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Episode 53: The Forgiveness Proof · End-Time Revival Ministries, USA

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Lord Jesus Christ, we do honor you, we do bless your name,
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we do magnify you, the Lord of Lords, the King of kings,
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the Great. I am the one who gave yourself a ransom for us,
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for the forgiveness of our sins, to deliver us from the power of the
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darkness, to open our eyes, to bring us into kingship and priestshood and
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fellowship with you. Old Lord. We thank you because it is by your
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blood and because of your great sacrifice, that we are now the sons of
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God, the children of God, the people of God, the Church of
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the Living God. So Lord, help us to run in this race with
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the patience that we need a man to finish, a man to hear your
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voice say well done, good and faithful servant. Help us now to take
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a stand in this evil day, in this generation. Lord, to speak
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forth your word with truth, soberness, boldness, with confidence, and in
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love, so that you may be edified. Your kingdom will be glorified and
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magnify Your name, exalted above all names, God, be glorified today,
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and your people in your church in this present world. We pray it,
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we believe it, we know according to your promises that it shall be.
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It's in Jesus name. We give you thanks in advance. Amen and Amen.
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All right, God bless you again. Thank God again for this opportunity,
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another beautiful day that the Lord has made, that we shall rejoice in
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and be glad in the God of our salvation. Having a man allowed us.
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Amen again this opportunity to speak forth his word, Amen, his truth,
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a man, that he may become more like him every day. The
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word of the Lord is our guide. It is our light in this time
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and day of darkness in which we live, this world of darkness. And
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therefore Amen, we look to him and acknowledge him his word, his truth,
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a man to lead us and to guide us. A man, and
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furthermore to protect us. Amen, our help, our shield, our protection.
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A man is also in the word of the Living God. Amen.
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So we thank God again for Amen, choosing us Amen, even before the
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foundation of the world. Amen, to be His people. Amen. That's
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who you are in Christ Jesus chosen in him before the foundation of the world,
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to be a holy people, a royal priesthood. Amen. And so
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we are a man, as the Bible declares, kings and priests who will
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reign with Him, Amen, forever. Amen. So we thank God again
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for these many great and precious promises that we have in Christ, Jesus our
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Lord. Amen. All right, a man. Today we continue in our
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series on the question are you say? This is the title question of this
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defining series, where we are now examining all of these biblical proofs of salvation
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that must be in each of us, a man who named the name of
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Christ. Who are the children of God? Who are a man? Ambassadors,
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living epistols known and read of men the Bibles tells us. Amen.
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So Amen, Today we're going to be examining the subject of the forgiveness,
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Amen, the forgiveness. And of course we thank each and every one of
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you as always for tuning in to this broadcast, those of you who may
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be new to this Amen. Radio broadcasts. If you're listening by way of
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radio, it is heard each and every Sunday morning, seven am to eight
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am on radio station Love eight sixty waec emanating from the studios of Love eight
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sixty AM, Atlanta. So you can also pick it up worldwide streaming through
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many different platforms. So again, the radio broadcasts can be heard each and
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every Sunday morning seven am, and also each and every Sunday evening at eight
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pm. Please please please share it with someone else. Amen. Also Amen,
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we have also been through our podcast platform sharing the same messages, which
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of course are available twenty four hours a day, seven eighths a week.
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Amen. If you become a subscriber to the podcasts, Amen, we certainly
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invite you to do so, encourage you to do so. You will get
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a notification or should get a notification when each episode has been released. And
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of course, each of the episodes for this particular series on this very important
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question are you saved is being AMEN preserved in our podcast AMEN archives. So
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if you subscribe to End Time Revival Ministries US a podcast, Amen, you
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can Amen access all of these AMEN broadcasts as well as others in this particular
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series that are available on the podcast platform. Again that podcasts is available through
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multiple outlets, Amen, that you can access Amen. So we certainly encourage
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you to do that, and please share it with someone else. Share it
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with someone else. It's very easy to do. Those of you who are
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tech savvy enough can easily a man click and share with someone via text message
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and they will get it instantly. A man so share it with someone also,
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because this is a very important question. Are you saved? And we
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must answer this question. And they're a biblical proofs. That's what we're looking
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at, Biblical proofs of our salvation. Number one, we've already examined the
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change. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
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The old has passed away, and behold, all things become new. The
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love a man, the love of God has shared a broad in our hearts
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by the Holy Spirit that is given to us a man. Then, of
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course there is the faith a man. He that comes to God must believe
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that he is. Faith is a substance of things, hopefully, the evidence
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of things not seen a man and without faith, the Bible says it is
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impossible to please God. As if you do not have faith, you cannot
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be saved. Amen. Faith is a man a prerequisite to salvation. Amen.
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Also, then we've discussed in our last session the fruitfulness. Amen.
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God is expecting a return on his investment. Amen. He has planted us
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in the earth a man. He's given us this salvation. Those who may
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have called a man. God expects out of each of us to abide in
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him a man, as the branches to bring forth fruit a man. God
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expects fruitfulness from each and everyone of us. And today, of course we're
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going to be talking about Oh boy, this is one. This is a
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tough one, y'all. This is a tough one. Forgiveness, the forgiveness.
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And so we're going to see what the Word of the Lord has to
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say to us about forgiveness. And now this, this forgiveness is arguably the
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most difficult of Christian virtues for us, particularly when we have been egregiously injured,
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slandered, deeply disappointed and hurt. I mean to the core, to
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the heart, cut to the heart. Amen. But yet, as those
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of us who are saved, buying through the blood of Jesus Christ that was
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shed for the remission of our sins, we must we must practice forgiveness.
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We must practice forgiveness, and we're gonna give you the word of the Lord
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now all forgiveness. Please understand that all forgiveness begins with God. Everything really
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begins with God. But all forgiveness begins with God. Everyone who is saved
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has been given of their sins and trespasses against God. Let's never forget that
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if you're saved, you've been forgiven of your sins and your trespasses against God.
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Now this activity of forgiveness on the part of God, please understand that
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this is not a new covenant pardoning that began with the Church. Amen,
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Jesus, by the way, on multiple occasions prior to and before a man,
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of course he went to Calvary, and before the church began, Jesus
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again doing his earthly ministry. A man forgave people of their sins, and
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in some instances he did it where the forgiven party did not even ask specifically
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or at all for forgiveness. One such occasion happens, and I give you
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an example of this is, by the way, if you have your body,
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but you can go with me quickly to the God of Luke chapter number
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five, Verse number seventeen now commenced. Reading there, Jesus was again conducting
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his earthly ministry. The Bible says verse seventeen Luke, chapter five. It
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came to pass on a certain day as he was teaching, that there were
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pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by which were come out of every town
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of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. The Bible tells us the power of the
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Lord was present to heal them. And behold, the Bible says, men
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brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy, and they
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sought means to bring him in and to lay him before Jesus. And when
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they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the
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multitude, they went up upon the housetop, the Bible tells us, and
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let him down through the tiling with his couch, into the midst before Jesus.
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And the Bible tells us verse twenty, when he, that is Jesus,
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when he saw their faith, he said unto him, unto the man
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whose friends had lowered him down through the tiling, through the roof, a
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man to a man the presence of Jesus, Jesus says to this man,
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who the Bible doesn't record that he said anything to Jesus, Jesus says to
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him, when he saw their faith, man, thy sins are forgiven thee
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the man, as we can see here from the record that we have no
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record in the Bible recorded by the gospel writer that this man even asked for
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forgiveness. And again there were other occasions where Jesus did the same by forgiving
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people their sins when they came, perhaps for healing of something of that nature.
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But the Bible tells us. Of course, the scribes and the Pharisees
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begin to reason, saying, who is this which speaketh blasphemies. Listen to
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the question, They ask, who can forgive sins? But God alone,
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Ah, Jesus is the Father, Amen, and he can, and he
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does, and he is the one who forgives sins. And the Bible tells
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us furthermore, when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered and said, unto
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them, what reason do you in your hearts? Whoever it's easier to say
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thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, rise up and walk,
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But that you may know that the Son of Man hath power upon earth to
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forgive sins. He saith unto the sick of the policy. I say,
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unto thee, rise, take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
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And the Bible tells us immediately the man arose and up that whereon he
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lay, and departed to his own house, gloryfying God. Now again for
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the New Testament, believer in Christ, Jesus, please understand, we must
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know, and we'd all know this by the way, that the centrality of
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our salvation is in the forgiveness of our sins. Look what the Bible tells
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us. Two quick examples Ephesians chapter number one, and then Collossions chapter number
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two, Verse number seven of Ephesians chapter one liten when the Bible says,
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in whom that's Christ he's speaking of, In Christ, Jesus, in whom
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we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
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of his grace. And then in Colossians chapter number two, verse number thirteen,
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the Bible records these words, and you, that is you and I,
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ladies and gentlemen, who are now saved, who have now been set
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free, redeemed through that blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, his atonement,
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his sacrificial offering offered up for our amen, sins, our transgressions.
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Listen what he says. And you, being dead in your sins, an
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uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him with Christ, in
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him, Amen, through him and by Him and because of Him. Listen
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what the Bible says, having forgiven you all trespasses, having forgiven you all
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trespasses. Amen. Oh, thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus, that
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we have been for given. And this is the New Testament. We all
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understand this. This is again the centrality of our salvation a man is the
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fact that we have been forgiven. Amen. But when we examine the scriptures
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of the Old Testament, we can find and we shall see that the word
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of God is replete with a multitude of references to the same forgiveness that God,
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in his magnanimous mercy always demonstrates a man towards those who believe in him,
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trust in him, obey him, call upon his name in sincerity and
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in truth. And let me give you a few examples quickly from the Old
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Testament. Again, a man, God is the same, yesterday to day
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and forevermore. He has always been and is a God of forgiveness. He's
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ready to forgive, he's willing to he's waiting, he's he's this is what
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it's all about. What is man? The angels ask that thou art mindful
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of him, the son of Man, that you would visit him. Why
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does God, Amen, go to these extraordinary if you will extremes and I
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mean no, I do mean extraordinary in Christ, Jesus, what he suffered
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for us, Amen, in order to forgive us, in order to redeem
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us, in order to save us. Amen. But then again, please
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understand, the same God of the New Covenant, if you will, of
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the Church of Jesus Christ, is the same God of the Old Covenant who
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did Amen, forgive multiple multiple, multiple times, over and over again.
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Listen what he says. You're familiar with this. In Second Chronicles chapter seven,
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when the King Solomon I believe it is, was praying his prayer,
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the Lord answered his prayer with these words that you are certainly familiar with.
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Second Chronicles, chapter seven, verse number fourteen. He says, if my
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people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my
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face and turn from their wicked ways, listen what the Bible says, then
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I will hear from heaven and will forgive. God will forgive, he says,
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I will forgive their sin and heal their land. Amen. This is
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I say this so often, it's really incumbent. Amen upon the people of
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God. If we want to see a man God healing and delivering and setting
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free and again the doors open that no one can shut and the shutting the
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doors that no one can open. If we want to see prosperity in the
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land, peace in the land. Amen. It begins with the people of
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God. Amen. If we the people of God who are called by his
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name, if we would humble ourselves, if we would pray, if we
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would seek the Lord's face, if we would turn from our wicked ways,
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the Lord says, he will hear from heaven, and he will forgive.
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He will forgive us, Amen, and others, and heal the land.
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Look at Some twenty five, verse eighteen. Look on my affliction and my
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pain, the psalmist, praise and forgive all my sins. This is someone
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who understood that God is a God of forgiveness. He didn't go again to
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a man, to the priest. He didn't go to offer up bullocks and
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rams and and turtle doves and that God. No, no, no.
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He understood that God is a God of forgiveness, and he praised to God
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and understands that God will forgive. He beseeches his mercy and his grace a
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man. Look at Some thirty two and one, and Paul repeated this in
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the New Testament. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
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covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity.
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In other words, we're covered, We're forgiven. Our sins are washed away.
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They're not any more laid to our charge. When you are forgiven,
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when you have been Amen, Amen, saved. When you have been saved,
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you have been forgiven. This is the blessedness of forgiveness some thirty two
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one. Again, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
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covered some eighty five, verse two. You have forgiven. This is what
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the Bible tells us. You have that's past, it's done. When Jesus
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died the death on the cross, it was for sins past, present,
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and future, and so an eternity passed the lambor's lame from the foundation of
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the world. By the way, Amen, it's all in the plan of
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God. It had to be manifesting the fullness of time. The Psalm It
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says in Psalm eighty five and two, you have speaking like in past tense.
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You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all their
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sin. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all
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their sin. Look at Psalm eighty six, verse number five. For you,
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Lord, are good and ready to forgive and abundant in mercy to all
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those who call upon you Psalm ninety eight. You answered them, Oh Lord,
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our God, you were to them, God who forgives, though you
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took vengeance on their deeds. Psalm one, oh, three and three.
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We're all familiar with this one who forgives all your iniquities. Lord. The
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psimer says, bless the Lord, O my soul, forgetting out all these
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benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases. See
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again, this is this is old Testament. This is old It's the same
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God. It's the same God, the same God of forgiveness. I love
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the prayer of Daniel. Let me let me let me get that in the
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rear real quick before we move. Move, move, move forward a little
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bit more. But look at Daniel chapter number nine. This is a brief
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portion of Daniel's prayer a man. He begins verse number seven. I begin
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with verse number seven. He says, Oh Lord, righteousness belongs to you,
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but to us shame of face as it is this day to the men
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of Judah to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those nearer and
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those far off, and all the countries to which you have driven them,
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because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against Udane. Of course, it's
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interceding a man on the behalf of his own people, a man who transgressed,
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broke covenant, a man with the Lord their God. And of course
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because of their disobedience, they were all driven away. Israel was taken into
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captivity, first by the Assyrian Empire, and later the Jews in Jerusalem were
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all taken, most of them so small remnant was left into captivity into Babylon.
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And Daniel was one of them. And he praised a man this prayer
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near the end of their captivity, a man confessing a man that they had
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sinned against God. And this is why a man this had come upon them.
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And so he says in verse number eight, Old Lord to us belongs
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shame of face to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because
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we have sinned against you. Make no mistake about it, ladies and gentlemen.
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All sin is ultimately against God. All sin is against God. So
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verse number nine he asks, he puts forth he puts forth his petition a
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man, he says, Listen, he says to the Lord, our God
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belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him. Daniel understood.
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Daniel understood that the offering of bullocks and rams and all of that, because
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they were no longer in Jerusalem. They have been carried away. They were
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in strange lands again, the northern kingdoms, Israel, Assyria, and other
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parts of the world. And again the Jews that were left in Judah,
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Jerusalem, they were carried away to Babylon. And so Daniel understood, and
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at this time that they have no more temple access, no priesthood, and
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how then can they be forgiven? See, the forgiveness of our sins is
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not in what we offer, It's what God offered. The Lord will provide
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for himself. Abraham said, the Lord will provide for himself, the sacrifice,
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the offering. There is nothing we can offer to God. But what
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we must do is repent and receive the forgiveness that God and God along has
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for everyone. Again, the posamis said, who calls upon his name?
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So Daniel understood. He says, to the Lord, our God belonged mercy
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and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against him. Oh, Oh that
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we would in our generation, in our day, in the culture, Oh
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that we would understand even in our rebellion against God, God is ready to
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forgive. He is merciful, faithful, long suffering. Amen. And every
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saved person please understand this is a forgiven person. If you are saved,
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you're forgiven. And every saved person is a for giving person. Oh,
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we rejoice in the fact that we are forgiving, forgiven. Rather, but
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let us now understand that we must practice forgiveness. Since we have been forgiven
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of all of our sins, all of our trestpasses. We are now therefore
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to practice forgiveness. Furthermore, we have been commanded by our Lord and Savior,
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Jesus Christ, who is, by the way, the indisputable, reigning
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champion of forgiveness. A man as he was being crucified unjustly, as he
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was being murdered, betrayed by his own people. You know what he did.
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You know what he prayed. You know what he said. Forgive them,
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forgive them, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
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do. Jesus is the reigning, undisputed champion, a man of forgiveness,
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a man he commanded us to forgive men their trespasses. You see, we
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have received forgiveness, and now as the recipients of forgiveness again, through the
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magnanimous mercy and grace of God, we are to be people of forgiveness.
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And it's difficult, as it may be for us to do when we truly
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grasp just how deep and how profound this forgiveness that God has a man granted
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to us that we have now been the recipients of. When we can grasp
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that we are then through the power, it is only then, I would
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dare say, May I dare add, it is only then, through the
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power and the love of Jesus Christ, that we will be able to truly
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practice the forgiveness that Jesus has commanded us to do. Look at Matthew chapter
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number six. Again, it is not just about us being forgiven. We
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we we covered that we understand that we know again that this is the centrality
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of our salvation that we have. I've been forgiven. I'm owe my way
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to heaven, and I'm so glad we've seen that in our hearts because we
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have been forgiven. But now Ah, that's not all there is to forgiveness.
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We are now two forgive others. Look what the Bible tells us,
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Jesus, the words of Jesus himself, the one who forgave us Gospel of
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Matthew, chapter number six, Verses fourteen and fifteen. For if ye forgive
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men their trestpasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you
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forgive not men their trestpasses, neither will your Father forgive your trestpasses. You've
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heard it. This is not again, something easy for most of us.
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Again, especially when we have been deeply hurt, deeply wounded. Amen,
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and and it cuts to the heart and and and especially when people have,
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at least from our perspective, maliciously in their evil and wickedness, even to
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the point of seeking to destroy us, Amen, and and and and even
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in acts of violence. And and and you know, you know all of
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the heinous possibilities of physical things that can be done grossly against one another,
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that that that that that mankind does Amen. Yet Yet yet in that,
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in the love of God, in the power of the Holy ghosts, there
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is room. There is there is there, there, there is the reality,
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not just the room, but the reality of forgiveness that can be found
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within our heart. Because again, when we can go to the depths of
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and understand the reality of, and the beauty of, and the power of
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the forgiveness that God has granted towards us, then we can more readily forgive
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and be willing to forgive men their trespasses. Stephen, did it, Amen?
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Stephen did it amen? As he was being stoned to death for what
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for testifying the truth? Forgiving a testimony a history of the nation of Israel?
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Amen? For this he was stoned and call it, I mean,
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you could you could argue that they really, I mean, got upset when
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he amen, called him stiff neck and UNCircumcising, hardened ears, which they
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were, and resistors of the Holy Ghost, which they were. Amen.
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But even in that very moment, while he was being stoned to death,
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losing its life, what did he say, lay not this sin to their
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charge forgiveness? Forgiveness? Look at Matthew chapter number eighteen. Nobody said it's
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easy. No, the Bible doesn't listen. The Bible calls for us to
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do very difficult things that cannot be done in the natural, from the natural
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and this is why we live in a world of so much hatred and malice.
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It's because people will not forgive. They will not forgive. They walk
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around with so much anger, so much malice, so much hatred, so
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much weight. They're carrying the burden of what happened to them. And I
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again, I understand it. It happens to all of us, maybe not
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to the same degree as others. Things that happen in your childhood, Amen,
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in your adult life. Amen, and it gold, It continues for
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a lot of us. For some of us, it continues, Amen,
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the hurt, the harm, the trestpasses of others against you. Amen.
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This is the world we live in. It's a fallen world. It's a
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world of sinfulness. It's a world of wickedness. Is a world of evil.
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It's a world where there's an enemy of your soul who is seeking to
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destroy you, and he would do whatever and anything he can, by any
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means necessary, and warring against your soul in order to bring you down to
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the pit of hell. And the power of forgiveness, all the power of
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forgiveness, who oh, it will deliver your soul. It will set you
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free, It will relieve the burden, the heartache, the pain, and
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again, as difficult as it will be, as difficult as it is when
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we do it, when we do what the Lord commanded us to do.
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Amen, He'll take care of the rest. We leave all the rest to
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him. Not seeking vengeance, not seeking restitution, not seeking amen, hurting
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harm. Amen to those who have done it to us. That's what true
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forgiveness is. Matthew eighteen, verse twenty one. Peter came to Jesus and
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said, Lord, how oft or how often shall my brother sin against me?
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And I forgive him? How? What? What's what's what's the limit?
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What's the threshold? And Peter even suggested Jesus a number till seven times.
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And Jesus responds to him. Those of you Bible readers, you already
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know, and I know, I know. Oh oh, you want to
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talk about forgiving somebody one time? How hard it is? Even wants to
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do it? Well, how about this, Jesus saith unto him. I
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say, not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven?
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And another one or the other gospel writers I believe, said in a day,
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in a day. But Jesus follows this up in Matthew's account with a
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parable that we must certainly take the heart and reckon within ourselves and understand a
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man, that this is what the Lord has done for us. So Jesus
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gives this parable to illustrate a man what we are to do and why we
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are to do it, and this wonderful benefit that we have of again receiving
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forgiveness. But there's also benefit in being one who forgives wonderful benefit a man
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of having again malice, envy, hatred. You don't want that. You
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don't want those spirits coming up and ruin themselves in your heart and harassing you
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and troubling you, Amen, all because you will not forgive all, because
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you will not let it go. This is why there are a lot of
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people in jail, in hospitals, in the morgue, in the grave,
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Amen, because they have malice and envy and hatred and vengeance in their arts
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that they can't get over certain things, and they want to take vengeance because
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they will not and in some cases they cannot forgive. Because when you are
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unwilling and unable to forgive, well, first and foremost unwilling, Oh,
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you open a door wide for the enemy. To come in, because he
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wants you then to take vengeance, vengeance upon yourselves in your own hands.
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Vigilante Amen. But the Bible tells us, the people of God, vengeance
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is mine. I will repay, said the Lord. If your enemy is
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hungry, feed him, if he's thirsty, give him drink. You can
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only do that if you have a forgiving spirit. You can only do that.
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If you have a forgiving spirit. You can only feed your enemy,
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Clothe your enemy, give drink to your enemy, show compassion to your enemy,
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if you have a forgiving spirit. Here's the parable verse twenty three.
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Therefore is the kingdom of Heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account
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of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought
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unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had
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not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife
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and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. The
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servant therefore fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with
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me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant
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was moved with compassion and loosed him. And this is what the Bible says,
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and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out found one
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of his fellow servants, which old him an hundred pence, and he laid
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hands on him, took him by the throat, saying pay me what thou
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owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him,
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saying, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And
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he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay
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the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were
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very sorry and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then
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his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, all
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thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because you desire its me,
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because you asked me, because you fell down and forgiveness in your sorrows,
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in your desire or to a man repay me, and for me to
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have patience with you, I forgave you all of that debt. Should you
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not have also had compassion on your fellow servant even as I had pity on
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you. That's the question. Should we not have compassion on those who don't
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know what forgiveness is, don't understand what forgiveness is, have not come into
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the knowledge and the fullness of forgiveness. Even your enemy, the ones who
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are fighting c C. C C. Again, when we begin to understand
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what it is and whom it is we are fighting against. As the apostle
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Paul reminded us, we wrestle out against flesh and blood. There are principalities
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and powers and spiritual wickedness at work, powers of darkness, a man working
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in the wickedness of men in their souls. Now make no mistake about it.
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We are falling. We are deeply, deeply a man embedded in wickedness
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and evil, a man from our youth. The Bible says, this is
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the words of the Lord. A man man is evil from his youth.
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But make no mistake about it. The enemy of mankind, the devil,
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the adversary, is also working a man to stir up amen, to move
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people to commit even more abominable and especially against the people of God. By
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the way, especially against the people of God, acts of amen, wickedness
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and evil, in order to provoke us amen to sin, to transgress.
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The Bible tells us to be angry, but what sin not? Do not
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let the sun go down on your wrath. The only way we can do
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these kinds of things, ladies and gentlemen, Church of the Living God,
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people of God, those of you are saved. Are you saved? The
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only way we can do that is through the power of the Holy Ghost working
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in us, through the love of God and believing. That's where faith comes
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in. Believing that if we when we obey God and forgive, and Jesus
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is going to clarify it even more, from the heart has to be from
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the heart when we do that. Amen, Oh my God, the doors
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that God will open, the peace that God would bring. Amen. And
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the Bible tells us furthermore in this Parible, the Lord was wroth, and
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Amen, he delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was
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due unto him. So likewise, Jesus says, Listen very carefully what Jesus
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says. So likewise, shall my heavenly Father do also unto you? If
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you from your hearts, don't just this is not just lip service, y'all,
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or I forgive you. I forgive you, Okay, But there's still
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malice and hatred and envy in your heart, if you, from your hearts
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forgive not every one of his brother their trespasses. Now, clearly one of
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the most heartwarming examples set forth an all of scripture. Jesus himself, of
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course, not notwithstanding one of the most beautiful examples for us to follow as
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a model. It's all the way back in the very first book of the
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Bible, the Book of Genesis. The example that we cite is that of
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the man Joseph, who was a model of a saint, who was willing
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not only let's let's make this clear. Not only was Joseph willing to forgive,
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but he also was willing to hold no ill will towards those who had
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done him wrong. He did not wish to see vengeance or harm to those
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who had this is this was purposeful stuff that they did, especially as brothers.
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Polyphu's wife and others. Amen. But but, but Joseph was the
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kind of person. He had, the kind of heart, he had,
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the kind of spirit, the same kind of heartened spirit that we must have,
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willing to not only again to forgive, but also to harbor no hatred,
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no ill will, not wishing to see a man the hammer of Heaven
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fall on them and crush them. And sometimes we we we we we we
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say, we will say we forgive somebody, But then we want the Lord
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that the smack him around a little bit, knock him down, beat him
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up, bruise him, batter him, because we don't want to, you
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know, we don't want to engage in violence ourselves. So we just we
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just want the Lord to do it, want the Lord to take vengeance upon
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them. And the Lord I was already tolds vengeance his mind. But he
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may, he may. We don't know his plan. His purpose may be
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to save them like he did with Saul, who was enemy number one of
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the church. But the Lord, only as only God can do, washed
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away his sins, forgave him. He was one of the ones standing there
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at the death of Stephen, a man in his own testimony. But what
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did Jesus do. He forgave Saul and the people the saints had to learn
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to forgive Saul, who of course became the apostle Paul, who understood as
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well as anyone, as well as anyone, the power of God's forgiveness.
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And Paul himself had to practice forgiveness. He was beaten multiple times by the
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Jews. Amen. And he was constantly harassed. Yet he wrote a man
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in the Book of Romans. He said, my harsh desire and prayer to
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God for Israel, for my fellow countrymen, for these, for these who
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have been persecuted me, who have been I mean, they've been harassing me,
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They've been after me, They've sought to kill me, persecuted me relentlessly.
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But my harsh desire and prayer to God is that they might be saved.
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They have a zeal, but are not according to knowledge. And he
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said furthermore, I could wish, if it were possible. He was just
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simply surmising, I could wish that myself was a courch to from Christ for
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my kinsmen, for my brethren. According to the flesh, he had a
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he had a heart of forgiveness. Now, why how he was, he
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was certainly the opposite of that. He was not willing to forgive those whom
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he thought were a man worshiping another God. He was. He was relentless
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in his pursuit of them, Amen, to haul them away men and women,
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the Bible says, put him in prison, and and and and and
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trying to make them recant. Their faith. Amen. But but but,
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but but again, if you have been forgiven, you have that same kind
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of spirit that Joseph had, a man who was betrayed by his own flesh
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and blood brethren, older brethren, who were to a man, not only
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a man, love him and a man, and and and and and and
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help him along the way. You know you're a big brother, am I
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my brother's keeper? Yes you are. But they hated him because of what
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God had gifted him with. The Bible says they could not even speak peaceably
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to the man. The boy. By the way, let me rephrase that
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the boy, because he was just a boy, and at the age of
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seventeen years old, they sold him as a slave. His own brethren,
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blood brothers sold him as a slave. And if that wasn't enough, they
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deceived their father into thinking that he was dead. And for the next twenty
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years they didn't know what had happened to Joseph. But Joseph came to learn
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about the providence of God, about the power of God, about the purpose
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of God, about the ability of God even through circumstances and situations not of
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your own doing, because of other men's trespasses, because of other men's hatred
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because of other men's malice and jealousy and envy. Because of that, it
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put him in a situation not of his own choosing. Yet he learned over
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that twenty year period that God is a God of forgiveness, that God is
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a god of mercy, that God is a God of compassion, that God
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is the sovereign king and ruler, and that He has a plan and he
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has a purpose and everything that he allows to happen in my life. Joseph
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understood that, and many years later, after the death of his father Jacob,
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when they were reunited in Egypt under Joseph's care by the way, his
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brethren came to him them and begged his forgiveness, and Joseph, again,
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understanding the mercy of God, the love of God, the favor of God,
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he said to them, I'm not in the place of God. Yes,
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he forgave them. I'm your brother, you are my brothers. It
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was not you. Yeah, you meant it for evil. There were evil
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intentions in your heart. We recognize seeing this, we don't. We don't.
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Forgiveness is not dismissing evil. It's not glossing over sins. It's not
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pretending it doesn't happen. Joseph understood the power of forgiveness, and he understood
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more importantly, the purpose and over arching sovereignty of God, who reigns and
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rules in the kingdom of men. You meant it for evil, but God,
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in his providence, in his sovereignty, God meant it for good.
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Amen. And this is how we can forgive and have the ability to forgive
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others. Listen when the Bible tells us very quickly, first John Amen,
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Chapter number one. The Bible says, if we walk into light as he
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is in the light, verse number seven, we have fellowship one with another,
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and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all
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sin. If we say we have no sin, this is for the people
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of God. We deceive ourselves and the truth that's not in us. But
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if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us,
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to forgive us. God is faithful, God is just, and he will
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forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all righteousness, all unrighteousness.
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Now, if we say that we have not sinned Verse ten, the Bible
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says, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
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And if his word is not in us, that means his truth is
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not in us. And if his truth is not in us, his Holy
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Ghost is not in us. If his Holy Ghost is not in us,
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we are not saved. Now, unforgiveness is sin, and it has no
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place in the heart of anyone who is saved. And again the question is
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are you saved? Every saved person is a forgiven person, and every saved
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person therefore must be a forgiving person. Since we have been forgiven, we
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are to practice forgiveness. Father, help us today. God, We need
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help. God. We need help in this most difficult of virtues, in
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this faith, in this walk, in our day to day, week to
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week, month to month. There will be those who will trespass against us.
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Lord Lord, we need the patience, We need the power of your
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Holy Spirit to work in us so that we can forgive men their trespasses,
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just as you have forgiven us. Thank you, Lord, We thank you
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in advance. We bless your name, we glorify you, for you alone
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are worthy in Jesus name, Amen and Amen.