Total Forgiveness — R.T. Kendall

Joseph’s Betrayal and God’s Providential Plan

Would you open your Bibles to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter one, Genesis chapter one. My plan is I'll start reading in maybe five minutes. There may be someone here, you don't know the story of the life of Joseph.

And so I want everybody to feel you're up to date. Here's what we have. Joseph, who was the favorite son of Jacob, has become prime minister of Egypt. And his 11 brothers have come to Egypt to buy food, but they do not have a clue that this prime minister is their brother.

Joseph always knew this day would come. But he thought it meant he could throw the book at them and get even. Because what had happened 22 years before, these brothers, very, very jealous of Joseph, you can't blame them.

Their dad, Jacob, not a good father, gave him this coat of many colors, showed favoritism, bad for a parent to do that. And Jacob did that. Made his brothers jealous. They were going to kill him. And then Ishmaelites turned up.

They said, well, let's not kill him. They took this coat of many colors off Jacob's back, dipped it in blood, put it before old Jacob who took the bait and said, a wild beast has devoured my son. I will go to my grave in mourning.

The brothers tiptoed away and said, well, we got away with it. The Bible says, be sure your sin will find you out. 22 years later now, because of a famine in the land, they have to go to Egypt. They have to go to the prime minister.

Joseph knows who they are. He's speaking through an interpreter. He's wearing Egyptian garb. Members of the cabinet, they, as I said, have no idea. This is their brother. He always thought that when this dream would be fulfilled, he could throw the book at them and say, gotcha.

But by the time the dream was fulfilled, it's a new Joseph. I wonder if there's anybody here, you've been given a word way back and you've wondered, why has it taken so long? And you've cried out, how long, how long, how long?

And I've come to Enfield to tell you how long, as long as it takes to bring you to the place Joseph came to when it was a new Joseph. And so instead of saying, gotcha, and throwing the book at them, he starts to cry.

He sobs. And so we begin the reading. Genesis 45, verse one. Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants. And he cried out, have everyone leave my presence. So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.

And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him and Pharaoh's household heard about it. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph, is my father still living? But his brothers were not able to answer him because they were terrified at his presence.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, come close to me. When they had done so, he said, I am your brother, Joseph. The one you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed. Do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

For two years now, there's been famine in the land. For the next five years, there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

So then it was not you who sent me here, but God. May God be pleased to bless the reading and the preaching of this is most holy and infallible word. Brief word of prayer. Heavenly father, I pray now for the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus by your spirit to rest upon every mind.

That their perception of what I say will be received, grasped, understood, applied as you intend. For my tongue that I might be cleansed, that I might be your transparent vehicle to convey everything you want said, nothing you don't want said.

The Wound That Gave Birth to a Message on Forgiveness

Let this be a life changing word. I ask that no person hearing this word will ever be the same again. I pray this in Jesus name, amen. The message that I believe I am to bring to you today was born in what was at the time the darkest hour that my wife Louise and I had ever gone through.

It was while I was minister of Westminster Chapel in London. Those days were the best of times and they were the worst of times. And while I was there, we went through the most hurtful period of our lives.

Worst trial we'd ever had. What happened was not right. The future was bleak, I thought I was finished. I was angry, I was bitter, how could God let this happen to me? An old friend from Romania, his name was Joseph Tson, happened to be in London.

Because I knew Joseph wouldn't tell anybody, I decided to tell Joseph Tson what they did. And if I'm honest, I thought he would put his arm around me and say, RT, you ought to be angry, get it out of your system.

Instead, he just looked at me and said, anything more? I said, no, that's it. I wasn't prepared for what followed. If I could narrow 25 years in London down to 15 minutes, they would turn out to be my finest hour.

It's when Joseph Tson looked at me and said, RT, you must totally forgive them. For until you totally forgive them, you will be in chains. Release them and you will be released. Nobody had ever talked to me like that in my life.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend. I said, Joseph, you know, I just remembered more, I haven't told you everything, he stopped me, RT. And I can hear him now in his Romanian accent. You must totally forgive them.

For until you totally forgive them, you will be in chains. Release them and you will be released. Released. I said, Joseph, I can't. He said, you can and you must. I can tell you now, it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

Almost certainly the hardest thing you will ever have to do because this is going right against nature. Because when someone has hurt you or maligned you, or been an enemy, or been hurtful, you'll want to see them punished.

And so when you totally forgive them it means you let them off the hook. You kiss vengeance goodbye. And if you're ready for this, you even pray for them. And when you pray for them, you don't just say, Heavenly Father, I just commit them to you.

Because you're hoping God will kill them. No, that's not the idea. Jesus has blessed them. Blessed them. Yes, God did bless them. You say, R .T., I can never do that. I understand. Goes right against nature.

Hardest thing you ever have to do. But you see, I'm not the first to say it. Jesus taught it. We all know he taught it. Bless your enemies, pray for them, love them. We all know he taught it. Doesn't seem to bother us, does it?

We rush right through Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Sermon on the Mount, get to Acts, Romans, Galatians, get to our doctrine. Listen, listen, what I hadn't realized, this is a no joke thing. He's serious about this.

Forgiveness, Anointing, and the Cost of Bitterness

Forgiveness is essential. It's not the way you're saved. It's not even the way you keep saved. But it's the way you maintain the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Now, that's the only hope I've got that you're going to listen to me.

Because you're not going to like a word of it unless anointing matters to you. You're all on a fast, 21 day fast. If it weren't for that, I was going to get to have lunch with your pastor. But I don't want to make you feel bad, but about, mmm, 45 minutes to now, while you're fasting, I'm going to have chicken tikka masala.

I'm just going to enjoy it. My favorite food in the whole world. If I were to tell you my story, I could win you over, I could. But if I were to hear your story, I would be embarrassed to think that I've suffered at all.

Because I doubt not that there are people here who've suffered a lot more than me. Chances are, there's someone here, you were abused as a child. I wasn't. I can't imagine what that's like. You were raped.

Your spouse was unfaithful to you. You were lied about. And everybody believes the lie and you live your life under a cloud knowing what they think. It's hurtful. You say, RT, am I to forgive them and put them in jail?

And pray for them? Yep. If anointing matters to you, let's suppose we have in this audience today the person who has suffered more than anyone in England. Suppose you were here. We call you up. We interview you.

Maybe you've thought, well, in my case, I don't have to forgive because God would understand in my case. You see, that's the thing with all of us. We all feel that our situation is the worst. And there's a loophole for people like us.

Let me say to you, if you've suffered more than anybody else in this auditorium, you've suffered the most. And that person is here. There would be at least one that no one has suffered as much as you.

I've got a word for you. It's a word from the angels. Are you ready for it? Congratulations. You have a promise of blessing that the person in front of you doesn't have, the person next to you doesn't have.

They haven't suffered like you. Because here is the principle. The greater the suffering, the greater the anointing. And whereas up to now, you've seen it as a rationale to stay bitter and angry and always point the finger.

It's the end of an era, the beginning of a new. Why should you forgive? Well, it's the anointing. I can give you other reasons, health reasons. Did you know not forgiving is injurious to your health? Medical people will tell you holding a grudge leads to arthritis, high blood pressure, kidney disease.

I'm not saying if you have these, this is why, but it could be. And you know, sometimes, do you know, just forgiving reverses the physiological process that got you to that moment. I don't remember where I was.

I'm just a kid kicked by a zoo. I think it was South Africa. A year or so ago, a lady came up to me after the service and said, I've been wanting to tell you something. She said, two years before, that's why I think it was South Africa, because I've been going there every year for about eight, nine years.

She said, two years before, you preached your sermon, Total Forgiveness. She said, in the middle of the sermon, I was healed. I said, really, how did this happen? She said, as you enumerated the points, I just said, yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord. And she said, in the middle of the sermon, I was healed. It's two years ago. This should not be surprising. Not forgiving gives the entry point to the devil. You see, you hold a grudge. The devil says, good, I love it.

And he will take advantage of that moment. And you wonder why you're angry all the time. Irritable. No one can get along with you. You're negative. Devil got in. You say, what I need is an exorcism. You know, you can go on a 21-day fast.

And if you're angry when you start and you're angry when you finish, it's fast not going to do you any good. Because total forgiveness is an act of the will. And I can tell you now, if you listen to me for the next 20 minutes, you don't need to have somebody lay hands on you.

I'm not against that. This is different. The moment you totally forgive them, Satan has to go. Holy Spirit comes down. The question is, how do you know you've done it? I'm sure if I said how many had forgiven, hands would go up, I believe you.

But I want to make a proposition. The proposition, if I were to show in the next 19 minutes that you have not totally forgiven, would you then do it? That's the deal. All right, how do you know you've done it?

Proof One: Refusing to Publicize the Offense

Proof number one. You tell nobody what they did to you. You don't tell anybody. Well, that's hard, Artie. Yep. But you see, we learned it from the life of Joseph. Verse one, then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants.

And he said, have everyone leave my presence. So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. So here he is, Prime Minister, his interpreter, because Joseph has learned Egyptian.

His interpreter speaks in Hebrew. Aids, cabinet, 11 brothers. And suddenly Joseph says, everyone out. And they all file out. They don't know why, they're told to leave. Interpreter probably hangs around, says, you're going to need me.

He says, out. And then Joseph speaks behind closed doors to 11 brothers in Hebrew and says, I'm Joseph, I'm Joseph. These brothers are scared to death. But why did he make everybody leave? He's got a strategy.

He wants to get those 11 brothers to come and live in Egypt. He wants to make sure nobody in Egypt knows what they did. There was a day he wanted everybody to know. First thing you want to do is tell everybody.

New Joseph, he knows that he's popular. He knows that he's a hero in Egypt. He saved Egypt. He wants his brothers to be heroes. He knows if the word leaks out, every Egyptian to a man will hate those men.

He wants to make sure nobody knows what they did. That's total forgiveness. You don't tell anybody. Tell God, Psalm 142, verses one, two. He can cope with it, tell God. And you can tell one other person for therapeutic reasons.

But not two, not 10, not 500. Tell one, don't tell anybody else. One exception, if it's a crime, you must report it. A lady came into my vestry at Westminster Chapel. She said, they found my rapist. They want me to testify in court.

I said, well, you've taught me to forgive. I'm not going to testify. I said, this is different. It's not personal. It's a danger to society. So she did tell it. But what's the real reason we tell? Get on the phone.

Can't bear the thought that anybody would like them. We don't want anybody to admire them. We want to smear them, ruin them. As for that verse where God says, vengeance is mine, I will repay. We say, yes, Lord, but you are so slow.

Proof Two: Removing Fear and the Threat of Punishment

God says, leave it to me. My job, totally, to forgive them. Proof number two, you don't let them be afraid of you. You see, Joseph always wanted them to be afraid of him. But it's the new Joseph. They're terrified.

He says, come close to me. Come close to me. He just wanted love on them. He wanted to convey to them. They couldn't believe it. He just wanted love on them. Perfect love casts out fear. Fear has to do with punishment.

He wanted to punish them at one time, but no more. You see, when we don't forgive, we want the other person to be nervous and afraid. Husbands and wives play this game, keeping the other nervous and fearful.

Husband says to the wife, I will remember that. Bible says love keeps no record of wrongs. Why do we keep records? To prove we've paid. Why do we keep a record of wrong? To use it against our wives, our husbands, anybody.

Do you know that this little talk today could heal any broken marriage, any marriage on the rocks by sundown today? If both of you will stop pointing the finger. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Tear up the record.

Proof Three: Refusing to Demand Their Guilt or Repentance

It doesn't exist. You don't tell what they did. You don't let them be afraid of you. Proof number three, you don't even let them feel guilty. Listen to Joseph. He says, don't be angry with yourselves.

He wants them to forgive themselves. He wants them to be at peace. If you ever say to somebody, I forgive you for what you did, but I hope you feel bad about it. You see, you're still wanting to feel guilty.

You want to give them a guilt trip. And you say, I don't have to forgive them until they're sorry. Really? Where did you get that? You say, well, you don't have to forgive them until they repent. I recall Jesus saying on the cross, Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they've done. They don't even know. There's no repentance of the cross. If you wait until they're sorry and you think you've got a right to hold the grudge until they're sorry, the devil has convinced you of something that will take you to your grave in bitterness.

They're not going to be sorry. They don't even think they've done anything. Nine out of 10 people we ever have to forgive, they don't even think they've done anything anyway. The people I had to forgive, you could have put them under a lie detector.

They didn't think they did anything wrong. And by the way, when the sermon is over today, don't walk across the room, go up to somebody and say, well, in the light of our tea sermon, I forgive you. They will say, for what?

You'll say, well, you know what? Well, no, I don't. Oh, you do? Well, I don't actually. Well, you should. And you got to fight. You see, what gets your goat? They don't know how hurt you are and you think you have to tell them.

Let me tell you how to get a major victory. There's minor and major. Would you like a major victory? Minor victory, you wait for them to be sorry and then you forgive them. Doesn't take much grace for that.

I mean, unsaved people, soft words turn away wrath. Get a major victory. Forgive them when they don't even know you're hurt. Forgive them when they don't even think they've done anything wrong. You don't have to point it out.

Tell him. This is Jesus. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they've done. We're talking about wanting more anointing. Here's what I'm telling you what to do. This is better than a 21 day fast.

Why don't you just go eat with me today? No, I'm joking. I am impressed with that. At Westminster Chapel, we did it one day a year and we thought we were doing something great. You embarrass me. Total forgiveness is an act of the will.

You see, what I need is somebody to lay hands on me and I'll fall to the floor. If you're bitter when you fall, you'll be bitter when you get up. You make a choice. And don't be surprised if the people you have to forgive are close to you and just between you and me, what if they are godly, really spiritual?

You know, some that we think are so godly, meanest people in the world. You've heard the poem, living with the saints above? Oh, that will be glory. Living with the saints below? Well, that's another story.

Proof Four: Letting Offenders Save Face

Don't tell what they did. Don't let them be nervous, afraid of you. Help them forgive themselves. Proof number four, you let them save face. What's that? Well, that's when you cover for them. You protect their fragile ego.

Instead of rubbing their noses in it, you act like you don't even know what they did or you give them a way out. You let them save face. Here's Joseph. He said, don't be angry with yourselves. He said, God sent me here.

He knew in advance this famine was going to come and somebody had to get here first for our sakes. And God says, Joseph, you go first. That's all, I just got here first. He lets them save face. They can't believe their luck.

The very man they were going to kill now is saying God did it. That was too good to be true. But I've got a little test. How to know whether you've really heard the gospel. You want to hear my test today?

How to know you've really heard it? Here's the proof you've really heard the gospel. When it was too good to be true. Until it was too good to be true, haven't heard it yet. But when the penny drops, you think, whew, that's too good to be true.

That's when you heard it. And I did something earlier today that I had not planned to do. Spontaneous. I'm going to do it now. It takes two minutes out of the sermon. Here it goes. Do you know for sure, you, if you were to die today, would you go to heaven?

Do you know that? Question. If you were to stand before God, and you will, and he were to ask you, he might, why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? What would you say? Where will you be 100 years from now?

I asked Yasser Arafat that. First time I met him. I said, Rais, where will you be 100 years from now? Issue is not whether you or the Israelis get Jerusalem. Where will you be 100 years from now? Where will you be?

And you're standing before God. He says, why should I let you in? You got to give an answer. Wrong answer, go someplace else. You don't want to go there. Only one answer will do what comes to your mind.

I'll cut right to it. Two words do nicely. Jesus died. I was giving the gospel to a man in South Africa the other day. I asked him the same question. Why do you stand before God? He says, why should I let you in?

He said, is there a password? I said, yeah. He said, what is it? I said, I'll tell you in a minute. I gave him the gospel first. The password is Jesus died. It's too good to be true. Got to be more truth than that.

If there's more truth than that, it ain't good news. Jesus died. And I have to say with respect, if it didn't cross your mind to say that, or the equivalent, trusting his death on the cross, I don't care who you are.

I wouldn't want to be in your shoes for anything in the world. But that can all change right now. If you know you gave the wrong answer, I want you to pray this prayer. You don't need to say it out loud.

Just say it in your heart. You ready? Lord Jesus, I need you. Tell him, I want you. I'm sorry for my sins. Wash my sins away by your blood. I welcome your Holy Spirit into my heart. As best as I know how, I give you my life.

That's it. Did you pray that prayer? Did you? Some did in the first service. Some did in the second. I think somebody just did. Question, are you ashamed that you prayed it? Why do you ask, RT? Because Jesus said, if you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you.

Jesus said, if you confess me before men, I'll confess you before my Father. In 15 seconds, if you prayed that prayer, I'm going to ask you to stand. You say, in front of all these people? Yep. Well, that's kind of scary, and people don't know very well.

Eight seconds. Four, three, two, one. If you prayed the prayer, stand on your feet right now. Tell people you want to have a look. They're all over the place. Now, remain standing. Now, look. Two kinds of people standing right now.

One. First time for you to do this. Never prayed a prayer like that before? Never stood publicly? Do you know what the Bible says about you? You've just been born again. God says to you, happy birthday.

Remain standing. But there's a second category of people standing. You were saved before today. This is not the day you got converted, but when you heard the gospel, as I just presented it, it gave you the assurance that you haven't had.

Proof Five: Protecting the Offender’s Darkest Secret

So you stood. You stood, and you did the right thing. You can be seated. God bless you. Proof number five. Total forgiveness. You protect them from their darkest secret. What was the dark secret of these brothers?

Well, they deceived their dad. They took that coat of many colors, dipped it in blood, lay it before old Jacob, who took the bait. They'd rather die than have to go back to Canaan and tell him what they did.

They'd rather die. Joseph knew that. He won't let them tell. You can read the rest of the scripture when you get home. He tells them exactly what to say. He won't let them tell, the old man. He protects them from their darkest secret.

Chances are you know something about somebody that could destroy them. Assure that person no one will ever know. See, God's that way with us. We've all got skeletons in the cupboard. God's not one to embarrass anybody.

Proof Six: Forgiveness as a Lifelong Commitment

And so with you. Assure that person no one will ever know. Proof number six. Very important, arguably the most important point of my sermon. Total forgiveness is a life sentence. It's like when your physician gives you a tablet, says you're gonna have to take this the rest of your life.

I've got one like that. Life sentence. Total forgiveness is that. That means you've gotta do it today, you've gotta do it again tomorrow, day after tomorrow, a week from now, two years from now, maybe 10 years from now for all I know.

Because some people never ever change and they're still out to get you or hurt you. Keep praying for them. Just bless them. You say well once is enough. Wrong. You've got a faulty doctrine of sanctification.

The heart is deceitful. You do it once, you feel good. But then five days from now you realize what you had to forgive, they're still doing it. This is why it's a life sentence. Keep it up. This is where the anointing is.

Proof Seven: Blessing Those Who Have Wronged You

This is where it is with me. Pray for your enemy, bless them. I've got an enemy's prayer list. Pray for the day, everyone. You're not on it. Yet. Proof number seven. This is my last point, you'll be pleased to know.

You bless them. 17 years later, Jacob died. The brothers panic. They say Joseph's just been waiting for our dad to die. Now he's going to go for us. And they come running to Joseph. Please forgive us for what we did.

And Joseph starts to cry. What is the matter with you man? I told you 17 years ago I forgave you. I forgave you then, forgive you now. You see it was a life sentence. He still forgave them. But the big thing is he says don't worry.

I will look after you. I will bless you. It's when you pray for them. God will bless them. I came into the pulpit at Westminster Chapel. Those days the minister led the worship. We were singing praise my soul, the king of heaven.

Out in the audience was a woman who has done irreparable emotional damage to one of our children. And when I saw her out there, I lost it. I could hardly sing. I had to read the scripture. I don't know how I did it.

I had to go through another hymn and then pastoral prayer. The whole time I was thinking of her. What saved me? Offering time, the gifts. Another man came up, lifted the offering, made the announcements.

I'm sitting there next to the pulpit. I wasn't expecting this. Never happened before or since. God entered into a conversation with me. I don't say this is verbatim, but it's pretty close. So the Lord says, RT, you're wanting to see revival at Westminster Chapel, right?

Yes, good. How much do you want to see revival? A lot. Which would you rather have, revival or for me to send judgment on that woman out there? Revival. Good. Pray for her. I pray for her. He says, that's not good enough.

Ask me to bless her. Bless her. Say it again. Bless her. Say it again. Bless her. And what if I take your word seriously and I bless her? I said, Lord, you wouldn't do that, would you? But that's the point.

And I just started saying, bless her, bless her. Knowing full well that God was going to bless her. It was killing me. To prove I meant it, I had to put it on my prayer list the next day, pray for every day.

What was at first so hard, it became so easy. That's when I got my enemy's prayer list. You know, people, what I'm about to say, you could misunderstand, try not to. They want to, RT, how could you have written all these books?

They think it's my brain, my education. It's the Holy Spirit. From that day, I began to get insight into the Bible that I'd never had before. Publishers queue up wanting a book. Get more thoughts, I can't write them down fast enough.

Anointing. All started. This is where it was. He'll do it for you. I don't say you're going to be an author, but you've got a gift nobody else has. At the moment, you wonder why God isn't using you. Can't trust you.

He doesn't want a bitter person. You see, this is the problem with leaders today. Small men scrambling for power. God's looking for somebody free of bitterness that can be trusted with this anointing.