What Is Forgiveness?
I.
Forgiveness
and it’s core deals with separation and it’s a separation from the aught, from
the offense-Luke 6:37
A. This is
a one word command from Jesus, FORGIVE
1.
Forgive (Apoluo)-Forgive comes from to Greek words Apo and Luo
a. Apo-Separation; Of any kind of separation of one thing
from another by which the union or fellowship of the two is destroyed; Apo is the root word of forgiveness and
it means separation
b. Luo-To loose, to set free, to let go, undo, dismiss, break
up, annul, do away with
2.
The
idea is forgiveness is separating by letting go, dismissing, doing away with
3.
AMP-Forgive
and release, give up resentment, let it drop
B. Another
big word in forgiveness is to RELEASE (Footnote-Literal meaning of forgive is
to release)
1.
Rick
Renner-To
set free; To let go; To release; To discharge; To liberate completely; It was
used in NT times in reference to canceling a debt or releasing someone from the
obligation of a contract; To forfeit any right to hold a person captive to a
previous commitment or wrong he has committed. It’s a picture of totally freeing or
releasing someone. A phrase would
be to let it go.
2.
Release
from bondage or imprisonment; Forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go
as if they had never been committed)
3.
Septuagint-It is
translated brooks (Joel 1:20) and rivers (Lam 3:47). For the releasing of water
by opening the sluices/drains. Then
there is the common use in the Septuagint of aphesis for the year of Jubilee
(All slaves were set free, all debts were remitted, all land was released back
into the hands of the original owner)
II.
To
forgive is an act of your will to separate by letting go
A. To
forgive is to let it go, leave it alone, disregard it, leave it and not discuss
1.
Matthew
15:14-Let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind
B. To
forgive is to give up, to keep no longer (meaning I’m not keeping that ought
any longer, I’ve giving it up, not holding onto it)
1.
Revelation
2:4-Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because you have left thy first
love
C. To
forgive is to give up a thing to one (meaning you have to give that offense up)
1.
Matthew
5:40-And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him
have thy cloke also
2.
Mark
11:16-And would not suffer that any man carry any vessel through the temple
D. The
opposite of letting it go is holding onto
1.
To
walk in forgiveness means you’re going to have to leave it alone in your
thought life and you’re not going to discuss it; Discussing it is holding onto
it, thinking about is not leaving it alone
2.
To
walk in forgiveness is to give up talking about it and thinking about it;
talking about it and thinking about it is not letting it go
3.
Nobody
can make you hold onto something; you have the authority, you can hold onto it,
you can let it go and therefore the power to forgive is in your hands
III.
To
forgive is an act of your will to separate by leaving
A. To go
away leaving something behind; you have to leave the offense behind
1.
If
you left it behind then that means it’s not with you in your words, your
actions, your thought life
2.
Matthew
5:24-Leave your gift before the altar and go your way; first be reconciled to
your brother and then come and offer they gift
3.
John
4:28-The woman then left her waterpot, and went her
way into the city
B. To
forgive is to leave, to go away from, to depart from anyone (in order to go to
another place); in order to go forward in the Kingdom you got to give up that
offense and unforgiveness
1.
Matthew
22:22-When they heard these words, they marveled, and left him, and went their
way
2.
Mark
8:13-And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other
side
3.
John
16:28-I leave the world and go unto the Father
C. The
opposite of leaving is staying
1.
How
long are you going to hang around that ought, that
fault, that offense, that thing you don’t like that they did or said?
2.
To walk
in forgiveness there’s some places (in your thought life) that you can’t go and
most certainly can’t stay
IV.
To
forgive is an act of your will to separate by sending something away
A. To
forgive is to send away the ought and tell it to depart
1.
To send
away, to bid to go away or depart-Matthew 13:36-Jesus sent the multitude away
B. To
forgive is to send forth, to emit/release the ought
1.
To send
forth, to yield up, to emit, to expire-Matthew 27:50-Jesus yielded up the ghost
C. The
opposite of sending it is allowing it to hang around (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
1.
You
have two choices with ought and unforgiveness: 1) You can send it away 2) You
can let it hang around
a. This
reveals to us that WE have the authority to send it away if we so choose or let
it hang around if we so choose
b. To walk
in forgiveness there’s some stuff that you can’t allow to hang around, there’s
stuff that has to be sent away
2.
One
of the biggest areas you have to send it away if from is your thought life
V.
To
forgive is an act of your will to separate by breaking fellowship
A. To
forgive is to ignore, forget, neglect what the person has done; To omit,
neglect
1.
They
are not paying any attention to weightier matters of the law, they are ignoring
them, neglecting them, forgetting them
a. Matthew 23:23-For you pay tithe of mint and anise and
cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and
faith
2.
They
just laid aside the commandment of God, ignored it, forgot it, neglected it
a. Mark 7:8-For laying aside the commandment of God, you
hold the tradition of men, as the washing of the posts and cups
B. To
depart from one and leave him to himself so that all mutual claims are
abandoned
1.
Matthew
4:22-And they immediately left their ship and their father and followed him
2.
Matthew
19:27-Peter said unto him, behold we have forsaken all and followed you
3.
Luke
5:11-And when they brought their ships to the land they forsook all and
followed him
4.
John
10:12-Sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees
C. Abandon,
leave destitute; To leave one by not taking him as a companion
1.
Unforgiveness
is taking the offense as a companion and fellowshipping with it
2.
Matthew
24:40-Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other
left
D. To
forgive is to leave that offense and abandon all fellowship with it
1.
This
means you’re not going to nurse the ought and rehearse it and think on it
2.
Forgiveness
turns it backs and leaves never to return again
3.
It’s
the nature of your flesh to want to fellowship with the ought and think about
it and hold onto it
VI.
To
forgive is to remit, to pay, to be square, to be settled (meaning there’s
nothing between you and me)
A. If they
are forgiven then you are square with them and that means there’s nothing
between you and them
1.
Jesus
is telling him there’s nothing between you and the Lord
a. Matthew 9:2-Sone be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven
thee
2.
The
master is telling the servant there is nothing between you and me; we are
square
a. Matthew 18:27-The servant therefore fell down, and
worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee
all. Then the Lord of that servant
was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgive
him the debt.
3.
Jesus
is telling us square up with people and don’t have anything between you and
them in your heart
a. Mark 11:25-Forgive if you have ought against any
VII.
Forgiveness
is an on purpose act of your will by faith to let go of a wrong a person did
and love them as though the wrong never occurred (Luke 17:4 (AMP)-You must forgive him (give up resentment and
consider the offense as recalled and annulled)
A. You
sent that wrong away, you have let it go, you are leaving it alone, you are
disregarding it, not discussing it, you are leaving it behind; A separation has
taken place and your mind and heart are no longer in fellowship with the wrong
done (You won’t let your mind fellowship with the wrong done) and now you’re
treating that person as thought the offense never occurred
1.
What’s
the opposite of forgiveness? – The opposite of giving is taking, the
opposite of letting go is holding onto
2.
You’re
not letting it go, you’re not leaving it behind, you’re not sending it away,
you haven’t broken fellowship with it, you and that person are not square, and
you are treating them and seeing them through the lens of that offense
B. Psalm
130:3-4-Unforgiveness marks people’s wrong (like writing it down on a
chalkboard)
1.
Forgiveness
is not marking the iniquity
a. Mark-Keep, give heed, observe, watch,
retain; Iniquity-fault
b. Forgiveness
doesn’t keep it, doesn’t pay attention to it and observe it and watch it and
retain it; Forgiveness lets it go
2.
Unforgiveness
marks wrongs that people of done (like on a chalkboard) so that it won’t forget
it, so that it can hold on to them
a. The
opposite of marking peoples wrongs is forgiving
VIII.
The art
of the enemy’s craft is to try to get you camp on that offense (the thing the
person did that you don’t like)
A. Satan
wants you to hang around it, harp on it, think about it, talk about it and never
does he want you to let it go
1.
Doing
this destroys your love walk (Proverbs 17:9) and it creates division (Proverbs
18:19) and in turn kills your faith (Galatians 5:6)
B. He will
bring it up again and again in your thought life trying to get you to take it
(the offense) and you’re going to have to deal with every thought by declaring
that you have forgiven them and let go of that
IX.
Luke
17:3-5-This command to forgive will usually be accompanied by a feeling of
inadequacy to keep it, to do it (it’s accompanied by the thought, “I can’t do
it, I can’t let it go, I can’t forgive and also if you were honest with
yourself, that you don’t want to forgive)
A. It is
the nature of your flesh to hold onto wrongs and not let them go-Galatians 5:17
1.
Your
flesh likes the offense, it likes holding onto the wrong, but the recreated you
wants to let it go
B. Your
flesh feeds on fleshiness; it’s called sowing to the flesh-Galatians 6:8
1.
Your
flesh feeds offense and unforgiveness like a drug addict feeds on drug
C. Most
people have lived most of the born-again lives having ought (something against)
somebody
1.
Their
flesh has gotten used to feeding on that and having that and has become
addicted to it and the thought of letting it go and forgiving is that similar
to the thought the drug addict has about letting go of his drugs – I
can’t, I don’t want to
2.
See
when you live with offense and unforgiveness for so long your flesh begins to
depend upon the nourishment of those things for it’s survival and just like a
drug addict feels like he can’t let go of the drugs (because he want survive)
your flesh feels like it can’t let go of the unforgiveness because it won’t
survive – GOOD! Your flesh isn’t supposed to survive, it’s supposed to be
crucififed!
3.
Like
the drug addict, the flesh addicted to offense doesn’t know what real freedom
is; real freedom is when you wake up in the morning and don’t have anything
against anybody
D. Begin
to cultivate the desire to forgive
1.
There
is a life available to the believer where the sun can rise and they can roll
out of bed and start their day and not have anything against anybody; And you
don’t know what living is until you live not having anything against anybody