Unforgiveness is most likely Satan s #1 weapon to keep people in bondage. Neil Anderson has said that if he were reduced to one message it would be

Transcription

1 Unforgiveness is most likely Satan s #1 weapon to keep people in bondage. Neil Anderson has said that if he were reduced to one message it would be forgiveness. Why would he say that? Forgiveness is the only way to get free from your past and all the hurts. 1

2 Few Christians understand the liberating power of forgiveness. The 90% or so of Christians who are not experiencing the freedom, peace and joy that is theirs in Christ will have to forgive those who have hurt them to be free. Can you do that apart from God? No, but you are not apart from Him and He is your life and you are one spirit with Him (1Cor. 6:17). 2

3 The issue is not that you are angry. Everyone gets angry. It is an emotional response. The issue is what do you do with it? If you let the sun go down on it and not forgive you give the devil a foothold in your life and you will be in bondage until you do forgive. It is as simple as that. 3

4 Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Col. 3:13). We may have many reasons and excuses not to forgive, but God says forgiving each other as God forgave you (Eph. 4:32). God has taken care of all sins. He has provided forgiveness. It is available to anyone who will receive it. Why do we want to hold on to our anger, resentment and bitterness? It is one of the ways that we play God and are unwilling to lose our life to save it. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. (Mark 8:35 NIV). 4

5 There is no way that we can repay God for forgiving us. It is impossible. God deals with us in grace. Your debt is cancelled. What is God trying to teach us? How does God treat sin? How do you treat someone who sins against you? Forgiveness is love and grace personified. When we give up judgment and forgive and release those who have hurt us, we show we show what real love and true grace are. 5

6 Do we really want justice? If we get justice we will end up in a place where we will not need any warm clothes for eternity. I for one praise God He doesn t give me justice, but gives me grace, mercy and forgiveness. And that s just the beginning. He gives me Christ. Christ is my life and is living in me. Forgiveness is the only way we get rid of our anger, bitterness and resentment that cripples us emotionally and spiritually. 6

7 When we don t forgive we put ourselves under law. The problem is we put ourselves under a curse (Gal. 3:10) when we do that. The law is a ministry of death and condemnation (2 Cor. 6-9) and brings wrath into our lives. There is no one more miserable than a Christian who won t forgive. The person who won t forgive is living under law and has excluded himself from grace. 7

8 You cannot be angry at someone until you have judged them that they have done wrong. Who are you to judge God s servant? To His own master he stands or falls. And he will stand for the Lord is able to make him stand (Rom. 14:4). When we are ready to stop playing God and being the judge, we will be able to accept and forgive others. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself (Gal. 6:3 ESV). 8

9 Remember when Paul kicked the man out of the church who was sleeping with his mother-in-law and wouldn t repent? You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Cor. 5 :5). Then the man repented and Paul said to forgive him so no advantage would be taken of them. How does Satan take advantage of us? When we don t forgive he brings us into bondage. Millions, including many Christians are in bondage because they won t forgive. 9

10 Everyone on the face of this earth has been hurt and wronged. It is part of life in a fallen world that Satan rules. Do you really want God to be fair to you? Do you want to be blessed and provided for according to your obedience? I sure don t! I want to be under grace and I praise God that I am. I want to be blessed because of God s grace, not because of my good performance. How about you? 10

11 Of course this was Peter s question to Jesus, but he missed the point. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21 22 ESV). In the story of the servant who was forgiven an astronomical sum he couldn t repay and them went out and had another servant thrown into jail because he couldn t pay him back a small sum illustrates it. He didn t forgive him as he hadn t received his forgiveness. He told his master, I will pay you back. He didn t receive his forgiveness as he was planning on paying his master back. Have you received your forgiveness? You are forgiven, so receive it and enjoy it. 11

12 If you cannot forgive yourself and accept yourself there is no hope of experiencing freedom until you do. You are divided against yourself and within yourself until you do so. It changed all my relationships overnight when I forgave and accepted myself. Why? Because I realized that if God forgave me and accepted me just like I was then I could forgive and accept others the way they were. 12

13 Why won t people forgive themselves? Because they will have to admit that they were wrong before they will and many are not willing to do so. They have set themselves up as judges of who is right and who is wrong and they have decided that they are right and the one who offended them is wrong. They are selfappointed judges of right and wrong. They re modern day Pharisees living under law, which brings wrath (Rom. 4:15) 13

14 The issue is always grace. You are either living under law or under grace. If you re doing your best to live the Christian life, stop sinning, do right and avoid wrong you are under law. If you know that you can t get your act together and live the Christian life but by faith believe that Christ is living in you and trust Him, you are under grace. If you expect others to do right and not wrong you and when they do, you don t forgive them you are under law which brings condemnation. If you forgive others as Christ forgave you, then you are living under grace. Why do so many to choose to live under the law and under condemnation? 14

15 Not only did Christ die for sins and our transgressions, but all that caused us grief, sorrow, loss, disappointment, hurt, abuse, damage and betrayal was put on Him. He bore it all. There was a little girl who had a deadly allergy to bee stings. Once she was riding in a car with her Dad and the window was down and a bee flew in the car. She went berserk and was screaming, Get it out, get it out. Her Dad reached up and grabbed the bee, but she continued to scream. He opened his hand and said Look, the stinger is in me, He can t hurt you now. Christ took the stinger for all the hurt, evil and wrong that was ever done to us. 15

16 Forgive and it frees you from your hurt and pain. But if we can t let it go by forgiving, it will bring us into bondage and we will spiral down in anger, bitterness and wrath. Three men that I ministered to who absolutely refused to forgive those who had hurt them were the most demonized men I have ever seen in my life. BUT if you will forgive and you can see the past in the light of who you are in Christ, you can live in the peace, joy and freedom that is yours in Christ. If a person can t forgive, a big part of the problem is that they don t know who they are in Christ. 16

17 You will not be able to receive your identity in Christ until you forgive those who made you feel unloved, unaccepted, unworthy, insecure, inferior, inadequate, stupid, no good, bad and guilty until you forgive them. Until you forgive them, that is what your identity will be which is really what keeps you in bondage. I tell people that hardly a day goes by that I don t feel insecure, inadequate, inferior and guilty. But they are just feelings. I know that and I don t have to let my feelings define who I am and determine how I act. But to live in freedom, you must know and believe who you are in Christ. 17

18 1. When you forgive, it doesn t mean you will tolerate sin or enable it. 2. Just because you are not seeking revenge doesn t mean you have forgiven. 3. If you explain someone's behavior like your parents you still need to forgive. 4. When you forgive, you re not assigning guilt, but taking responsibility that it hurt you and you choose to forgive. 5. You may not feel angry, but you will still need to forgive those who hurt you. 6. You don t need to ask God to forgive them as He already has. 7. To act like it s no big deal is just denying it is a big deal and that you need to forgive. 18

19 8. Not acting like you re angry is not forgiving. A lot of us are good actors. 9. Praying for those who hurt you is fine, but you will still need to forgive. 10. Forgiveness is not saying Let s just forget about it. That won t deal with the hurt. 11. Forgiveness is not forgetting about it. Sometimes over many years people do forget, but the hurt and damage is still there and there is no peace, joy and freedom. 12. Passage of time never leads to forgiveness. 13. Forgiveness doesn t mean the relationship will be restored. It takes two to reconcile, but only one to forgive. 19

20 Forgiveness is letting go. It is letting the person go no matter what he has done to you and submitting the person, yourself and your anger to God. And when you let go it is gone. It is as if it never happened. Oh, it doesn t mean you forget it, but the hurt and bitterness are gone. It may be someone you are close to (spouse, child, parent) and life is able to go on without a barrier between you and you can have a give and take, loving relationship with them. Only forgiveness makes this possible. As Ruth Graham said, a good marriage is made up of two good forgivers. 20

21 The justice is in the cross. In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:14). Have you been redeemed? Are you forgiven? Can you extend the grace God has given you to others? Forgiveness is between you and God. It has to do with your relationship with God. In fact He commands you to forgive. You will only be able to do it by faith, but you can do it as you no longer live but Christ lives in you and the life you now live you live by the faith of the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you (Gal. 2:20). 21

22 The #1 way Satan keeps you in bondage is when you are angry and don t forgive. This is why the most liberating thing you can do is forgive. I once took a man through the steps to Freedom in Christ and when we got to forgiveness, he wouldn t do it and had a lot of theological questions about it. We took a break for lunch and after he was able to forgive the pastor who had hurt him, his wife and children and failed him so badly. He found his freedom and began a successful ministry. 22

23 It is a very simple trick that Satan uses to keep most Christians in bondage and it largely goes unnoticed. Most Christians aren t walking around thinking that they are living in unforgiveness. Most believe that they are justified in their anger, bitterness and resentment and think Who wouldn t be angry? Who wouldn t be? Someone who has been redeemed, forgiven and is a new creation and Christ lives in them and is their life. 23

24 Forgiveness is yours, but not until you receive it. And you can t give it to others until you receive it. Have you forgiven yourself by receiving God s forgiveness for all your sins, past, present and future? Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him. (Rom. 4:7, 8). And do you accept yourself just the way you are as God accepts you? 24

25 1. Ask God to show you who to forgive? He will do it as He want you to live in the freedom that He purchased for you. I ve seen hundreds ask Him and be amazed at how clearly and completely He shows them. 2. Face the hurt & hate of the painful emotions 3. Forgive them for what they did and how it made you feel as those feelings become your false identity that keeps you in bondage. 4. Decide to bear the burden of sin. 5. Take it to the cross. Its already forgiven 6. Now it s a choice 7. You can forgive! Christ lives in you and is your life and you can forgive by faith. It is the only way anyone can forgive. It doesn t matter how you feel as it is done by faith. You can do it as you are a forgiver who is forgiven.

26 Identity is always the issue! ALWAYS. If you are living in the bondage of addiction, whether it is codependency, or to alcohol, sex, drugs, eating disorder, homosexuality, etc. it is because you don t know who you are in Christ and Who Christ is in you and what you have in Christ. Unbelief is the root of all sin and addiction. Truth sets free and lies keep you in bondage. You are dead to sin and freed from it (Rom. 6:6, 7). Christ is your life (Col. 3:4). You are one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). The old sin-loving sinner self that you were is dead and gone and Christ is living in you as your life (Gal. 2:20). DON T BE AFRAID, JUST BELIEVE (Mark 5:36) 26

27 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Gal. 5:1). The yoke of slavery is the law and when you don t forgive you are under law which brings forth wrath in your life For the law brings wrath (Rom. 4:15). Of course Christ has set you free, but if you don t forgive, you will be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Freedom is your birthright and your inheritance as a child of God. DON T SETTLE FOR LESS! 27

28 This is our most recent book and covers God s answer for addiction as well as the root problem, how it develops and why so few find freedom from addiction. It also covers what to do and what to stop doing to help others overcome addictions. 28