“Forgiveness is a beautiful word, until you have something to forgive.”
C.S. Lewis
Forgiveness
Luke 7:36-50
Why do we have so much difficulty forgiving others?
- Only the forgiven can truly forgive (you cannot give what you do not have).
- Our understanding of forgiveness is unbiblical at times.
From a recent Barna study . . .
Forgiving another person requires the offender to demonstrate remorse and sorrow.
Forgiveness requires release from the consequences from their actions.
Forgiveness requires rebuilding that relationship.
Forgiveness means forgetting what happened.
Some things are so bad that they should never be forgiven.
From the text . . .
- Jesus and a Pharisee – 7:36 . . .
- Jesus and a sinful woman – 7:37-38 . . .
- The Pharisee acting pharisaical – 7:39 . . .
- Jesus acting like Jesus – 7:40 . . .
- A point well taken – 7:41-47 . . .
“When God forgives a notorious sinner for such sin, the realization of such bountiful forgiveness means the potential for great love.”
Dr. Darrel Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary
Lesson’s learned . . .
- Forgiven people understand they are no better than those they are forgiving.
“What then? Are we better than they ? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are under sin: as it is written,
‘There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
Romans 3:9-12
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Roman 3:23
- Forgiven people make the first move to forgive.
“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from the fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Genesis 3:6
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the tress of the garden. The Lord God called to the man, and said to Him, ‘Where are you?’”
Genesis 3:8-9
“For while were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Romans 5:6
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgression, made us alive together in Christ.”
Ephesians 2:4-5
- Forgiven people understand grace.
Grace is a deliberate decision to give something good to someone who does not deserve it.
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
When I trust in Christ as my Savior, God . . .
Credits Christ with my sin.
Credits me with all the righteousness of Christ.
“And in my heart, even though Rae Carruth has not shown one single ounce of remorse to me or anyone in my family, there’s not been one ‘I’m sorry about what happened to your daughter.’ But in my heart, because I am a Christian, as an act of the will, and because I know it is out of obedience to God, I am forgiving Rae Carruth.”
Sandra Adams, mother of Cherica Adams and grandmother of Chancellor