgave him. He loosed
him completely of his debt. He no longer owed a penny. Now, I don't know who the most
person who is the most in debt here money-wise, but maybe you
owe for your house, you know, several hundred thousand dollars.
You're still making payments. It's difficult to do. What if
all of a sudden the bank said, it's all paid. You don't owe
anything to anybody. Well, this fellow had a whole
lot more than that. taken away. He didn't owe a dime to anybody
because his master was so compassionate toward him to forgive and loose
his debt. Verse 28, but the same servant
went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him
a hundred pence. Fifteen bucks. Fifteen bucks. Ten million dollars and fifteen
bucks. His fellow servants owed him fifteen dollars. And he laid
hands on him, and he took him by the throat, saying, Pay me
that thou ow'st. And his fellow servants fell
down at his feet beside him, saying, Have patience with me,
and I'll pay thee all. He could come up with fifteen dollars
sooner or later. And he would not, but he went and cast him
into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow
servants 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 called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I
forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not
thou also have had 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, which he'd never be able to do it. And look what the Lord
says. So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts Forgive not
everyone his brother their trespasses. How is forgiveness toward others
to be done? From the heart. From the heart. Now, in this human experience,
I'm gonna wrong you. I wish I would, and I wish I'd
never do it again, but I know me. I know me, and I will wrong
you. And you know what? You'll wrong
me if we're in a relationship or around each other. I mean,
if you just see me every now and then, I mean, nothing I know,
but I mean, I'm gonna wrong my wife. She's gonna wrong me. I
wrong her more than she wrongs me. What are we to do? Forgive. Forgive one another. even in
the same manner as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." And
it's such a blessing to forgive. It takes away all the, all I've
been treated wrong and all that foolishness. What a blessing. May the Lord
enable me and you to be truly forgiving people. If I do something to wrong you,
that gives you an opportunity to forgive me. And vice versa. May the Lord cause this to take
deep root in our hearts and to make us truly forgiving men and
women. Let's pray.