Sermon Cloud

One evidence that the Holy Spirit is working is that He brings newnewss of life through.  healing, moving forward, forgiveness, joy.


Vs.31  How do I know I need to to forgive someone? (healing) →sometimes we don’t know!
ANSWER:  The presence of the behaviors listed in vs.31  
The story tells of a prince who wants to marry a princess, but is having difficulty finding a suitable partner.  Something is always wrong with those he meets, and he cannot be certain they are real princesses.  One stormy night a young woman drenched with rain seeks shelter in the prince's castle. She claims to be a princess, so the prince's mother decides to test their unexpected guest by placing a pea in the bed she is offered for the night, covered by 20 mattresses and 20 featherbeds. In the morning the guest tells her hosts that she endured a sleepless night, kept awake by something hard in the bed; which she is certain has bruised her. The prince rejoices. Only a real princess would have the sensitivity to feel a pea through such a quantity of bedding.
•    Unresolved conflict, like a pea deep not under mattresses, but our past, keeps us uneasy.
Answer:  There is the presence of…
1.    bitterness
2.    wrath and anger and clamor
3.    slander
4.    malice
•    Holy Spirit may be whispering into your heart right now.



QUESTION:  Why must we forgive?
ANSWER:  The consequences of Unforgiveness are as damaging as the cause of unforgiveness.

Notice the parallel in vs.31-32.
•    Reflections of each other.
•    Vs.31  Sin and being sinned against is an assumed characteristic of this age.

LISTED in Vs.31  (inferred in vs.32  Tender heart vs. hardened heart)  
•    DANGER: vs.31→ Hardened heart towards all individuals and God Himself.
o    YOUR HEART:  Anger→ Heart hardening → heart attacks.
o    Towards others:  Grows and infects: transfer of mistrust or development of codependency.
•    Trust, fear, bitterness
o    Towards God:  sovereignty of God is refused, BUT MORE SO, MATTHEW 6
…Mt.6:14-15, “14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,15  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
•    We can’t earn God’s forgiveness: Jesus is not saying, “If you forgive others, I will forgive you.”
•    Unforgiveness = sin:  If we hold to any unforgiveness, then we haven’t confessed all our sins.
•    True repentance = confessing every bitterness toward others.
o    Gospel becomes formulaic not experiential.   
o    Difficult to pray with confidence + expectation.   

Therefore forgiving others, places us under the covering of God, where blessings and joy of sonship are experienced.  


QUESTION: What enables forgiveness?  (FROZEN HEART)
ANSWER:  Absolute grace. forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

WE GET TANGLED IN TECHNICALITIES
If a person does not repent/ ask for forgiveness, should we forgive that person?  Yes!
•    Luke 23:34, Jesus, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do".
•    Acts 7:60, Stephen, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" (Acts 7:60).
o    Jesus + Stephen forgave before any record of repentance.
o    
Forgiveness isn’t picky.
•    Mt.5:46   For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
•    We can’t say, “You’ve hurt me too much, so I’m not forgiving you.”


The context of Eph.4:31-32?  The Gospel!
•    We can’t perform our way into His approval or salvation.
•    Nothing we can do to make God love us less, nothing we can do to make God love us more.
•    Just as if I’d never sinned and just as if I’d done everything right.
•    We are accepted the way we are through the finished work of the Lord Jesus.
o    Therefore, 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
•    Knowing God in Christ forgave us.


QUESTION:  How do I know I’ve fully forgiven someone?
ANSWER:  We know we have fully forgiven someone when we grace them.

•    Restoration of relationship.
•    Talking about it.