Forgiveness

Romans 2:1-4 – Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 

Luke 15:10 – Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Schedule a meeting with God and write out the list of debts the person(s) you need to forgive has accrued to you. Then have what we call a “canceling the record of debt.” Burn your list to remind yourself of the flames of hell from which Jesus saved you, or bury it to remind yourself that Jesus was buried for your sin.

As you forgive, imagine Jesus Christ getting up off His throne to cheer for you while the devil flees from you. As light casts out darkness, so forgiveness casts out the demonic.

Not only that, but forgiveness also makes the opportunity easier for the person who sinned against you to repent to God and you, because kindness leads to repentance. When you forgive others, you get out of the way and let God deal with them directly.

Think of the possibility that you could forgive someone right now, and Jesus would jump off His throne to celebrate like a rabid sports fan at a game with the angels joining in. Then the person who sinned against you one day repents, and Jesus jumps up to lead the angels in yet another all-out victory celebration, as everyone is a winner when there is forgiveness!

To order the new book from Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll “Win Your War”, visit: https://amzn.to/2YuhoDn.

For the entire eight-week “Win Your War” sermon series from Pastor Mark, visit www.markdriscoll.org or the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.

Ephesians 4:26-32 – Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Anger is not a sin, as God Himself gets angry. Anger, however, can lead us to sin if we are not careful.

To carry anger from the daytime into the nighttime is dragging yesterday’s anger into today. You know that old anger is still with you when the words you say violate the command to “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up.”

This is doubly true when Christians war with Christians in front of non-Christians, because the only person who wins that war is the devil. To defeat the demonic, the Bible commands us to forgive one another “as God in Christ forgave you.” This kind of forgiveness is not natural but rather supernatural.

Thankfully, the same Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus to pay your debt and forgive your sin is also standing at the ready to empower you to forgive. He wants to help you forgive those who have wronged you so the demonic forces causing you harm can be replaced by His hope and healing. When you focus on the one who hurt you, you ignore the One who can heal you. When you forgive, you stop focusing on winning and start focusing on worshipping.

When you forgive, you do not let those who wrong you get away with anything but rather let yourself get away from everything. When you forgive, you not only bless them, but you also bless yourself. When you forgive, you trade the haunting of unholy spirits for the healing of the Holy Spirit.

To order the new book from Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll “Win Your War”, visit: https://amzn.to/2YuhoDn.

For the entire eight-week “Win Your War” sermon series from Pastor Mark, visit www.markdriscoll.org or the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.

2 Corinthians 2:5-11 – Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Acts 7:59-60 – And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

When you choose not to forgive, you are choosing to welcome the demonic into your life.

The Bible often speaks of unforgiveness and the demonic together. Many of those sections are written by Paul, who previously worked for the devil, persecuting Christians and murdering the early church leader Stephen. While dying, Stephen echoed Jesus and prayed for his murderers, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

Stephen’s prayer was answered. Paul was saved, forgiven of his debt to God by Jesus Christ, and he stopped serving Satan and started serving his Savior by preaching forgiveness.

Who has caused you pain? The Holy Spirit through Paul teaches that when we are hurt, Satan seeks access to us, our family, and our church family.

Is there anyone you have not fully forgiven from the heart? How has the demonic used your hurt to cause you more hurt?

Consider for a moment what the complete record of all your sins would be. Don’t overlook any thought you have had, deed you have done, word you have said, or motive you have hidden. Also recount your sins of omission, where you have failed to do right. How many pages long would all of the debts from your life be?

Now, believe by faith that when the soldiers drove the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet, they were in the spirit realm also nailing the record of your sinful debts to the cross. How did Jesus defeat and disarm the demonic? By paying the price of death for your debt to God to be forgiven.

To defeat and disarm the demonic, you must forgive as you have been forgiven.

To order the new book from Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll “Win Your War”, visit: https://amzn.to/2YuhoDn.

For the entire eight-week “Win Your War” sermon series  from Pastor Mark, visit www.markdriscoll.org or the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.

James 3:14-15 – But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

Matthew 18:23-28 – Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, “Pay what you owe.”

Bitterness, or unforgiveness, is a vehicle by which demonic forces travel into your life and relationships.

Hell is the place of unforgiveness; when you do not forgive, you are pulling hell up into your life. Heaven is the place of forgiveness; when you forgive, you are inviting heaven down into your life.

The parable of the unforgiving servant is a picture of the gospel of forgiveness. This is how Jesus treats us.

But the man forgiven of a great debt confronts another man who owes him a much smaller debt. Rather than forgiving the man in the same way he had been forgiven, Jesus says he seized the man and “began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him. The forgiven man refused and put him in prison.

The image of the jailer in Jesus’ teaching is Satan and the demonic realm. Satan and his demons condemn you, haunt you, and torment you. They encourage you to respond to your hurt by hurting others and to your torment by tormenting others. God creates forgiveness, and Satan counterfeits it with bitterness.

To order the new book from Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll “Win Your War”, visit: https://amzn.to/2YuhoDn.

For the entire eight-week “Win Your War” sermon series  from Pastor Mark, visit www.markdriscoll.org or the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.

Colossians 3:12-17 – Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Not only are you a sinner, but you are also a victim of sinners. Just as you have done evil that pains God, others have done evil that pains you. Who owes you? Who has done the greatest damage, caused the deepest pain, and left the ugliest scar?

Forgiveness is not only a gift we receive from God but also a gift God requires us to share. Forgiven people should be forgiving people.

When you forgive someone, you treat your enemy as God treated you when you were His enemy. When you forgive someone, you leave the matter in God’s hands and move on with your life. Forgiveness does not require trust; forgiveness is free, but trust is earned. Neither does forgiveness require reconciling the relationship. Forgiving is the first step in blessing someone. In fact, blessing your enemy is the test of whether you have actually forgiven them, as Jesus says, “from your heart.” Until you can in some way bless them, you have not truly forgiven them. Why? Because God has not only forgiven you but also blessed you, and how you treat others should reflect, or glorify, how God in Christ has treated you.

To order the new book from Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll “Win Your War”, visit: https://amzn.to/2YuhoDn.

For the entire eight-week “Win Your War” sermon series  from Pastor Mark, visit www.markdriscoll.org or the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.

Romans 6:19-23 – I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Mark 10:45 – For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

God is the biggest victim in all of history. Everyone has sinned against God, and God has sinned against no one. Rather than making us pay, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay our debt to God. This was necessary because the debt (or wage) owed to God for sin is payable only by death. The Bible uses the term ransom to explain our spiritual debt to God.

Most religions have some concept of human failure and a debt to be paid. This is because God made us with a conscience, and even if we do not know how good God is, we do know how bad we are. In basically every religion except Christianity you have to pay back your debt. Hinduism teaches that you need to reincarnate and suffer to pay off your debt to karma. In Islam, your good works need to outweigh your bad works so that you can pay off your debt to God.

The only person who has ever walked the earth that has never sinned or accrued any spiritual debt is Jesus Christ. He lived a life we have not lived, died the death we should have died, and paid the price we could not pay.

If you belong to Jesus Christ, you are totally, completely, and eternally forgiven for all of your sin in the past, present, and future. Jesus paid the highest price for you and forgives your debt to God as a free gift called grace.

To order the new book from Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll “Win Your War”, visit: https://amzn.to/2YuhoDn.

For the entire eight-week “Win Your War” sermon series  from Pastor Mark, visit www.markdriscoll.org or the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.

Luke 11:4 – …and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.

Romans 12:17-21 – Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Unforgiveness is the opposite of love. When we keep a record of wrongs, we are acting as an accountant and keeping score of the spiritual debt others have accrued to us. This is why unforgiving people say things such as, “They owe me,” “I will make them pay,” and “I will get even.”

Jesus teaches us that when we forgive someone, we are canceling whatever debt they owe us. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray, “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Perhaps teaching it on a different occasion, Jesus makes a slight modification: “forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” Did you catch the difference? Jesus uses the words “debts” and “sins” synonymously.

If you make someone pay, that is vengeance. Vengeance is something that we need to trust God for and not take into our own hands. God said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.”

If you absorb the loss and pay for them, that is forgiveness. In forgiving someone, you choose not to sit as a judge and render a sentence on someone else. Instead you are sending that case to God’s higher court, which will result in them either being sentenced to the eternal debtors’ prison of hell or having their debt paid by Jesus on the cross.

To order the new book from Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll “Win Your War”, visit: https://amzn.to/2YuhoDn.

For the entire eight-week “Win Your War” sermon series  from Pastor Mark, visit www.markdriscoll.org or the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.