In the Luke passage Jesus demolishes three excuses concerning failure to forgive.

· First, He informs us that the act of forgiveness is not dependent upon more faith, but on obedience to the revealed will of God (Luke 17:6-9).

· Second, He reveals that the act of forgiveness is not predicated upon the sincerity of the offender (Luke 17:4).

· Third, He teaches us that forgiveness is not based upon feeling, but is a matter of duty (Luke 17:7-10).

· Instead of reading it in the newspaper, it was your eighteen-year-old daughter that was raped by a neighbor or you were the eighteen-year-old whose life has been shattered. As a Christian, you are called to forgive the rapist.

 

· A relative molests your three-year-old child, but you must forgive the one who molested your child.

· "…the wonder of being trusted again by God in the place where I disgraced Him." Rita Snowdon

· "…the decision of our will to release a particular person, followed by verbalizing that to God." Cathrine Marshall

· "…a willingness to walk beyond the hurt to a new understanding and a deeper relationship. It does not take away the pain, but refuses to allow the hurt to stand in the way of a new start."

· "…the key which unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness. The forgiveness of Jesus not only takes away our sins, but makes them as if they had never been." Corrie Ten Boom

 

Ghandi said, "If we practice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless."

· Revenge is based on and promotes outrage and anger, where forgiveness is based on compassion.

· Revenge binds the offender, where forgiveness releases the offender.

· Revenge focuses on destruction, where forgiveness has an eye on restoration.

· Revenge demands payment of the debt, where forgiveness sees the debt as paid in full.

Ephesians 4:25-4:32 (NASB) - ²⁵Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. ²⁶Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and do not give the devil an opportunity. ²⁸He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. ²⁹Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. ³⁰Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³²Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Oswald Cambers wrote,

"There is no such thing as God overlooking sin, therefore if He does forgive there must be a reason that justifies him doing so."

God's forgiveness of our sin is based on the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Ephesians 1:7 – "In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."

Colossians 1:13-14 – "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

Matthew 26:28 – "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the forgiveness [remission] of sins."

1John 1:7 – "…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

In these verses "the blood" speaks of poured out life. It declares that our forgiveness was obtained by the death of Christ in our place. God did not magically make the moral debt we owed Him go away, He actually paid for it in the death of His Son, Jesus our Lord.

John 3:16 – "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Forgiveness is motivated by genuine love for the offender, where revenge is motivated by resentment, hate and a burning desire to even the score.

In Matthew 18:27, Jesus tells us that "the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him." Later, the master says to this servant, "You wicked servant! I forgave you all the debt…should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant…" (18:32, 33). The term "compassion" refers, not to sympathy but to empathy. It means to feel with them--to come into intimate acquaintance with the pain that fills their life. It means that we join them emotionally.

There is no law that can produce sincere love for those who have offended us. It is born in us by the Spirit of God.

Romans 5:5 - … the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

It was this love that from the cross cried, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

Colossians 3:12-13 (NASB) - ¹²So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; ¹³bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Ephesians 4:32 (NASB) - ³²Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

1 John 1:7 (NASB) – ⁷…the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

No only are we to forgive each other in the same manner as God forgave us, but also by the same means—the blood of Jesus Christ.

Our ability to forgive others is based on the finished work of Christ. Jesus not only paid your debt toward God, He paid the debt owed you by others! We must factor the finished work of Christ into our relationship with those who have offended us. We choose to release them from all moral debt based upon the shed blood of Jesus. From this moment on we view the debt as having been paid in full. Granted, their repentance will enable reconciliation and restoration, but we begin the process by applying Christ's work to their account!!

Father, I thank you for forgiving me all my sins and for cleansing me from all unrighteousness. I acknowledge that you did not overlook my sin, but that you accepted Jesus' death on the cross as payment in full for the moral debt I owed you. Thanks you Lord Jesus for dying in my place! Now I am faced with the responsibility of forgiving those who have sinned against me. I ask that you fill my heart with love and empathy for the one who has chosen to be my enemy. In this moment I choose to release them from any and all moral debt they owe me. I forgive them for ___________. I declare that your death on the cross evens the account and more than adequately nullifies what they owe me. I choose to do good to them and to promote the reconciliation of our relationship and the restoration of trust in the place where they violated me. I renounce resentment, hatred, and bitterness and embrace your healing touch. I refuse to allow past hurts to enslave me and wall me in. I choose to pursue wholeness and to find a way to evidence that wholeness to the one who has trespassed against me. I trust you to take me beyond myself into your loving compassion for others. I set aside my rights and esteem the need of my offender as more important than my own. I choose to see them as you see them and I ask you to forgive them. I pray that you will bind us together in Christian love that we may be a testimony of your mighty power and a trophy of your grace. In Jesus name, let it be!