Forgivness

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Here is your host, Mike Zwick. We can face uncertain days because he lives. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know how he holds the future.

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Share the show. But today, I actually wanted to talk to you a little bit about forgiveness. And when you look at forgiveness in the Bible, I think most people, they think of the words of Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew. Where Jesus said, He said, if you forgive other people when they sin against you, that your Heavenly Father will forgive you when you sin. It says, but He said, if you don't forgive other people of their sins against you, then God will hold on to your sins, and He will not forgive your sins. And that's a very serious thing.

But, you know, I was thinking about what are some practical applications of this? Because I think a lot of times we look at all of these, we look at a verse and we say, well, forgiveness, that's a good thing. I was actually thinking of the story of Corrie Tim Boom. And the story goes like this. In November of 1972, the author of The Hiding Place recalled forgiving a guard at the concentration camp where her sister had died. And it was in a church in Munich that I saw him, she said, a balding, heavyset man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands.

People were filing out of the basement room where I had just spoken, moving along the rows of wooden chairs to the door at the rear. It was 1947, and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with a message that God forgives. It was the truth that they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander's mind, I like to think that's where forgiven sins were thrown. When we confess our sins, I said, God cast them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. The solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe.

There were never questions after a talk in Germany in 1947. People stood up in silence, and silence collected their raps, and silence left the room. And that's when I saw him working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat, the next a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones.

It came back with a rush. The huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsy, how thin you were. Betsy and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland. This man had been a guard at Ravensbrück concentration camp, where we were sent. Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out.

A fine message, Fraulein. How good it is to know that, as you say, all of our sins are at the bottom of the sea. And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course. How could he remember one prisoner among thousands of women? But I remembered him, and the leather crop swinging from his belt. It was the first time since my release that I had been face to face with one of my captors, and my blood seemed to freeze. You mention Ravensbrück in your talk, he was saying. I was a guard in there.

No, he did not remember me. But since that time he went on, I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things that I did in there.

But I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein, again, the hand came out, will you forgive me? And as I stood there, I, whose sins had every day to be forgiven, and could not. Betsy had died in that place. Could he erase her slow, terrible death simply for the asking? It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand-held out.

But to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I ever had to do. For I had to do it, I knew that, the message that God forgives has a prior condition, that we forgive those who have injured us. If you do not forgive men their trespasses, Jesus said, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.

I knew it not only as a commandment of God, but as a daily experience. Since the end of the war, I had had a home in Holland for victims of Nazi brutality. Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able also to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids.

It was as simple and as horrible as that. And still as I stood there, with the coldness clutching my heart, but forgiveness is not an emotion, I knew that too, forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. Just help me, I prayed silently. I can lift my hand, I can do that much. You supply the feeling. And so, wouldn'tly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands, and then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. I forgive you, brother, I cried, with all of my heart.

For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then. And having thus learned to forgive in this hardest of situations, I never again had difficulty in forgiving.

I wish I could say it. I wish I could say that merciful and charitable thoughts just naturally flowed for me from that day on, but they didn't. If there's one thing that I've learned at 80 years of age, it's that I can't store up good feelings and behavior, but only draw them fresh from God each day.

Maybe I'm glad it's that way, for every time I go to him, he teaches me something else. I recall the time, some 15 years ago, when some Christian friends whom I loved and trusted did something which hurt me. You would have thought that having forgiven the Nazi guard, this would have been child's play, but it wasn't. For weeks I seethed inside, but at last I asked God again to work his miracle in me. And again it happened, first the cold-blooded decision, then the flood of joy and peace. I had forgiven my friends. I was restored to my Father. Then, why was I suddenly awake in the middle of the night, hashing over the whole thing again? My friends, I thought, people I loved, it had been strangers, I wouldn't have minded so. I sat up and switched on the light, Father, I thought it was all forgiven, please help me do it. But the next night I woke up again.

They talked so sweetly too, never a hint of what they were planning. Father, I cried an alarm, help me! His help came in the form of a kindly Lutheran pastor, to whom I confessed my failure after two sleepless weeks. Up in that church tower, he said, nodding out the window, is a bell which is rung by a pulling of a rope.

But you know what? After the sexton lets go of the rope, the bell keeps on swinging, first ding and then dong. Slower and slower until there's a final dong and it stops. I believe the same thing is true of forgiveness. When we forgive someone, we take our hand off of the rope. But if we've been tugging at our grievances for a long time, we mustn't be surprised if the old angry thoughts keep coming for a while. They're just the ding-dongs of the old bell slowing down. And so it proved to be there were a few more midnight reverberations, a couple of dings when the subject came up in my conversation, but the force, which was my willingness in that matter, had gone out of them.

They came less and less often, and at last stopped together. And so I discovered another secret of forgiveness, that we can trust God not only above our emotions, but also above our own thoughts. And still he had more to teach me, even in this single episode, because many years later in 1970, an American with whom I had shared the ding-dong principle came to visit me in Holland and met the people involved. Aren't those the friends who let you down? He asked them as they left my apartment. Yes, I said a little smugly, but can see it's all forgiven. But you say, he said, but what about them? Have they accepted your forgiveness? They say there's nothing to forgive. They deny it ever happened, but I can prove it. I went eagerly to my desk.

I have it in black and white. I have saved all the letters and I can show you where. Corey, my friend, slipped his arm through mine and gently closed the drawer. Aren't you the one whose sins are at the bottom of the sea and are the sins of your friends etched in black and white? And I love that story because when I think about it, I think about our own forgiveness. And I heard the story a while ago of a lady who was going to heaven. And when she went to heaven, she had to appear before Saint Peter. And Saint Peter said, OK, now, before you get into heaven, he said, you have to spell a word correctly. And she said, OK, what's the word?

And he said, it's purple. She says, P-U-R-P-L-E. He says, well, welcome to heaven. He says, as a matter of fact, before you go in, he said, I need you to stand here for a minute because I've got to go do something.

And you can do the same thing with the next person. Well, just at that moment, her ex-husband walked up to heaven and he said, oh, great, I've made it to heaven. And she says, not yet. She says, first, you have to spell a word correctly and then you can get into heaven. Her ex-husband said, well, what's the word?

She said, Czechoslovakia. So, you know, when I think about that, it's, you know, it's so easy to forgive. I think, you know, when we think of a practical application of maybe a Corrie Tim Boone or maybe somebody else. I mean, when you look in and when it's somebody else who is talking about forgiveness and their story, you're like, yeah, that's a great story.

But what about when it's turned on us? I was going through my emails earlier today and I got an email about Thanksgiving. And I know this is something that everybody's talking about right now. Just wanted to make sure that we have this.

It said, good morning, family and friends. It looks like we will be hosting Thanksgiving again this year. So I wanted to officially invite everyone. It looks like we're going to have a big crowd. So I wanted to start getting a head count so that we can prepare properly. Also, with various COVID-19 outbreaks, I want to make sure that everyone who who plans on coming must be vaccinated who can be vaccinated. So we can protect our elderly people and our young people as it will not be possible for many of us to stay to stay away from each other during a Thanksgiving meal.

Please let us know if you if you plan on coming by November 1st. And so, you know, it's interesting. When I first got that email, the first thing that came to my mind was not forgiveness or love or anything like that was, you know, how could you do this? You know, I mean, you know, if you've been vaccinated, then you shouldn't worry about it or whatever. And you're telling people who haven't had the vaccine that they can't come to dinner or whatever.

But I started to think about it from this story. And one of the things that I thought about was that just the same way these whoever's getting this dinner together or whatever they're doing, I have to just like Corrie ten Boom forgave the people who were in the Nazi concentration camp. I have to forgive them.

You know, if they if they say, hey, you can't come to Thanksgiving dinner if you haven't had the vaccine. We have to forgive them and we have to love them. We have to love people who disagree with us politically. And sometimes it's so hard because I know on social media, somebody starts talking about politics and it'll get all this attention.

And, you know, you put a Bible verse up there and nobody wants to look at it. But, you know, it really doesn't matter. But I like what Corrie ten Boom said where she said that it is actually a forgiveness is not an emotion. It's a decision. So you just it's like you take the action of and you say, I'm going to forgive this person.

And then after you say that and after you follow through with that, then many times the feelings follow. Matter of fact, here's a few verses about forgiveness. Romans twelve seventeen. Repay no one evil for evil, but give but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Romans twelve seventeen Ephesians two eight. For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. So if we've been if we've been forgiven by grace, we need to give that grace to other people. Proverbs fifteen one.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Matthew five seven. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Hebrews eight twelve. For I will be merciful towards their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

It says in the word of God that that we ask for forgiveness, that if he won't even remember our sins, then we shouldn't remember people who have sinned against us. And this is a process. This isn't something where we can just throw some oil on you or pray, pray for you real quick and it'll be done.

I mean, it is a process like Corey ten Boom said. You have to make that decision. John thirteen thirty four. A new commandment I give you that you love one another just as I have loved you.

You also are to love one another. Second Chronicles seven fourteen. If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. So he says basically, no matter how bad things are, if you turn from your sin and you look to the father and you ask for forgiveness, he'll heal you and he'll forgive you.

Luke seventeen three. If I both if I brother trespass against the rebuke him and if he repent, if your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him.

Jesus actually talked about this. He says if somebody if somebody sins against you seventy seven times in a day, then you need to forgive them every single time. Forgive again and again and again and again. And while we're talking about this, I want you to think about the listener right now. Is there somebody that you need to forgive?

Maybe an ex-husband, an ex-wife, an ex-boyfriend, an ex-girlfriend, somebody who's done you wrong. Is it worth not making it to heaven because you decide you made the decision that you're not going to forgive someone? I've heard people say, well, well, that's not going to keep you out of heaven. OK, I mean, read what Jesus said. He said, if you forgive other people of their sins against you, your father will forgive you. If you don't forgive other people, you're not going to be forgiven. That doesn't seem very ambiguous.

Doesn't seem kind of iffy. I would go ahead and forgive people. I mean, it's it's so important.

It's so important. And we and we have to love people and we have to forgive them. You know, we think about the song Amazing Grace and the song was actually written by John Newton, who was a slave trader. And when he realized how much he had he had been forgiven by God, he he he just he had to sing about it.

He had to tell people about it. And, you know, God is good 100 percent of the time. Matter of fact, the song, it actually goes like this. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. Was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved? How precious did grace appear.

The hour I first believed. There's the old song and it says the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. There is actually a story in the Reader's Digest. It's called The Unlikely Pardoner. An Iranian woman woman, Samara Alinejad, had told the Associated Press that retribution had been her only thought after her teenage son was murdered. But in a dramatic turn at the gallows, literally moments before the killer was to be executed, she made a last minute decision to pardon the man.

She is now considered a hero. Amending feud in May of 2014, The New York Times photographer Peter Hiago began a photo essay project in Rwanda to demonstrate the forgiveness between the Hutus and the Tutsis, the two cultures involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide that took millions of lives. In the photos, members from both cultures stand by side, stand side by side by Francine illustrating a story of forgiveness and how the subject lives are now thoroughly intertwined. The understanding widower after a long shift at the fire department, Matt Swatzel, fell asleep while driving and crashed into another vehicle, taking the life of pregnant mother June Fitzgerald and injuring her 19 month old daughter. According to today, Fitzgerald's husband, a full time pastor, asked for the man's diminished sentence and began meeting with Swatzel for coffee and conversations.

Many years later, the two men remained close. You, you forgive as you've been forgiven, the pastor said. Another story in an interview with real simple domestic violence survivor Pascal Cavanaugh said that she never thought she would reconnect with her mother, her abuser during her adult life. However, in 2010, her mother suffered several strokes that left her unable to communicate or to take care of herself.

These are the things that smart people do to prepare for death as they forgive other people. With no one else to help, Cavanaugh began to sit by her mother's bedside and read to her. Through this, Cavanaugh says the hate that she had for her mother dissipated into forgiveness of love.

When I think about that, I think about Dr. Charles Stanley, who comes on the Truth Network. He had he had said that when he was younger, he had many problems with his stepfather and his mother said that she thought that she she should get remarried. And and I assume that there was some abuse going on there and there were there were problems, this and that he just he didn't treat Charles very well.

And so finally, Charles, later on in life, he found out that he needed to do something about this. And he went to went to his stepfather and he said he went up to him and he said, I want you to ask I want to ask your forgiveness for me not being nicer to you and me not treating you better. He said that when he did that, his stepfather actually broke down in tears and he asked he asked Charles for forgiveness as well. Heard another story about a man who was in Africa and there was a group of people who were trying to kill this guy. And one of the guys who was trying to kill them, they caught him and they were going to throw him in jail. I think they were going to kill him. And this guy, he turned around and he said, he said, no, he said, I want to forgive this man.

And he says, I want you to let him go. And the guy that he forgave actually became a Christian as well. There are so many stories that we could go on and on and on and on about forgiveness with. And it's so so cold, I think, to kind of see this in a general perspective about how we kind of look at other people. And we say, yeah, that's a great thing for them to forgive or that's a really good thing for them to do or for them to say or whatever it is. But the problem is, is what about when it's turned on us?

What about when the story really turns to us and when we're the one who has to forgive? It's a lot harder than another guy who I know who used to be on the Truth Network. But Chuck Swindoll said that when he was a young man and he had just gotten married, this young stockbroker had come by and he had he had asked him to invest in this venture. And when he asked him to invest in the venture, he finally got the money together.

I think it was five thousand dollars. And he said that he got it. He gave the guy the money and he said he never heard from him again. And he said he had to learn to forgive that man, even though he had taken his life savings. There was one man who had cheated another man out of money in a business deal.

So he said, OK, I'm going to I'm going to say something nice about this man. He says when we when he dies, we should bury him eight feet deep because deep down he's a good person. Well, that's not the kind of forgiveness that we're talking about. Sometimes we just have to forgive and forget, because if the Lord says that that we're he's not going to remember our sins anymore, we shouldn't remember other people's sins. The power of worship in heaven and praise and worship, it actually confuses the enemy. And sometimes I believe if we're having a tough time forgiving other people, sometimes what we do is we just start to praise the Lord, worship the Lord. One of the things that I do is I read scripture out loud. And once I start to sing to the Lord and I pray to the Lord and I thank him for all of the good things that he's done for me, what I want to turn around and I want to do is I want to go ahead and forgive other people.

And it's not as hard when I do that. Matter of fact, you know, we talk about anger and and unforgiveness and stuff like that. Pastor Chad Harvey, who who actually comes on the station, he actually said that he went he was listening to talk radio and he was so angry about what was going on in the country, this, that and the other. He said all of a sudden he goes into a gas station and he's sitting there.

He's angry. He's in line. And he says somebody comes up to him. He says, Pastor Chad, he goes, Yeah, I go to your church. And Pastor Chad says, praise God. And so then Pastor Chad actually had to go back out to the car, do something. He started listening to his listening to the talk radio again, and he went back in and he went up to the clerk and he was going to tell the clerk something's wrong with the car wash. Pastor Chad said he said this lady said to him, Pastor Chad, I go to your church.

And he said these were two of the nicest people. And he said that, you know, what he realized is he has to focus on the good, focus on Jesus, focus on all the blessings that Jesus has given us and not focus on all of the problems and everything that's bad on the world. If we focus on everything that's wrong, it's really it's really easy to have a spirit of unforgiveness because we're looking at everything that's wrong in the world instead of looking at everything that's right in the world. I'm not saying to just ignore everything and to stick your head in the sand. That's not what I'm saying. But I do believe that if we have a if we have a spirit of forgiveness and if we have a spirit of love and of peace and we're not fearful like everybody else is, then people are going to look at us and they're going to say that something is different.

But if we're just as fearful and scared and worried as the rest of the world is, why would they ever look to us for peace? If you've never received that forgiveness for your sins and you'd like to give your life to Jesus today and you'd like to have eternal life. Jesus said in John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And if you'd like to go to heaven with us today, if you'd like to be in heaven with us where we're going to be someday, just pray with me right now. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I've sinned against you and I have I have failed, Lord, but I accept your forgiveness for my sins. I turn my life over to you, Lord. I want to live in heaven for you forever. In Jesus name. Amen. If you prayed that prayer, just shoot us a message on if not for God with Mike Zwick or let us know. Guys, we're so glad to see you again.

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