forgivness

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FORGIVENESS
1. Commandments of God
Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as
yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law
and the Prophets.”
2. New Commandment from Jesus
John 13:34-35
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one
another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love for one another.”
3. Matthew 6:14-15
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will
your Father forgive your trespasses.”
4. Obedience to God brings blessing.
5. Forgiveness is at the heart of the cross.
6. By forgiving fully, we can come into the full blessing of
God and know His assurance of Salvation and have his
love fully in our lives.
7. Unforgiveness brings all forms of disease and we can
retain the sins of others, thus bringing disease and
problems into our lives:
Matthew 6:22-23
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is
good, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of
darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness,
how great is that darkness!”
8. Remedy:
a) Love your enemies.
b) Bless those who curse you.
c) Do good to those who hate you and pray for those who
despitefully use you and persecute you.
Matthew 5:44-48
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who
curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for
those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you
may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His
sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?
Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more
than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in
heaven is perfect.”
9. Christians tormented:
Matthew 18:21-35
Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall
my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven
times?”
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times,
but up to seventy times seven.
Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who
wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was
brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that
he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had,
and that payment be made.
The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master,
have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’
Then the master of that servant was moved with
compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
But that servant went out and found one of his fellow
servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid
hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me
what you owe!’
So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him,
saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’
And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he
should pay the debt.
So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they
were very grieved, and came and told their master all that
had been done.
Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You
wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you
begged me.
Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow
servant, just as I had pity on you?’
And his master was angry, and delivered him to the
torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you,
from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
10. We must forgive when praying
Mark 11:22-26
“So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God.
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,
‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt
in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be
done, he will have whatever he says.
Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you
pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything
against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may
also forgive you your trespasses.
But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father
in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
11. Testimony of John the Apostle
1 John 1:1-9
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word
of life - the life was manifested, and we have seen, and
bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was
with the Father and was manifested to us—
that which we have seen and heard we declare to you,
that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our
fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
This is the message which we have heard from Him and
declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness
at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in
darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
12. We cannot say we love God and hate our brother:
1 John 2:9-11
He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in
darkness until now.
He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no
cause for stumbling in him.
But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in
darkness, and does not know where he is going, because
the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1 John 4:20-21
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is
a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has
seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
And this commandment we have from Him: that he who
loves God must love his brother also.
13. How to receive an answer to prayer:
1 John 3:21-23
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have
confidence toward God.
And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we
keep His commandments and do those things that are
pleasing in His sight.
AND THIS IS HIS COMMANDMENT: THAT WE
SHOULD BELIEVE ON THE NAME OF HIS SON JESUS
CHRIST AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER, AS HE GAVE US
COMMANDMENT.
14. Forgiving or retaining the sins of others:
John 20:23
“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you
retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
15. Testimony
16. Example from South Africa of forgiveness
17. Forgiveness example:
AMAZING GRACE
Imagine this scene from a recent courtroom trial in South
Africa: A frail black woman stands slowly to her feet. She
is something over 70 years of age. Facing her from across
the room are several white security police officers, one of
whom, Mr van der Broek, has just been tried and found
implicated in the murders of both the woman’s son and her
husband some years before.
It was indeed Mr van der Broek, it has now been
established, who had come to the woman’s home a
number of years back, taken her son, shot him at point-blank
range and then burned the young man’s body on a
fire while he and his officers partied nearby.
Several years later, van der Broek and his cohorts had
returned to take away her husband as well. For many
months she heard nothing of his whereabouts. Then,
almost two years after her husband’s disappearance, Mr
van der Broek came back to fetch the woman herself.
How vividly she remembers that evening, going to a place
beside a river where she was shown her husband, bound
and beaten, but still strong in spirit, lying on a pile of wood.
The last words she heard from his lips as the officers
poured gasoline over his body and set him aflame were,
“Father, forgive them”.
And now the woman stands in the courtroom and listens
to the confessions offered by Mr van der Broek. A member
of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission
turns to her and asks, “So, what do you want? How should
justice be done to this man who has so brutally destroyed
your family?”
I want three things,” begins the old woman calmly, but
confidently. “I want first to be taken to the place where my
husband’s body was burned so that I can gather up the
dust and give his remains a decent burial.”
She pauses, then continues. “My husband and son were
my only family. I want, secondly, therefore, for Mr van der
Broek to become my son. I would like for him to come
twice a month to the ghetto and spend a day with me
so that I can pour out on him whatever love I still have
remaining within me.”
“And, finally,” she says, “I want a third thing. I would like
Mr van der Broek to know that I offer him my forgiveness
because Jesus Christ died to forgive. This was also the
wish of my husband. And so, I would kindly ask someone
to come to my side and lead me across the courtroom so
that I can take Mr van der Broek in my arms, embrace him
and let him know that he is truly forgiven.”
As the court assistants come to lead the elderly woman
across the room, Mr van der Broek, overwhelmed by
what he has just heard, faints. And as he does, those in
the courtroom, friends, family, neighbours – all victims of
decades of oppression and injustice – begin to sing, softly,
but assuredly, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that
saved a wretch like me.”
-- Found in the June 1999 newsletter of Mennonite Church
Peace and Justice Committee. Retold by James R. Krabill,
Mennonite Board of Missions vice president for Mission
Advocacy and Communication.