Keys to Forgiveness
Jesus
is the incarnate mercy of God. You can
receive Him by responding to the gospel. Part of obeying the gospel is to
This
document provides scriptural instructions on both of these topics.
In
order to believe the Gospel, you must be convicted
of your own sin. This helps you forgive
others. People tend to focus on other
people’s sin, instead of focusing on their own guilt
(see 2 Samuel 12 below). This can be a type of hypocritical judging. The gospel message puts the focus back on the
only person you can change: You.
Matthew 6:12
And forgive us our sins, just as we
have forgiven those who have sinned against us.
Read
God’s Law in the Pentateuch. Note that
every transgression you ever made of His moral law, He
had to bear the pain for it on the cross.
He also bore that pain that you bear from the person you have not
forgiven. Why are you trying to bear it?
You can’t. Let Him. Believe and be free.
Some
sit around trying real hard to forgive others.
However, the ability to forgive others from your heart is one of the
many positive side effects of obeying the gospel. Through obeying the gospel, anyone can
achieve a level of spiritual understanding that is mutually exclusive to
harboring un-forgiveness. This document
explains how that works. If you are not following the gospel, it may not make
sense to you. Either way, here goes:
John 20:20‑28
20 After
he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed
when they saw the Lord.
21 Again
Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending
you."
22 And
with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If
you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them,
they are not forgiven."
24 Now
Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when
Jesus came.
25 So the
other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to
them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where
the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
26 A week
later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though
the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be
with you!"
27 Then
he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your
hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28 Thomas
said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
(NIV)
Thomas
believed when he saw the price that Christ paid. When you realize your part in the piercing of
Jesus, and the fact that He even singles you out to give you another chance to
believe, it becomes more difficult to stop the flow of forgiveness.
Matt 6:11-15
11 Give
us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have
forgiven our debtors.
13 And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'
14 For if
you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their sins,
your Father will not forgive your
sins. (NIV)
Christ
in you will not stop letting His blood flow to others through you, covering
their sins as He did yours.
1 Pet 4:8
8 Above
all, love each other deeply, because love
covers over a multitude of sins.
(NIV)
Jesus
is love, and therefore the source from which comes your ability to love and forgive as He does. In fact, Jesus is the one alive in you who
perform these and all other miracles through you.
Luke 7:47
47 Therefore,
I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-- for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." (NIV)
Let
Him live in you and your flesh will die.
Matt 18:15-35
15 "If
your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two
of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
16 But if
he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be
established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'
17 If he
refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen
even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 "I
tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 "Again,
I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it
will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
20 For
where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
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.
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." (NIV)
Is there someone you haven’t forgiven? Don’t bother trying to hear God. Just study forgiveness in the Bible, and ask
God to show you how much He has forgiven you.
2 Samuel 12
Nathan Rebukes David
1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said,
"There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2
The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the
poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it,
and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his
cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man
refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the
traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to
the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan,
"As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6
He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had
no pity."
7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD , the God of Israel, says:
'I anointed you king over
11 "This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am
going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives
and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in
broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in
broad daylight before all
13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD
."
Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to
die. 14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the
LORD show utter contempt, [1]
the son born to you will die."
15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that
Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill.
Luke 19
7All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to
be the guest of a 'sinner.' "
8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here
and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated
anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
9Jesus said to him, "Today
salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of
Abraham.
James 5:16
16 Therefore
confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be
healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (NIV)