Healing of Hurts — David Wilkerson

Healing of Hurts — David Wilkerson

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214 -963 -8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

First the kingdom of heaven, likened to a certain king, which would take account of his servants. When he began to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had repayment to be made.

The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I'll pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence. And he laid his hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me with thy earnest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and he saw him say, Have patience with me, and I'll pay thee all.

He would not. He went out and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw that it was done, they were very sorry, and came and paid unto their lord all that was done.

Then his lord, after that, he called him, and said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgive thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou have also had compassion on thy fellow servant, even if I had pity on thee?

And his lord was rough, or angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you, if you from your heart forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

The Danger of Worshiping While Unforgiving

All right, there's the story. Look this way for me up, please. I looked out over this audience tonight. Many hundreds of people gathered here on a Sunday night. And I'm wondering, as you praise the Lord, raise your hands, clap your hands, rejoice with us.

Sing in his praises. I wonder how many of you realize that there's a danger in what you've done tonight, if there's unforgiveness in your heart. I don't think many Christians understand the extreme danger they're in, in trying to worship God, or praise him in any manner, if there's any kind of an unforgiving spirit within them.

I want to prove to you tonight, the unspeakable danger of trying to go on with God, and still hold on to a grudge. Still hold on to a hurt, or a wound inside that you cannot seem to get healed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Until that spirit of unforgiveness is plucked up by the roots, and until that wound is healed. Until you can truly forgive from your heart, there is nothing you can do to please God. You cannot please him, I don't care how much you shout or sing, I don't care what you do for your brother or sister, you can't please God.

In fact, you're under the judgment of God, this condition. And I prove that from this text that I read to you tonight. This parable tonight is about the Kingdom of Heaven. These servants are all type of Christians.

This is a parable on the Kingdom of God. We're not talking about Cain. We're not talking about homosexuals out on a bar, fighting among themselves, with a spirit of unforgiveness. This is the church of Jesus Christ.

This is a parable about a king, his name is Jesus. And these are his servants. These are servants of the king. And when the scripture talks about the king taking account, that's exactly what he's doing to me.

I said to him, therefore the kingdom of heaven, like unto a certain king, now that's king Jesus, which will take account of his servants. And believe me, that's exactly what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, he's doing to me.

The Lord is taking this into account. He said, now you've been seen in my presence, praise in me, worship in me, now I'm going to take an account. I want to see where your spirit is, I want to see where your heart is.

And that's exactly what I believe the Holy Spirit wants to do tonight, to examine us. You see, God here looks at an unforgiving servant of his. He takes him into account, and he finds that there's an unforgiving spirit in him, and he calls him a wicked servant.

All God's wicked servant, his own servant, his own child, he's calling a wicked man. And he calls him wicked because there's a spirit of unforgiveness in his heart. That servant had been walking in the full mercy of God, he'd been forgiven, he didn't repent because he fell on his knees.

He'd been walking in amazement in the glory, and he comes right out of that glory with an unforgiving spirit. And the master calls him a wicked servant. You find that in verse 32. This unforgiving servant of King Jesus provoked him to anger.

Verse 34, and the Lord was angry with him. And the king delivered him over to the tormentors, and told him he should pay all that was due. That's verse 34. Now this is an awesome warning in the Bible.

This Lord was angry with him, and delivered him to the tormentors, that he should pay all that was due unto him. Now that's not Old Testament thunder from Mount Sinai. That's New Testament grace preaching from the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

People say, well you preach too much of the law, you preach too much of the Old Testament. I'm preaching New Testament. That's a wet matter word right out of your Bible. If you've got a wet matter disposition of ancient Jesus Christ himself.

It's a New Testament warning under the dispensation of grace. This is Jesus talking to his own body. Warning that it's possible to have great mercy shown to you. To be forgiven a great debt. In the Bible, remember Jesus said, when he taught us to pay forgiveness our debts.

As we forgive our debtors. He's saying that sin is a debt. There's not a person in this building tonight, with the resounding of my voice. That has not been forgiven a great debt. You couldn't pay it.

There's no way you can pay back what you owe God. None of us have been able to pay God. And we have this man that carried on a great debt. Now if we were in modern times. It would be anywhere from 10 to 50 million dollars this man couldn't pay.

Anywhere from 10 to 50 million dollars. If it's silver it could have been as much as 10 million of his gold. It could have been 50 million dollars. His talents. And he couldn't pay it. And he comes to the master and he begs pardon.

Look the Bible says. When this man is judged for his unforgiving spirit. So likewise shall. It doesn't say maybe. This is emphatic reality. So likewise shall my. Jesus is speaking. So shall my heavenly father do also to you.

If you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. And the Bible says this man because he would not forgive someone who trespassed against him. Was delivered over to his tormentors.

Torment, Demonic Harassment, and Christian Suffering

Now listen. It's a strong word in the Greek. It means turned over to torturers. Now in the New Testament. Torment is always associated with human activity. Remember the scripture says. There are many that are taken with various diseases and torments.

And those that are possessed with devils. It's always associated with the devil. In fact in Revelation we read that the bottomless pit is going to be opened in the last day. Out of which there will be a stream of demonic spirits that look as locusts.

With the bite of scorpions. And their torment is the torment of a scorpion. When it strikes at the man. Everywhere you look. The torture has to do with demonic activity. The church today is full of tormented Christians.

They're tormented. All over the United States. Now we have probably four to five hundred thousand people on the mailing list. With all of our lists included. And it's amazing thinking. Leave these letters of absolute torture.

The torment of so many many homes. Christian homes. We get it right here in Times Square Church. What do you call it when you find everything going wrong in your home. In your spiritual life. On the job.

Your health. We don't believe that all suffering is resolved in sin. That was part of their claim message this morning. Many of the fictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivers them out of them all.

We're going to show you the difference. Did you see a lot of people get into very difficult times. They call it a stream of bad luck. It's just a stream of bad luck. These things just happen. I don't think anything just happens to the children of God.

I don't believe in luck. And by the way, on this matter of luck. I was reading the New York Times yesterday. And it said that 80 of Americans now are playing gambling games. Listening lottery games.

I would hope that nobody within the sound of my voice ever puts a dollar out to bet on lottery or anything else. I'm telling you right now it's a sin. You can't have the Holy Ghost in you playing these kind of games.

The Lord told me to say that. And I read it that day. I'm still standing tonight. And I'm so glad the Lord brought that up to me. Some of you have been standing up lying to put back that dollar. Ten dollars.

To start getting rich. God help us. You want to see a lot of white people in line? Report them. We'll put them on a convention. You see, it's true that the righteous do suffer. There's trouble on all sides. Paul said.

But I want you to know in spite of all the trouble and the difficulty, they're at peace in their heart. Their mind is not troubled. They experience great joy through the tribulation. They're at rest in their heart.

The Spirit of God is blessing the inner man. And little by little the victory comes. And they know the victory is going to come. Even if they have to face death, they know that God's going to give them peace.

But not so for the unforgiving, dreadful person. Because God is angry at this person. For God is love, the scripture says. And he will not endure this pain out of his mercy and grace forgiving us of all of our debt.

If they're allowing us to go out and hold the grudge against another brother or sister in Christ. Nothing could be clearer than the word of God. Jesus is worthy of all who cling to an unforgiving spirit.

My father will turn them over to the hands of the terminators. Your unforgiving spirit can lead to insanity. There are Christians, so-called Christians, that actually lost their minds. Because they've been eaten by a spirit of a grudge or an unforgiving spirit.

They can't lay it down. In this parable Jesus is referring to an old oriental practice in prison. They have sadistic prison keepers. And they beat and torment the prisoners. And what is it that torture when you see a man's die on your hands?

When nothing seems to work out in your nose. When there's bitterness and bickering. There's no trust, there's no joy. There's no victory. And things go from bad to worse. And you can patch it up and you can say everything is fine.

But you know it's not. And you know it's deteriorating. What is that determent? Now that doesn't mean that you are the one responsible for that. But you've got to examine tonight under the searchlight of the Holy Ghost.

Whether or not that deteriorating knowledge is a result of an unforgiving spirit in your heart. What is it that torture when you see your children go cold toward the Lord. And you see the enemy come in and begin to possess them at the speed of this age.

You have another request prayer for a teenage, 13 or 14 year old boy. He's starting to get into the hell of love. He's on fire for the Lord. He won't even talk about Jesus now. He's heartbroken. What is the potential that the money goes through your hands like sand.

And you try to get ahead in the man you make. And you try to do your best but it just goes through like sand. Like you have a bag of sand with holes in it. And on your day there's trails of sand but you can't get ahead.

Everything seems to be falling apart. Now sometimes that's bad management. But I'm going to ask you to search your heart. Whether or not it could be because of an unforgiving spirit. And you're in the hands of the tormentor.

What is it when you can't explain why you feel so discouraged and cast down all the time. There's a hope of blackness that sleeps over your sense of hopelessness. And there's a feeling of why go on, why go on.

In fact I wonder sometimes even people that come to this church. What keeps them coming because you have people all around them with joy and victim and sit there like they're dying. There's no joy. I've seen some of you for five or six months that have had no joy in their heart.

Every time you see, every time you see how you go. Oh I'm going through it. Now I'm going through it. You've been going through it for months. That's what God was preaching about this morning. That's not God's plan.

There's something wrong. Could it be there's an unforgiving spirit? Could it be there's a grudge? Could it be you're in the hands of the tormentor? He said I'll turn you over to the hands of the tormentor until you pay it all.

You've got to face the terrible possibility you might be under a demonic harassment. Because in the afternoon disobedience to the clearly revealed word of God. Listen, I've been to churches in this past year.

I've gone out two or three times. And I know I'm not going to name any churches. That's not my style. I go to churches and I go home and say Lord that whole night was a nightmare. All they did was try to waste me the meeting.

Like they're ready to go home. And I felt sick inside and said no wonder our people don't want to go to church. Folks we're here tonight to have the searchlight of the Holy Ghost turned on us. We're here to deal with issues in this church.

So that when the trumpet of God sounds we have a holy bride to present to him. And a lot of us suffer that we can't explain. We can pinch our hearts out. But if we will hold on to that judgment as an unforgiving spirit then all our preaching is in vain.

Healing Area One: Past Wounds and Hurts

It's not touching the real issue. Now in this parable I see four areas of healing that need to be dealt with tonight. I'm going to get right into it. In fact when the Lord gave me these four areas in this parable after I had borne it.

That's it. That's it. I know our church needs that. And Lord said no don't you need it. Especially number one. Let's get to number one. The number one area where we need healing in the church. We need healing for all past wounds and hurts.

All the past wounds and hurts. That's what I want to deal with because many of you sitting here tonight you are hiding something from the past. Now here's a servant who has just been the recipient of an incredible act of mercy and pardon.

You know the story. I just read it to you. This mercy should have brought this man to his knees. Don't you think that the man has been forgiven his great debt? His wife and children have just been saved.

His whole family has been saved. He should have been on his face. He should have been so full of love. In fact Jesus said that the man is forgiven much and loved much. But what he said to the man was that two men were forgiven.

One was forgiven a great amount. And the other man said I presume the man was forgiven much. And the Lord said you answered rightly. This man should have loved the Lord more than ever. He should have been so full of mercy.

He should have been exceeding the mercy of God. And the same with you. Some of you have been forgiven so much. Oh how you mocked him. How you wasted your life. And the Lord came and forgave you. You fell down and said Lord help me.

And the Lord helped you. He delivered you. This man goes out. That same servant went out. Went out from there. He went out from the Holy Ghost meeting. He went out from Town Square Church where they were singing this joy.

Lord been given it all. Can't take it away. Went out from the service where they were praising God. Raising their hands. He went right out. Having been forgiven so much. He went right out. What did he do?

He saw somebody around him. He saw somebody did him wrong. And he couldn't get it out of his craw. He meets this servant who did him wrong in the past. And money wise it was not one one millionth of what he had been forgiven.

You figure out it wasn't one one millionth of what he had been forgiven. And he looked at that man and he said Lord I'm not going to let him get away with it. And this man exists for forgiveness. Goes and takes him by the neck and begins to torture him.

And said pay me what you owe me. They were hypocrite. They were hypocrite. He's just been forgiven a lot of iniquity. And he's got his hand around this man's throat. And you know what that means? That means he's getting at him.

He's digging at him. And I'll tell you you see that so much this pay up or else. This is a Christian who's been hurt by somebody. He can't stand to even look at that offender. They can walk right out of a powerful Holy Ghost meeting.

And begin to think of that person. And they get angry. And they begin to hit on him with gossip. With an attitude that says now look it's just not right. They've got to pay. I'm not going to let him get away with it.

I'm not going to let her get away with it. You ever heard that? End of it. And that's exactly this man's attitude. This man is going to pay. He did me wrong. He's going to pay. And a fellow servant found him in the street groveling and begging.

He said please have patience with me. I'll do my best to pay when I can. You see now? This man says you did me hurt. You did me wrong. And he wanted revenge. He wanted revenge. He was obsessed with the thought.

It's not enough to say I'm sorry. You're going to pay. And the wicked servant had forgotten how fortunate he was in that he'd been forgiven. He takes his own mercy for granted. And the Bible said he went and cast him into prison.

And I want to tell you this parable right here proves. More than anything else. That if you will not forgive somebody else that's hurt you. You won't forget the past hurt and you want to dig it up. That means that all your past forgiveness has been canceled.

This man had been forgiven and this parable proves that that forgiveness of that man is absolutely canceled. You see that? His forgiveness was totally canceled. You see my Bible says when God forgives he forgets.

So he throws him in the sea of forgiveness. Why did you put on a diving suit and go down and start digging him in that mud? Because when you go to dig out somebody's past you're only digging up your own.

I can't tell you how many letters we get from wives whose husbands have cheated on them. And five years go by and she's still burning. She's still wanting to know every little detail. And she's still digging it up.

And she keeps digging. It won't be his problem. It will be hers because something will come out of it. Has somebody hurt you in the past? Don't dig it up. Bury it. Forget it. Forgive it. You go ahead and dig up somebody's past sin.

You start telling others about it. You start bringing skeletons out of somebody's closet. You better know you're going to pay a big price for it. I had a evangelist acquaintance. I called him on the phone.

He had just lost his pulpit. He'd been exposed for something that happened seven years prior. And I'm talking about the people from PTL. This is another friend of mine. And somebody went to another evangelist and told the story of how it happened.

And that evangelist got right on the phone and said, I've got the goods and you brought it to my office immediately. You better get up here. Let her come up. This was on a Saturday. The evangelist said, this happened to this woman seven years ago.

She's confessed it to me and I want you out of your pulpit tomorrow. Get out. And that brother took me on the phone and said, I've never been so mistreated in all my life. I felt dirty, filthy. Something had been dug up in my past.

The brother says to me, that man paid a terrible price. He paid a terrible, terrible price because his own past was dug up and it was turned over to the tormentors and the press crucified him. And I want to tell you something right now.

And I believe I'm speaking to a lot of bodies. I'm just here tonight. This is the problem in the church of Jesus Christ. The problem that many can't get to victory. Somebody hurt you. Was it a divorce?

Was it somebody cheating in your family? Is there something in the past that bothers you? You say, well I confessed it. It's under the bed. Well then leave it under the bed. Leave it right there. Leave it.

This man should have shown mercy. He should have shown grace. Listen, the brother told me something. He said, help me. I had confessed that it was out of the way. It was under the bed and they went and dug it up.

And all the price that's paid when people begin to gossip about somebody's past. You're doing nothing more than bringing all the skeletons out of your own closet one day. You will be the headline news.

Take it to Jesus. And say, Lord, fill me with grace and mercy. Let me forgive from the bottom of my heart. Whatever the cost is. You have not truly repented. If you want somebody to pay. You say, well they hurt me.

You don't know what they did to me. And I'm not going to let them get by with that. I'm not going to let them camp on me. That's not the spirit of Christ. Otherwise, you turned over the detrimentors. With the merciful, I will show myself merciful.

Jesus said, love your enemies. Do good, hoping for nothing in return. For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful as your Father is merciful. For with the same measure that you use, it shall be measured back to you again.

To the merciful, I will show mercy. If you're going to be mean. If you're going to gossip. If you're going to try to dig up the past. You can hold it up there and say, I want it all out. He said, love your enemies.

Do good to those. For despiteful use, you pay for them. I'm asking God tonight. To come against by his spirit. Every single past hurt in your life. Every single past hurt. That some of your husbands need to forgive your wives.

And wives need to forgive your husbands. You've got to forgive that one who left you and abandoned you. That one who did you wrong and trampled on you and did you absolutely despicable. You can't walk with Jesus in righteousness until the spirit of forgiveness flows like a river through you.

Love your enemies. Do good, hoping for nothing in return. For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful as your Father is merciful. I've got to move on. Number two. If you're healing from the hurt of hypocrisy.

Healing Area Two: The Hurt of Hypocrisy

The hypocrisy of others. You see this fellow servant is in jail. He's cast into jail. He's in jail and the news comes to him that his accuser has been exposed. And his accuser himself is now in jail. And under judgment.

Now I'm going to tell you. This man has a harder job. He has a harder task than anyone else. The fellow servants. In fact this man is in jail. He's got one of the hardest parts of the whole story here.

The obvious reaction of this man when he gets the news. That the one who came in jail was really a phony and a hypocrite. In fact if he wouldn't mention being one of those. I would imagine this man says.

Boy what a hypocrite. What a phony. He tries to ruin me. Well all along he's into this big swindle. Boy am I glad he's been in his. Now keep in mind they're both servants of King Jesus. If he responds like many Christians do today.

He'd start gloating. I knew it all along. He's a wicked man. I hope God tears him apart. He's got it coming. Uh huh. I knew it all along. I knew it all along. I saw it coming. Now there's no question this accuser is a hypocrite.

He's a wicked servant. He did bring judgment down upon his own head. But according to the scripture. This man is hurt. This man has done the wrong. This man was hurt by the hypocrite. He can't find his place in the kingdom until he forgives.

He's got to forgive the man who was this hypocrite. The hypocrisy done against him has to be forgiven. If this man is his guilt who's the other? He's just as guilty. He sees the judgment of God on his accuser.

But is he going to rejoice in that judgment? I wonder if you know somebody that's a hypocrite. You know what the whole story is about? If you look at chapter 18 and verse 15. Here's the key to the whole chapter.

May every five brothers that trespass against me. Go and tell them there's fault between him and the Lord. If he shall hear thee. Thou hast gained thy brother. Now this whole parable is about gaining your brother.

The Lord doesn't want to lose anybody. He doesn't want to lose one of his sheep. He wants restoration. And sometimes we can't believe God for restoration. Because we're so full of this bitterness and hatred in us.

Because of what some hypocrite did to us. The man was a hypocrite that did it to him. There's no question about it. Maybe he was a hypocrite that hurts you. Often shall I forgive. As often as the Lord forgives you.

Did you hear it? As often as the Lord forgives you. Are you wanting to gain back your brother? Or do you want revenge? What would you like God to do? To the hypocrite? Now this is really not a message about hypocrites at all.

It's about our reaction to hypocrites. Someone sent me a note recently. In fact it's the third note the lady sent me. She's probably here tonight. I won't name her because she never puts her name. Most of these letters don't have names on them.

What she's saying is there's a lot of hypocrisy in this public. And at other times I've been stopped going down the aisle. Someone would say, brother it's not happening. No, but one of your workers is a hypocrite.

A real phony. And I pray that God lets you know. And I look at these weird people and I say, is there no... To myself I say, is there no hypocrisy in you at all? And I often wonder what people do about their favorite hypocrite when they come to church.

I wonder what kind of dialogue goes on in their mind. I wonder if they're peeking when their hands are up to see what their favorite hypocrite is doing. I wonder if they're saying, how could he do that?

How could she do that? Don't you know they're a hypocrite? I know it. Expose them. You can be so focused on a hypocrite you can lose yourself. You become so judgmental about them not being exposed. You can lose your arms there.

You can lose your soul. Are you supposed to sit there and just forgive the hypocrites? Look, Jesus was crucified by the biggest bunch of hypocrites in history. And yet Jesus said, Father forgive them.

They don't even know what they do. This man that's been wronged and he's in jail, he's got to heal this man just like everybody else. So likewise you, brother, been cast in jail and accused and hurt by a hypocrite.

Even you, my brother, if you will not forgive, my heavenly Father be also to you. If you, from your heart, will not forgive every man that's been in a trespass. Forgive him for what he did to you. Forgive him.

I don't care what any hypocrite did to you. Forgive him in the name of the Lord. Get it out. Why should you run your soul over? Why should you have your victory robbed over what someone else has done?

Healing Area Three: Carrying Someone Else's Wound

Thirdly, we've been weaning from the hurt of someone else's wound. Someone else's burden that you carry. Somebody hurt a friend of yours and you're sharing the injustice tonight. Another brother or sister has been deeply wounded or hurt.

You've taken that wound of theirs upon yourself. Look at verse 31. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Here's the fellow servants.

They were so sympathetic. He said, now look, our brother's been hurt. And this shouldn't go on. And folks, they did the right thing. They went to the King and they told the whole story. I like to see people take up for the underdog.

I like people stand up for justice and equality. There's no question that they did the right thing. There's a whole hypocrisy and hypocrisy that bothered them. It was a total lack of love and mercy. And they saw it and they were exposed.

But you see, these fellow servants also have a problem. A major problem. See, the carpet's in jail now. Injustice is being done. But what is left in the heart of these fellow servants? What's the attitude that's in their heart now?

Is there still revenge there? Is there a spirit of unforgiveness? Oh, I get letters from fathers who are so angry, so angry. They have the sad hurt of a young man that's abused their hurted daughter. Some father who's grieved that a young man has divorced his daughter and did a wrong and terrible injustice.

He says, I don't ever want to see his face. I've heard Christians, I've heard preachers talk like that. So help me, if I ever see him, I'll tear him limb from limb. And other people that you know, that you want to tear from limb to limb?

You say, well, you don't have to do it. How about that husband that divorced you, the wife that divorced you? How about that boss on the job that just treated you like a rug to wipe his feet on? So help me, one of these days, he ain't gonna move.

Some friend confides in you, embarrass his soul or her soul. And you take sides. It gets to you and eats you up. It could be about marriage or love or family problem. And you say, I've got to stand up and defend my friend.

All right, that's fine. But you see, the scene has changed now. And the hypocrite's in prison for life. The accuser now is free. Now where do you go? You see, this parable is focusing on forgiveness, compassion, and pity.

When Jesus said to the hypocrite, Shouldest thou not also have had compassion on my fellow servant, as I have pity on thee? He's speaking in the church, he's speaking to us tonight. According to the spirit of the Lord Jesus.

What these fellow servants should have been doing now is going to jail to visit this hypocrite. And trying to distort him. Or are they saying, look, I can't forgive what he did. I can never forgive what he did.

Well, God help your brother, sister. Neither can the Lord forgive you then. You're counseling on your forgiveness. You're counseling him. Stephen being stoned. His body's black and blue. You can see him about to die.

And you can go up there and say, look what they've done to my body. He didn't say, look what they've done to me. He said, Father, don't lay this to their charge. Forgive them. He was being stoned to death.

He died from their stones. Now God's very serious about the matter of having mercy. I want you to go to Matthew the 6th chapter and look at something with me please. Matthew the 6th chapter. Verse 14.

For if we forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Is that in your Bible?

Could you go back and read it again? Verse 14. For if we forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Now folks, there's no getting around that. I don't know how to soften that. It's there we've got to deal with it tonight. If there's somebody... You're standing up there right now. Usually the person you stand up with, you're saying they're hurt.

Long ago they're healed. They've gone on to something else. You're still there hurting. You're still there fighting for the bitterness. They've gone on. You can sit here and hate. You know that thing that you commented on?

Oh yeah, that thing last year. I'm remade and everything's changed and we're happy. You're still sitting there full of hate. They've moved on and you're still sitting there hurt. We have so little of the spirit of humility of Jesus in us.

We cut off those who hurt us. We want to avoid them. We say, I won't hate them but just keep them away from me. When's the last time we started to pray for the hypocrite? When's the last time we started to pray for that one that did you wrong?

That did your friend wrong? My Bible said we're to pray for those who despitefully use us. Pray for those who despitefully use us. Now here comes the hardest part of all. The healing of repetitious abuse.