Enemies Within The Walls (part 2)

Father in heaven, we just thank you this morning For your goodness and kindness to us father even as we think about the blessing of being your children. Lord who could imagine such a thing that you would grant that to us?

Father as we come together this morning pray that you would bless our time as we look At what you've taught us about forgiveness. And father what you expect of us in terms of forgiveness father. We just pray that you would bless our time in Jesus name.

Amen. And just hang on for a second while I shut this off that. All right, so we started talking about Forgiveness last time and I wonder. Just generally speaking. What would you say? Maybe the most important thing about forgiveness is just one thing John I think that would be a great one since we've been forgiven so much.

We should be quick to forgive. I Mean really I would say that other. It's pretty hard to say that there's something more important than the concept of forgiveness. Why would I say that? Because apart from forgiveness you get Hell you get hell.

So I mean when we think in terms of that if we just think in terms of how important is forgiveness well without forgiveness of Sin we would go directly to Hell when we die, we talked a bit about how Paul just how Paul Viewed himself in light of the grace of God in his life and you know just to kind of recap.

Paul’s View of Himself in Light of God’s Grace

Just listen to these verses here. And I don't know why this frog has decided to attack my throat here. But the saying is this first Timothy 115 the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus Came into the world to save sinners.

That was his purpose of whom I am the foremost. Romans 7 24 wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death. First Corinthians 15 9 and 10 for I am the least of the Apostles unworthy to be called an apostle.

You know Paul had a real image problem. He didn't think highly enough of himself he didn't understand how he had kind of cinched up his own belt and worked his way up and You know he'd gone from being a bad guy a persecutor of the church to really kind of a hero.

And he should be proud of that. Well if he'd gone to grade school here in the United States, maybe he'd feel that way. He had a right view. Why. Because he saw things through the prism of God's forgiveness to him.

And we talked about how we should forgive. Just the way God does and we're gonna pick up there. I Mentioned this example this illustration that because we talked about what was that Psalm? 103 I believe.

And about how God removes our sins as far as the East is from the West and we just talked about it this way. That if God and I think this is a good illustration. Anthropomorphic language meaning we're looking at it through human eyes so if God looks toward the East and He sees us.

Then he doesn't see our sin because our sin is in the West and if it looks towards the West and sees our sin He doesn't see us because we're over on the East. So again using anthropomorphic language the psalmist helps us understand how God forgives.

That he doesn't he's no longer counting our sins against us. He doesn't even see our sin and us in the same picture as it were. Now as an ideal father God endlessly shows compassion upon us. I mean what father or mother you know.

Take your pick parents if doesn't matter what your kid has done. Don't you want to forgive them? But God is the perfect parent in that sense. He forgives. Listen what James Montgomery Boyce said he said the forgiveness of our sins is the greatest benefit.

Any of us can ever receive from God and we can receive it only because God gave his son over to death on the cross. To procure it for us. Now again, I want to ask do we forgive that way? Do you forgive that way?

Do you put the sins of others as far as the East is from the West? We're gonna talk some more about this, but just kind of in a Just to sort of open it up here for thought for a moment. Do you rehearse the sins of others dwell on them?

Replay them. I Think the scripture would call that what the root of bitterness. Sometimes I think you know, not only do we have the root of bitterness. But we have the water of bitterness because we take it along we water that root we nourish it.

You know, sometimes we have black thumbs, but boy when it comes to bitterness we can grow it really well. We should forgive. With an understanding of what we want when we ask for forgiveness. Let's look at Psalm 51.

Psalm 51. We're gonna take a snippet of Psalm 51 now and then another one later. Who would read the first three verses please of Psalm 51?

Bruce when we think of the word blot, what does that mean?

Blot out my sins. What does it mean to have your sins blotted out? Erased. Erased as if they never occurred. I'm singing this week, you know a lot of times. I mean pastor Mike just talked. Oh, I don't want to ruin pastor Mike sermon.

But Talked about some of the things that will experience in heaven. I was thinking we I will say that I'm looking forward to heaven because I look forward to the day when I what? No longer sin. Well, how about this?

You ever think about this aspect of it? Our minds are like hard drives, you know, we can't we can't erase them only that's a that's part of the problem. I mean, I'd like to have an industrial strength hard drive eraser, you know.

Go into my brain and just delete entire sectors permanently. Unrecoverable. Doesn't work that way. So what do we do? Sometimes we can just kind of replay some of our sins in our minds sometimes Sinfully but a lot of times just because we have what regrets.

So now just imagine being in heaven. No more regret. No more memory of the sins that we've committed will finally be able to live without that and I thought boy that that will be a blessing. That would be a great blessing in effect.

Our sins are not only wiped out in terms of being To our account, but no longer will we think about them? Spurgeon said this. My revolts my excesses are all recorded against me. But Lord erase the lines.

Draw thy pen through the register. Obliterate the record though now it seems engraven in the rock forever. May the strokes of thy mercy bait. Many strokes of thy mercy may be needed to cut out the deep inscription.

But thou hast in a multitude of mercies and therefore I beseech thee erase my sins take out the divine eraser and Eradicate them. Now in terms of how we forgive would we like God to temporarily set us anger aside?

You know say yes, I forgive you. But then when we sin again in a like manner or when we do something else to say, oh It's back on. Did Jesus die to temporarily remove the wrath of God for our sins. No pastor Dave Sent this to me and I think this is true when we think about how we want to be forgiven, right?

We want this we want God to blot out our sins to to just remove them from us to eradicate them. Like Spurgeon said if they're written in rock. Engraved on stone to just wipe them out entirely. That's how we want to be forgiven.

Pastor Dave said this or wrote this, you know, and how sometimes we forgive. Some Christians want to bury the hatchet. When they say, you know what? Let's just bury the hatchet. Yet they also want to leave the handle exposed them so they may retrieve it if need be.

Yeah, let's just let bygones be bygones. Let's just bury that thing. Oh, you're gonna do that. Oh, I got it back. That's not forgiveness. We had to have an eagerness to forgive in light of the cross. Look at Colossians, I mean, that's something, you know I mean how many times you hear this, you know, it's kind of like would you please forgive me?

And then it's kind of like sure. Yeah, I'll forgive you. That's the wrong attitude. We ought to be eager to forgive. Colossians 3 verses 12 and 13 who would read that please? Yeah, go ahead Tom. Okay, so we ought to forgive as the Lord is forgiven but just look at that put on then as God's chosen ones as his Elect as the ones that he plucked out of the mire as those he set his affection on holy and beloved.

We had to have what? Compassionate hearts. Hearts that can identify with other people. It's not like when people sin against us like it's never been done before. You know in the history of the world when we just when somebody crushes us or sins against us we think you know, what?

Historically speaking that is probably the worst sin that's ever been committed against anyone. So I don't know. It's gonna take me a while to get over. We all sin we all sin against each other. More importantly we sin against God.

How quickly should we Want to forgive. Be eager to forgive. Listen to what O 'Brien says. He says as God's chosen ones who have already been who have already put on the new man. In other words, we're in Christ.

They must dawn the graces which are characteristic of him. We're adopted. We should be. Acting as our father. Verse says we're to bear with one another. Doesn't mean we just put up with them. It means we're we're in a constant ongoing characteristic of understanding that everybody sins.

We need to be quick to forgive. Let's look at Ephesians 4 32. Similar passage, but just one more aspect that I want to bring up here. It really does when we forgive it shows the work of God within us.

Here here's something that we ought not to. I probably said this last week, but just think about this. How about the unforgiving Christian the Christian who slow to forgive. Eager to hold a grudge. Looking for that axe handle.

Listen to Ephesians 4 32. Be kind to one another. Tender-hearted. Forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Tender-hearted or compassionate is not just a general concept. But insist we are emotionally attached to the recipient, right?

Isn't that true? We're brothers and sisters in Christ. Those aren't just words that we should throw around. If this is a local assembly a local family a local body of Christ. Then how should we live with one another.

We should think in a loving tender-hearted compassionate way. We should have a disposition towards forgiveness. FF Bruce said this he said did not Jesus himself inculcate the principle of unwearying.

Untiring and unceasing forgiveness until 70 times 7. More than that had they not received his forgiveness in far greater measure than they were likely ever to have to emulate in forgiving others. For he taught the lesson of unlimited forgiveness by example and Not only by precept.

In his teaching to he made it clear that those who seek the forgiveness of God Must be ready to forgive others. God loves the unlovable. We think we're scruffy little teddy bears, but we're not. Jesus died for the enemies of God.

What right do we have to not forgive those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ? There is adopted as we are there's forgiven in Christ as we are. We have no right to hold back forgiveness. Now furthermore, it is an absolute command of our Lord to forgive.

Let's look at Matthew chapter 6. This is pretty strong. Matthew 6 verses 14 and 15. And. Who would read that please. Matthew 6 verses 14 and 15 from the Sermon on the Mount. Go ahead Charlie. Okay, so is the forgiveness of God conditional.

Is that what that verse is teaching? God on Judgment Day will say you know what I wanted to forgive you, but since you wouldn't forgive others.

I can't forgive you. Is that what that means Charlie? You're so smart. Yeah.

It Really it's Emphasizing the nature of what we are to be as Christians. Listen to what Leon Morris says. He says Jesus is saying that to fail to forgive others. Listen is to demonstrate that one has not felt the saving touch of God.

In other words If you forgive others, then you're demonstrating that God has forgiven you because you understand again I just think we ought to Basically view others through the prism through the lens of the cross through the Forgiveness of God in the cross if we think about ourselves rightly as Paul did.

Then we will think about others rightly and about our need to forgive them. One of the Puritans wrote this he said that cannot be a true faith. Which does not work by love? Nor that a true love listen, which does not act in the way of forgiveness.

You say your love your brother, but you won't forgive him. One might suppose did we not know the contrary both by experience and observation? That it would at once or it would be at once the easiest and the pleasantest of all duties.

For the man who professes to have received the forgiveness from God to forgive an offender. That in the fullness of his gratitude joy and love for having received the pardon of twice 10 ,000 sins and in the consciousness of his inability to make any adequate returns to God he would hasten to his offending brother and say I've had so much forgiven that I freely forgive you all.

It would seem as if by a kind of moral necessity a Forgiven man Must be a forgiving man. That just makes sense. And I want to propose to you this morning that one of the things that separates believers from unbelievers is.

Unbelievers not experiencing this forgiveness can do what? They could be as bitter as they want to be. They can be as angry at you as they want to be. Why. Because they've never experienced that kind of forgiveness they don't know what a Relief it is to have all their sins forgiven and having not experienced that.

They're prone to not be forgiving but you have no excuse again, Jesus in Mark 11 25 Mark 11 25.

Yeah, Charlie. Well, that's a great point.

You know the fact that unbelievers do have the law of God written in their hearts. They have some concept of justice. They understand Fairness to some degree. Right. It also brings about and I think this is what Charlie's trying to say is it's important that forgiveness of sins be what Part of a gospel presentation.

It can be ultimately the kind of the switch that turns on the light where they just go. Wait a minute. I Do know that I do wrong things. I do know that I sin. I Need forgiveness of sins. I need to be forgiven.

Even that idea of forgiving others. Well, how can I truly forgive unless I understand that my sin isn't just against the other person, but it's against God. But I think that's a good point. Mark 11 25 and whenever you stand praying forgive.

If you have anything against anyone. Let me read that again. If you have anything against anyone. Maybe not even believer. So that your father who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses again the same concept.

But think about this. This would seem to indicate to me that if you don't want your prayers to be hindered right you need to forgive. How can you expect to kind of enter the throne room of grace and say, you know what I've been for a recipient of infinite grace, I Received forgiveness for every sin that I've ever committed.

But Lord, I'm coming to you today and I still don't like this person because what they did to me. I still can't forgive this or that or the other thing. Then maybe you don't get it. We ought to be a very forgiving people.

Went to another aspect of forgiveness and I this isn't really super clever, but we are not to be sin accountants. We are not to be sin accountants. I remember when I took an accounting class and The reason I never became an accountant with all due respect to those who may be accountants here.

Is I I took this class. I was really thinking it was a college class. I was really thinking it was just gonna be boring, but I was I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life so I took this class and it was probably about six five six weeks into the class and.

And I realized that it wasn't just moving numbers from one column to another that there was the possibility of fraud. Deceit dishonesty and even in my unsaved days. I thought this is not a good place for me to go.

I I probably shouldn't follow this this path. I just said I'm not cut out for this. But we shouldn't be sin accountants. What keeping a record of things, you know making a little ledger. Writing things down making sure we keep track of those who owe us because of the sins that they've committed against us.

Look at 1st Corinthians 13. And I have to say right up front before we read this. The ESV is absolutely abominable here. You know Lewis Brown used to say the ESV was the essentially superior version and I would agree Most of the time with it here, it's just horrible who has 1st Corinthians 13 verses 4 and 5 and If you have a non ESV, that would be great.

Yeah, Tom.

Yeah, okay. Do we do all that in in verses 4 and 5?

ESV says love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. Is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. Somebody else have a different version there the the word.

The word it does not I. Should I should have cut and pasted another one, but the word for reckoning. Keeping accounts tracking sins is somewhere in there and Here's here's the problem with that. We're not to keep Accounts.

Love does not do that. It may be difficult to forget something that has happened. I mean, I mentioned the idea that we just don't forget, you know, our minds are really like hard drives. They're like Recording devices.

They remember everything that we've done and seen and said. But it is possible even if we can't entirely forget it isn't it it is possible. It's within our power not to bring it up again, and it's also possible and this is important not to dwell on it.

Not to dwell on it, why do I say that why is that important? If we say that we've forgiven someone has come to us and they say, you know what? I I need your forgiveness. Would you please forgive me for da da da.

And then we say yes, and then what do we do? We want to spend time, you know laying awake at night. I do this often the lay awake at night just kind of not being able to sleep not recounting somebody else's sins anyway.

We just want to kind of ruminate on it stew on it. And what does that do? What's that? It hardens our hearts. Well, it does take away time from the Lord. No question about that. It hardens our hearts and even though we say that we've forgiven it indicates that mean we haven't forgiven in our heart.

We like to think I mean when we do that. We really do give the sense that something that the other person has done the sin they've committed against us is worse than Sins that we may have committed. There's another issue or something that causes us to not forgive as we ought to it really is pride.

Philippians 2 verses 3 and 4. Do nothing from Selfish ambition or conceit but in humility listen count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

So, let me ask you this is Loving yourself. Something that you have to work on. I'll get. I'll get to this later. I read this article yesterday. It was from a theological journal about Forgiving yourself and we'll talk about that here.

Maybe if we have time this morning. If not, we'll get to it next week because I think it is interesting because it was a Christian theological journal. Really pretty fascinating. But self-love is not something that we have to work on what no one ever hated his own flesh but loved it and nourished it.

That's what we do. We do think why does Paul say don't think too highly of yourself? Is it because it's a problem we don't have. What is you know, I used to hear this all the time, you know, and I'll say it in the jail.

I would hear this. Well, why did you hit him? He? Disrespected me. He dissed me. He didn't show me the proper respect so I hit him. I. The number of because that was part of my job. I would interview inmates, but before they went to the the Disciplinary cell.

And you know get their side of the story or whatever. What my one of my favorite things to do by the way was to see them. You know their little bag of property and see that they had a Bible there. Because a lot of times their issue was with the staff and I'm going you know what while you're there you like that Bible.

Oh, yeah, I read it all the time I go study Romans 13 because you need to learn what it means to submit to the authorities. But this idea here our Problem as a society is not that we think too much of other people.

It's that we think too much of ourselves and what are they doing now in schools? You know everything in the emphasis is on self-esteem. I'm making sure a child doesn't get their feelings hurt. In fact now you go to college and guess what?

There are a lot of colleges that you can't flunk out of. I mean, why should you you're paying $50 ,000 a year? Why should you flunk out that would lower your self-esteem and what's more important your education or your self-esteem?

Let each of you look not only to your own interests in other words. Don't put yourself first. That's our natural thing to do is to look out for ourselves. It takes what? Paul says to look at others as more important than ourselves it takes.

Really the mind of Christ we have to have that we look in the context. Forgiving others is a reflection that we are learning. We're in the process of becoming humble of thinking of ourselves rightly. So what is rejecting a plea for forgiveness show?

Probably that we're thinking too highly of ourselves. Probably that we're thinking too highly of ourselves. Now I must have I you know what I did. I skipped an entire page. I knew I did. I hate it when My printer doesn't work at home.

So now we can oh. Well now I'll go back to where I was talking about in 1st Corinthians 13 Leon Moore said this love keeps no record of wrongs. Paul uses this verb and it is logids of my it's accounting language in the sense of reckoning righteousness to a believer.

It's a word connecting with the keeping of accounts noting something down and Reckoning it someone love does not take account of every evil thing that people do and hold it against them. Love and that's the attitude.

We are to have takes no account of evil. It does not harbor a sense of injury. We have to let go of the sense of being hurt. Now here we get we get to talk about self-forgiveness because I hear this all the time, you know I need to forgive myself.

I've got to work through issues of Forgiving myself, so we'll have a little fun with us. Now. This this is from an article called self condemnation and self-forgiveness now, it's amazing because I just I Received this on Friday and I thought this is the Lord's Providence here.

Like I said a theological journal, which none of you will have read. Because it comes from a seminary not the seminary. I graduated from although some around here did graduate from this seminary. Okay.

Here here are the seven steps and you have to have seven steps because otherwise you're not biblical step number one. Step number one receive God's forgiveness. So far so good, but you know again self-condemnation and self-forgiveness.

I don't really understand but step to repent and repair relationships. You'll notice that each one starts with an R receive God's forgiveness repent repair relationships. Step number three recognize and replace unrealistic expectations.

I could go into what he means by that, but who cares number four step four reduce rumination. Now, this is a good one. I like this even though he's using it the wrong way. What's rumination when you ruminate on something?

What are you doing? Yeah, you're playing replaying it over and over again. And here's what he's saying. He's saying step number four stop beating up on yourself. That's really not the problem. The problem is that we beat up on others.

Why is reducing rumination if we just think of ourselves this can be a bad thing. Why. Because I think it can lead to kind of a Spiritual depression when we just want to play our own sense through our minds and just think I am hopeless.

Well, you're not hopeless if you've been forgiven you're forgiven and here's what I mean when I say sometimes I think it's helpful. It's helpful for me because I just look around and I think about I said this before.

What I wanted to do with my life. What my plans were how I wanted to live and then I look around at what God wanted for me instead and I think. It's not bad for me to replay kind of what I wanted and view it versus what God wanted because I think what God wanted Was a lot better for me.

Step number five reach emotional self-forgiveness. You have to forgive yourself because against you. Yourself and you only have you sinned, but he doesn't say that but that's just a goofy idea. Now there's a step number six realize self expected acceptance as one who is flawed, but precious.

Anything that has a word precious in. I'm on a automatically suspicious of number seven resolve to live virtuously with room to fail. Basically, what he's saying is, you know, I'd get over the fact that you fall down because God is Going to forgive you anyway.

What's wrong with all this, you know self-forgiveness thoughts. What's wrong with it? It's man-centered. It's me centered. What else is wrong with it? What's that. It disregards sin has a very low view of sin.

Charlie yeah there it wasn't there Christ and the cross was absent. Excellent.

Journey, it's a sliding scale, right? Totally subjective. Yep.

Okay, okay our pension is for instant vindication. Bob said this basically, let's put it this way. Let's say there are two aspects to forgiveness two dimensions or two directions of forgiveness. One would be Vertical, you know from us to God or God to us.

We need to for we need God's forgiveness. We don't have to forgive God it isn't us sending forgiveness. It's descending forgiveness. And the other one is that we need to forgive one another but what's missing in the Bible that this man, apparently didn't understand actually he did say some about he says Well, I'll just I'll read what he what he wrote, but you just kind of go.

Okay. What's the whole article about then? Listen? Nowhere is found. I Found that the idea of self-forgiveness was completely absent from Scripture. Though Scripture has a lot to say about self-blame.

Why. Because we're ultimately responsible for what we do. Then he goes on to say he says the key to dealing with self-condemnation is to realize that when we sin against others We also sin against God.

Even so I realized how difficult How difficult it is to forgive oneself. I don't I don't even Get that and again, this was it wasn't just an article in this journal. It was the first article I Decide okay.

It's interesting that a biblical Academic journal would start with something that has no scripture as its foundation. Why does anyone? Especially a for a Christian want to find self-forgiveness. Why why would we even have that concept?

Charlie great.

Analogy no, I happen to know something about Stephen Curtis Chapman. He and I are no we're not buddies. I was. But when I when I was first. When I first got saved I went to the Christian bookstore. I bought a Bible, you know.

And I also I wanted to start listening some different music and so his was one of the CDs I got and so I've been listening to him for a long time and I Remember Will Franklin is one of his sons and he tells a story in his live album about how Will Franklin, you know.

Was like I think he either got hit with the baseball bat or you know. One of the other his brother and him were fighting and one of them got tattooed with a baseball bat. And you know, there was this lying about it and you know.

Like what and there's the imprint of you know, the baseball bat on the forehead so a little hard to deny. But yeah, Will Franklin Stephen Curtis Chapman his wife had adopted two Chinese girls and Will Franklin was older now and Back in the car up out of the driveway didn't see his sister and I guess Will Franklin was the one who was closest you know just really had a love for this little girl and and he Ran her over and so you just go well, okay.

Well, what about forgiving yourself for that? Well, I think it it really comes down to this. Was it a sin? No. Was it an accident? Yes. What do we have to have a right view of God in times like that? Yeah, we do.

You know a lot of people especially an unbeliever would say what they would blame God. How could you let that happen or there can't be a God who would let such things happen? For us we say the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord.

We don't understand these things. We don't have to. What we have to do is trust that God always does what's right? But this idea of Forgiving ourselves if we understand that no sin. We were certainly we receive penalty for sin, right?

If a man breaks the law and is caught and he gets sent to prison. He's penalized for his sin if I mean there are a lot of examples that where people can do things that have ramifications on them drug use alcohol use a lot of things.

You know is the key for an alcoholic to forgive themselves. No, it's to understand it's to confess their sin. Like first John says is to agree with God about our sin to repudiate it to turn away from it.

But it's never about we never see forgive yourself in scriptures. That idea is Wrong our sin is against God. That's the vertical component. Our sin is against others. But primarily it's against God. Every sin is a violation of his law.

But self-forgiveness is not something we see. I mean, I think You know, maybe the one I I've heard or read about the most commonly is for ladies who struggle with. They had an abortion when they were younger.

Now that's a that's a very difficult one and You know, we can't Can't treat that lightly, but here's what I would say if in light of his life if Paul the Apostle who did who was guilty of He was complicit in the murder of Stephen if he could then say, you know what?

I'm the lowest of the low. I'm not worthy to be called an apostle. I'm none of these things things that the world would say is a self-image problem, but if he could say, you know, I Am what I am by the grace of God and I'm going to expend myself.

Spend myself for the kingdom of Jesus Christ. That's how we all need to think. I don't care what sin you've committed. You need to think I've been a forgiven of those sins, which I committed in ignorance before I even knew, you know.

Maybe I knew there was something wrong. I have the law of God in my heart, but I wasn't thinking. I wasn't thinking rightly obviously. So what do we do? We can't Putting yourself through purgatory isn't going to bring you any closer to God if we think about.

If we think about forgiveness rightly if we think about it biblically. We'll understand a that there's no Roman Catholic purgatory. In other words no place where we need to go to suffer for any sins that we haven't confessed.

But also that there's no Purgatory there's no way that we can do enough that we can suffer enough. That we can do whatever it is enough to kind of Assuage our guilt before God it is on the cross. Everything is on the cross.

It's forgiven there if It's a sin that Jesus died for. Then we need to say we need to agree with God that it the debt is paid. Self-forgiveness is not a concept in the scripture. But the forgiveness of God is any other thoughts about self-forgiveness before we close this morning.

Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, imagine that you know, if the only authority you need to forgive you is you. That seems pretty easy. You know, I'll wrestle with it for a while I'll decide what my punishment should be and then I'm done with it because now I forgive myself.

You know, I I don't know if you're familiar with the Latin phrase. I've practiced that it's may absolve. Oh Thank you. Thank you to the Latin crew over there. You know, I forgive myself. I absolve myself of my sins.

I Tell myself what my punishment should be and then may absolve oh.

Yeah, Pastor Dave, well, I mean just getting back to the reckoning of sins keeping an account.

You know if the practice of our lives is to be were to be forgivers Then the best thing to do is as soon as somebody asks forgiveness to just be done with it. Don't think just try not to even think about it again because what happens is like you said just imagine.