Restoring the Neglected Virtue, Part 4B

This morning as we continue our study on forgiveness, I want you to turn with me to the book of Numbers.

In the book of Numbers, we have specifically three characters. Miriam, Aaron, and Moses. Well, one day there became a conflict in the family. Maybe you've experienced conflict in your family. Jealousy rose because God would speak to Moses, and Moses then would communicate to the people of God the things that God had spoken to him about. Miriam would speak against Moses. What I want you to see is this man Moses was a great man of mercy. His family would speak against his wife, his family would speak against his leadership.

His family would sow discord among the nation of Israel. And Moses, being a man of mercy, would extend kindness and grace to his sister Miriam, and beseech God on her behalf that she might be healed. Which poses this question: What kind of man are you? Remember, Moses was the greatest leader Israel ever had. God said so. How about you? Are you that kind of person? Do you want to be that kind of person? Then you need to be able to restore that neglected virtue, the forgiving attitude that God wants you to demonstrate on a daily basis.

Why? Number one, it a pattern we're commanded to follow. Number two, it's a picture of Christ to the world.

Number three, it's the priority in caring for other people. Those are the three principles we've addressed over the last two weeks. Principle number four is this: it is a prerequisite. Listen carefully. It is a pre to commun with God. It is an absolute prerequisite in order for you to have communion with God that you forgive your brother. His sin or her sin. If you're in your Bible, turn with me to the book of Matthew, fifth chapter.

Christ addresses worship. The Pharisees, religious people of the day, were big on worship. That is, they were big on the externals of worship. They were far from God. And so the Lord in the Serm on the Mount would begin to address these people and help them understand a prerequisite to communion with Him. Matthew 5, verse number 23. 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 off. God says this: it is a prerequisite.

That if you're ever going to commune with me, that you deal with the issue between you and your brother first before you come to worship me.

Why? Because God says, listen, if you regard iniquity in your heart, I will not hear you. Psalm 66, 18. Listen.

It's not about the preacher. It's not about the preaching. It's not about the music. And it's not even about the building for crying out loud. Worship is internal. And everything that's external is affected by what's going on inside you when you come. See, we miss that. Let me tell you something.

You can worship anywhere. With anyone, if your heart is right with God. Again, the important thing is that you'll be obedient to what God says in His Word.

He says, listen, you've gone through all the externals. You've done everything on the outside, but on the inside, things aren't right. You've got to get right with your brother. You've got to get right with those that you've offended. You've got to get to the importance of worship, and that's what's on the inside. You're not clean on the inside. So it says, come, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Snow. God wants to heal them. But see, that's the way a lot of people are.

And God says, listen, there is a prerequisite to communion with me. You have to get right with me on the inside. And so he says: if you know a brother who has something against you. Before you ever come into the assembly of my presence to worship me, make sure you get it right. Do that first and then come and worship me because How you deal with your brother and the importance of dealing with him is important to God.

It's a prerequisite to communion with God. You see, God never moves from us, we move from God. We turn our back on God. Our bitterness and our angry spirit keep us from communing with God. He wants to commune with us, but our fellowship is broken because of our heart's attitude, not because of God's. Heart toward us. It's us. So God says, make sure you get things right with your brother.

That's of utmost import. So, forgiveness. If we're going to restore that neglected virtue, it's a pattern we're commanded to follow. It's a picture of Christ to the world. It's a priority in caring for others, and it is the prerequisite in commun with God. Matthew 6, 14 and 15. If you forgive your brother his sins, so will your Heavenly Father forgive you your sins. But.

But, big but, if you do not forgive your brother his trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses. There it is. If you're unwilling to forgive your brother, you can't have fellowship with me. You can't have communion with me. And next week, we'll hit Matthew 6:1 and 15. So, you understand it completely. But that's next week. But the point is: the prerequisite to communion with God Is your desire to forgive your brother and to be forgiven by your brother. It's important.

Number five. The fifth principle is this. It is a process that clears my guilty conscience. Forgiveness is the process that clears my guilty cons. Psalm 32 is a text. One author stood it this way, that forgiveness is setting the prisoner free from bondage, only to discover that that prisoner was you. That's good, huh? Psalm 32, David has recorded his confession of a sin. Listen to what he says: Psalm 3, verse number 1: 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, and 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. David says this he says when I didn't acknowledge my sin, when I hid my sin When, after his sin with Uri, his sin with Bathshe, his sin against the nation of Israel, his sin against God, for nine months he bottled everything up. He tried to hide his sin. He tried to cover his sin so nobody would know. And yet he says that my strength was being taken from me.

Oh, I had a fever. He says, I would weep and I would cry, and inside of me, I was just being torn apart. Physically, he was being drained. Because he had not confessed his sin. And then it says, This: I acknowledge 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 s. David says, when I finally acknowledged it, when I finally said the same thing about my sin, God, that you say about it, you see, A lot of times we have a conscience that's guilt-ridden because we haven't acknowledged our sin as God acknowledges our sin.

You see, we tried to candy co it and make it look better than it actually is, but sin is an abomination to God. And God wants us to acknowledge it. And David says, when I. When I came and finally acknowledged my sin, when I confessed my sin to you, you forgave me the guilt of my sin.

And if anybody had a reason to feel guilty, it was David. I mean, he tried to manipulate the events so that. Uri would come back and sleep with Bathsheba so that he could say that it was Uri's baby, not his. And that never happened. It never transpired as he thought it would. He was the king. He tried to control and manipulate the events so that everything looked proper on the outside, but on the inside it was wrong. Be sure your sin will find you out. And Bathsheba's pregnancy was something he didn't expect.

Finally, when Uri wouldn't do what he wanted, he had Uri killed. If anybody had the right to be guilty, it was David. He was guilty. Tried to cover it up. Why about it? Until Nathan the prophet one day confronted him. David you to man. And David confessed his sin, acknowledged his sin, and God removed the guilt. Only God can do that. Because that's how God operates. That's what Paul would say over in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 about the whole process of Satan. There was a man in the church who had committed incest, and the Corinthians had to forgive him.

And Paul says in 2 Corinthians that I've forgiven this man, you need to forgive him because if you don't forgive him, guess what? 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 10 and 11. What you do is you allow Satan to take advantage. Of you. Wow. Do you think Satan wants to take advantage of you? Absolutely. Do you know that when you have an unforgiving spirit? Satan has the upper hand in your life and is able to manipulate the events in your life and to begin to work on your conscience and to be to work on your life.

That's why the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 26: Be angry and sin not, neither let the sun go down upon your wrath.

Why? Lest you give opportunity to the devil. Listen, when there's conflict, And there's anger, don't let the sun go down on that anger. Deal with it, confess it, seek forgiveness. Why? Because if you don't, you give opportunity to the devil. And Satan will use that against you. He will cause you to feel the guilty guilty. Satan wants you to feel guilty. He wants you to feel guilty. And he doesn't want you to recognize that you have an advocate in heaven pleading your case before the throne of God.

He is the accuser. He accuses you. But Jesus Christ is the advocate, the lawyer, the defense lawyer, who stands in your place and says, I've forgiven that sin, no matter what it is, because that's the way Christ is. It is the process that clears my guilty conscience. Forgiveness is so important, and therefore you need to confess your sin. You need to acknowledge your sin. You need to seek to forgive others because of an unforgiving spirit, because that's what God wants you to do. Principle number six, it's the practice that's characteristic of the Christian.

It is the practice that is characteristic of the Christian. The text is Matthew chapter five, verse number 43. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, in order that you may be sons of your Father who is. In heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the un. Christ again rebukes the religious system and says, You are to love those who are your enemies.

You are to pray for those who persecute you, which is tantamount to forgiveness. Why? Because God says in Ephesians chapter 2, verse number 4: Because of his love, he is rich in mercy toward us.

You see, mercy flows from love. Forgiveness flows from our desire to love our enemy. And it's a practice that's characteristic of the Christian. That's why in Acts chapter 7, when Stephen is being stoned, he can look up into heaven and say, Lord, hold not this charge against them. Why? Because he loved his enemy. He was willing to forgive his enemy his transgressions. It's a practice that's characteristic of the believer. You see, whenever we don't forgive our brother, What we do is set ourselves up as judge and jury, right?

We tell them that we are judge and we will judge them based on what we see in them. But in reality, God is judge. We had the privilege and opportunity to forgive our brother their sin because it is the practice that is characteristic of the Christian. How about you? Is that your practice? Do you look to forgive someone when they've sinned against you? Do you look for the opportunity to extend forgiveness to those who have wronged you? That's what we need to do because that's what characterizes the believer in Christ.

And lastly. It predicates your comprehension of God's sovereignty. It predicates your comprehension of God's sovereignty. In other words, it affirms, it declares, when you forgive your brother. You make a public affirmation that you completely understand the sovereignty of God over your life. When you forgive your brother, it affirms, it predicates your understanding, your comprehension of God's sovereignty in your life. You see, it's easy for us to talk about the sovereignty of God, right? The Bible speaks of it.

But to live God's sovereignty is a whole new ballgame. And the Bible says these words over in Psalm 139.

You know them. For thou didst form my inward parts. Verse number 13, thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are thy works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from thee when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths. Of the earth, thine eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in thy book they were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

We like to talk about being fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God. But the important thing being is that before there was even one of my days, they were already written in the plan of God. When you forgive your brother their transgressions against you, you are declaring to that person, to the world, That you ag and that you submit and that you understand the sovereign rulership of God in your life. If you're unwilling to forgive your brother his transgressions, it says that you are unwilling to submit to God's sovereign rule in your life.

That's why when Joseph forgave his brothers, what did he say? You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. God meant it for good. You see, you wanted to destroy my life, but God wanted to preserve my life. So no matter what you did, you couldn't get rid of me because God wanted me. To preserve you for this day. And if you didn't try to get rid of me, then God wouldn have demonstrated His power to preserve me, and you would have all died and perished because of the famine in the land. But because of God God did a marvelous work.

See, Joseph, he understood the sovereignty of God. He was a great man. You meant it evil? God meant it for good. God meant it for good. We'll talk about this when we get there in Genesis chapter 50. And that is, there is something better than 20-20 vision, and that's 50 vision. Genesis 50, verse number 20. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. You see, that's where we need to be, right? See, your spouse might have meant it for evil against you, but God was going to orchestrate the events of his evil to bring about your good because that's what God says: you're his child, and God will do that.

That one you gave your trust to, that one you believed in, when they turned against you. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good because God was going to orchestrate the events of all the things that they did. Toward you for ill, in order for God to bring about His greater purposes in your life. Let me read your story: biblical account.

That demonstrates this once again. When King David came to Bahar Behold, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shim, the son of Gerah. He came out cursing continually as he came. And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David. And all the people and all the mighty men were at his right hand and at his left. And thus Sheme said when he cursed, Get out! Get out, you man of bloodshed and worthless fellow. The Lord have you turned upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul.

In whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. And behold, you are taken in your own evil, for you are a man of bloodshed. Here's David. He's the king now.

Last week we saw where he was anointed king, but he hadn't actually taken the reins of king yet. In 2 Samuel chapter 16, he is now the king. And here he is with all of us mighty men, and he's riding down through the land. And here comes this one up on the rocks. He's throwing stones at the king, he's throwing rocks at David. And as he throws rocks at him, he curses him. You man of bloodshed. Maybe referring to his desire to murder those who were against him. There was Shibboth, who he killed, and there were others that David himself had killed, and Shem was calling him a man of bloodshed.

You murderer And then even mocking him Ha your son has taken your kingdom from you David Absalom oh yes, he is more fit to be king than you David And he began to curse him all the more and throw rocks at David What would you do? Let's say you were on your way to work tomorrow, and somebody saw you coming in and started hurling rocks at you as you were walking into your office. Calling you a man of bloodshed, calling you an adulterer, sinner, whore. What would you do? Listen to what David did. Then Abish the son of Zer said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?

Let me go over now and cut off his head. I like that guy. I want him on staff at our church. But the king said, What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, and if the Lord has told him, Curse David, then who shall say, Why have you done so? Then David said to Abish and to all his servants, Behold, my son who came out from me seeks my life. How much more now this Benjamite? Let him alone, and let him curse. For the Lord has told him. Perhaps the Lord will look on my affliction, and return good to me instead of his cursing this day.

So David and his men went on the way. Shem went along on the hillside parallel with him, and as he went he cursed, and cast stones, and threw dust. At him. What an understanding of God's sovereignty. Maybe the Lord told him to curse me this day. If he did, well, maybe I deserve what I'm getting. See, David knew he'd sinned. David knew that the sword of the Lord would never depart from his house, and David reaped the consequences of his sin for the rest of his life. But David knew that somehow God was in control of everything, even the man who would run along the hillside and curse him, throw stones at him.

And while he maybe would have liked to cut the guy's head off, spitting his neck as he did, the bottom line was that he understood that God was in control of everything. You see, remember, David was a man after God's own heart, remember.

And what characterizes a man after God's own heart is not that he's a man that never sins, but he's a man that when he sins Repents of his sin. That's a man after God's own heart. That was David. And David was a man who confessed his sin, who repented of his sin, who got right with God, and had a very unique relationship with his Lord, even though he faced the consequences of his sin. But he understood that the Lord was in control. Do you do you understand that? You see, when you extend the right hand of forgiveness, when you refuse to retaliate, when you refuse to seek revenge, you are saying, my God's in control of this event.

It was ordained for me before my days were even written, because God had planned it. And therefore, I submit to God His rulership, because although that man might mean evil, God means it for good. And God will bring about His great purposes. Some way, somehow, in his time. If that's your attitude, you're well on your way to restoring that neglected virtue, forgiveness in your life. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day and the greatness of your word. And realize, Lord, that the men of the scriptures are men just like us.

Men who sin, and once they sin, they acknowledge that sin, confess that sin, get right with you, in order that they might experience the blessings of God. Today, Lord, I pray that for those who are here, if there be any bitterness or jealousy, if there be any anger or wrath or malice in their hearts, Today they would release that to you. Seek to get right with their brother, their sister, their son, their daughter, their friend, their work associate. Do what is ever necessary to make sure that they are able to have open lines of communication with their God.

Follow your word and serve you completely. And be able to experience the contentment that even a king, who for all practical purposes should never, never be cursed at. Never have stones hurled at him, but yet recognize the Lord was in control and that the Lord reigned supreme even am the conflict. I pray, Lord, that all of us this day would understand it would be good for all of us to restore that virtue, that neglected virtue of forgiveness. When it comes to our sons, our daughters, our husbands, our wives, our friends, and thus be able to portray to them the love of Jesus Christ.

As a way you intended to be portrayed, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.