Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good evening and welcome back!

I hope that everyone had a pleasant afternoon on this beautiful day that the Lord has blessed us with.

Tonight we are going to start looking at the subject of forgiveness.

On Sunday mornings we have been looking at being a neighbor to others and more specifically the capacity to love and receive love.

However, there is another aspect of this whole neighbor business, and that is forgiveness.

In order to be someone’s neighbor and in order to love others we have to be able to forgive others.

In fact, Jesus reminds us that . . .

I think we need to let that sink in for just a minute.

If we are able to forgive others who sin against us, then God forgives us, but if we do not, then we cannot be forgiven.

And the reason this is, is because if we hold a grudge against others, then the love of God is not in us.

John also reminds us that . . .

1 john 4:

So, again it goes right back to whether or not we have the love of God residing within us.

It is the key that everything else hinges on.

So, if we say we love God then we must love others.

If we say we love others, we must then be able to forgive them.

And the thing about forgiveness is that we really do not know what forgiveness is unless we have also experienced it.

Think about it for just a minute.

How would you describe or define the term “forgiven?”

I looked up the term “forgiveness” in the dictionary and it says it is the “act of forgiving or being forgiven.”

That really doesn’t tell us a whole lot, but when we look up “forgive” we find that it means “to stop feeling anger toward (someone who has done something wrong) : to stop blaming (someone), to stop feeling anger about (something) : to forgive someone for (something wrong), to stop requiring payment of (money that is owed).”

So, to forgive involves a change of heart and a change of mind, which is pecisley what God does in us through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Ezekiel even tells us that God revealed to his people that . . .

Ezekiel 36:

And that is how we experience forgiveness, that gives us an understanding of what forgiveness really is.

But its more than just that.

We often say we are to “forgive and forget,”

But how often do we actually do it?

How often do we forget the wrong that was done?

We may forgive but a lot of times in the back of our mind we remember what happened.

We remember what they did to us.

And we keep that person at a distance, even though we say that we have forgiven them, yet we don’t trust them.

And when we do that, is that really forgiveness?

No, not really, but what makes it worse is that we define our relationship with God in the same way.

We will say that God has forgiveness but we really do not grasp what God’s forgiveness looks like because we think of God’s forgiveness in human terms.

We think that God forgives us but God remembers everything we did prior to being forgiven and some how holds that against us.

We think that God is going to keep bringing us back to that place over and over again, holding it over our heads.

But that is not what God’s forgiveness looks like and that is not what our Bible tells us.

Looking at our passage from Psalms we find that . . .

Scripture Focus

Psalm 103:6-

We Don’t Get What We Deserve

And my favorite part of that whole passage is verse 10 . . .

And I think we lose focus of that sometimes.

Our sins and iniquities as the passage puts it are deserving of death, hell, and the grave.

But because of God’s love, mercy, and grace . . .

WE ARE FORGIVEN, and when God forgives, it is complete.

God doesn’t hold anything thing, to use against us later.

In fact, Micah tells us that . . .

Micah

Not only into the depths of the sea, but as our passage points out . . .

Psalm 103:

How far is the east from the west?

How deep are the depths of the sea?

We don’t know, but the point is when God forgives, God forgets it.

Isaiah

So, if God doesn’t remember it, if God forgets it, why don’t we?

Why can’t we forgive ourselves?

I will tell you why...

Because Satan has a long memory and Satan knows that we have a long memory.

And all those things that God has long forgotten, Satan continuously reminds us of, trying to keep us in bondage.

But I want to remind you of what Paul tells us that. . .

Romans 8:1-

Folks, Jesus Christ has set us free.

We are no more prisoners of sin and death.

We are no more prisoners of sin and death.

We are forgiven and we are free and we have to accept that.

We have to understand that God has freed us, God has forgiven us, and God has forgotten our sins.

Psalm 103:

Remember , we talked about it this morning . . .

And remember , we talked about it this morning . . .

And that is a key thing we must realize.

Because remember Jesus’ words from earlier . . .

Forgive and Be Forgiven

When we can realize and understand the depth of God’s forgiveness we then can understand the depths to which God expects us to forgive others.

If we really love others and really forgive them, can we let it go?

Can we let go of the harm they have committed against us?

Can we let go of the hurt they have caused?

One of the key ingredients in hate is the inability to let things go.

We hold on to things and they grow and build up inside of us.

And our heart grows harder and harder, colder and colder.

And it pushes us further and further away from God.

This is the opposite of what our Bible tells us.

Ephesians 4:32

And . . .

Col 3:12-

Can we say tonight that we do this?

Can we say that we forgive as Christ has forgiven us?

Do we realize the mess we were in before Christ forgave us?

We were destined for a devils hell and if it were not for Christ, when we leave this world that is where we would have been.

But because of the forgiveness of Jesus Christ we are promised an inheritance of eternal life and glory in heaven forever and ever.

All because of forgiveness.

So, what is holding us back?

What is preventing us from being reconciled to the ones we just can’t seem to forgive?

Many times it is because we cannot turn it over to God.

We just can’t seem to give it up.

Altar Call

Tonight however, I’m going to ask you to do something different.

I am going to ask you to let go of whatever it is that is holding you back.