The Power of Forgiveness — Scott Volk

Father, we love you. Lord, father, we call out to you. Great God. Show load, no, no, no, no, no. Great God. Father, keep us from the mere formality of gathering together. Lord, we need an invasion of God.

Lord, in our everyday lives Lord, we're not looking for meetings that give us tingles or feelings, we're just looking for you to come. So Lord, come, may your kingdom come in this place today. God on high, deliverer, redeemer.

Lord, Rondo, Rondo, Rondo, she, a yellow Rambamba show Lord Rondo, Rondo, Rondo, Rondo Rombo, Nomo King Jesus. King Jesus, King Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Father, our hope is in you. Trust is in you in Jesus name, amen.

Amen. You may be seated. Open up, if you would, to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. I'm just really asking the Lord to lead me this morning. There's so many different directions that I can go with this scripture, but I feel like there's a theme on God's heart for today.

I actually felt like he gave me the theme over a week ago. When I sat down to write specific notes for it, I really didn't have the ability to do that. So I'm just really going to be trusting the Lord that his heart's going to be delivered.

Jesus' Teaching on Prayer and Forgiveness

Matthew chapter 6. Probably a scripture that all of you know by heart, depending on the tradition in which you were raised. Some of you may have recited this daily or multiple times daily. I think sometimes when we, when scriptures become common to us, sometimes they can lose their punch.

You know, there's a saying that familiarity breeds contempt. Sometimes it even happens with scripture that we could just gloss over a scripture for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

It almost, it's like it's, it's grievous how familiar we've come sometimes with scripture, but not really allowed it to pierce us because of the familiarity of it. Matthew chapter 6 verse 8, therefore do not be like them.

Speaking of the Gentiles, when they pray for your father knows what you need before you ask. Pray in this way, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.

Amen. For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your father will not or give you or give us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, I want you to grab hold of this. We're praying to God and we're asking God to forgive us. This is how Jesus taught us to pray. We're asking God to forgive us to the same degree that we forgive those who sit against us.

Forgive us as we forgive our debtors. You know how many times you've prayed that prayer? How many times that's come out of our mouths, our lips, or even in our hearts. Want you to grab hold of this today because I feel like there is a, a epidemic of unforgiveness in the church.

And that is not only keeping you from freedom, but keeping the people who have hurt you from seeing the kingdom of God come, which is also part of this prayer. Isn't it interesting that immediately after this prayer, the one thing that Jesus immediately repeats is the area of forgiveness.

I mean, the kingdom's important, but Jesus says immediately after the prayer for if you forgive men, their transgressions, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, their transgression, your heavenly father will not forgive you.

Staggering. It's staggering that we actually hold the key for God's forgiveness in our lives. We're the ones, we're the ones that hold the key to God's forgiveness in our lives because he does not make us forgive anybody and he does not forgive anybody through us.

He's forgiven. I mean, we're going to talk about that in a second, but give us our debts as we forgive our debtors. There's a scripture in the book of Ephesians chapter four says this starts off by saying Ephesians chapter four, by the way, is an amazing community chapter.

It's a one in the spirit chapter. The end of Ephesians four says this, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you and be kind one to another tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God has forgiven you, you know how we're called to forgive one another.

The same way God has forgiven us, that's staggering. Also that we are called to forgive like God. It's the thing that I just want to encourage you with today because there are people who are sitting here who have been badly hurt by other people or people sitting here who grew up in, in, uh, in homes that I wouldn't wish my enemies to grow up in.

There are people here who've been cheated. There are people here who've been cheated on by a spouse. There are people here who've lost business deals because of people cheating on them. There are people here whose closest people to them have turned on them and you're sitting here this morning and you're asking God to release things for you, but there's a block because of something that's in our hearts with regard to the way that we've been treated.

That's never been released because God is waiting for you to forgive. This isn't a typical Scott Volk word, forgive one another, even as God has forgiven you. My question is, how has God forgiven you?

Because that will give us an indication how we're to forgive one another. How has God forgiven you? Josh, where was that verse that you read as a, he will remember our sins no more. Is that Jeremiah Hebrews nine, 10, 11, 12, all of that.

There's also a scripture in Jeremiah that says he will remember your sins. No more. Isaiah says, I think it's Isaiah in the Bible. As far as the East is from the West. That's how far he's removed our transgressions from us.

Forgiveness Through Personal Pain and Grace

How do we forgive? How do we respond? I'll tell you the, the, the brunt of this message was formed inside of me after one of the most brutal times in my life when the people that were closest to me and closest to my family absolutely turned their backs on us.

Basically threw us to the curb, ran over us and then put it in reverse and backed over us. I can't even tell you the pain and the anguish it caused. I'm not going to go into it. Many of you know the story and I'm not going to even go into the full story, but when I first visited Pensacola, it was a few short months after this horrific season of ours.

And I walked into that church, not knowing anybody except Mike Brown had an, uh, a saved seat for me because there were people not only in the main sanctuary, but in the, um, in the overflow room as well.

And um, the, uh, spirit was so moving in that place that I sat down in the chair and I put my head in my hands and I said, God, I need a touch from you. And I had the first of only two open visions I've ever had in my life, but I'll tell you what happened at my hands and my head.

I said, God, I need a touch from you. And I had a vision that I was standing behind the pulpit of the church that kicked my family out and out of my mouth. I was asking them to forgive me for harboring bitterness and unforgiveness in my heart towards them.

I said, God, no, you don't know what they like. I'm telling God he doesn't know. You don't know what they did to us. They should be coming to me asking me to forgive them for the hurt and anguish. I was crying out because I needed a touch from God.

This is what God said to me that I can't fill you with what you need unless you empty yourself of what you have. I can't fill you with what you need unless you empty yourself of what you have. And I knew I was full of bitterness and unforgiveness and in order for God's life to be flowing through me to the capacity that it could, I had to empty myself of just this junk that was inside me.

I said, God, I can't do that on my own. I don't actually believe that any of us can. That's a grace. That's what grace is. Grace is calling on God for the power and the ability to live holy when we can't do that ourselves.

It's not the ability to do whatever we want and get forgiveness. It's the, it's the privilege of asking God for something we don't deserve so that he can empower us to live holy. And it was the last night of, of, of those meetings that God touched me.

And in one fell swoop, John Kilpatrick, the pastor of that church who I had, whom I had never met before, walks over to me at Mike Brown's urging and praise for me myself on the floor. And when I was able to stand up, it was this weight on me.

It was like, it was, I don't even know how to describe it. It was just like 10 of the biggest men you've ever met. Just sitting on my back, got up, made my way into the front pew, sat there and wet my eyes out because I realized in one fell swoop, God released every yucky, bitter, unforgiving bone that was inside of me and filled me with love and compassion for these people who 10 minutes earlier, I can tell you, I hated, you know, it's amazing.

The sermon on the Mount, Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Beatitudes. We say, you know, the old Testament is law and the new Testament is grace. Well, I'm not disputing that, but do you know what kind of grace Jesus gives in the new Testament?

It's to live way above the standards of the law in the old, you know, in the old Testament, it said, if you committed, um, thou shalt not commit adultery in grace on the sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, if you'll look at a woman with lust in your eyes, he, he like up at it, he just kind of brought it to the next level.

You know, the law says you shall not murder Jesus ups that one. If you look at your brother with hate, you've murdered him. Talk about legalistic in some people's minds. That's not legalism at all, but Jesus takes the standard of the law and he just goes eons above it and says, this is how you can live area forgiveness.

And I, for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, right? If you do not forgive your heavenly father will not forgive you. I was sitting in that pew and I realized that God had just done something in me. One moment in the presence of God is far better than 10 ,000 years of counseling with the best psychiatrist.

It's better than any kind of medicine that you can take because you yield to God and he comes and he does for you what you can never do for yourself except that you are willing to say, God, I need you to touch me.

God touched me from that day on. I have never been the same, never been the same. I went back to those very people who heard us and was able to look them in the eye and ask them to forgive me. You know, I never once heard an apology, not once from any of them, but can I tell you something?

I am walking whole and clean because God gave me by his grace, the ability to forgive them. And from that moment on, it was at the, it was at the moment that I was able to confront those people, not with their sin, but with mine, that my life totally took a different turn.

We moved to Pensacola and, and, and it's, it's been amazing ever since. I can tell you before God that I am not spiritual enough or good enough to have done that for myself, but God did it for me when I just simply said, Lord, you touch me, forgive one another as God has forgiven you.

I wonder how much debt we have because we've not forgiven debt. I mean both natural debt and spiritual debt. I wonder how much anguish we have because we've not forgiven as far as the East is from the West.

Vengeance, Repentance, and Forgiveness in Film

That's how far he's removed our transgressions from us. I was talking to my kingdom community class this week, fire school, and I was reminded, don't typically talk about movies that I see publicly, but I'm going to tell you about two movies that I compared with my class and actually, well, just compared them with the class just talked about a little bit.

One movie is a movie called the count of Monte Cristo. The other movie is a movie called lame, miserable, both written by secular people, but both with actually quite amazing, amazingly compelling movies.

Nothing in either of them that is questionable. Count of Monte Cristo is a movie about a man who was erroneously thrown into prison and spent the rest of his life getting back at the people who threw him in prison.

And can I tell you something? When I watched that movie, every time one of these guys gets it, I'm like, yeah, there's the other one over there. Get them. Yeah. And it's like one by one, this dude, not in like a vigilante kind of way, but he just, he foils them in there.

He gets back at them and makes them pay for what they did to him. They miserable written by Victor Hugo, probably the most, the most amazing message on repentance I've ever sent forgiveness I've ever seen in my life is about this man.

I'm not even going to tell you the whole movie. I'll just tell you how it starts. This man who is a criminal during the days of the French revolution is lying on a park bench with his criminal papers.

Once a criminal, always a criminal destined to spend the rest of your life in prison. And this woman comes up to him and says, you can't sleep here. And he says, I'm a criminal. I've got nowhere to go.

She goes, you can go to that house and he knocks on the door of that house. Dirty criminal looking man knocks on the door and a priest opens up the door and he says, can I have some bread? And the man invites him in for dinner.

I can't come in your house. I'm a criminal. He goes, you're welcome here. Not only will I give you dinner, but you can spend the night here. This man's never, never seen such love. And in the middle of the night, this man wakes up, goes into the kitchen and takes every piece of silver that's in the kitchen, stuffs it in his bag and walks out of the house.

Well, excuse me, before he walks out of the house, the old man priest walks into the kitchen and, and looks at him and the criminal takes his hand, cold Cox, this guy, and he's out they're both out. The next scene is the next day.

The wife who didn't want this man in the house in the first place, she's sitting on a bench crying. The old priest is maybe doing some raking in the yard and in walks a company of policemen with the criminal, the criminals in shackles and the policemen look at the priest and said, this man said, you gave him this stuff.

Now the priest had an opportunity right there to go, what is he talking about? He ripped it off. And you know what the priest said? The priest goes, he's right. I just am upset because he forgot to take our favorite candlestick holder and the criminal's mouth drops open.

The policeman unshackle this criminal, the policeman, leaving the criminal standing there in front of the priest, the criminal goes, why did you do that for me? Priest said, I'm giving you your life back.

Go and make a difference. And that whole movie then is about the guy who was the prisoners guard comes chasing after him to kill him and throw him back in prison. I'm not going to tell you how it is, but it's the most amazing movie of repentance I've ever, repentance and forgiveness that I've ever seen.

But you know what our human nature loves? Vengeance. Get them back. Come on. Count of Monte Cristo. Go after the next one who threw you in that prison. So you spent violently 20 something years there.

Get them back. Forgive one another. Even has God has forgiven you. Flip over to Genesis 45. I'm sorry, 40. Forty five. Genesis 45. I spoke on this passage a couple of years ago. I just want to highlight, just want to highlight some things in the life of Joseph, who's really a type of Jesus in the area of forgiveness.

Joseph's Forgiveness as a Test of Spiritual Freedom

Proper ways to respond. Kind of like a litmus test. No litmus test is. I'm not exactly sure that I can explain it, but when you, when you stick your little litmus paper in the water, it comes out a certain color.

I want this to kind of be a litmus test for us in the area of forgiveness. And I want to challenge you today because I feel like God wants to set some of you free today. Litmus test. Here's how we can tell if we've truly forgiven those who hurt us.

Genesis 45 is the story of Joseph. All of you, most of you probably know the story of Joseph. Favorite son of. Jacob sold into slavery by his sons because of jealousy. Joseph had a dream that his sons were going to be bowing down to him in his.

I'm sorry. What did I say? Sons. Brothers. Thank you. Joseph had a dream that his grandparents were going to be bowing down to him. Joseph had a dream that his brothers were going to be bowing down to him.

And he tells his brothers that wasn't the wisest thing to do. His brothers get jealous and they throw him in a pit. They take his coat of any colors. They sprinkle blood all over it. They bring the coat back to the father and say something terrible has happened to Joseph.

He's died. Some wild animals have eaten him. Crazy story. Joseph's father's in mourning. As if he's lost his own son. In the meantime, Joseph is sold to some, uh, into slavery and brought into Egypt. Spent years in prison.

The dudes had a rough go of it. Kind of the opposite of the count of Monte Cristo at a certain point. But kind of an interesting thing. He did not deserve to be where he was. So the question is, how do you handle it when you come face to face with the lowlifes that threw you into the pit?

What do you do? How do you respond? Check this out. Some of the most amazing verses in scripture. Genesis 45. Verse 1. Joseph's brothers are standing in front of him. And Joseph's brothers have no idea who they're looking at.

And Joseph knows who he's looking at. Verse 1. By the way, this is 22 years after Joseph's dream. Can you imagine that? 22 years later. That's some hard years he's had. It's also some wonderful years where God brought him into a position of leadership.

Second in command now in Egypt. The greatest nation on the planet at this time. Then Joseph, verse 1, could not control himself. Before all those who stood by him. And he cried. Have everyone go out from me.

So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it. And the household of Pharaoh heard it. Verse 3. Then Joseph said to his brothers.

I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him for they were dismayed. At his presence. Can you imagine what Joseph's brothers felt? 22 years after they dumped this dude in a pit.

Imagine the fear that was on them. Can you imagine the anguish that they were feeling? Joseph. You could have locked their heads off in a split second. You know what he does? The first thing he does, he sends everybody out of the room.

Except his brothers. I heard RT Kendall speak on this. Some of these points actually. Were birthed out of what I heard RT Kendall say. Genesis 45. Litmus test number one. You will no longer tell anyone what was done to you.

Joseph had an amazing opportunity at this moment. To reveal to all of Egypt that it was these guys right here. That threw me into slavery. And you know what he did? He sent everybody out of the room so that when he revealed himself to his brothers.

It was just he and his brothers that were there. Oh my goodness. How easy is it to just repeat a matter? Over and over and over again. Well you don't know how I've been hurt. You don't know what they've done to me.

The more we repeat a matter. The more it just embroils with inside of us. Like this root that just goes down. Just kind of spreads all over the place. You know how you can tell if you're free. And if you've truly forgiven.

If you don't ever have to tell anybody. Anything about what you went through. Because that's how God's forgiven us. What does the Bible say? I will remember your sins no more. Listen to this. There's a difference between forgetting and not remembering.

I forget a lot of things. It's a passive. It's just passive. Where's my wallet? Oh, I owed you $5. No, I'm teasing. It's easy. It's easy to forget. It's a passive thing. But not remembering is an active thing.

Can I just tell you this? God doesn't forget anything. But there are things he chooses not to remember. And that's more powerful than forgetting. I will remember your sin no more. Forgive one another even as God has forgiven us.

How many of us want to hold sins over somebody's head? You know what you did to me? I can't love you. I can't trust you. I can't work for you. I will remember your sin no more. And that's so powerful.

It's so amazing. That's who God is. That's why we're sitting here. If you don't know the Lord today, can I tell you, you have an opportunity to come to a God who will never bring up one lousy bad thing that you've ever done.

Once you just simply come and confess your sin to him. How wonderful is that? But we live with this count of Monte Cristo thing going on inside of us. I am going to see that everyone that ever did anything to me gets what they deserve.

That's a little scary. Just read Matthew 18. About the God that's been forgiven much. You know what we deserve? We don't deserve eternal life. If God gave us what we deserve, none of us would be sitting here today.

So how dare we inflict on somebody what we think they deserve with our own human understanding? You know what they deserve? Eternal life. So let's be the demonstration of the kingdom and forgive as God has forgiven us.

This is so amazingly empowering. Everybody out of the room. I am Joseph. Are you willing to never repeat what so and so did to you? Never let it be made known to anybody ever again. But Scott, people need to watch out for these guys.

But Scott, if I don't tell anybody, maybe they won't get what's supposed to be coming to them. What does the Bible say about vengeance? Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Oh, they'll get what's coming to them.

They'll get what you sow, you reap. But you are not the one that causes them to get what they deserve. Everybody out. Litmus test number one. Are you willing to no longer talk about what it is that you went through?

Number two. He wept so loudly. Verse two, that the Egyptians heard it in the household. The Pharaoh heard it. Verse three. Then Joseph said to his brothers, I'm Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him for they were dismayed.

And King James says, troubled. And IV says, terrified. At his presence, obviously. Verse four. Then Joseph said to his brothers. Please come closer to me. They came closer and he said, I am your brother, Joseph.

Whom you sold into Egypt. Number two. Litmus test number two. Not only will you not speak about what they did. But you will not allow them to fear you or be intimidated by you. They were terrified. Joseph said, come closer.

How many of you want the people who hurt you the most closest to you? When we have bitterness or unforgiveness in our hearts, the last person we want to look at. Are those people who violated us? We want to hold them.

We want them fearing who we are. Joseph said, come closer. This is so amazing to me. I mean, I'm actually fighting emotionally when I think of what God did for all of us. Come closer. Come to me. This is Jesus.

Forgive one another. As God's forgiven us. I want to move quickly. Number one. You'll no longer talk to anybody about what they did. Number two. You won't let them be fearful or intimidated by you. Number three.

You won't even let them feel guilty for what they've done. Check this out. Verse four. Then Joseph said to his brothers, please come closer, brothers. I'm sorry. Then Joseph said to his brothers, please come closer to me.

They came closer and he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. Verse five. Do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me here before you to preserve life.

Joseph, man, you are blowing the best opportunity you've ever had to get back at these guys. You won't even let them feel guilty for what they've done. You didn't sell me here. Don't be grieved. What does it say?

Because you sold. Don't be here. Greed because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life. Joseph either is the biggest wuss in the world or the greatest hero of his time. Oh, Joseph, face those people who got you and man, you give it to them.

You get an opportunity to look in their eyes. You give it back to him, buddy. Stand up for your rights. I'm telling you, I've been around enough people who've been hurt, even in the church. Who refused to forgive until the person that hurt them comes and begs and pleads forgiveness.

I've been around leaders who are like that. I was one of them. We want justice. We want. We want back what was stolen from us. You know what God says, forgive as I've forgiven you. You won't talk about it anymore.

You won't let them fear you. You won't let them feel guilty. Verse six for the famine has been in the land these two years. And there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.

Verse seven. Look at this. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God. Not only will you not allow them to feel guilty.

But you'll be able to proclaim to them how God has worked in your life through them. It wasn't you that sold me here, but it was God that sent me here. Can I tell you something in 1996? All I wanted to do was to get back at the people who wronged me.

Until one day in November of 1996, when God did something to me that I did not deserve. All of a sudden, I wanted to thank those people for what they did not to smear something. That's kind of a Yiddish thing.

Smear. I don't know if I've ever said that. Smear. Where'd that come from? Not to just. Smear something mud in their face. Realized. However much I felt like what they did was wrong. Was God's way of getting me to the very next thing in my life that never could have happened.

Can I tell you something? I would not be standing here today. If that did not happen to me in 1996 and I wouldn't trade today for anything. So I can say, God, thank you. They may have been the human instruments that did that to me.

But it was you that allowed it to happen to get me to this place. And Joseph was mature enough and spiritual enough to look at his brothers who he could have shot right there. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

He could have sold them into slavery. And he said. It's okay. Don't be dismayed. This was not your doing. It was God's doing. How about when people come to you? After they've hurt you. Oh, Beth, I just want to apologize to you.

Sometimes what we do is we say. Yeah, that really hurt me. I mean, do you know what you brought me through? Do you know all the years of anguish? I'll forgive you, but you just need to know something.

Is that it? How about looking those people in the eyes and just saying. Not only do I forgive you, but I thank God for you. Do you know what the Lord allowed me to do? He allowed me to look at the people who hurt me and my family the most.

And it was God because I saw them in a place I never expected to see them. I was driving into a McDonald's one morning to get coffee. And the drive-thru line was just ridiculously long. It was early in the morning at a McDonald's I never stop at.

And I decided to go in and grab a coffee. And as I walk in right in the corner of those men, the very men that signed the letter, basically booting my dad and I out of our own church. And I saw them and I quickly turned around.

My heart starts beating. This is after my vision. My heart starts beating and I'm like, oh, God, please. And I was like, OK, this is the opportunity. I walked over to those men and they had their Bibles open.

By the way, the people who hurt you most, some of them know that they've hurt you. But I would guarantee that the people who've hurt you most, if you gave them a lie detector test, would vow that they did what they felt like God wanted them to do.

They might not ever even apologize to you. By the way, don't wait for an apology to forgive. You're going to be waiting a long time. I walked over to them and I kind of had a Joseph moment. But I didn't realize it at that moment.

But I kind of had a Joseph moment with these guys. This is the grace of God. And I looked at them. And I had written them a letter a month earlier, never heard any response to it, telling them what happened to me in Pensacola, asking if I can come and publicly apologize to the church and fulfill the vision.

I never heard a word from them. I walk over to them and I said, gentlemen, I knew them all. I knew their children. Some of their kids were in my youth group. I looked at them and I said, I don't know if you got my letter.

Their head, yes. But I just want you to know something. The Lord touched my heart in Pensacola. And I need to ask you to forgive me for harboring bitterness and unforgiveness in my heart towards you. They said, we forgive you.

And without asking them if I could pray, I just started praying for them. And this is how the prayer came out of my mouth. And I knew it was God because as it was coming out of my mouth, I thought, I'm not capable of praying this.

God, you're doing the work even as I'm praying. God bless them. Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to work with these men all these years. I pray a blessing on their church. I pray a blessing on their children.

I pray a blessing on their businesses and on their jobs. Thank you for them. Lord, increase, increase them. May your spirit fall at church. I was blown away. At the prayer that was coming out of my mouth.

Because God did something in my heart. And I am telling you. When God does something, you can't take credit for it. Oh, I'm such a good guy. I've forgiven. No, no, no, no, no, no. Let me tell you something.

When you try to forgive in the natural and you wake up the next morning and you hear about what the person who you forgave said about you. All of a sudden. It's just rising up all the more. Last point and then I'm going to close.

Forgiveness as Ongoing Provision and Mercy

Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God. And he had made me a father to Pharaoh and the Lord of all of his household and ruler over all of Egypt. Now, it's really interesting. Read the rest of chapter 45 when you get home.

Joseph actually tells his brothers what to tell Jacob when they get to him. They said, you know, tell your father Joseph's alive. Do you know that Joseph never told his brothers to tell his father the truth of what happened?