Forgiveness Pt.2
COLOSSIANS 2:13-14
13 ¶ And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Notice – not some of your trespasses, but ALL of your trespasses.
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us (ordinances = the rules and requirements of the law of Moses; carrying a suggestion of severity and of threatened judgement), which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
MARK 11:24-26
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Forgiveness Pt.2
Brother Branham reads this scripture of Mark11:22-26 that we have just read in the message…PERFECT.FAITH_ JEFF.IN V-6 N-11 SUNDAY_ 63-0825E
19 Now, faith is based on forgiveness, then. And then, as we said this morning, trying to get the church into the place to where we could really see apostolic times moving among us, that's what we all hunger (in other words – we must first come to a place where we can forgive every person to have the level of faith that is required to see apostolic times moving among us in a greater way). And it's just laying right at the door. We see it, but we want to see more of it. We want it such a flow that it'll--it'll be a help to us, us flow out to others.
20 Remember, Jesus (as we had in the lesson this morning), He never used His power for Himself, He used it for others. That's what it was sent for. And you think sometime, "Why would a Man that was so full of power, like Him, would have ever be sick?" Yes, sir. I've read in some book, somewhere, where when He raised up that boy, the widow's son from Nain (I believe, The Prince of the House of David), that He set on a rock and groaned with a headache. See? He bore our infirmity. Bear means "to pack them." See, He bore. And He had all things in... like we have. He had sickness, he had temptations, He had trouble, He had flusteration just as we have, because He had to be the right kind of a Mediator; so He had to be partaker, the Husbandman of the fruit, before He would know.
Last week we showed how that God had to become flesh in order to qualify to be our high priest, because God in his spirit form could not fully empathise because although he knew all things, yet he had never experience weakness and tiredness and temptation and all these troubles that a fallen man has to go through – there is a deeper knowing of things by experience.
HEBREWS 5:1-2
1 ¶ For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
In the Old Testament God could sympathise with man’s weakness, but it was not until he became a man himself that he could truly feel what man felt, that is when he could fully empathise.
ISAIAH 53:3a
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
In order to qualify to be our high priest to intercede on our behalf for seven church ages, he had to first became a man and be amongst us and suffered like us and feel what we feel.
That is why in the Old Testament you could sometimes get the impression that God is different from Jesus because it seems like God the Father was stricter and less forgiving then God the son.
**When the children of Israel complained against Moses and God in the wilderness, God would have wiped them all our and started again with Moses, but Moses stood in the gap for the people.
Brother Branham said that that was Christ in Moses, but we know that Jehovah of the Old Testament is the same Jesus of the New Testament (the same person), so why does it seem like there is a difference in character, the difference was between sympathy in the Old Testament and empathy in the New Testament.
***There was an attribute to be expressed in Christ that was at a deeper level than what was expressed in the Old Testament.
PERFECT.FAITH_ JEFF.IN V-6 N-11 SUNDAY_ 63-0825E
20 …See? He bore our infirmity. Bear means "to pack them." See, He bore. And He had all things in... like we have. He had sickness, he had temptations, He had trouble, He had flusteration just as we have, because He had to be the right kind of a Mediator; so He had to be partaker, the Husbandman of the fruit, before He would know.
Jesus had to learn to forgive others when they hurt him and treated him bad, because at times it can be hard for people to forgive others, especially when it comes to hurts that run deep and have affected our lives in a very negative and sometimes even in a permanent way – but God can bring true healing to all those things, but the first stage to healing is actually to first forgive – that is why forgiveness and healing are always connected together.
MARK 11:24-26 (opening scripture)
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
…faith is based on forgiveness – no forgiveness, no faith for healing and deliverance
Opening scripture from last week..
PSALM 119:9
9 ¶ BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
This seems a strange scripture to read on the subject of forgiveness!
But we realise that according to the scripture, our own cleansing is based on our forgiveness of others, and that requires the spirit of Christ by the word that you keep in your heart.
- Look a little at the result of letting the word leak out or your heart because of being dilatory.
There was a king in the bible called Manasseh, he was the son of Hezekiah the king of Judah and he reigned for 55 years around between 697 and 642 BC
JEREMIAH 15:1-4 is around 605 BC which is almost 40 year after Manasseh’s ended his reign.
1 ¶ Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
4 And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king: This means that he was born in the last fifteen years of Hezekiah’s life, the additional fifteen years that Hezekiah prayed for. Those additional fifteen years brought Judah one of its worst kings.
The tragic progression in Manasseh’s sin progressed as follows.
· First, idolatry is tolerated among God’s people.
· Then idolatry is promoted.
· Then idolatry is supported and funded.
· Then the worship of the true God is undermined.
· Then the worshippers of the true God are persecuted and murdered.
· Then the judgment of God soon comes.
MATTHEW 18:21-35
21 ¶ Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? (It is said that the Rabbis discussed this question and recommended not more than three times…Peter’s seven times is therefore generous, but Jesus’ reply does away with all limits and calculations.)
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
(Talent = approx. 33 kg or 6000 denarius. 1 denarius = average 1 days’ work = say $150.00 net today.
So 1 talent = about 16 years work back in the bible days (if you worked 365 days a year for 16 years with no breaks) or around $900,000.00, then x 10,000 = 9,000,000,000.00 (Nine billion dollars) or 160 thousand years’ worth of wages for one man if he works every day with no weekends off)
How did this man end up owing his master so much money? – This is a parable of our sin debt owed to God.
This is the revealing the amount of sin debt that we personally have charged against us that we could never repay by our labours if we had a multitude of lifetimes)
25 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, and payment to be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him (Notice - God is the only one that is to receive worship, showing that the certain King that he was dealing with was really speaking of God Himself, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Notice - His intentions were completely impossible, he actually thought he could somehow repay – that is how sometimes we think that we can somehow work for our salvation.
27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence (around $15,000 NZ dollars): and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. (Notice the forgiven servant’s uncompassionate attitude toward his fellow-servant; this is revealing the character that was in him. So this parable is revealing two characters - two people placed in the same situation)
So the power to forgive comes from within the character of the person, and character lies within by the word of God that you keep in your heart.
29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. (This man is now in exactly the same circumstance as his master, and look at his response. That is why often God will allow you be put into different circumstances in life to show up what is inside you)
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. (When his master forgave him, it should have changed something in his heart, and maybe it did for a while, but something caused that to leak out)
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. (But of course it would be impossible for him to ever repay that amount)
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
**God does not require any works or payment from us for His forgiveness, but He does require us to forgive others from our hearts.
One of the greatest challenges to the human nature is the issue of forgiveness.
Those who can’t forgive themselves are often filled with guilt and despair, and those who refuse or simply cannot forgive others are troubled with anger and bitterness.
Some of the most miserable people on earth are the people who never learn to forgive and let go of their bitterness and hurts. They can never fully enjoy life, and those who love them cannot fully enjoy them.
Bitterness builds a barrier that keeps people caged in and the rest of the world closed out. The bitter person will cling to a hurt from the past and will never let go of it even though they know it is destroying them.
To varying degrees we have all struggled with bitterness. When we cling to anger, we think that we are punishing those that hurt us, but we will eventually destroy ourselves.
Our fleshly nature always seems to seek what will destroy us, but God’s word will always heal and restore that which has been eroded by sin.
**There is great freedom for us in forgiveness when we can forgive everyone from our hearts – it releases us to be able to have true freedom and faith.
PSALM 119:9
9 ¶ BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed (holding onto – not letting it leak out of your heart) thereto according to thy word.
Forgiveness Pt.2