"Forgive Us", Part 5

Pray with me for a moment. Would you please, Father, thank you for today. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the opportunity to examine your word, especially when it comes to the issue of prayer, specifically as you talk about forgiveness. We thank you for your great forgiveness of our sins, Lord. Thank you for the wonderful provision that you give to us that allows us to be cleansed from every sting, every sin, every wicked attitude or act you have nailed to the tree, and that, Lord, you have blotted out all of our sins.

Thank you for that wonderful provision. Today, may we learn more about you. May we honor you as we learn to pray the way you have taught us to pray. In Jesus' name, Amen. We are studying Luke chapter 11, and in our study of Luke 11, we are looking at what it means to pray the way God taught his disciples how to pray. It's a very important passage of Scripture because it follows Matthew chapter 10 in the story about Mary and Martha and how it's imperative that Mary and Martha both understand that there's one thing that's needful.

Mary chose that one thing, and that was to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to all that he had to say. And we are learning to sit at the feet of Jesus in his word by listening to what he says about prayer. And so we're coming to grips with that in our own lives that we might learn to pray the way God wants us to pray. For the most part, prayer is very difficult for us. It's hard for us to sit down for any length of time and begin to pray. But if we follow the pattern that God has given to us, the outline that he has provided for us in Luke 11, it allows us to systematically go through prayer the way God wants us to pray.

And we've taken just a brief time, five weeks now, to look at this one aspect about forgiveness because our asking God forgiveness is in conjunction with how we have already forgiven those who have sinned against us.

And so we've taken a brief moment just to emphasize the essence of forgiveness because it is such a neglected virtue in the Church of Jesus Christ. To look at forgiveness and see what God says about forgiveness and how we are to respond in a way that brings glory to God.

And as we have made our way through this aspect, we have told you that forgiveness is a pattern that God has commended us to follow. Ephesians 4 32 says that we are to forgive as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us. God has set the pattern and that pattern we are commanded to follow. When Christ hung on Calvary's tree, he said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He extended forgiveness to those who sinned against them and those who would repent of their sins would be the ones who would receive that forgiveness.

But the forgiveness that he offered was extended to all those who were his enemies. And so for us, forgiveness becomes that pattern that we are commanded to follow. We are to forgive others as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven us. And then we also told you last week that forgiveness is a picture of Christ to the world. You know, we need to be a little bit more concerned than we are as Christians on how we portray Christ to an unbelieving world. How we as Christians exemplify the great attribute of forgiveness to those around about us.

And if we want to accurately picture, paint a picture of Christ to the world, we need to be forgiving kind of people. And we looked at Matthew chapter 9 to show you how it was that Matthew was a forgiver of people because he had been forgiven so much. And now the Pharisees were against what Christ was doing as he would eat with tax gatherers and sinners. And Christ would overhear a conversation that the Pharisees had with Matthew and he would take them to the book of Hosea, the sixth chapter, to talk to them about compassion and mercy because the Pharisees were hypocritical.

They had no compassion. They had no mercy on those who were sinners, but God did. And he quoted from a book that exemplified a prophet who would picture to the world the forgiveness of God by going after his wife who became a prostitute and going after her and paying all of her bills and following her until he was able to purchase her off of the slave block and buy her back and demonstrate the beauty of forgiveness. And God told Hosea, you can't divorce your wife. You can't abandon your wife. You go after her because you're going to picture to the world how I go after my people Israel.

What a beautiful picture. And so we see that forgiveness is a picture of Christ to a lost world and we must ask ourselves. How do we portray Christ? How do we picture the forgiveness of God to those around us that they might clearly see the beauty of Jesus Christ our Lord. And then we looked at point number three and saw where forgiveness was the priority in caring for other people.

And we went to Matthew chapter 18 to help you understand how important it is to be forgiving because Peter would ask the question about how often do I forgive my brother? Seven times? Is that the limit? And Jesus says no.

Seventy times seven. In other words, forgiveness is unlimited. There is no limit to forgiveness. But oh, we would love to have a limit. We would love to say, you know what? That's enough. Enough is enough. There is no more forgiveness for you. It's no longer available to you. We'd love to be able to live that way. But Christ says no.

Forgiveness is unlimited. And remember this is instructions that God gives to the church. The very first instruction that Christ gives to the church.

Remember Matthew 16 is the first place the church is mentioned in the New Testament. Matthew chapter 18 are the very first instructions given about the church and how when you see a brother who has sinned you confront him on his sin.

If he repents you've won your brother. If not, you go with two or three witnesses. If he repents, you've won your brother. If not, you take it to the church. Why? Because you're concerned about the purity of your brother, the preservation of his soul, and you go after your brother. And that's what prompts Peter's question. But how often do I forgive my brother once he sinned against me? And Christ gives that long extended parable about a king who forgives the incalculable debt of one of his slaves.

And yet that slave would go out and take his brother by the neck and say, you pay me what you owe me. When what that man owed that slave was just a little teeny bit in comparison to the slave and what he owed the king. And when the king heard about it, he called him a wicked slave, threw him in the prison, and turned him over to the torturers until he repaid all that he owed. At the end of that parable, Christ says, so my Heavenly Father will do to each of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

Forgiveness is a very serious issue with Christ. So serious that if you refuse to forgive a brother who sinned against you, the agony, the pain, the loneliness, the turmoil, the devastation that you will face because the hand of God will be heavy upon you. Hebrews 12 speaks about the discipline of God the Father toward children, his very own children, how he scourges every son that is his because he wants us to live in obedience to his word. Folks, forgiveness is so crucial and we need as a church to be a forgiving kind of body.

That leads us to principle number four, and that's this, that forgiveness, number four, is the prerequisite to communion with God. Forgiveness is the prerequisite to communion with God. If you recall back in Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter 5 verse number 23, Christ says these words, If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go your way.

First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering. The Lord God says listen, your relationship with another brother is so crucial.

I don't even want you coming to present your offering. In other words, in modern-day vernacular, I don't even want you going to church to worship me until you first of all deal with your offense with your brother.

Because how you treat your brother is exactly how you treat me. We forget that. We forget that how we treat one another is exactly how we treat Christ because remember Christ lives within each of us who are born-again believers. And how we treat another brother or sister in Christ is exactly how we end up treating the Lord Jesus. Now this is not new to the Pharisees. To those on the Mount of Beatitudes, this was not new to them because they knew Isaiah chapter 1 verses 10 to 11 or 10 to 19. They knew about the fact that what the Lord said to them was absolutely crucial.

In fact, this is how it goes. Isaiah chapter 1 verse number 10, Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah. He's talking to his people Israel. And he associates them with Sodom and Gomorrah because of the way they behave toward one another. And then he says, What are your multiplied sacrifices to me says the Lord? I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.

When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to me, new moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies. I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feast. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of burying them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen.

Your hands are covered with blood. The Lord God says, look, you come and you go through the ritual of worship.

You go and you have all the externals in place. But the Lord God says, you know what? I'm tired of all the externals. I'm tired of all the trappings. I'm tired of the game that you play with those round about you. It means nothing to me, so much so that when you come to worship me, I'm no longer going to listen to what you have to say, because you are hypocrites, because you live a life differently away from the temple than you do when you go to the temple. How many people are like that today? And then he says this, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from my sight, cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

In other words, deal with others as I would deal with them. Treat them as I would treat them. Because you see, you don't care for anybody else. You only care about yourself. And that doesn't make it with me. That's when he offers that familiar verse in verse number 18. Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you can sin and obey, you will eat the best of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken. If you listen to my words, if you follow my direction, if you obey my commands, you will be so incredibly blessed you won't be able to contain the blessings that come your way. But if you rebel against my word, if you continue in your hypocritical attitude, if you continue going through all the external motions without an internal reality, it means nothing to me. And you will be devoured. You will be destroyed.

See, God is serious about how we deal with one another. So serious, he says, look, if you're coming to worship me and you're not right with your brother, don't come. I told you a couple of weeks ago, for some of you, it'd be better for you not to come to church than to come to church with all the externals but no internal reality. Coming and putting on a show for everybody else to see but not wanting to deal with your brother that you know has an offense against you. You go to him. You make it right.

You say, well, what if they won't listen to me? What if I go and I go to try to make things right and they won't forgive me? Well, you can't determine their obedience. You can only determine your obedience, right? So if you go and you seek to make things right and they won't forgive you, that's their problem. But don't let their unforgiving spirit keep you from obedience to the word of God. You go. You seek to make things right. Someone will say, well, what if I go and I seek to make things right and things get worse?

They don't get better. What if they blow up at me and all of a sudden things just begin to crumble and the relationship gets worse? I got news for you. It probably will in a lot of cases. It probably will in a lot of cases. But again, you can't govern. You can't govern their response. You can't manipulate their response. But you must obey the word of God and seek to follow all that God says.

You patiently pray for that one who will not forgive you even though you have followed the word of the Lord and asked his or her forgiveness. Well, someone will say, can't I just simply pray about the situation and ask God to forgive me? No, you can't. Why? Because God says, go to your brother.

He didn't say text your brother. Call your brother or write your brother. He said, go to your brother. Now, if your brother lives across the country, it might be a little difficult to do that. But, go to your brother. Go to your brother, ask their forgiveness. You can't substitute prayer for biblical responsibility. Oh, pray as you go, yes. Pray for your attitude that it would be right. Pray for their response, yes, that's important. But you just can't simply pray that God would do a work in their heart and they would forgive you and you remain disobedient to what God says in his word.

Why? Well, we know what Matthew 6, 14 and 15 says because it is the only commentary that Christ gives on the disciples' prayer, right? If you forgive your brother his trespasses, so will my heavenly father forgive you your trespasses. But, if you don't forgive them, neither will my heavenly father forgive you your trespasses. We talked to you about this a number of weeks ago. How do I have unforgiven sin if all my sins are forgiven, past, present and future? Well, not in a positional sense, not in a judicial sense because you are forgiven, but in that relational sense, in that parental sense, there's no joy, there's no fellowship, there's no communion with your father because you have disobeyed his word.

Folks, you can't live in disobedience to God and expect God to bless your life. You can't do that. In your marriage, you can't live in disobedience to what God says you are to do and expect God to bless your marriage.

It just doesn't happen that way. You must be obedient to the word of Almighty God. It's crucial. It is the prerequisite to communion with God. If you want to have a pure, bright communion and fellowship and joy with the living God, then you got to deal with the issues with your brother. John said it this way. Book of 1 John chapter 4, verse number 19. We love God because he first loved us.

If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he's a liar. You gotta love how John says it, right? It's so good. Someone says, I love God, I do, I do, I love God, and yet he hates his brother. John says, you know what? He didn't say, well, maybe he's not a Christian. He just says he's a liar. He's an outright liar. And then he says this. He says, For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Wow. He says, look, if you can see your brother and you can see me and I can see you and you don't love me or I don't love you how can you possibly love a God you haven't seen when the God that you say you love dwells within that person and dwells within you?

And then he says, In this commandment we have from him that the one who loves God should love his brother also. That's pretty clear. There's no gray area there in John's writing in his first epistle.

And so we see where forgiveness is a prerequisite to communion with God. Number five, prayer is the process that clears my guilty conscience. Forgiveness is the process that clears my guilty conscience. The verse is Psalm 32 where David said, How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent about my sin my body wasted away through my groaning all day long for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer I acknowledged my sin to thee and my iniquity I did not hide I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.

The process that clears my guilty conscience is forgiveness. Not only going and asking God to forgive me of my sin but going to my brother whom I've offended and asking him to forgive me of my sin or if my brother is offended at something that I have done going to him and asking for forgiveness. It clears my guilty conscience. We know that the Bible says if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me.

Psalm 66, 18 right? So if there is sin in my heart then God is not going to listen to what I have to say. It needs to be confessed. It needs to be dealt with. It needs to be forgiven. And if I harbor resentment and bitterness against my brother then that hinders my prayer life. If I conceal a transgression my life will not prosper. But if I confess my sins and forsake them I'll find mercy from God. That's what the Bible says.

So the process that clears my guilty conscience is the process of forgiveness. Asking God to forgive me of my sin and then going to my brother who has sinned against me or I've sinned against and asking for forgiveness. There's a story in the book of Corinthians 1 Corinthians chapter 5 that speaks of a young boy who commits incest with his mother in the church of Corinth. So Paul writes a letter. In 1 Corinthians 5 he is appalled by the church not dealing with this one who was in sin. Because God is always appalled by the church that allows sin to permeate its ranks.

God's appalled with that. But this was a gross sin, so gross that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5 that this sin is not even spoken of among the Gentiles the pagans but it's happening in your church at Corinth. And you got to deal with that one. You must deliver him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Because the little leaven leavens the whole lump he says. That one sinner who's committing gross immorality in your assembly and those outside the church know about it it's affecting not only your testimony but the clarity of the picture of Christ to the world and it sends a message to the outside world that the church tolerates impurity in its ranks.

And if we're to be holy as God is holy and pure as God is holy and pure as God is pure we can't allow sin to permeate the ranks of the church. Paul says you got to deliver this one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh or your church is going to be destroyed. Well the church of Corinth does that. So when you come to 2 Corinthians evidently this man has repented of a sin yet the church hasn't forgiven him. So Paul has to write and address that in his second letter to those in Corinth and this is what Paul says he says sufficient for such a one as this punishment which was inflected by the majority so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow in other words you need to extend forgiveness to this one individual that has been delivered over to Satan because if you don't the sorrow that he will incur will be so great it will be hard to win your brother back this is this wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him for to this end also I wrote that I might put you to the test whether you are obedient in all things but whom you forgive anything I forgive also for indeed what I have forgiven if I have forgiven anything I did for your sakes in the presence of Christ in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes Paul says in essence if you don't extend forgiveness to this one who has repented you got to be aware of Satan's schemes you can't be ignorant of Satan's delicious because we know that he goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour but you also must realize that Satan will use an unforgiving spirit to his advantage that is Satan's advantage got to be careful about that right Paul tells the whole church you know what we are not ignorant of Satan's devices and therefore you must extend forgiveness to this repentant brother or Satan will have it in road into your assembly it was bad enough that you had a sinning brother in your assembly and did nothing about it now that you have done something about it and he is repentant of his sin now you got to embrace him you got to love him you got to forgive him you got to bring him back or Satan will use that not only in his life but in the life of the church you see the reason you discipline people in the church is so the church will be able to experience forgiveness and to extend forgiveness that's important because in the matter of church discipline the church needs to be able to respond properly right because they are concerned about the purity of a soul that has been disciplined but when that soul repents then the church embraces that soul and loves that person and if they don't Satan will use that to his advantage same is true in your family by the way right if as a husband you don't forgive your wife or as a wife you don't forgive your husband Satan will use that against you in your marriage you can't be ignorant of his devices so much so that Paul would later write these words in the book of Ephesians the fourth chapter verse 26 be angry and yet do not sin do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil an opportunity in other words once you let the sun set on your anger you are giving the devil an opportunity in your home that's why you need to get things right before the sun goes down so many times we don't do that we allow things to continue and fester and as we do that we give opportunity for Satan to destroy our family and our marriage that's why Paul says be angry yet do not sin because there is a righteous indignation yet do not let the sun go down upon your wrath get it right deal with it if you don't Satan has an inroad an opportunity you don't want to give Satan an opportunity in your family no you don't want to do that that's exactly what will happen so therefore forgiveness is the process that clears my guilty conscience it was one author who said these words forgiveness is setting the prisoner free from bondage only to discover that the prisoner was you isn't that good you're the prisoner because of an unforgiving spirit you're held bondage to that one and Satan uses that in your life in such a negative way see Satan can't control you Satan can't indwell you because you're a child of God but he can use your sinful habits and sinful behavior to turn you further and further away from the ones you say you love and destroy your testimony to a world which we are to picture to them Christ is forgiveness and is love next forgiveness is the practice that truly is characteristic of the Christian forgiveness is the practice that's characteristic of the Christian let me take you back once again to Matthew chapter 5 and read to you verse 43 and following you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you in other words to love your enemy and to pray for those who persecute you is tantamount to a forgiving spirit see he says this in verse number 45 in order that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven in other words you're not going to become a son of God because you love your enemies and because you pray for those who persecute you but you prove yourself to be a son of God because of the way you deal with your enemies and the way you deal with those who persecute you you show everybody that you truly are a son of the living God he goes on to say this for he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous for if you love those who love you what reward have you do not even the tax gatherers do the same and if you greet your brothers only what do you do more than others do not even the Gentiles do the same in other words if you love those who love you or if you forgive those who willingly forgive you what good is that but if you're willing to forgive those who are your enemies even though they don't want to respond to that you offer and extend the hand of forgiveness as Christ did on the cross you prove yourself to be a son of your Father who is in heaven great illustration of this is in Acts chapter 7 with the stoning of Stephen the first martyr in the church of Christ it says in verse number 54 now when they heard this in other words Stephen had preached a sermon about what and who the Messiah is and what he had done and they were against what Stephen had said when they heard this they were cut to the quick and they began gnashing their teeth at him you know sometimes when you preach the truth it causes people to gnash their teeth at you did you know that not the believer but the unbeliever to gnash their teeth to become angry you know hell is a place that's characterized by the weeping and gnashing of teeth the bitterness that is so profound and they began gnashing their teeth at him but being full of the Holy Spirit he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God now Jesus sits at the right hand of God but Jesus stands when his children are in trouble he's about to welcome this child of his home to be with him Stephen says behold I see the heavens opened up and the son of man standing at the right hand of God but they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and they rushed upon him with what impulse and when they had driven him out of the city they began stoning him and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul and they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said Lord Jesus receive my spirit and falling on his knees he cried out with a loud voice Lord do not hold this sin against them and having said this he fell asleep here was Stephen preaching the gospel the truth of God to his people that they might understand that the Messiah came to die for them and he began to rehearse who exactly the Messiah is in the Old Testament to prove that Jesus Christ is that Messiah they hated him because of it they gnashed their teeth they covered their ears like little children they covered their ears I can't hear you I can't hear you I don't want to hear anything you have to say and they ran at him they threw him out of the city and they pummeled him with stones what was his response his response was Lord Jesus do not hold this against them it was a forgiving spirit he had such love for his Jewish nation he had such a love for the truth he would present that truth and even though even though his people rejected the truth his only response was Lord Jesus don't hold this against their church he had heard that somewhere somehow before when our Lord would cry from the cross Father forgive them for they know not what they do you see he understood the pattern he was commanded to follow he understood the picture of Christ to a lost world he understood that and he understood that this was that which was characteristic of a true believer in Christ and that's how he ended his life oh by the way they threw their robes at the feet of one called Saul it says in chapter 8 and Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death isn't it interesting that it would be Saul who was converted on the road to Damascus and when it was all ended in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 when he was in that Mamertine prison in Rome he said Alexander the coppersmith is against us speaking to young Timothy and all those in Asia have deserted me but I count it not against them I hold nothing against them for that he had the same kind of forgiving spirit he had heard Stephen he had seen Stephen's actions and could it be that your ability to forgive somebody would be the key component in their conversion experience because they would see a heart that's unlike the world in someone who truly loves Jesus Christ with all their heart principle number 7 this is our last one forgiveness predicates my comprehension of God's sovereignty it predicates my comprehension of God's sovereignty in other words it affirms and declares that I understand God is in complete control of everything when I extend forgiveness when I am willing to forgive it affirms it predicates it declares that I believe with all my heart and understand that God is in complete control of everything there is nothing like forgiveness nothing like the opportunity to forgive that affirms you understand that God is sovereign so important to understand if Psalm 139 says that God has ordained every day of my life God knows what's going to happen because everything has been planned by God in eternity past then the offenses that come my way as they most surely will as we have learned in Luke 17 verse number 1 we know that the offenses are going to come they are inevitable but they are as we said last week providential if they are providential they are purposeful for my life when I extend forgiveness it affirms that I understand God's on the throne He's in charge the perfect illustration of that is Joseph remember at the end you know the story of Joseph right he's the one who received the coat of many colors I know there's a musical Joseph and the amazing colored coat everybody doesn't follow the biblical account but the reason Joseph received a coat of many colors was not because Jacob liked him more than the other brothers we misunderstand that if you were with us in our study of Genesis you understand that the reason he received the cloak of many colors is because of his character Joseph's character was unique he was the son of Jacob's old age now we know that there was another son that would be born who would be a younger son of Joseph and be a son of Jacob's old age but that phrase a son of Jacob's old age is a phrase that dealt with the character of the son that's why he received the coat all you need to do is read the book of Genesis see the account of his brothers and how rebellious they were and how Joseph was one whose character was exemplary that's why he received the coat and the reason his brothers hated him was not because his father gave him a coat his brothers hated him because of his character he lived for the Lord God he honored the Lord God and they didn't want to do that and they hated him because of his righteous character all you gotta do is read the account of Joseph they were so mad at him they called him a dreamer threw him in a pit sold him to the Ishmaelites the Ishmaelites took him down to Egypt sold him to Potiphar in Egypt the book of Genesis tells us that as Joseph was going through all this that the Lord was with him the Lord was with him and you know the account of Mrs.

Potiphar how she lied about him and falsely accused him for wanting to sleep with her and Potiphar threw him into prison and there he was left to rot away in prison until he had an opportunity to interpret some dreams once again and the cupbearer forgot all about him in prison until a few years later 13 years hardship, difficulty disappointment, pain suffering but God raised him to a level of prominence in Egypt in such a way that he really became the leader of Egypt one day God caused a famine in the land of Israel and the brothers had to go to Egypt and they had to face Joseph whom they did not recognize because it had been many years but Joseph recognized them he was the leader he had the perfect opportunity to retaliate, to throw them into prison and to give them what they deserved he didn't do that he forgave his brothers he brought them to Egypt they lived with him there in Egypt and one day Jacob dies this is how the story goes when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead they said what if Joseph should bear a grudge against us and pay us back in full for all the wrong we did to him so they sent a message to Joseph saying your father charged before he died saying thus you shall say to Joseph please forgive I beg you the transgression of your brothers and their sin for they did you wrong and now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father and Joseph wept when they spoke to him he wept why?

well first of all Jacob never said that they made that up because they were worried about their own lives but Joseph wept because he had extended love care forgiveness to his brothers he had modeled to them a forgiving spirit and yet they were still fearful that somehow he did it because of his father Jacob now his father is dead now his father is dead he is going to enact his judgment upon us verse 18 then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said behold we are your servants but Joseph said to them do not be afraid for am I in God's place am I the judge of men am I to enact vengeance upon man am I in God's place and as for you you meant evil against me but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive so therefore do not be afraid I will provide for you and your little ones sweet comfort of them and spoke kindly to them Joseph affirmed and declared clearly that God was sovereign you meant it for evil God meant it for good in biblical terms Joseph has had what we call perfect vision it's called 50 20 vision Genesis 50 verse number 20 that's perfect biblical vision you meant it for evil God meant it for good he understood that God was in complete control of everything do you understand that do you think that one offense towards you God doesn't know about one false accusation against you God doesn't already know about it's not providentially designed to grow you deep in your walk with him sure it is sure it is in conclusion let me share this with you if you want to practice forgiveness begin today not tomorrow today not tomorrow the Bible says these words in the book of Ephesians 5 verse number 16 make the most of every opportunity for the days are evil buy up every opportunity redeem the time for the days are evil forgiveness begins today not tomorrow don't wait and forgiveness must always be done in truth not just talked about must always be done in truth in sincerity of heart from the depths of your soul Galatians 6 10 says as we have opportunity let us do good to all men especially those of the household of faith and just as a test let me give you just a couple of principles to let you know whether or not you have forgiven your brother you have truly forgiven your brother when you no longer subject the offender or yourself to reminders of the offense that's when you know you have truly forgiven your brother when you no longer subject your offender or yourself to a reminder of those offenses number two you know you have truly forgiven your brother when you no longer shun the offender now you know you've forgiven him number three you know you have truly forgiven your brother when you no longer share the offense with someone else and number four you know you have truly forgiven your brother when you shower the offender with genuine love and kindness for love is patient and love is kind that's how you know you've truly forgiven your brother may we be a people who truly forgive as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven us let's pray Father thank you Lord for today a chance that we have to be in your word and pray Lord that all of us would subject ourselves to your authority follow you in obedience that we might live in the light of your glory we pray in Jesus name Amen