Forgiveness — E.A. Johnston

The Destructive Power of Bitterness

Let me ask you, friend, are you bitter about another person? Has someone hurt you, and is it hard to forgive them? Do you resent someone, and do they disturb your peace? Has someone offended you, and when you see them, you see their anger?

Is bitterness growing in your heart toward a family member, toward a spouse, toward a friend? Do you harbor resentment toward someone close to you? Is bitterness robbing you of your joy in Christ? My subject tonight, friends, is forgiveness.

Christ's Warning About Unforgiven Trespasses

Our Lord Jesus has some sobering words on this important subject. In Matthew chapter 6, in verse 15, we read,. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Personal Wounds and the Need to Surrender

I can think of several individuals who have hurt me through the years. Several people have told lies about me, and some individuals have spread some really bad rumors about me to try to hurt me. I've been verbally attacked in vicious ways, I've been accused of adultery, I've been even accused of murder, I've had some really bad things said about me through the years.

Satan will often use the mouthpiece of an individual to hurt us, but he is a liar and has been a liar from the beginning. But the enemy of our souls will often use people to spread rumors and gossip about us if he can't get us any other way.

I know what it's like to harbor resentment toward another and to have bitter feelings toward them. But you know what, friend? When you start to harbor resentment toward someone, even if it's well-deserved, all it does is spoil your own mood, ruin your own day, and make your own life miserable.

You have to let it go, eventually. You have to forgive that person, or it will eat you up and harden your heart. I know some of you are thinking, yeah, right, preacher, but you don't know how bad this person treated me.

You don't know what this person who I trusted with my heart has done to me. This person betrayed me, and you don't know how bad it hurts. Yes, I do know, friends. Believe me, I know. It's funny, most of the abuse I have received through the years has come within the church.

People who call themselves Christians have hurt me the most in life. Is it that way for you? But I had to come to the place of surrender, where I had to lay it before the Lord and surrender all the hurt, all the pain, all the bitterness, and lay it at His nail-pierced feet.

Forgiveness as a Hindrance or Pathway to Revival

Martin Luther had this to say about our subject tonight. He said, Forgiveness is God's command, and through the years of my study of Revival, I have learned that a hindrance to Revival can be an unforgiving heart.

In fact, there is a golden thread that weaves its way through Revivals, and if this purified thread is broken, it has been a bar to Revival throughout history. To which I speak is the golden thread of a forgiving heart toward others.

When one researches the history of Revival, it is plainly shown that at times, Revival began by a sudden manifestation of God's presence when Christians began to confess their sins of an unforgiving heart to one another.

I recall my friend, Dr. Ted Randall, telling me that when he was a participant in the college Revival that occurred at Prairie Bible Institute in the 1970s, that this Revival began to spread like fire throughout the campus when college professors and students began to confess their sins of an unforgiving heart toward one another.

It was at that time that the college Revival reached its highest peak when all classes were canceled for several days because there was a God-consciousness which pervaded the entire campus. Listen, brother pastor, bitterness towards one of your deacons or one of your members will surely eat you up, and you have to let it go.

Forgiving Those Who Have Caused Trouble

Forgive that person who has hurt you. I remember Alan Redpath saying that when he was the pastor of Moody Bible Church in Chicago, there was a certain deacon who would poke his head in Redpath's study right before the service and announce, it doesn't look good today, not many are out there, it's a poor crowd this morning.

That particular deacon always had some negative comments to make about the church and it began to drag Alan Redpath down to such a degree that one day his wife found him in his study in the middle of writing an angry letter to this deacon, but Redpath's wife stopped him and said it'd be better if he just forgave the man.

Redpath tore up the letter and began to be extra nice to that deacon. He began to treat him like his best friend. Well, when it was time for Alan Redpath to leave America to go back to Great Britain, it was this deacon who had caused so much trouble who came up to him, hugged his neck, and told him with tears in his eyes how much he loved him and how much he would miss him.

Forgiveness was the answer to that problem. Unity in the body of Christ is of the utmost importance. We have this exhortation from the Apostle Paul, found in 1 Corinthians 1 .10, which states,. Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

And in Ephesians we read,. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And be ye kind one to another, and tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

And Paul said this in Colossians 3 .13,. Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Listen to the command of Christ concerning this from Mark 11 .25, which declares,.

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any, that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. And in Luke we read,. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.

Healing Broken Relationships Through Forgiveness

Listen, friends, an unforgiving heart will end up only hurting you. It's a poison. You must give it to God and ask him for the grace of forgiveness toward the person who has hurt you. It grieves me when I hear of men in ministry who become at odds with one another and there is a falling out between them.

Such breaches are regrettable. I recently just heard of two preachers who were once colleagues and now are divided over an issue in the church. They are no longer even on speaking terms. This is sad, friends, for they are both good men.

This shouldn't be. If it grieves me, imagine how the heart of Jesus is grieved over us when we divide one against the other. But God can bring healing and restoration to broken relationships, and he can put a balm on hurt feelings.

I remember a story that A .V. Simpson once told. He said, I once knew a brother minister who had been unkindly treated by some members of his flock and had fallen into a spirit of deep resentment. There fell upon him a spirit of prayer for his bitter enemies, and he found himself irresistibly pouring his heart to God for them.

Then he was prompted by a deep desire to return to his people whom he had left for a time under a sense of injury. As he finished his morning service, the first persons to greet him were the two brethren that had so grievously wronged him.

To his surprise, they hastened forward with the most cordial welcome, and the reconciliation that followed was deep and lasting. The moment his own heart had gotten right, God made all the other things right.

Mercy, Redemption, and the Example of Christ

And as true friends, deep resentment toward another will breed other problems. Bitterness is a poison that will eat you up. Bitter people become more and more bitter. I've known folks who actually kept a list of people who they hated.

If you got on their list, you better watch out. But the people of God should not behave like the people of this world. We've been the objects of mercy. We've been the objects of forgiveness, as we find in Psalm 103.

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities? Who healeth all thine diseases? Listen, friends. Jesus hung on a bloody cross so hell-deserving sinners can find forgiveness and reconciliation back to God, in whom we have redemption.

Through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Dear friend, how can we harbor hatred toward another? For an unforgiven heart is a hateful heart. It is sin. Bring it to the Lord, friend, and lay it at his feet.

When he was reviled, he reviled not. He was spit on, crowned with a thorny crown, and nailed to an ignoble tree. He hung on that bloody cross so we can have forgiveness of sin. How can we not forgive the sins of others who have hurt us, wounded us, and betrayed us?

Bringing Pain to the Cross

We must forgive those persons, and we have this promise from Jesus. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Bring your pain to the cross, friend. Lay your hurting heart there.

There is healing there. Let us pray.