Hello, and
welcome to Faith Chapel.
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I'm Ronny, Shelton and I hope
that you've brought your weapon
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with you today because
we fight a spiritual battle.
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We fight not against
flesh and blood, as Peters says,
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but we fight a spiritual battle,
and we need a spiritual weapon.
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So if you will, get your
Bible and let's open it up to
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the eleventh chapter of
Mark, and we're going to talk a
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little bit today
about forgiveness.
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Is forgiveness important today?
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Not just forgiveness from God
to us, but forgiveness from us
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to each other.
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If we look in our Bibles now,
Mark 11, starting in verse 24
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I see a couple of things
that just stand out in those
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two verses.
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There's a couple of
themes that come to the surface.
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One is about answered prayers.
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The other is
forgiveness one to another.
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Does it seem like in your
prayer life that sometimes
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your prayers aren't going
any higher than the ceiling?
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That they just don't seem
to be getting through to God.
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It seems like you're
just not getting any answers;
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that God is not home.
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Well, let's talk a little
bit about forgiveness today.
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I wanted to know a little more
about forgiveness so I went to
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Webster's Dictionary,
and I looked up forgiveness.
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There it says to give up
resentment against; to give up
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the desire to punish; to stop
being angry with; to pardon;
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to overlook; to
cancel or to remit.
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Okay, I know what Webster's
says about it, you may say,
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but what does God
say about forgiveness?
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How important is it to God?
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Let's turn in our
Bibles back to Matthew 5.
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Matthew 5, and we'll find that
in the Old Testament God set up
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a sacrificial
system to take away sin.
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They based that upon
the sacrifice of the coming
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Messiah, Jesus Christ,
who would be the Lamb of God.
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So before a sinner could hope
to take part in the sacrificial
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rights, certain
conditions had to be met.
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Let's look at one of these
conditions in verses 23 and 24.
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You see, God had set up a system
whereby a sinner could have his
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sins purged.
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But before this could
happen the sinner had to bring a
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perfect lamb to be
sacrificed by his own hands.
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It had to be perfect because
it represented Jesus Christ.
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Jesus says that on the way to
the alter to give that sacrifice
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if you remembered that your
brother had anything against
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you, He says, go
and make it right first.
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Go make it right.
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Does it seem like your
prayers aren't being answered?
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Does it seem like they're
not going any higher than the
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ceiling in your room?
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Maybe there's a problem between
you and a brother or a sister
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that needs to be dealt with.
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Jesus said, don't just bring
Me your offerings, but bring Me
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a clean heart as well.
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So the system in
that day was being abused.
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People were making
sacrifices without repentance
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in their lives.
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God addressed this issue in
the first chapter of Isaiah.
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There He talks about
this abuse of the animal
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sacrificial system.
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Let's look at verse 11.
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I am full of those things!
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I am full of the
blood offerings He says.
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I'm tired of them, you see,
because people were making the
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sacrifice having never
changed their way of life.
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Their daily routine just
continued, continued, continued.
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The system was being abused.
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Let's look at
verse 15 as it goes on.
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Our hands are
full of blood, He says.
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So I'm not going
to listen, He said.
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I'm not going to hear you.
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I'm going to stop up My ears.
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I'm going to cover My eyes
because your hands are full of
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blood, and I'm not seeing
that you're changing anything.
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God said, I don't
desire the blood of animals.
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I'm fed up with
your ceremonialism,
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your traditions, your
meaningless patronizations,
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your legalism, He says.
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I'm getting fed
up with that stuff!
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Let's read on
in verse 16 and 17.
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God, you see, wants
us to change our hearts.
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You see, God wants us not
to just continue to go through
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an act of repentance, an act of
bringing our sacrifice to Him,
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without changing our hearts.
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He's tired of us just
going through the motions; time,
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after time, after time.
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How many times do we come down
before the alter, and we say,
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Lord forgive me,
I've messed up again!
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Then we turn around and we
go right back to the same old
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lifestyle, over,
over, over, again and again.
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You see there, God
says, I'm tired of you going
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the same old way.
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It's time, He says,
for us to clean up our act,
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to put away evil.
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Cease to do evil, He says.
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Learn to do well.
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Do the work of a
Christian is what He's saying.
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After all, we've been
called to be a peculiar people,
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a royal priesthood.
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I'm convinced, even now, that
the great forgiving nature of
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our God is being
abused by His people.
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We are abusing that
system of God's grace
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and God's forgiveness.
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People are committing
the same sin time, and time,
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and time again, and on and
on, thinking God will always
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forgive them, and He will.
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But there's is no
forgiveness for premeditated sin
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if we plan in our hearts
to continue, time, after time,
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after time.
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Finally God says, I'm
tired of your sacrifices.
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I'm tired of your
words without deeds.
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Talk is cheap, we like to say.
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Sometimes we keep going back to
God and we're saying something
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like, Well, I know it's
wrong, God, but I'm weak.
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You understand, I'm human.
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I'm born with this nature.
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I can't help it.
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What can I do?
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It's the poor nature I
was born with, you understand.
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See, God knows all of that.
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We have to make a commitment.
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We have to make a decided
commitment within our lives,
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within our hearts, that we
are going to change our lives,
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and make that effort.
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As we do we will find that God
will step in and He will make
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those changes with us.
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Now He's not going to make
them if we don't want them.
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If we show to Him
that we don't want Him,
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He's not going to make them.
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It's only as we search for
Him, seek Him, hunt for Him,
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look for Him, and dig in
the scriptures to find Him,
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that we'll find Him,
when we've searched for Him
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with all of our heart.
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We have to make a commitment,
brothers and sisters, you see.
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You can't expect God to
take away those cigarettes until
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you've made the
commitment to stop buying them.
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You see, He's not going to
run ahead of you and take them.
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As you take them off of
the shelf, He's not going to
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put them back on the shelf.
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If you go to the store
and you take them down,
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and you put them in your cart,
He's not going to stop you.
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But when you've made that
commitment to top smoking,
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or whatever sin it might be,
when you've made that decision,
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God is going to strengthen you.
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He's going to give you what
you need to meet that challenge.
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You see, He doesn't just
say, Head down this road.
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This is the way to heaven.
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Go that way, and good luck.
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I hope it works out for you.
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That's not God!
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God points the direction, and
then He empowers us to go along
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that road that He just sent
us on, and He travels with us
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all of the way, but we
have to make that first step.
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We have to make the decision
that we're going to live for
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God, and we're going to stop
those things, and by His grace,
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He will empower us to fulfill
just that; to give us strength.
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Again, God tells us in
the book of Psalms, Psalms 51,
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starting at verse 16.
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King David said, Lord, I
know that You're not after
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blood sacrifices.
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You're after a new heart,
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We have to give Him
our heart to make it new.
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Create in me, Oh God,
a clean heart, and renew
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a right spirit within me.
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God desires a contrite,
and a broken spirit from us;
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something that He can use.
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Jesus says, Go and make
it right with your brother.
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Go make it right, He says.
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Matthew 18:15.
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Turn back with me to Matthew
18:15, and there it says:
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You see, He says,
Go to your brother.
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You know there's a problem.
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Your prayers
aren't being answered.
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You're saying, Lord, Why
aren't you answering my prayers?
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Then you know there's a problem
between you and your brother.
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We are instructed to go to
him, one on one, you notice.
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It says go to your brother,
and if he hears you, thou hast
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gained thy brother,
Jesus says, you see.
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He didn't say, Take
it to the neighbors.
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Take it to the friends.
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Take it to where you work.
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Spread it all
around in the family.
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He says, If there's a problem,
go to your brother and talk it
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out with him.
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If your brother hears you,
you have gained your brother.
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Between you and Him alone.
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And then Peter says,
Lord how often shall I forgive
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my brother for the same offense?
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Till seven times?
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You see, here's a case where
Peter thought that he was doing
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something really generous,
because the tradition of that
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days said, I must
forgive my brother three times.
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Peter thought, I'll
be generous on this.
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He said, Lord, how much must
I forgive my brother for the
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same cause, the same offense?
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Till seven times?
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Jesus said, No, Peter, not seven
times but seven times seventy.
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Seven times seventy!
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I've thought about that.
00:13:48.18\00:13:49.24
Was He actually saying
keep track; get out your book,
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and start writing them down
every time somebody's offended
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you put it in there again.
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I don't think He means that.
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We don't keep track of them.
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I'm sure that He didn't
mean 389; you've got grace
00:14:01.45\00:14:06.10
one more time.
00:14:06.13\00:14:07.10
Now 489 and 490 and it's over.
00:14:07.11\00:14:11.27
I don't have to
forgive you anymore.
00:14:11.30\00:14:12.75
I don't think Jesus meant that.
00:14:12.78\00:14:13.92
But you're not free to punch
him in the nose, as it were.
00:14:13.95\00:14:17.26
But Jesus goes on
further then in this matter.
00:14:17.29\00:14:22.88
Let's look down at
verse 23; 23 to 25.
00:14:22.91\00:14:27.07
Wow, that's a huge debt!
00:14:55.60\00:14:57.50
That's a huge
debt: 10,000 talents.
00:14:57.53\00:15:01.52
If it were silver, you know, ,
00:15:01.55\00:15:03.88
If it were silver 10,000 talents
in today's standard would amount
00:15:03.91\00:15:07.88
to 3 billion,
840 million dollars.
00:15:07.91\00:15:11.80
A huge debt!
00:15:11.83\00:15:13.77
A debt that could not be paid.
00:15:13.80\00:15:15.28
When the man was brought
before the king, the king said,
00:15:15.31\00:15:18.62
We've checked the
records, and you owe me
00:15:18.65\00:15:22.02
3 billion 840 million
dollars, and I want my money.
00:15:22.05\00:15:28.02
I want my money.
00:15:28.05\00:15:29.08
Let's look at verse 26, 27.
00:15:29.11\00:15:34.06
At that magnitude, 3
billion, 840 million dollars,
00:15:55.71\00:16:00.57
and the king had compassion
on him and turned him loose.
00:16:00.60\00:16:04.38
He forgave the debt.
00:16:04.41\00:16:05.69
What a gracious king!
00:16:07.99\00:16:08.96
What a gracious king.
00:16:09.81\00:16:11.05
He had compassion,
and he forgave him.
00:16:11.08\00:16:13.73
Then you would
think, well, what now?
00:16:15.52\00:16:17.50
So now the man is returned
back to his place, and we find
00:16:17.53\00:16:21.49
in verse 28 and 30:
00:16:21.52\00:16:24.24
Till he should pay the debt!
00:16:55.71\00:16:59.07
Do you see a problem with that?
00:16:59.10\00:17:01.92
The first man was
called in before the king.
00:17:01.95\00:17:05.21
He went before him and he
owed a huge debt; nothing like
00:17:05.24\00:17:08.26
the second man owed.
00:17:08.29\00:17:09.36
Nothing like he owed.
00:17:09.39\00:17:11.94
The first man fell down
and he worshipped the king.
00:17:11.97\00:17:16.57
He said, Lord forgive me.
00:17:16.60\00:17:18.52
Give me time, he said,
and I will make it right.
00:17:18.55\00:17:21.60
Forgive me!
00:17:21.63\00:17:22.73
Have compassion on me.
00:17:22.76\00:17:24.04
The king did.
00:17:24.07\00:17:26.42
The king had compassion on him.
00:17:26.45\00:17:28.21
He forgave this enormous
debt that he could never repay.
00:17:28.24\00:17:32.51
So the ungrateful servant
then went out, and he went down
00:17:32.55\00:17:38.72
the street, and he bumped into
a man that owed him a small fee,
00:17:38.75\00:17:43.65
a small penance,
which amounted to $3,200.
00:17:43.68\00:17:50.62
$3,200 was what it amounted to.
00:17:50.65\00:17:53.21
He grabbed this man and he
said, Pay me what you owe me.
00:17:53.24\00:17:57.51
Pay me, he said, and he took him
by the throat and he shook him.
00:17:57.54\00:18:01.52
He said, Pay me, or I'm
going to have you arrested
00:18:01.56\00:18:04.26
and thrown into prison.
00:18:04.29\00:18:05.69
Do you see a problem with that?
00:18:10.43\00:18:11.53
I do.
00:18:12.76\00:18:13.76
Let's read on.
00:18:15.32\00:18:16.29
Verse 31.
00:18:18.59\00:18:19.71
Wow!
00:18:57.04\00:18:58.01
I want to say
today, I am that man.
00:18:58.02\00:19:02.72
I am that man who owes 3
billion 840 million dollars.
00:19:02.75\00:19:07.48
I'm that person.
00:19:07.51\00:19:08.48
I know a lot of you are too.
00:19:08.49\00:19:10.35
You owe a debt like that; a
debt that we could never repay.
00:19:10.38\00:19:14.84
God looks at our record
and He says, I want payment.
00:19:16.08\00:19:19.44
All we can do, since we can't
pay, is fall at His feet and say
00:19:19.47\00:19:25.95
Lord, forgive me.
00:19:25.98\00:19:27.50
Have compassion on me.
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I can't pay that kind of a debt.
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I can't pay that debt;
not and live to tell about it.
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I've said sometimes during
this sermon, I've asked people,
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Can you pay for your sins?
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Have you thought about it?
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Can you pay for your sins today?
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Some times I ask that
and I see people saying no.
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I want to tell you
today, You can, you can pay
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for your sins.
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You can pay for your sins.
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Millions and millions of
people will pay for their sins
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with their lives.
00:19:57.06\00:19:58.31
Losing eternal life; losing
heaven because they are paying
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for their own
sins with their lives.
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But I can't pay for my sins
and still make it to heaven.
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Only Jesus can do that for me.
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I am a man who owes a debt of
3 billion 840 million dollars.
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Jesus forgave me that debt.
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As ungrateful as we are we leave
His presence and we go down to
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the man on the street, and when
he has a little offense against
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us; not even too
much, we want to grab him
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by the throat and shake him.
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Do you see a problem here?
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God forgave me much, and I can't
forgive my brother the slightest
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little infraction against me.
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You see, there's
a big problem there.
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There's a problem.
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Ungrateful!
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The ungrateful servant had him
arrested and thrown into prison.
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In verse 35;
let's look at verse 35.
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Wow!
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Did you see that friends?
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Did you see what happened there?
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The debt was reinstated!
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The ungrateful servant's
forgiveness was cancelled.
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The load was put back upon him.
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Jesus said we must
forgive from the heart.
00:21:32.17\00:21:36.41
You know, a lot of times you'll
hear some apologies which I like
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to call plastic apologies.
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They're like a
little piece of plastic.
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They don't mean very much.
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Jesus says unless we forgive,
from the heart, all of those
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debts, that 3 billion 480
million dollars that was taken
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off my shoulders, is
now put right back on.
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I have to stand before God with
the weight of all of those sins
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on my shoulders.
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I can't do it!
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I can't handle it.
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Jesus said if we cannot forgive
that same debt is put back
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upon us.
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Neither will your Father forgive
you your trespasses, He says.
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I owe a huge debt like
that, and I know you do too.
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I'm not the only one.
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You owe a debt very similar.
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You can't pay.
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I can't pay.
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All we can do is fall on His
grace this morning for mercy,
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and say, Lord have compassion
on me today because I can't pay.
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Jesus is willing, and He
is able to forgive that debt,
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if I am willing to
forgive the debt of my neighbor.
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It's based on a big if there.
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For such a little bitty word
as if, so much is based upon it.
00:22:56.82\00:23:00.58
Let's look at Matthew 6:12.
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There it says:
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You see, that little word as
in there: forgive us our debts,
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Lord, as we
forgive others their debts.
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So what if we're
not forgiving others?
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Do you see from that text
we also aren't being forgiven.
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We can go on down
to verses 14 and 15.
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Let's look at that again.
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If we forgive
men their trespasses.
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If we do, he says, then
your Heavenly Father will also
00:23:55.84\00:24:00.32
forgive you.
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But if you forgive not them
their trespasses, neither will
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your Heavenly Father
forgive you your trespasses.
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Do you see what I'm saying?
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If we cannot forgive each
other, God will not forgive us.
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It's as simple as that.
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No need to think you're going to
heaven, or I'm going to heaven,
00:24:17.87\00:24:21.19
and I'm going to walk on
the other side of the street,
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because I might
meet John on the street.
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If there's that problem
between John and me, friends,
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we're not going to be there.
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We're not going to walk
on the other side of the
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street in heaven.
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We have to get past that.
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We have to call our
brother, John, Bob, or whoever,
00:24:36.09\00:24:40.77
and say, Brother, let's talk.
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There's a problem between
you and me, and I feel it.
00:24:41.96\00:24:45.12
I know you feel it as well.
00:24:45.15\00:24:46.91
We're kidding ourselves to
think we're going to heaven
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with this in the way.
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Our prayers are not being
answered because we have a
00:24:51.33\00:24:54.81
problem with our brother.
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We're kidding ourselves if
we think we're going to heaven,
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and are going to walk on
the other side of the street,
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because it's
not going to happen.
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From those texts you can
see we are forgiven as we
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forgive others.
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Not because we've
forgiven, but as we've forgiven.
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It's an on going thing.
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It's not just I
forgave them one time.
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It's an on going
forgiveness, an on going thing.
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We are forgiven
as we forgive others.
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There we have it!
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Lord may we
realize the importance of
00:25:33.80\00:25:37.95
forgiveness in our lives.
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It's too often overlooked.
00:25:39.03\00:25:40.81
It's too often overlooked
thinking it's no big deal.
00:25:40.84\00:25:45.65
I just won't talk to them today.
00:25:45.68\00:25:48.08
God says that we must be
forgiven as we forgive others.
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There's no other way.
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It's big.
00:25:55.62\00:25:57.12
It's huge.
00:25:57.15\00:25:58.20
So many of us think we're heaven
bound; think we're heaven bound
00:25:58.23\00:26:03.34
because maybe we're
keeping the commandments.
00:26:03.37\00:26:05.44
We're observing the Sabbath.
00:26:05.47\00:26:07.44
We're giving our tithe.
00:26:07.47\00:26:09.18
We're working in the church.
00:26:09.21\00:26:11.98
Yet I know a case of a lady
one time who made a trip to the
00:26:12.01\00:26:16.98
hospital to visit someone
that was sick; a godly woman,
00:26:17.01\00:26:21.85
a woman that was
in church every week.
00:26:21.89\00:26:23.96
She walked into this room,
and she looked to the side,
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and she saw someone over there
that she'd had a problem with
00:26:28.85\00:26:31.99
for more than twenty years.
00:26:32.02\00:26:33.41
She turned
around and walked out.
00:26:33.44\00:26:36.38
She didn't visit
the sick relative.
00:26:36.41\00:26:38.92
She just looked to the side,
and saw who else was there,
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and turned and walked away.
00:26:41.90\00:26:43.64
Jesus says that we will be
forgiven as we forgive others.
00:26:43.67\00:26:50.56
It's a serious matter.
00:26:50.59\00:26:52.46
It's so often over looked.
00:26:52.49\00:26:54.63
We are not going to
heaven, brothers and sisters,
00:26:54.66\00:26:56.99
and walk on that other
street, and stay out of
00:26:57.02\00:27:00.09
their boundaries.
00:27:00.12\00:27:01.24
That's just not going to happen.
00:27:01.32\00:27:02.68
To find peace and
harmony in our lives...
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You see, Jesus knew that saying
we must forgive would bring
00:27:06.61\00:27:10.64
peace and harmony in
my life and in yours.
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I can find peace in a troubled
world by forgiving my neighbor,
00:27:13.57\00:27:19.67
forgiving my brother, or the
offender, whoever that might be.
00:27:19.70\00:27:23.65
I can find peace with God and
with my brethren if I will turn
00:27:23.68\00:27:28.67
it over to God and forgive.
00:27:28.70\00:27:30.73
In Jesus' name we pray
once again, Dear Father.
00:27:30.76\00:27:33.95
Fill us, Lord, with forgiveness
in our hearts one to another.
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May we see the importance,
Father, to forgive our neighbor
00:27:38.24\00:27:42.38
so that we might
be ready for heaven.
00:27:42.41\00:27:44.78
Lord, forgive us as
we forgive our debtors.
00:27:44.81\00:27:48.63
In Jesus' name, Amen.
00:27:48.66\00:27:51.22
Again, thank you
brothers and sisters.
00:27:51.25\00:27:53.30
We'll see you again
next time on Faith Chapel.
00:27:53.33\00:27:56.19