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Alright, we're in Matthew chapter number 6 and verse number 10 where the Bible reads here Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And the title of my sermon this morning is Principles of Forgiveness. Principles of Forgiveness. Now, what does it mean to forgive? Forgiveness is simply when someone decides to pardon someone for their offense or for their debt or for whatever offense that they may have caused that person. Go to Matthew chapter 18 if you would, Matthew chapter 18. It simply means to absolve someone from any wrongdoing, okay. Now this is an important practice that we as Christians need to apply to our personal lives. Why is that? Because we live in a society in a world where people will offend us, okay. And I'm not talking about offending you from the pulpit, alright. I'm not talking about just like an offense because we're calling you out on your sin or you're guilty of certain things. I'm talking about people who actually decide to offend you in a certain area of life and it causes bitterness to swell up in you. It causes you to be bitter towards that person and you don't want to forgive them. God commands us to do it. God commands us to forgive people. Now look at Matthew chapter 18 verse 22. It says here, excuse me, verse 21 says, Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how off shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him till seven times. Now I find it interesting that Peter is asking this question because he's like, how many times can I forgive him until what? I mean, like, what are you going to do after that? The seven times are you going to like inflict pain upon him or something? But he says until seven times, Jesus said to him, I say not until the until seven times, but until 70 times seven, in other words, it's like, keep forgiving him, okay. Jesus said unto him, I say not until seven times, but until 70 times seven, therefore is the kingdom of heaven, like unto a certain King, which would take account of his servant. So now he's going to roll into a parable, a story that will basically, uh, instruct us of how this looks, how we should forgive people. Okay. It says in verse 24, and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought into him, which owed him talent, 10,000 talents, but for as much as he had not to pay his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay the all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. So we see here that a major element and a component of forgiving someone is what compassion. The Bible says he had compassion on him. He loosed him and he decided to forgive him his debt. But the verse 28, but the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, pay me that thou owes. So the same guy who was just forgiven this large amount of debt goes to some other guy who owed him a lesser amount, grabs him by the throne and he says, you better pay me what you owe me. Okay. What would we say that person is a hypocrite? He was just forgiven this large amount of debt. Then he goes to the person who owes him a smaller amount and expects that guy to pay up. The book of verse 29 says, and his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying, have patience with me and I will pay the all. And he would not, but went and cast him into the prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told them to their Lord, all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desires me shouldest not thou also have had compassion on my fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee and his Lord was Roth and delivered him until the tormentors. So he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you. If ye from your hearts forgive not everyone, his brother, their trespasses. So the Lord came to this guy and said, look, I forgave you everything that you owe me. You should have done the same exact thing to the other person who, who owed you. Now how do we apply that today? We think of people who Christian specifically, who refuse to forgive their enemies. They refuse to forgive someone who wronged them and offended them, but they're not even taking into account that God forgive them, them of all their offenses. You know, all the sins that they've done and the mistakes that they've made and the times where God could have just stricken them dead and allow them to just waller in their sin and the consequences thereof. And what did God do? He forgave you. You know, it'd be hypocritical for us to go to someone and say, I don't forgive this person for their offense toward me. It's like, don't you remember when you're an enemy of God? You know, don't you remember all the times that you trespassed against the Lord and all the offenses and we're just talking about the offenses that you know about? What about those you don't know about? The times you sinned against God, you trespassed against him, yet he forgave you of all those sins when you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought not to also do that to others who offend us. That's what the story is telling us here. So God sees it very wicked when we choose not to forgive people, okay? And we ought not to be the type of people that just harbor bitterness towards others who have wronged us, okay? And I'm talking about saved people and unsaved people alike, because the reality is in life, offenses will come. Look at, you're in chapter 18, go down, skip, go to verse seven, excuse me. Go to verse number seven, it says, woe unto the world because of offenses. So God is not excusing the offenses. It says for a must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. So God is saying, look in the world, there will be offenses. Now we live in a world that really like people, they're like shocked when people offend them. It's like, I can't believe this person, really? This is the kind of world we live in. Some people will offend you, not even know that they offended you and they move on with their lives, you know? And we need to be the type of people that don't live in La La land and realize, Hey, I'm going to get offended. Hey, someone here in this church will offend you. What you mean like a faithful word about the church? Like, you know, there's Christians. I thought everyone reads their Bible here. I thought everyone walks in the spirit. No, we're all flesh. And you know what's going to happen? Someone is going to offend you personally. I'm not talking about for the pulpit, though that might happen as well, amen. But I'm talking about just in your regular relationships day to day, someone's going to offend you. Someone's going to forget your birthday, your anniversary. Someone's going to forget to give you a call back. Someone's going to forget, you know, some important thing in your life and they're going to offend you. Even in words, they're going to offend you. You're going to say you look fat in that dress or whatever, you know, like, what's up with that haircut or something? And they don't even mean it that way, but you're going to take it that way. And you're going to be like, I can't believe this person just said that to me. But you know what? That's the world we live in. And look, we're not excusing and saying that it's right to do that. We're not saying it's right for that. That person should have some more discretion when they speak, but expect the offenses. And when we get those offenses already determined, you know, beforehand, I'm going to forgive people who offend me. I'm going to forgive people who do me wrong, who defraud me, who basically want my hurt and maybe not, not necessarily on purpose, but they offend me. I'm going to go ahead and determine that I'm going to forgive those people right off the bat. Okay. Look, you'll be a much happier person if you do so. Some of the most horrible people, some of the most wicked people who are Christians are those who are bitter. They just live their lives in bitterness. Why? Because they can't forgive people. And literally they just become a decrepit Christian. Why? Because they're constantly thinking about the offense that they received years ago. It could be from their own husbands, from their own wives, from family members, people who have already moved on with their lives, but they can't move on. You know why? Because they haven't, they haven't learned how to forgive people. Okay. We're going to talk about that this morning. So offenses should come and you know what? Offenses are good. Aren't they? I mean, when I'm up here just preaching on you and your sins or whatever, you know what that causes you to do? Get offended and then fix what needs to be fixed. That's a good thing. You know, we can't just go out, come up here and just talk about the grace. I like what Pastor Jimenez said at the Red Hot Preaching Conference. He's like, we preach love and grace more than anybody. You know why? Because we're always out soul winning. And we're out soul winning. We're talking about the love of God. We're talking about the grace of God. We're constantly telling people about, so when we come in here, we're going to go on the opposite side. Okay. Now we've got to talk about the hatred. Now we've got to talk about all these other things, these negative things in the Bible. But when we talk about those negative things and I start stepping on your toes, you know, don't get mad at me. Don't get offended at me. Allow that to cause you to change what needs to change. I got doesn't know what he's talking about. You know, that's the first step into just basically having an obstinate heart and you won't grow from that. Look, no pain, no gain. But offenses are necessary because it causes us to grow closer to the Lord as well. You know, when you get offended or you go through a trial in your life of someone who offended you, you know, that causes us to go in prayer to the Lord. It causes us to want to read our Bibles more. You know, great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. You know, when I get offended, I realized, man, I need a, that's almost like a measuring stick to see how much do I love the word of God. If I'm constantly offended, it's because I'm violating something in the Bible. Well, when I get offended, I can go to the Bible and learn something and grow out of that. So it causes us to draw closer to the Bible, but it also gives us an opportunity to exercise forgiveness. Okay. And that's how we have to see offenses. When someone offends us, we need to take that as an opportunity to say, okay, now I need to forgive that person for what they did to me. Okay. And look, forgive and forget, you know, don't forgive and then remind them of what they did to you. Okay. There's a common in marriage, right? When you forgive your spouse, but then five years later, you remind them of that offense. And then the husband's like, you know, I don't even remember I did that. And she's like, yeah, remember when you did this? Remember when you didn't remember this? He's like, I thought you forgave me of that already. And it's just like, I'm like, Sarah, I thought you forgave me. I'm just kidding. No one caught that. You know, it gives us an opportunity to exercise forgiveness and we need to, we need to be a forgiving people. And look, if you don't forgive, God won't forgive you. That's a good incentive to want to forgive people. Because when we don't forgive people, God says he's not going to forgive us. And if he doesn't forgive us, guess what, then we're incurring the wrath of God upon our own personal lives. Because we're going through life without sin, excuse me, with sin that's not being confessed. And when it's confessed, it's not being forgiven. Because if I regard an iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. What's the iniquity? If I'm willing to forgive someone, they're trespassed. Now go with me, if you would, to Colossians chapter number one, Colossians chapter number one, I'm gonna give you some principles of forgiveness here. First and foremost, just at foundation of principle here is that God has forgiven us of all trespasses when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We understand that, okay. Let me read to you from first John chapter three, verse four says, whosoever committed sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. See, there's a weird teaching out there specifically from the Catholics, they believe, well, in order to be saved, you have to confess your sins daily, right? They'll say, you got to confess your sins every single day, because you know, what if you die in your sin, you die in your sin, you go to purgatory, now people got to pray you out or whatever, you know. But that's not the case when it comes to salvation. The Bible tells us that once we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we're forgiven of all of our sins, past, present, and future. Look what the Bible tells us here in Colossians chapter one, verse 12, it says, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who had delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Now go to Romans chapter number four. So the Bible tells us that we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Now, people get this, they don't understand it sometimes. We're forgiven. If you're saved, we're forgiven of all our sins, but we do have to confess our sins daily to keep the right fellowship, to be in fellowship with God. The forgiveness of sins that we received was that so we don't suffer the penalty of our sin, which is hell. So that's been absolved, that's been exonerated, that's done with. But after that, we have to continue to confess our sins to be in fellowship with God and with our fellow man as well. Look at Romans four, verse three, it says, for what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, that's the past, and whose sins are covered, present, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. That's future tense. So when we get saved, and remember, this is in context of believing on the Lord, right? So this is including what happens when we believe on the Lord. We're forgiven of all our past iniquities, our sins are covered, and God will not impute sin. And the few sins that we're going to commit in the future, you know, he's not going to impute those upon our account. And look, I'm thankful for that. That causes a spirit of gratitude in my heart, because it's just like, God knows what I'm going to do in the future. He's not even going to hold me accountable to those things as far as when it comes to this matter of health. He's forgiven me of everything. So it's not like, well, I have to confess my sins every single day to make sure I stay saved. And no, once I believe on Christ, the blood covers everything. Okay. Look at verse 21 of chapter four, it says, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also dispensationalist. Let's talk about Abraham. Oh, that's a different dispensation. He said he wrote it for us also. Okay. To whom it shall be imputed. Amen. We believe on him that raised up Jesus, our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our what? Offenses and was raised again for our justification. Because remember, you know, it was our offenses that caused Christ to be crucified on the cross. You know, he became our substitute, our perpetuation, not for ours sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. He suffered that consequence there, but it was for our offenses, offenses toward to towards God. That's why it's called a transgression. It's called sin because we offended God. We broke his laws. You don't have to turn there. Colossians 2 13 says, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, all of them. So this is where the Pentecostals get it wrong as well. It's like, oh yeah, God forgive us of all our past sins, but you know, the future ones, no, they're done. They're all, they're all gone. All of them. Okay. They're all under the blood. According to the Bible, go to Ephesians chapter number one, Ephesians chapter number one. That's why the, the, the, this concept of repenting of all your sins is foolish to be saved. It's foolish. Why? Because how do you even know what all your sins are? You don't. How do you even know the sins you're going to commit in the future? You don't, especially if you haven't read the Bible cover to cover, that means there's commandments. If you haven't read the Bible cover to cover, there's commandments in there, you're probably breaking and you don't even know exists, right? So if you're breaking those commandments, you're sinning against God, how can you even repent of those things that you don't even know you're breaking? Even if you're eager, you're still guilty. You're breaking those commandments. Then you have the sins of omission, the sins of commission, the sins that you're doing that God tells you, Hey, thou shall not. And the ones that the commandments that we see in the Bible that says, thou shall, we're breaking commands all the time. So it's impossible to be saved by these things. Look at Ephesians chapter one, verse five, it says, heaven predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved how and whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. I want to lay that foundation because we need to keep in mind, Hey, we've been forgiven. Amen. I'm forgiven of all my sins. You think of the stupid things that you've done in the past, all the foolish things that you did before you were saved. Yeah. Even after salvation, all the dumb things that we've thought, said and done, you know, God's forgiven us of all those things. So that's kind of like the primer for us to remember. Oh yeah. That's why I should forgive my offender then. Cause I did a lot of bad stuff against God. I broke a lot of his commandments and I'm not holier than God. You know, those offenses against God, you know what he deems righteous and just to do to you, send you to hell for those things. That's how badly, that's how bad these sins are. The sin of lying. No, I was just lying. Yeah. Well, you know what? Liars go to hell. Revelation 21 eight. That's how holy God is. And that's how, that's what he sees fit to do. So to know that I've been forgiven of that, and not just go to hell, go to hell eternally. That's, that's, that's like major right there. To know I've been forgiven of that should pry me to realize, man, I need to forgive people then. I need to learn how to absolve people from their offenses toward me because God basically spared me from an eternity in hell. He forgave me of all my sins. That's that's love right there. That's grace. That's mercy that he's shown unto us. Now go with me if you would to first John chapter one. So now we know that when we believe on Christ, we're forgiven of all our sins. But after salvation, we do need to confess our sins daily, okay? To maintain proper fellowship with God and with our fellow man as well. You know, look, read the Bible every day, amen? Read the Bible every single day, but pray every day as well. Don't be in balance. Don't have this attitude. Well, I already read my Bible, so I don't need to pray. No, you need to pray. It's just as important. You know, as much as you need the gas pedal, you also need the brake, okay? You can't really have one without the other. We need prayer, and we need to pray to ask the Lord for specific needs that we have. But one of the primary things as we read in Matthew chapter six is we need to pray that God forgives us for our debts, that he forgives us for our sins on a daily basis. Look at first John chapter one verse six. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanseth us from all sin. Now, a lot of these works based salvation, they'll say, you know, that's why, you know, you need to do all these works and all these things. And they'll say right there, look, if you say you have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But that says fellowship. It's not saying salvation. I know a lot of people who are saved, they don't have fellowship with God, because the way you have fellowship with God is reading his word, praying, you know, keeping short accounts with the Lord. That's fellowship, to be able to commune with one another, okay? Can two walk together except to be agreed, okay? That's what that means. We can't walk with God if there's sin involved there, you know, the Lord will not hear me if I regard iniquity in my heart. So in order to have proper fellowship with God, where he's speaking to me through his word, he's teaching me concepts, he's teaching me doctrine, you know, I'm praying to him In order for us to have that right type of fellowship, we need to be forgiven of sins on a daily basis. We need to confess those things on a daily basis. It says in verse seven, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Now the Catholics would say, yeah, that's why you got to get in the booth with some pedophile priest and confess your sins to him. No one doesn't say that. Okay. Maybe in their Catholic Bible says that in James chapter five, you know, but in James chapter five, what does it say? It says we need to confess our faults one to another, not our sins. You know, no, don't go to someone and say, Hey man, I just want to let you know I just stole something from Ross. I just need to get that off my chest. Thanks for listening. No, you know, you don't need to go around telling people your sins. Okay. Now if you're involved in fornication and you're a drunkard, come tell me that I need to know. Okay. But I'm talking about, you know, sins that are just common, that it won't get you kicked out of church. You know what I mean? You know, you don't need to necessarily go and tell everyone your sins. Hey, I just want to let you know, I've been rebellious to my husband this week. You know, I just need to get that off my chest. I don't need to know that. You know, I don't need to know the minuscule things that are taking place in your life. You need to just go to the Lord and confess those before the Lord. Okay. You know, sometimes we're too open with each other. Okay. And sometimes it's just like, you know, I'm thankful that you feel comfortable sharing this information with me, but I didn't need to know that, you know, just confess it to the Lord, get it right. And that's it. Now look, if you feel like, you know, I was like, but I feel like I just need to talk to some. Don't go around spreading it to everyone. Tell it to one person. If you have to, if you need to confide in one person, find that one person you can confide and say, I just need to talk to someone about this. I'm struggling with this and, you know, you know, just pray for me. And I just, I don't want to tell everyone, I don't want to publicize this to everyone, but this is something that I've been struggling with X, Y, and Z, but don't tell that person to go to the next person and say, yeah, man, I just got finished talking to so-and-so. And you know, I want to tell you too, you know, no confess it to God. And by the way, that just goes to show that you're not praying enough. Because if you're praying, you're talking to God on a regular basis. You don't need to go talk to everyone else about those things. You know, you've already confessed those sins before the Lord. You've gotten it right. Et cetera. Okay. We confess our sins. He's faithful. He's faithful. What does that mean? He'll consistently forgive you. He's just, he's the one who's just to forgive us of all our sins. So don't think, Oh man, I've committed the sins. You know, I think God's mad with me. You know, he'll stay mad with you if you don't confess it. Okay. Cause this is a command that God gives us that we need to confess those things. He said, well, how does that look like in prayer? How do I do that? I don't know how to do that. Sometimes people think that like praying to God is just like, you have to be like mystical and the lights need to be turned down and dim and get the mystery out. You can pray just as you walk. Look, I pray on my knees, but the majority of my prayer time is I walk. I go take a walk around the block. Now I'm not like, you know, that's kind of, that's weird. People do that. I just, under my breath, just talk to the Lord. You know, I just find that better for me because it just, you know, I need to get out there in the open and just be alone. I feel like that's, that's better for me and that you don't have to do that. But what I'm saying is this is, is you need to just have a time when you're just talking to God and don't just like vainly repeat something that you're used to saying. You know, you need to be sincere and honest with the Lord and just tell them what, just, you know, the Bible tells us is pour out thine heart like water. That's what the Bible tells us. So just, you know, tell them what's in your heart. Okay. The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 28 verse 13, he that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. See, we are supposed to repent of our sins, not to be saved though. Confess and forsake, forsake means to repent of it, you know, so God doesn't just want us to confess our sins. He wants us to repent of that sin as well. Get it right and don't do it again. Go to Psalms 86 please, Psalm 86. So we need to make sure that on a daily basis, you know, whether it's in the morning or at night and throughout the day, we have this attitude that we're confessing our sins. You know, one of the best ways to do this is as soon as you do something bad, confess it right away. And I'm not saying like, you know, you're a church like, oh man, you know, just get down on your knees in front of everyone. You can pray within yourself. We see the example of Nehemiah doing that, right? He just prayed thus within himself, you know, wait, that was the Pharisee, right? Sorry about that. But he did that too. Nehemiah did that too. He prayed within himself as he was talking to the king, okay? That's what we have to do when we do something that's offensive towards God or towards others, you know, just confess it within yourself. Talk to the Lord. Psalm 86 verse five says, for thou Lord are good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Man, that's a great verse. I love that. But he's ready to forgive. I don't know if God's, he's ready. He has, he has a lot of mercies, plenteous and mercy. Give ear O Lord unto my prayer and attend to the voice of my supplication and the day of my trouble I will call upon thee for thou will answer me. Look, and that's important to know that we need to be praying on a continual basis and not have this 911 mentality. You know, as soon as you're in a bind and you're in trouble, that's when you start praying. You know, I'd rather be the kind of person that has the consistency of prayer so that when the trouble time, troubleless times come, the trial comes, you know, I have the confidence of knowing, Hey, I've been consistent in this area. I know the Lord is hearing me. You know, I know the Lord is listening to me because I'm doing my best to walk with them, to read the Bible, to pray, to confess my sins. And I know he's listening. Go to Psalm 51, Psalm 51, of course we know Psalm 51 is the repentance prayer that David said unto the Lord, it says here in verse number one, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sins. Skip down to verse nine, hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Look, I think, I don't think there's nothing wrong with it. I think it's great to like memorize these types of chapters in the Bible and repeat them unto the Lord. I think it holds a lot of sincerity and a lot of, you know, David is just being transparent. I think all of us have read this at one point or another and thought to ourselves, wow, I feel that way. You know, David basically took the words right out of my mouth. So it's not bad to really memorize something like this and repeat it unto the Lord from a sincere heart. But the point is we need to confess our sins on a daily basis. Okay. And don't have a self-righteous attitude like, well, I don't have any sins. You know, if that's you, you're probably not even saved. You need to go to John MacArthur's church with all those other sinless bunch over there. We all have sins. We all mess up and we all need to continually confess those things. Now go with me, if you went to Joshua chapter 24, you know, and it's good to confess our sins just to remind us of our frailties, to remind us that, you know what? We don't have it all together. Sometimes we think we do. You know, sometimes we're like, we've grown in the Lord or we've learned doctrine or we've changed certain things in our lives. And it just, we can get a mentality of pride to think that we're better than other people. We're not better. We're better off, but we're not better. You know, we need to make sure that we stay humble and one way to stay humble is to confess our sins on a daily basis. You know, well, I don't know what sins to confess. Then think about it for a while. Why don't you think about the conversations you had within the last week or day or so, you'll come up with something. Okay. Why don't you think about some of the things that you've done? What about some of the things that you've said to your wife within the last week? How about your attitude towards your wife or your husband? You will come up with something and say, man, I messed up there and confess that before the Lord go get it right. And it humbles us. Okay. Now there are sins that I believe God will not forgive you for. Okay. Cause remember there's sins that you can do. And when we ask God to forgive us of our sins, we're also kind of asking Him to basically exonerate us from the penalty of that sin as well. Even on this earth, because we understand that actions have consequences. So when we ask God for mercy, we're not just asking Him to forgive us of our sins. We're asking Him to have mercy upon us so that we don't suffer the consequences of our actions. And I guarantee you every single one of us can attest to a time in our life that God was merciful to us, where we messed up, we did something stupid and God spared us from the consequences of our actions. You know, whatever it is that you may have done, God forgave you of those things cause you were sincere and asking Him for forgiveness and you pled for mercy. You know what God did? He was merciful unto you. He didn't allow you to suffer those consequences of those actions. You know, God is a just God. He's a God of wrath, but don't forget. He's a God of mercy as well. He's a God of grace, you know, and we ought not to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness and just take it for granted. You know, we ought to be appreciative of those things and ask the Lord, Lord be merciful to me. You know, I've messed up, I've done wrong, but you're merciful to me. You didn't allow me to suffer those consequences, but that doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes God allows you to suffer those consequences to teach you a lesson, to instill fear in your heart toward Him. You don't have to turn to 1 John 5 16 says, if any man see his brother sin a sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask and you shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it. There's certain things that God, though He's forgiven you of all sins to relieve you of the penalty of hell, there's some things you're not going to get away with in this world. He will allow you to suffer the consequences of those actions. And somebody was like, don't even bother praying, you're done. You know? And you know, I went over that extensively in the sermon, our God kills, but it's true. You know? And that thought should scare us as it causes to realize, man, I better make sure that I'm on the straight and narrow. I'm going to make sure that I'm reading the Bible. I'm confessing my sins. I'm living a life that's right because I don't want God to kill me. I don't want Him to strike me dead. Now look, the best thing that could ever happen to you is that you die and go to heaven. So don't get that twisted, but you know what that means? That means that you won't be able to fulfill and earn rewards and live for the Lord and do great exploits for Him. That stinks. There's people that die young in the Lord and guess what? They wasted their entire life. They don't get to do anything for God. They have to live in eternity, observing those who did do something for God and did get those rewards because they did right. Don't be the person that is on the opposite side of that spectrum. You know, we need to make sure that we're living a clean life so that God does not allow us to suffer the consequences even of the actions that we've done in our personal life. Look at Joshua 24 verse 19, and the Lord drove out from before us, all the people, excuse me, verse 18, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land, therefore will we also serve the Lord for He is our God. And Joshua said unto the people, ye cannot serve the Lord for He is an holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. Now what is he talking about? Look at verse 20. If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you. After that he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, nay, but we will serve the Lord. You see, God does forgive us. This is not a contradiction, but if you decide to go and do something that's contrary to God's word and just blatantly sin against God, He's not going to forgive you of those things. He will not forgive your transgressions. Why? Because God is a strict father who will allow you to suffer the consequences of your trespasses. So allow that to instill fear in your heart. Allow your heart to tremble at that thought. Then potentially God said, I'm not forgiving you of your trespass. That's why it's important. If you're young, old, or you're in your thirties or whatever it may be, start living for God now. Well, I'm just too old. I can't, no. If you're breathing, if you made it to here in church, you could walk, you can talk. Guess what? God can still use you. Don't just throw your life away and say, oh, I'm just going to go ahead and just live a lackadaisical, just a lazy Christian, you know, a life, and I'm not going to do anything for the Lord. I'm going to observe everyone who's doing something for the Lord and I'm not going to do anything. No. If you're alive today, that's a sign from God to say, Hey, I'm not done with you yet. Get to work. Go do something for God and look, if you're young, don't think, well, I got my whole life ahead of me. Nothing's going to happen to me. No. You know what? If you decide not to live for God, something might happen to you. God might just shelve you and say, you know what? This person's not going to do anything. I'm going to go ahead and take them home. I don't want that to happen to me. I don't want that to happen to you. Every age needs to take this serious and recognize God will not forgive your trespass. Okay. Well, I'm just a young person, you know, and, and, you know, I just want to, you know, sew my wild oats and just have fun for a while. You don't know what's going to happen on the morrow. You know, teenagers die all the time. They're not invincible. You may, they may think they're invincible. They may think they have decades and decades to live. That's not true. Look it up. Look it up on the internet. All the young age group died yesterday. I guarantee you there's teenagers in that group because this is life. It happens. Okay. Now, obviously we understand that there are people that God will never forgive. We know those today as reprobates. Okay. And obviously, you know, there's, there's Christians that God will not forgive and he just takes them home. But there's people that will, God will never forgive and those are reprobates. And I also understand sometimes the Christians who don't agree on the reprobate doctrine, but they're saved. They're like, well, what if, you know, they really sincerely want to, they don't really sincerely want to do any kind of right, including forgiving or asking for forgiveness. Okay. And any reprobate that asks for forgiveness, it's a front, you know, when they've interviewed Ted Bundy, for example, wherever that, I can't remember what that Christian guy's name was. He's like interviewing Ted Bundy right before he's like, yeah, I got saved, you know, and I believed on Jesus Christ. I repented of all my sins. You know, I have remorse. No, he doesn't. He's looking to basically do his last evil act before he dies. What's his last evil act? This is just deceive a bunch of Christians that they're thinking that reprobates can be saved. That guy's wicked. He's burning in the lowest hell today. You know, and look, he might've had some remorse, but you know, remorse doesn't get you saved. Judas felt bad. He even threw the 30 pieces of silver back. That guy still died and went to hell because remorse doesn't get you saved. Believing on Christ gets you saved. Okay. And someone like Ted Bundy, you just look at his life as like, no way can this guy, the things that he's done, no way could that guy have gotten saved at all. That guy was a full blown vile reprobate. Okay. And people, God does not forget those people and look, this is important because even when we're out sowing, some people resist, you know, the belief only doctrine because they think, well, you think that anybody could just get saved, which we believe whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But the exception to that rule is there's certain people that cannot be saved, which are the reprobate. I've even, I've gone sowing and I talked to a Catholic lady one time and I'm getting ahead of myself, but I talked to a Catholic lady one time and she's like, I just can't accept that, that once you believe you just, you get saved. She goes, and she thought she had me. She's all, what about the pedophile? You know? And I'm like, yeah, that guy's not going to get saved. She's like, really? I'm like, yeah. And I showed her Romans one. I showed her all the scriptures and she's like, wow, I didn't know that. And she ended up getting saved, you know, but people like that are used to hearing, you know, these weakling pastors who they'll get someone in their church who was molested by these freaks and these pastors will tell you, you got to forgive that person. You know, you need to forgive that person if God's going to forgive, you don't need to forgive that person. There is an exception to that rule. There's certain people you don't have to forgive. And one of them is reprobates, child molesters. And that angers a lot of people who, when the spiritual weakling leader with no stones comes up and says, Hey, you need to forgive your dad who molested you. No, you don't. Fool. Look, I can't go beyond what God does if God didn't forgive him. Why do you think God expects me to forgive him? It's like, I was like, I'm not forgiving that person, but you have to though. Do as I say, not as I do. Right? Kind of mentality. No, that's stupid. God does not expect and look, it's, it's almost like mentally and emotionally impossible. Those are people who are violated in years past. They struggle with that, especially if they were taught, Hey, you got to forgive this person. You got to forgive this person who molested you, you know, they, they struggle with that. And they may even come to a point where and say, yeah, I forgave them. But deep down inside, they hold a lot of hatred and resentment toward that person, which is okay to hate that person. God gave us that type of hatred for a reason. Go to Ephesians chapter four. Now I got ahead of myself, but we're going to hit on that just a little bit later. So let me say this. We need to learn the virtue of forgiving our non reprobate trespassers. Okay. I'm not talking about the reprobate, I'm talking about people just in general. We need to learn how to forgive people. Okay. Whether it's our own family members, it's friends, it's church members, Christians, neighbors who aren't saved. We need to learn how to forgive them. All right. Ephesians four verse 30 says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. So that's the incentive. It's like, God's like reminding us, Hey, forgive one another, even as God for Christ say, forgive you. You know, we ought to have a tender heart towards people. Okay. And not just hold them accountable for every single thing that they've done. We need to make sure that we forgive people. Go to first Peter chapter three. Now let's make some application to this. In marriage, we need to learn to forgive one another. Okay. No, you're like, I'm not married. Then take notes right now. Because once you get married, you're like, no, me and my wife are going to be like the most spiritual, like ever, you know, we're going to, we're, we're going to succeed where you guys failed. You know, no, every marriage goes through something like this because we're, because we're sinners, you know, and you know, in marriage, you have a man and a woman and they both have differing opinions, personalities, and they're going to offend one another. You know, they're living together forever. Eventually you're going to come to a point where you offend one another. You're like, not me. I'm way too good to get along with. Everyone likes me. Yeah. But if someone's spending 24 hours with you, you're going to find something that they don't like about you. You're like, no way. Yes way. Okay. I'll read to you from Colossians three 19 husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Notice that it says that for the husbands to the wives, it's like, don't be bitter against them. Okay. You know, let's, let's read first Peter chapter three, verse seven. I'm not bitter towards my wife. Right? You know, it's not like we went through something this weekend. I'm like, I got a priestess where she, where she at? Just kidding. Likewise, you husband verse seven dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor to the wife as unto the weaker vessel. So that's weaker, not just physically, but they're weaker emotionally, mentally, okay. And as being heirs together, the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered, finally be all of one mind, having compassion, one of another love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil. You see someone who forgives their spouse, doesn't render evil for evil. What does that mean? You don't try to get vengeance on them. Just get back at them. I'm getting you back for what you did to me, you know, 10 years ago or whatever, or railing for railing, you know, when they're getting on you or something, it's just like, you just want to fight back because you got something, you got a good comeback. Railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing that ye are there unto call that ye should inherit a blessing for he that will love life and seek good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. So notice that the majority of the relationship in a marriage, the, the, the intricate element of marriage is what, that which we do with the tongue. You know why? Because death and life are in the power of the tongue and look, man, we have to be careful how we treat our wives with our tongue, with our mouths, with our words. Why? Because they're very sensitive. You know, you can't talk to your wife the way you talk with the boys. Okay. And I'm not saying like, Hey homie or something like that. Hey bro, don't call your wife, bro. That's just weird. You know, we have to make sure that we're kind to them and look, your wife might do something that will offend you. It's going to happen. Okay. But don't render evil for evil. Forgive your wife. Okay. And don't bring it to like, well, you know, I'm really ticked off at you because you said X, Y, and Z. And look, if you're the kind of guy who does that, you know, you need to grow up, get some thick skin and find something to do with your life. So you're not, we need to be busy to the point where things just go over our heads every once in a while. Okay. You understand what I'm saying? Because it's when you don't have anything to do that you, you basically let stuff fester up in you. I'm too busy to get offended with my wife sometimes. Okay. She says something, I don't know, maybe she'll come and she'll say, I apologize for my, for my attitude, my spirit. I'm like, I don't even know what you're talking about. What are you talking about? And then she tells me, I'm like, Oh yeah, now I know. I remember that. Yeah. No, I don't do that. I'm just like, don't even worry about it. You know, but there's times when I offend her and I know that I offend her and I know that I hurt her because of my words. You know, us as men, we need to make sure that we go to our wives humbly and say, Hey, I said this and I'm really sorry that I said that. I shouldn't have said that. Don't be like, well, you know, I'm the man of God. So I just, you know, she needs to know her place or whatever. No, you offend your wife, go get it right because the Bible says your prayers will be hindered if you do not, you know, those great exploits that you're going to do require prayer. And that prayer that you have requires for you to be right with your wife. So go get it right. Okay. Look, it's important because it's going to happen. You're going to offend your wife. Your wife's going to offend you. And you need to make sure that you keep that right relationship by, by, by asking for forgiveness. That's a normal thing. Okay. Don't be so proud and macho, you know, don't, don't be a machista. Okay. Where you're just like, no, you know, I'm the head of the home. Well, you know, as the head of the home, you're required to just go humble yourself as well. And look, your wife will respect you that much more if you do. She'll resist you if you're just being prideful and not willing to get it right. But she will respect you if you go and say, Hey, and I'm not saying grovel. Okay. I'm saying like, please forgive me. You know, she's going to say, Hey, I did wrong. I just remembered that I said this and I shouldn't have said that. I know I hurt you. I'm sorry for that. Will you forgive me? And then she can say yes. And guess what? You guys can move on with your life. Okay. That's important. Don't undermine that. That's very important because what happens in marriages sometimes is this things fester up over and over because they're just not getting it right. You know, get it right. Move on and don't let it fester up. Don't get bitter. Okay. Go to Matthew chapter five. Look, and with that, don't, I already mentioned it before, but don't remind your spouse of a failure of the past. You know, if your spouse failed you in a certain area, but you've forgiven them, don't remind them of it later on. I mean, has God done that to you when you failed him? You know, he come back and say, well, you remember like five years ago when you did that one sin? You know, I forgive you. No. He says he cast them in the deepest part of the ocean. He separated your transgressions as far as East is from West, the Bible says. So we need to follow that template and realize, Hey, when we forgive someone, we need to forget it. Okay. Don't bring it back up again. You know, if you're having a discussion, if you know, like my wife and I, we don't argue. We just discuss very loudly. All right. We don't argue. We discuss very loudly. Okay. You know, when we were having a discussion very loudly, that's not the time to bring things up from the past. Because then you just make things even worse by doing that. Because then it's like, Oh, you're trying to bring that up. Okay. And then you bring out your list. You know, one thing that will help with that is think about the things that your wife and your husband has done right. That helps a lot. That creates gratitude. And here, this is something that helps me. Okay. And maybe it'll help you. Anytime there's a disagreement between my wife and I, I try to picture what life would be like without my wife or what would life be like if I lost my wife today? You know what would happen if I lost my wife today? None of that stupid stuff would ever matter. If I lost my wife today and I was mad at her for some reason, that reason will no longer matter because I would do anything just to have her back. I'd forgive her a hundred times over just to have her back. You see, we need to realize one thing that will help us to forgive people and our spouses specifically is think about what life will be like without your spouse if you lost them today. I hope no one here is just like, well, that would be great if that happened. No. You know, you would literally think, man, you know what? I wish I wish I can go back and just not have shoved that in my husband's face or my wife's face because now you realize the most important things in life. Then when you think about that, you're like, man, this is so dumb. I'm just thankful that my wife is alive. I'm thankful that she's here. I'm thankful that my husband is here. I'm thankful that I have them. This is so minuscule and small and that comparison helps us to forgive and what and to forget as well. Okay. Matthew chapter five. Now we need to learn to forgive our enemies as well. Now I'm not talking about the enemies of God. I'm talking about just our personal enemies. I'm talking about those who are even Christians. Okay. We need to learn how to forgive them as well. And look in our church, we got a lot of those. Okay. Not in church. Okay. We don't got a lot of enemies in church, but I guarantee you, we can go around and talk about, Hey, so how was your old IFB pastor like, you know? And you can say, man, that guy hate that guy, you know, or he did me wrong, man. He kicked me out or he did this. He treated me wrongly or whatever it may be, but you know, we need to learn how to forgive even them. Okay. Especially, I'm not talking about the false ones, the ones who are not safe, forget them. They can burn in hell. Okay. The ones who have fought against us, who are not even saved to preach in the wrong gospel, they can burn in hell for all I care. I'm talking about the ones who are saved. Those who have the Holy Spirit of God living within them and they have stumbled and they have offended. They have become our enemies. We need to learn to forgive them. Okay. Look at Matthew chapter five, verse 43 says, you have heard that it has been said, thou shall love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them, which despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the children of your father, which is in heaven. For he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sentence rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them, which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same. And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others do not even the publican so be therefore perfect, even as your father, which is in heaven is perfect. Now people often get this kind of confused that because we had disagree with someone, we like automatically hate them. You know you could disagree with someone and not hate them and still get along with them. I know people that I love. They're safe people. I love them, but I disagree with them. I think they're wrong. And I told them that they're wrong. I've told them that they're wrong to their face, but they will hear something like that and automatically think that I hate them. It's like, I don't hate you. You're just wrong. That's just it. You know, I've been wrong before. You know, but we need to be able to learn, learn to separate the two. Just because we disagree with someone doesn't mean that we hate them. For example, even my old church, I disagree with them on a lot of things, but I do not hate them. Even the pastor that kicked me out. I disagree with the fact that he kicked me out. Obviously, you know, I didn't appreciate that, but I don't hate him. In fact, I love him. In fact, I pray for him. In fact, I appreciate everything that he's ever done for me. Okay. Since when I first got saved, he was the first person to visit me. He invested in my life. He taught me principles. He was an example to me for many, many years. I love him and I'm thankful to God for him, but guess what? He's wrong. But just because I think he's wrong doesn't mean I think I like hate him. I like despise him. And people often listen to this kind of preaching. I'm like, well, you sound like you just despise him. I don't despise him, but look, my physical, my blood brother, I disagree with him on a lot of things. In fact, we've even fist fought. We've gone down, but you know what? I still love him. That doesn't mean I hate his guts or anything like that. Maybe at that moment, I did when we were like bunching each other out, but we need to learn to separate those things and people need to learn to separate those things. That disagreeing doesn't mean we hate them. Now there's people we disagree with that we hate. I disagree with the dispensationalist and I hate them. I hate them a lot. You know, Jack Rodriguez from Will of God Baptist Church, you know, I disagree with them a lot, but I hate his guts. He's an unsaved man. Pastors who preach a false gospel, I disagree with them and I hate their guts. I will always hate them. There's no, there's no like, you know, compassion there. I hope they die, you know, and go to hell quick so they won't deceive anybody else. Joe Olstein, I hate him. I hate that guy's guts. I don't care how nice his smile is. But there's people who are saved who I disagree with on the pre-tribulation rapture, on the Jews, on Fox News, all these other things. You know, I love those people still. Honestly, if those people even called me today and say, hey, you want to go have lunch? I said, yeah, let's go. Let's go catch up. See how everything's going. And I would treat them as normal as possible. Now, if they brought up the issue about the Jews, I'd be like, yeah, I disagree with you on that. I think you're wrong on that, but that doesn't mean I hate them. So we got to learn to forgive these people. If you had a pastor in time past who like was like wrong to you and like, did you dirty because of the whole rapture thing and all these things, you know, you disagree with them, but you don't have to hate them. And you need to learn to forgive them for those things. You know, it took me off when I got kicked out of my old church, but you know, I need to come to a conclusion and say, you know what? He made a mistake. He was wrong for doing that, but I know he's a saved man. I love him. And I think I'm thankful for everything he's done for me. I forgive him. If he called me today and say, hey, can we squash this whole entire thing? I want to get it right with you. I'd say, absolutely, absolutely. You know, and we don't, I'm not saying we have to be buddies though. You know what I mean? You don't have to be buddies with people that you forgive. So that's another misconception that people have is like, well, if I forgive them, are you saying that I have to be like friends with them? No, you don't have to be friends with them. You don't even have to look at them ever again. Okay. You don't have to follow them on Facebook or anything like that. You don't have to be and just be like buddies, just forgive them and move on. And look, most of these people who've offended us in times past, even from the old IFP, you're not going to keep in contact with them anyways, you know? So better to just get it right with them, leave off on a good note, right? And then when you see each other every once in a while, you just talk about surface things. How are the kids? How's your wife? You know, how's soul winning going? You know? And then the conversation lasts for about 15 minutes and you say, well, I got to go. It was good seeing you again. That's it. You don't have to be like, hey, you know, I forgive you and everything, but man, do you still believe that the reparations can be saved? See, this is what I'm talking about. This is why we talked. This is why we had that argument in the first place. Look, I don't know. And then you start fighting with them again. No, you know, if you're not going to convince them on those things, just move on because there's a lot of people that you will convince with them. I'm not concerned with converting people from my old church. I don't think I'm like, like hunting people in my old church, like looking for them, like, hey, come over here, you know, follow me. And I'll make you a preacher of the reprobate doctrine or something. I don't care. Now, people come from that church here, they're welcome. They're always welcome to come here, you know, and there's people that I keep in contact with them who keep in contact with me. They call me, you know, and I don't be like, hey, what are you still doing over there, dude? Why don't you leave that dead church? Join a real church over here. I don't tell them that. I say, how's everything going over there? How's the pastor? How's soul winning? You know, how's Sunday school class? I just ask them how they're doing because I don't want to leave a bad taste in their mouth. I don't want them, I don't want them, I don't want to confirm what people say that I'm like or whatever. You know, people think that when they call me, they're just like, yeah, that guy's a loser over there, man. You need to come where there's a real man of God over here. I don't want to say that to them. I honestly, sincerely desire, want that church to grow. I want that church to continue to reach people for the Lord. I've forgiven them. Even the people who've been in that church who really did me wrong. I've forgiven all of them. Okay, but that's what we need to do. And if you don't do that, you're going to be a bitter person. And there's nothing worse than a bitter Christian. Some of the ugliest people you will ever meet. Is a bitter Christian who can't forgive. Okay, look at Matthew 18, verse 33, it says here in verse 33, shouldest not thou also have had compassion on my fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee and his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors to he should pay all that was due unto him. Now tormentors is kind of interesting. He says tormentors because that's how people are like when they don't forgive, right? They're just tormented with a lot of bitterness. They can't move on with their lives. They're constantly talking about the offense and all these things. They're just constantly bitter. Verse 35 says, so likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you. If he from your hearts forgive not everyone, his brother their trespasses. Now if you ask me like, well, so do you think it was right that that pastor kicked you out? I said, no, I'll tell you, he's wrong on that. He was wrong. He will always be wrong for that. And that's where I stand. But that doesn't mean that I'm angry at him. Look, even when that pastor got sick because he ended up getting sick. I didn't wish that upon him. When he got sick, I wasn't like, you know, the Lord recompense thee. You know, vengeance is the Lord saying, you know, I wasn't like that. I was actually worried for him. And I remember praying for him. I remember talking to my wife saying, man, I hope he's okay. I hope he makes it out of it because at the end of the day, he's still my brother in Christ. You know, he's not a reprobate. I don't wish that upon him. Okay, go to Hebrews chapter 12. And that's the kind of attitude we need to have. We can't just be hating everyone, especially if they're our brothers in Christ. Okay, we need to learn to just forgive them and move on. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 14. Follow peace with all men in holiness, verse 14, without which no man shall see the Lord, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. So the Bible tells us there to follow peace with all men and make sure that there's no bitterness that swells up within us. Okay, that's what the Bible tells us, that when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. So when we're following peace, we're following the Lord, we're following the Bible, we're doing what's pleasing unto the Lord. Guess what? Eventually our enemies will come around and, you know, we can reconcile that with them. You know, we have enough enemies. Okay, you know, the reprobates and people who hate our guts, you know, that's sufficient. We don't need Christian enemies, you know, and those people need to get it right too. If there's people out there who disagree with us and they're saved, they need to get that right. You know, just get over it. We're right and they're wrong. They need to get over that. We're right about end times and about the Jews. They need to get over that. Okay, now go with me if you went to Isaiah chapter 2. So this is the last point and I already hit on this a little bit. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us that we need to forgive those who violate us. You know, there's a difference between defrauding someone and violating someone. You know, molesting, raping. Okay, and somehow that doctrine has crept into a lot of churches where they teach people, hey, you need to forgive that child molester who molested you and seven other children. Heck no. I don't know where you even get that teaching from. And it's funny, it's come from most people who sympathize with these faggots, you know, and it's just frustrating to hear things like that. You know, that's an emotional acrobatic leap that a person has to do to try to forgive someone as vile as that. Look at Isaiah 2, 9, it says, Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbled with himself. Therefore, forgive them not. One common thing you'll see throughout the Old Testament is men of God who are petitioning to the Lord and they'll say, don't forgive them. Don't pardon them. And you know what? God answers their prayers. Go to Jeremiah chapter 18, verse 23. It says, Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me. Forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee, deal thus with them in the time of thine anger. I mean, Jeremiah is a humble guy. But yet we see here in chapter 18, he's like, don't forgive them. Don't allow their iniquities to be blotted out. You know, a lot of people would be able to overcome a lot of emotional damage that they receive from these wicked people if their pastors would just get up and teach them, hey, it's okay to pray something like this. To pray and say, you know, I remember, I knew a lady who was molested and the way the mom consoled her is, and they weren't even Christians. The mom consoled her and said, you know that guy's burning in hell. That guy's getting what he deserved. And everyone listening to him thinking, that's very comforting. That's very comforting to know that this person is getting justice. You know, and this whole thing with, you know, Bruce Goddard and Faith Baptist Church and the youth pastor who was found out to be a little faggot who was molesting children for 20 years. One of the victims that came out, they said, you know, they said, I know I will never get justice. They said, I know I will never get justice, but at least I can help someone who is going through this thing. I want to kind of reach in there and say, no, you're going to get justice. That guy's going to hell. He's going to burn forever. While you're enjoying eternal life, when we're beholding the glory of the Lord, when we're ruling over these cities and we're enjoying the millennial reign, that guy's going to be burning in hell forever. No rest day or night. You're getting justice. You know why? Because God is a God of justice. So no, you don't have to forgive that guy. You don't have to go to therapy to some unsafe psychologist that tells you you need to forgive that person. No, just pray. Hey, God, please kill that guy sooner. You know, he's twice dead, plucked up by the roots. I just wanted to go to hell sooner. That's okay to pray. These men of God prayed that. Oh, there's no guy in the Bible who ever prayed such a prayer like that. Go to Psalm 69. David, a man after God's own hearts, the sweet psalmist of Israel. I'm talking about the guy who wrote Psalms 23. Everyone loves Psalms 23. You know, though I walk through the valley of the shadow. I mean, everyone can quote that. Unsafe people love that chapter. They think David is the guy with the harp and he's just, that's him, yeah. He wrote Psalm 69 too though, just to let you know that. So know that he wrote Psalms 23, but also know that he wrote Psalm 69. Look what it says in verse 23. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not and make their loins continually to shake. Okay, just right off the bat. That's horrible. Let their eyes be darkened. It's like, let them just go blind. Don't even let them see where they're going. Make their loins continue to shake. That's like anxiety. Let them have just continual anxiety. Verse 24, pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Oh, David, this is different than Psalms 23. Yeah, because he's talking about the enemies of God now. Verse 25, let their habitation, that means where they live, be desolate and let none dwell in their tents. Don't even give them a place to live and rest their heads. Verse 26, for they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Look at this, add iniquity unto their iniquity. So in other words, the iniquity that they've done just add more to that. And let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. You know what he's saying? Don't even let him get saved, God. That's what he's talking about. Blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. God, don't let them get saved. Let them just be given over to a reprobate mind. That's what he's praying. The sweet psalmist of Israel, okay. What does that show? That goes to show us, look, I wish the people who are molested in these churches, I wish people could just send these verses to them and say, hey, the anger that you feel towards that wicked pedophile is an okay feeling that you have. In fact, let me give you a verse that you can pray unto the Lord and maybe the Lord will answer that prayer. Add iniquity into their iniquity. Let their names be blotted out of the book of life. Don't even let them get saved. Amen. I guarantee you that would cause a lot of comfort within the hearts of those people to say, wow, God is just. But you know what we have today, a bunch of weakling pastors who say, well, you know, we need to pray. He fell into sin. No, what he needs to do is fall into hell. He didn't fall into sin. He's a wicked bastard is what he is. Son of Belial. You know, and the victims, I feel bad for the victims. They're like, what about us? Well, don't worry, God's got your back. He's going to send those people straight to hell. And don't even worry. Any soul when it can go to them, preach them the gospel, they still won't get saved. Don't even worry about it. They will never enjoy eternal life the way you enjoy. They will be an eternal fire forever. Because God does not expect you to forgive someone that he himself will never forgive. But we have pastors today that think they're just like greater than God. They think they're more forgiving than God. They're even willing to forgive those whom God has not forgiven. You know, that's garbage. That's nonsense. You know, God has not built, given us this emotional fortitude to make that leap of just forgiveness. No, we need to make sure that we forgive those who have offended us, people who are not reprobates, but people who are, man, God's given us the natural hatred to say, I hope that person just dies. I hope that person gets what's coming to them. Well, he will. Don't worry about it. He will, you know. So what if he's allowed to live like 20 more years? You know what? 20 more years is still a lot shorter in comparison to an eternity in hell. But don't worry. You know, sometimes people think, man, what about these psychopath, you know, reprobates that, you know, were allowed to kill people for years and were never caught. Oh, they were caught. They're caught. But they were never brought to justice. Yeah, they may have never gone to prison, but that's good though, because the prison system is sorry anyways. You know, God's going to send them to hell. And God knows what they did. Okay. So what's the sermon today? The sermon is simply this. We need to be a people of forgiveness. Okay. But forgiving the right type of people, you know, our brethren in Christ. Be forgiving, you know. Be forgiving in your marriage. Be forgiving towards your parents. Be forgiving towards people who have offended you and get some thick skin. You know, don't get offended at the drop of a pin, a drop of a hat and just like, you just get offended over everything. And if that's you, then just learn to forgive that person right away. You'll be a much happier person if you learn to forgive and forget. Amen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you for forgiving us of all our sins, so we suffer not the consequences of hell. And Lord, you've been so gracious to us, so merciful and as high as the heavens are from the earth, so great is your mercy towards them that fear you. And I pray you help us to learn how to forgive those who have offended us in times past. But I pray you help victims out there of these weak churches who have weak leadership and these churches that are teaching people to forgive these wicked, vile reprobates. Help them to hear one of these sermons. Help them to realize that, hey, you don't have to forgive that freak. You know, that person is gonna go to hell and you're gonna get the justice that you deserve. I pray, God, that you would help those people and be with us, Lord, throughout this afternoon. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.