THE SURE FOUNDATION FOR OUR FORGIVENESS

THE SURE FOUNDATION FOR OUR FORGIVENESS
Friday, 10th December 2021
Pastor Victor

Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

If the gospel is not your foundation, then you probably have a rocking and a faulty foundation. And with that kind of foundation, any storm can cause your building to fall apart. It matters what your faith is built upon. Is it your works or the cross?

The popular preaching we have heard over the years and still going on in the body of Christ is that, if you don’t forgive your brother, God will not forgive you. This is not founded on the gospel. Now someone may say, Pastor Victor but is it not in the scriptures?

Matthew 6:14‭-‬15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.‬

I can hear someone saying, there it is! Now hang on minute. From this scripture it is clear that the forgiveness that we receive from God is based on the forgiveness we give to one another. This is what Jesus meant when He taught His disciples about the Lord’s prayer. But looking at this scripture carefully, it puts my forgiveness on me and not on Jesus. I am only forgiven as far as I forgive.

But when you look at our opening scripture, we are told that we should forgive because we have been forgiven for Christ’s sake; and it is purely based on His grace and not on our works. This is totally different from what Jesus taught His disciples in the Lord’s prayer and in Mark 11:25-26. What made the difference? The answer is the cross. Prior to the time Jesus taught on forgiveness, He hasn’t died so forgiveness of sins was based on how much you forgive. But after the cross, we forgive because we have been forgiven. The motivation has completely changed from “giving in order to receive” to “giving because we have received”.

Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Of course, you cannot afford the luxury of unforgiveness. It is deadly and can destroy the believer. One reason why folks find it hard to forgive is that they have not seen by revelation how much they have been forgiven by the cross of Christ. If you know how much you have been forgiven, you will forgive freely no matter the offence. There is grace for that and it comes only via the cross. Rejoice in His forgiveness and forgive because you have been forgiven. Praise God!

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