WELCOME
INTRODUCTION
Most of us are all familiar with the story of David & Goliath.
1 Samuel 17
We are continuing our series entitled “They Must be Giants!”
Topics over the next few weeks;
† Fear
† Loneliness
† Anger
† Addiction
Today we are talking about Un-forgiveness and how it can be the giant we face in our lives.
Un-forgiveness can hold us captive to ourselves.
Un-forgiveness can literally make us a slave to it.
Remember these points from David & Goliath over the next few sermons;
† The battle between the Palestinians and the Israelites was a spiritual one. Today it continues between the Jews and the Arabs, who are descendants of Isaac and Ishmael.
God told Abraham He would give him a son, not waiting on the promise of God, Abraham and his wife Sarah decided since she was barren, God must have meant for Abraham to have a child with someone else, so he did with Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave.
Ishmael was the first born from that encounter, and traditionally the inheritance belonged to him, but he was NOT the promise of God, and eventually, just as God said, it was, and Sarah and Abraham had a child, Isaac, who was the one God promised.
This is the problem which continues today; the descendants of Isaac (Jews) and the descendants of Ishmael (Arabs) are still at odds, and there will never be peace in the Middle East, because Abraham and Sarah did not wait on God’s promise, but tried to FULFILL it themselves.
How often we do the same thing today…
† David had the Holy Spirit just as all of those who belong to God have access to.
† David recognized the battle was spiritual even though everyone around him could not. He was walking in the spirit, not by sight, but by faith.
† When David faced the giant, he knew the battle was not a man against a giant, but a giant against a man of God.
† The battle was the Lord’s!
We must remember these points in our lives as well when we face things.
- It’s a spiritual battle
- We have the Holy Spirit
- The battle is the Lord’s
We speak so often on forgiveness, but fail to realize our battle with un-forgiveness.
SCRIPTURE READING
2 Corinthians 2:5-11
“5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”
PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT AND UNDERSTANDING
THE GIANTS NAME IS UN-FORGIVENESS
Un-forgiveness causes;
† Bitterness
† Anger
† Resentment
† Dissention
† And it causes us to sin against God as well as un-forgiveness against ourselves
The root to most problems in our lives, and relationships with others can be un-forgiveness.
Forgiveness is an important part of our faith, and MUST be exercised!
Un-forgiveness is a slow poison to our systems.
Over time, it destroys us.
Why do we find it so hard to forgive?
Is it because we feel we are controlling the person who hurt us, by not forgiving them in some way we are punishing them for what they did to us?
We try to hurt them as much as they are hurting us.
To show them how they’ve hurt us.
To try and make them understand how we hurt.
That doesn’t work though. When we try to punish others through un-forgiveness, they almost always rebel.
Those we do not forgive, never suffer as much as we do from our un-forgiveness.
Nothing compares to the damage we do to ourselves.
Yet, we do it.
Matthew 7:1-5
“1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”
What is this scripture saying?
Is it saying that we shouldn’t have discipline in the church?
That’s how some understand this.
Is it saying we should not point out sin in the congregation?
That’s how some read it.
Is it saying when a brother in Christ is sinning, we leave them alone and let them continue because we are sinning to?
Absolutely not!
Look closely at the scripture…
When we judge others in the body of Christ (as we are supposed to do), we should first look at ourselves to ensure we are not guilty of the same sin.
Otherwise we have no place to speak to that sinning brother until our plank has been removed.
The scripture says “…first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”
Sometimes, what we do not forgive of others, we ourselves are guilty of.
“I can’t forgive him, he lied to me!”
Have you lied to someone?
“I can’t forgive them, they gossiped about me!”
Have you ever gossiped about someone?
If so, we keep ourselves in a state of un-forgiveness, because we refuse to examine ourselves when we feel someone has wronged us.
We are missing the “Right Perspective” in the situation.
That “Right Perspective” that David had when he arrived on the battle field.
To see what was REALLY going on.
We are seeing with our eyes, and not the Spirit.
We are walking in the flesh and not God’s Spirit.
Why does God have a problem with Un-forgiveness?
Because it is a form of pride.
How?
It’s about what “THEY” did to “ME”.
Nothing good comes from un-forgiveness.
Nothing.
WHY SHOULD WE FORGIVE?
1. If we do not forgive, it cuts US off from forgiveness.
Matthew 6:12
“Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
The word used in the literal translation for debt is “Fault”
Lord, forgive our faults, as we also forgive the faults of others…
As we forgive other’s faults, the Lord forgives our faults.
The scripture continues in;
Matthew 6:15
“But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
In the literal the word paraptoma is in the place of trespasses, and it means;
A side-slip, i.e. (unintentional) error or (willful) wrongdoing.
So Matthew 6:15 is saying, if you do not forgive people when they unintentionally hurt you, or even when they willfully do you wrong, the Father in heaven will not forgive you.
We unintentionally hurt God every day, and some willfully do God wrong, yet forgiveness is available for us, and should be available from us.
Remember, we are the Body of Christ, and we are living testaments of God, His love and His forgiveness.
When we do not forgive others, we give the impression that our God is not a loving and forgiving God.
We need to forgive because it keeps forgiveness from us when we don’t, and it gives the wrong impression of God and His forgiving love.
2. If we do not forgive, it cuts US off from prayer requests.
Mark 11:24-25
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
Un-forgiveness can hinder our prayer to the Lord.
3. If we do not forgive, it cuts US off from being able to give offerings to the Lord.
Matthew 5:21-22 & 23-24
“21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment…”
Many times un-forgiveness goes hand in hand with anger towards the one you have not forgiven.
“23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”
Un-forgiveness hurts us and our relationship with the Lord.
Peter asked Jesus about forgiveness;
Matthew 18:21-22
“21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
77 times in the NIV is an error.
In the literal Hebrew says 70 X 7. Not 70 plus 7.
70 X 7
Peter was asking if 7 times was correct because 7 is the biblical number for completeness, or perfection.
But Jesus said, 70 X 7 = 490
What did that mean?
That you were to forgive only 490 times?
No. The real significance is found in history.
You see, in 607 B.C. Daniel said there would be 70 Weeks before the door closed for the Jews. That door was opened in 970 B.C. when Solomon became King and built the First Temple!
We know that the Temple represent Jesus Christ and the path to salvation and forgiveness.
In prophecy, one week refers to 1 year. We know this from scripture when ever it discusses things such as the tribulation, described as being 7 weeks.
As we know, after 490 years exactly to the day, the Gentiles became the main focus because the Jews had missed the time of their own visitation from the messiah, they rejected Christ.
And now was the time of the Gentiles.
God forgave 490 years.
What Jesus was saying is this.
We need to forgive as God forgives.
God forgives us our sins; therefore we are to forgive others their sins against us.
After Jesus says this to Peter He tells him a parable about an unmerciful servant.
We are servants of the Lord and we need to show mercy, and in doing so mercy is shown to us by our master.
Listen to the Parable.
Matthew 18:23-35
“23 "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29 "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
30 "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
LISTEN!!!!!
We have all sinned, and the wages, the debt owed for sin is death.
You owed a debt to your master – The Lord for your sin.
Unable to pay that debt, you asked for pity and it was given by our master, the Lord forgave you of your debt!
This is Salvation.
If a small debt, (in comparison to the debt you owed to the Lord – your life – in which you were forgiven!) if a small debt is owed you, someone hurts you, or does you wrong, or sins against you, you must be merciful and forgive them.
The servant in the parable was NOT merciful and did not forgive the small debt owed to him.
And he abused and punished the one who owed him.
When you see the master face to face, he will say to you, “You wicked servant! I cancelled your debt which was far greater! I gave you mercy! And you have shown no mercy.”
The master turned the wicked servant over to the jailers to be tortured until he paid his debt.”
Jesus tells us something else…
35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
To be turned over to the jailers to be tortured until the debt is paid.
How is our debt to the Lord paid?
Through Christ’s forgiveness.
When we forgive others, we too are forgiven.
When we do not forgive others, we are unforgiven, and living in a state of torture until we reconcile.
Un-forgiveness hurts us and our relationship with the Lord.
Forgiveness is a MUST!
Forgiveness is easier than you know.
This Giant that we face in our life, this Goliath named un-forgiveness, is part of our spiritual battle.
We battle not against flesh and blood.
We need to approach this fight in the right perspective, through the eyes of the Holy Spirit, and realize that this is the Lord’s fight, and who is greater than our Lord?
All things are possible through Christ Jesus who strengthens us!
Forgiveness can happen today!
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