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The sermon this morning is forgiveness. It's just simply forgiveness. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much. Lord that you forgave us. Lord I pray that as a church and as a people here that we would have the right mindset and the right attitude to be forgiving towards our brothers and sisters in Christ and those that would seek forgiveness from us Lord. And Lord just like you forgave us a great debt, some people wrong each other and Lord they're not forgiving. And I pray Lord that you'd help us Lord to just understand the scriptures and what they say. And Lord the stern warnings that you give about someone that would not be forgiving towards another person. And I pray that you just bless. Help me, fill me with the Holy Spirit as I begin to preach and give me boldness and power through your spirit. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. So Matthew 18 a lot of people use the talk about the verses of how someone wrongs you and you're supposed to go to that person alone. We read about that and that is the truth. We're supposed to do that. If someone wrongs you in the church you're supposed to go to that person privately, not spill it all over into the Facebook world and to all your click buddies in the church and just tell every single person that you can think of about how this person wronged you. You know what the Bible says? You're supposed to go to that person alone. And look if they'll hear you, you've gained your brother. That's what the Bible says. And so this a lot of this chapter is talking about forgiveness but it starts out where Jesus is saying about people that don't get forgiveness. And so we're gonna I'm gonna cover the people that should be forgiven and the people that shouldn't be forgiven today. The people that should and the people that shouldn't. But becoming a Christian causes us to have all of our sins to be forgiven by God. Once you get saved the Bible teaches very clearly that our sins are washed away by the precious blood of Christ. We put our faith in Jesus. He forgives us of all of our sins. Not just and look people when you're out sowing I talked to a guy yesterday and he's like well we just have to keep repenting of our sins every day. And a lot of people believe that. A lot of people believe they're saved but they have to repent of their sins every single day of their life. That's a hard salvation. That's not a free salvation. That's you doing something to have to maintain your salvation. The Bible doesn't teach that at all. Now once you become a child of God you become you know if the Bible says in John 1 12 but as many as received him to them gave me power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. So once you believe on Christ you become a son or daughter of God and you know what God's not gonna kick you out of his family. He promises to give us eternal life and that life is in his son the Bible says. And so we get forgiven for all of our sins and look a lot of us here maybe you're not the worst sinner in the world or you weren't the worst sinner in the world when you got saved but some of us were. Some of us have lived some pretty rough lives. I remember what I was like when I was a young kid. I was as bad as it comes. I mean I was pretty bad. So I'm not gonna get up here and tell you every sin I committed but I'll tell you what I wouldn't want it played on a jumbo screen in front of everybody. I wouldn't want everybody to go around talking about everything that I that I did. You know I wouldn't want and in this age of social media what you say on the internet lasts forever. I mean people can dredge that stuff up and pull it up and so that's why I would say be careful what you say. You know be careful you know back in the days I was talking to this with Mrs. about this with Mrs. Guessler yesterday that we just had notes that we would write to people and then you could tear those up and burn them and they're gone forever. Not anymore that that's not the way it is anymore. So I would just warn young people to be careful what you're writing because you know it can get you into a lot of trouble and and you got to be careful on social media. So that's not what I'm preaching about necessarily today but I'm talking about forgiveness. So God forgives us of all of our sins. That's a great great price that Christ paid for us so that we could be saved and don't take that for granted ever. But what the point I was making about him being our father is that yeah God's gonna punish us on this earth for the things that we do but he's also still gonna forgive us of all of our sins. Just because your dad's mad at you for some reason doesn't mean that you're not saved okay. So God will punish us on this earth for the things that we commit but yet we're still gonna make it into heaven. So and becoming a Christian requires us to be forgiving to others. The Lord said to forget to love our brothers as ourselves. We're supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves. We're supposed to love unsafe people. People we don't even know. We're supposed to be forgiving towards them and look we don't know what all they've done but we go up to someone's door and they're dressed like a harlot you know forgive that person. They don't know what they've done. They don't realize that they're dressed like a harlot. Now us with our ultra spiritual Baptist minds might judge that person right when we get to the door and yeah we can't help but judge sometimes. But go like this men and try to show them the what the Bible says about how to be saved. So we got to be forgiven to people that you know that are not saved. We also have to be forgiving to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We're supposed to love the brethren. We're supposed to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ what the utmost respect to be forgiving to them like Matthew 18 says to gain your brother if they've offended you to go to them privately. You know if they won't do that then it should be heard throughout the whole church. You know well you take two witnesses and try to go to them again. If the two witnesses can't convince them then it's got to be brought before the church. You know we've never had to do that here. It's a very rare thing when that has to happen because really you should be forgiving and if you wrong somebody in the church you should be willing to make it right. So but there are some people that we shouldn't forgive and those are the people that God won't forgive. So look I just want to you know I'm gonna lose some people here but let me tell you this if God won't forgive them then why should you? Are you more spiritual than God is? I just don't understand this mentality well hate the sin love the sinner that's not in the Bible by the way and also there's some people that God hates. The Bible says there's a time to love and a time to hate. So people just act like hate is this worst thing ever but the Bible doesn't teach that. You know where you got that from Star Wars? You got that from Yoda? You got that from Luke Skywalker but you know where you didn't get it from? You didn't get it from this book and so so and look I'm not here to preach hate okay but the Bible does say there are people that God hates and I'm gonna cover that at the end of the sermon so I'm gonna give you all the forgiveness and lovey-dovey stuff in between there but I just want you to know that I just want to be as much as I can be like the Lord. You know the Lord says for us to follow pick up our cross and follow him daily and so when we pick up our cross and follow the Lord daily that means we're supposed to be like he is and so I just will you know let the Bible teach you what you're supposed to think like. Don't let the world tell you what you're supposed to think like. Don't let some preacher tell you what you're supposed to feel like. Look we're supposed to be like Bereans and look when I say something out of the Bible you should be able to go home and look at what I said and say yeah that matches what the Bible says. You should be able to sit here while I'm preaching a sermon and look at what the Bible says and say yep that's what it says so if God says it we please just believe it. So number one this morning I want to talk about forgiveness of our brethren. Forgiveness of our brethren. We're supposed to forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ when they trespass us against us but here's the thing I don't believe that if someone doesn't ask you to forgive them or doesn't repent I don't believe you have to forgive that person and that's the thing I struggled with for a long time. Can you forgive that person? Absolutely. Jesus said father forgive them for they know not what they do but think about this did God forgive every person that was there that was wagging their heads and didn't believe and hated him? Did he forgive those people? Did God forgive them or did they die and go to hell? Because the Bible says that you know he blinded their minds. He hardened their hearts that they could not believe. Could not believe. So there are people that it's too late for if you blaspheme the Holy Spirit if you mess with God's Word if you take the mark of the beast guess what you can't be saved at that point and you know what and if God won't forgive them then neither will I because you know what who am I to judge God and who he says goes to hell and who he says doesn't go to hell. That's not my place. Remember last week when I was preaching out of Job he said you know are you gonna judge what I have to say? Are you gonna be the judge over your creator? I don't think so. So we're not to judge God that's not our place and whatever God deems God flooded the whole world in the days of Noah. Some people you know they get really upset about that and look if you think of it on your own humanistic terms then yeah you might get upset about that but you know who is right to do that? God was right to do that. He judged his creation and he has every right to because you know what he made us and you know what he does everything in righteousness he doesn't do anything in wickedness. So we're talking about forgiveness of our brethren from number one. So look at Matthew 18 21 the Bible says then came Peter to him and said Lord how off shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? This is an important question. How oft how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Tell seven times? And that and that you know to Peter that makes sense hey seven times okay I've given him plenty of chances right? But look what Jesus says and Jesus saith unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven. So how many times is that math wizards? 490. So do you think that Jesus means that that's the actual number that you'll forgive them or do you think he's just speaking in hyperbole? I think he's speaking in hyperbole. I think he's just saying you know what as many times as they repent then you'll forgive them. That's what I think he's meaning. Tell 70 times seven times. Now look what he says therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain King which would take account of his servants. Now I believe that this King this is a parable we're about to read okay and so don't don't get lost here but I believe that this this person that's talking about is God obviously there's a kingdom so therefore the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain King which would take account of his servants and when he begun to reckon one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents. Now I would say that this is the person that sinned a lot of times. This is a person that got that was super wicked that got that God has saved. Okay look what it says 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. He's like you know what you're gonna pay everything you owe me. 10,000 talents that's a lot that's a lot of silver or gold or whatever it was. The servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying Lord have patience with me and I will pay thee all. So notice what he did he fell down he worshiped him and he said Lord have patience with me and I'll pay thee all and the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. So I I think that this is like showing us a picture of a person that's very sinful and says God forgive me have mercy on me he worshiped him he called upon him and asked him to forgive him and the Lord was moved with compassion the Lord loved that man and it says and loosed him and forgave him the debt. That's a picture of us being forgiven of all of our sins right if we have a lot of sins in our lives and God forgives them. It says but the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which I would say is like a brother or sister in Christ right which owed him a hundred pence. Now what is the hundred pence in comparison to 10,000 talents well I don't see our money man in here but I don't think a hundred pence is a lot of money okay I think it's like a hundred pennies right so compared to 10,000 talents that's a lot and so it says and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat and saying pay me that thou oest and so I would think that this is basically talking about someone that does like a minor infraction sin against one of his brothers and sisters in Christ maybe he gave him a rude look or you know a woman like you know spurned another woman in the church or brought up you know how they're not doing the same things that they would do in child rearing or something like that something dumb something that's not really worthy of having a big old fight about and it says and his fellow servants 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 prison till he should pay the debt so basically this person is like a person that will not forgive another Christian for the sins that they do even though they asked them so notice that this person asked them to forgive them and this person would not forgive them but said you know what you're going to prison that's like someone saying you know what I'm not friends with them anymore I don't have anything to do with them anymore and you just say you know what I don't care what you have to say I don't forgive you and this is a small and fraction compared to the 10,000 talents okay look what it says in verse 30 it says and he would not but went and cast him into prison until he should pay the debt so when his fellow servants saw what was done they were very sorry and came and told their Lord all that was done then the Lord after that he called him said unto him oh thou wicked servant I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirous me shouldest not thou have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee what's he's saying I forgave you of all your sins I forgave you of everything that you owed me and then you're gonna go to your brother in Christ and your brother and you're gonna grab him by the throat and say pay me all that thou owest and then you're not gonna be forgiving to that person after I forgave you all that debt and he said and his Lord was Roth what does that mean he's you know what Roth means is a it's it's a form of wrath when someone's Roth with you they're very upset they're angry and God and look God when he when he sees Christians doing this kind of activity or they're just like they got forgiven for the worst things that you can think about they were fornicators there were drunkards there were druggies there were whatever else blasphemers and then to be forgiven of all this stuff and then to be like that with one of their brothers and sisters in Christ is asking for forgiveness that repents to them and you know what it says you know what makes God angry it makes him Roth and says and delivered him to the tormentors till he we should pay all that was due unto him so likewise likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you if you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses so what is it saying it's not saying you lose your salvation that's not what this is talking about this is talking about that God is not gonna forgive you for the things you do on this earth and he's gonna punish you like you wanted to punish that other person and look that is not a good place to be sitting in your Christianity it's not and so I think that this is very strong language saying hey if someone asks you to ask for forgiveness you know and look not everything that someone does is a personal affront to you it's not it's not something that's some sins that people commit are none of your business some things that people do are none of your business and you should let that be taken care of in the home and so let's look at Matthew or yeah Matthew chapter 6 verse 14 now look I I'm just scratching the surface in this sermon this morning but I just want to show you what God expects from us when it comes to the subject of forgiveness Matthew 6 verse 14 the Bible says for if you forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses I think that's pretty simple I think it's pretty easy to understand isn't it that if you're not willing to forgive someone when they do something to you now I'm not saying that if somebody just keeps wronging you and wronging you and they never care they're just unrepentant about it I don't think that you have to forgive that person why would you have to here's the thing if God won't for look God doesn't expect you to do what he's not willing to do do you think if someone who's unrepentant did do you think okay Jesus died for the sins of everybody right all means all he died for the sins of all the whole world right but do you does God have to forgive that person if they never asked for salvation from him no what is the requirement for salvation that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that's clear as day in the Bible but does God for who's going to hell then who's going to hell then all the people that would not ask for salvation all the people that would not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so guess what their sins are not forgiven because they never asked for it to be forgiven and likewise a Christian who is just being continually wronged by someone doesn't have to forgive that person either why would you have to do you think God again does God expect us to do things that he's not willing to do himself so I've heard this teaching in Christian churches where they're like you just have to forgive everybody for everything they do that's not true that's not what the Bible teaches that is ridiculous because then you're putting yourself above God in the way that you your judgment is better than his you're you know you don't have to forgive everybody for everything they do now again you can it's an option but why would you do that when they're not being repentant towards you how what lesson is that teaching them oh you can just go ahead and do whatever you want and you're never gonna have to have any repercussions for that if you're saved and you live like the devil if you're saved and you do whatever you want and you're not repentant towards God for the things that you do God is going to punish you on this earth and when you go back to God and you say God I'm sorry I screwed up 1st John 1 9 but if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness right so God is willing to forgive us for the things that we do and obviously again you're forgiven for everything you've done but in the here and now God is going to punish us in the flesh for the things that we do but if you're never repentant towards God in the sins you commit as a Christian and you just have a bad relationship with your Heavenly Father then he's gonna punish you you're not gonna have a good relationship and so but does God have to just you know not punish you for the things you do but when you don't ask absolutely not and you know what God's gonna punish you anyway sometimes for the sins you commit he just might have more mercy than you know he'll have more mercy in other in some cases when you're more repentant when you judge yourself then he's willing to you know maybe lessen the charges against you if so to speak but we reap what we sow people you know and if you reap to the wind you're gonna get the whirlwind so turn to Luke chapter 7 17 verse 3 Luke chapter 17 verse number 3 Matthew mark Luke chapter 17 I think this is clear-cut as day right here look at Luke 17 3 it says take heed that means pay attention this is a time for you to pay attention right now take heed pay attention what he's saying right here take heed to yourselves if I brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him that's pretty simple isn't it I mean is that a queer scripture forgive him and if he trespasses against these seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to the saying I repent thou shalt forgive him is that a commandment when the Bible says thou shalt is that a commandment thou shalt forgive him it's not an optional thing people when someone sins against you you're supposed to forgive them that's what the Bible says does God forgive you when you ask for forgiveness from him yes he wipes the slate clean and he and he moves on but see unfortunately Christians don't do that all the time they'll say they forgive someone but they really don't they hold it against it in their hearts you know and that's not right but what if they what if they do this pastor what if they do that pastor well it doesn't matter the Bible says thou shalt forgive them doesn't it thou shalt forgive them so it doesn't matter who it is because God's not a respecter of persons and we've been going over that in the book of Romans look God doesn't respect I'm he's not respect our persons I'm the same as you guys anybody's the same everybody's the same we're all one in Christ Jesus Jews Gentiles men and women we're all one in Christ Jesus we're all an equal playing field here Romans chapter 2 verse 11 says for there's no respect of persons with God no respect of persons if you're doing right he's gonna he's gonna you know reward you for that but if you're doing wrong doesn't matter who you are you're still gonna get punished just like anybody else okay so this applies to all men women and children in this building this applies to all men women and children in this church this report applies to all the people in the whole world and let me ask you this do you remember when you were younger and you committed some horrible sin that you felt like your whole life was over after that have you ever gotten to that point where you committed some kind of sin you thought it's over now I'm done I can't come back from this that's again not true so and young people more than other people have you ever heard of cyberbullying before people literally do commit suicide over cyberbullying and you know it's it's a horrible thing but why is that so why is it always teenagers that that happens to because teenagers think when something terrible happens in their life that they're never gonna come back from it and they don't realize that they have their whole life ahead of them and that thing will pass also just like every other thing does and yeah as adults do you have you committed some horrible sin that you felt like you couldn't come back from I know everybody in this room probably has had some sort of moment in their life where they felt like their life was ruined as a Christian or their life was ruined as a parent or their life was ruined for as a grandparent or whatever you've everybody in this room has felt that way at some point in time and we need to consider sometimes more we're dealing with the sins of young people that even you know even that even this this thought process shows that foolishness is bound in the heart of a child of a child can think foolishly and say you know what I'm done I can't I'm just gonna kill myself because I can't handle what's going on I can't handle the bullying I can't handle this or that but that's foolishness and so children are different than adults in the way that they can handle things and the way things go but you know adults get to that situation too and just know this we we still and people that have had this situation happen in their life where they felt like everything is done it's over for me but now you're still here and you've gotten past that and you still realize that now that you had your whole lives ahead of you and you don't have to feel like everything's over because of one thing that you've done that's wrong so and you know even pastors kids you know sometimes people look at pastors kids and act like they should have no sin in their life is that what you think is that do you think that no pastors kids sin is that the qualification for me being the pastor here is that none of my kids never sin the Bible says let's turn to first Timothy chapter 3 let's see what the Bible says first Timothy chapter 3 verse 4 because look as a pastor you do have qualifications that you have to meet and there's qualifications that I have to keep meeting to continue to be the pastor of this church who it says the first Timothy chapter 3 verse 4 says one that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity that's one of my qualifications I'm supposed to have my children in subjection with all gravity did that verse say having sinless children white as snow that what it says that might it might say that in the Book of Mormon but doesn't say that in this in this book having his children in subjection that doesn't mean sinless people so again my qualification as a pastor isn't that my children are sinless and also my household is not a public spectacle for everybody to look into now obviously I should show that my children are in subjection my children continue to go to church but do I have to report to everybody in the church every time I spank my child wouldn't that be weird you know what that is that's called a cult that would be a cult type mentality if I you know look and I counseled people in church and I know things that people in our church have done and I know things that your children have done have I ever once got up from this pulpit and said anything about your kids from the pulpit besides vague I've vague vague booked just things that that are bad for kids to do but I've never just said you know what Sean Harrington's kids I can't believe that they did this they left a big mess down I've never done that before so why would you expect that you should do that to me I'm not saying anybody is doing that to me I'm just saying that people get this weird idea that everything that happens in my house has to be reported to everybody in the church has to know about that can I spank my kids and you don't have to know about that do I do I bring your guess what brother Justin spanked his kids more than anybody else this week I guarantee it come up here and face the music brother Justin you all need to repent don't need to get on your hands and knees right here and bow before me and tell me you're sorry and tell you the church you're sorry that's ridiculous so look at verse 5 it says for if a man know not how to rule his own house how then shall he take care of the church of God so hey guess what my kids sin sometimes guess what the pastor sins sometimes guess what the pastor's wife sin sometimes you know guess what everybody in this room sins sometimes but look just because my kids sin doesn't mean that it's your personal business to get into mine unless something I do or they do disqualifies me from being the pastor then it's none of your business and guess what I'm you know if you tell me your business I'm not gonna go around and tell everybody else in the church what you told me did you know that it's against the law for me to do that did you know that if you come and tell me and counsel something that I'm not to go and tell the rest of the church about what you did so guess what you can come to me in confidence and know that I'm not gonna spread your dirty laundry around the church you know sometimes people need counsel sometimes people go through hard times but you know what about the pastor he's just you know that doesn't count for you that doesn't count when your kids are repentant that doesn't you know so if you have an issue and your kids you know are repentant or whatever then that's oh that's the end of it I know lots of dirty secrets in this church I know lots of things that have happened in this church I know lots of things your kids have done I know lots of things you've done but guess what that doesn't mean I need to go spread that around to other people I want to help you I don't want to hurt you I want to help the people in this church and guess what you should have every confidence to come to your pastor and say pastor I'm having this problem in my life would you help me would you give me some counsel absolutely and you should know that I'm not gonna go and run around and tell everybody else about what you're doing I'm not gonna run around tell everybody else what your kids are doing that's wicked that you should be able to trust your pastor so what does subject mean I'm supposed to have my children in subjection well what does that mean subject needs to bring a person or country under one's control or jurisdiction typically by using force so guess what it's gonna happen if one of my one of my children well obviously three of my children are out of the house but what's gonna happen if my son does something wrong he's gonna get forced into subjection I'm gonna use force that's called the you know the paddle that's called you know whatever else rules I want to stipulate on him and guess what if he's not willing to fall under that subjection then he's not under subjection my son is 18 years old and if he decided to walk out of my house tomorrow he could do that couldn't he isn't it the rules that you can move out of your house when you're 18 the law considers you an adult yeah but so would you say if Josh if I whip Josh for something when he's 18 years old do you think that if he stays in my house he's under subjection do you think that if he goes under every rule and every stipulation that I make him go under that he's under subjection yeah I mean so I just don't understand where people get this idea that if your kids aren't sinless look it seems like every kid's able to screw up except for a pastor's kid it's not true oh the pastor's kids they did this they did that well you know what don't you shouldn't God's not a respecter of persons and you shouldn't hold the pastor's kid to some kind of weird godlike status where they're never allowed to sin and never allowed to own up to what they did that's weird that's cult-like mentality and I don't want that for my church I don't want I don't want you guys to think that I'm gonna come at you for every single thing that you come to me about and spread that around the church I wouldn't do that to you so I don't think I don't you know I just I feel like sometimes people want to know more than they should I feel like people need they want to dig deep because you know what ultimately the would people love more than anything for this church to go down what would people love more than anything for churches like this church to go down and you know the devil's behind that the devil's in the details he wants to know you know he wants to destroy this church and so I would just say this that if I have my kids and subjection my kids are turning out right you know forgive them if they sin for some in some way shape or form if they're repentant now if Josh was like Eli's boys where he's you know lying you know fornicating with every girl that comes into the church and threatening people and stealing the offering money and taking the biggest chunk of steak and saying he's gonna choke you to death if you if you if you try to take that piece of steak away from him or something like that that's something that's not so that would be not being subject you know what the problem with Eli was that he never corrected his kids and never stopped them from doing what they were doing not talking about this Eli what a different Eli talking about Eli in the Bible so that was the so if a pastor doesn't correct their kids then yeah they're not in subjection and if the kids don't you know obviously there'd be something wrong so if my kids just you know he just wanted to live like the devil and go and do all this you know wicked stuff and I never stopped him then he wouldn't be in subjection you know what I would step down let me tell you something if I fail the qualifications of a pastor of this church I'm not gonna try to hide that from you I'm gonna tell you that I did it and I'm gonna step down that's what I would do because look I have no desire to be like I never I people ask me to become the pastor it's not like I was just like yeah I'm gonna be the next pastor in the new IFP yeah it's not how it worked out people you know what it's true I was asked and I was like all right well you know I'll do that you know I knew that there was someone I needed to stand in the gap and so that's what I did so but I'm not here to just make some kind of Kingdom for myself and for my children that's I mean I know the pastors do that but this pastor is not that way so if a pastor's kids sins that does not disqualify the pastor if a pastor's kids you know if one of my kids sin that does not disqualify me because every kid in this room sins and so should I kick you out of the church because your kids sin that's ridiculous so and everything that happens in my home is not subject to your knowledge to your knowledge and you know what everything happens in well everything that happens in your home it's not subject to my knowledge I don't have video cameras in your homes I don't have loudspeakers that tell you hey you haven't been to church in three weeks you better come to church that's cult-like mentality and we're not like that here you know people accuse us of being a cult but guess what we're not a cult cults don't throw people out they try to keep everybody in cults like that what is that one of the Tom Cruise's in or Scientology they like trap you they they like have people spying on you the Jehovah's Witnesses do the same thing those are Colts those are Colts they're like trying to run your life I was the last time I've come to any of your guys's houses and tried to run your life you know what I can't believe you got the Little Mermaid in your house Alejandra get rid of this garbage right now I'm the ruler of this house I'm the pastor I don't do that if I do come in your house I'm not gonna go brother that idolatrous statue you have in there it needs to go I mean if it was a Buddha like I probably would say something feels like somebody in a load with a lotus you know or whatever yeah I would probably say something but hopefully you hide those in the closet before I come over but look when you confide in me with your issues I don't bring those to the public I don't bring those you know can't a family deal with their own problems in-house I I don't I don't come and say guess you know what I know what your kid did and if you don't do A B C D and E then you're out of the church you can take care of your kids problems however you want if you ask me for my opinion I'll give it to you but you know what when I when I give God's opinion from the pulpit that's different when I'm preaching what the Bible says that's not me trying to control your life that's God trying to tell you how you should live your life as a Christian and I'm just a mouthpiece for God in the way where I'm just preaching what the Bible says okay so hopefully you guys understand that and you know if I look if I got up and said every sin that everybody does in this church there would be nobody here you'd be embarrassed wouldn't you and look I want you to be able to come I want you to come to me with your problems if you need if you have something don't some people like well I know how busy you are pastor you know I'm not so busy though that I'm not I can't help you I can help you I'm there for you if you guys need me and you can rest assured that I'm not gonna go and spread everything about your family and everything about your children to the internet for everybody else to see in public not be wicked so not forgiving a brother or sister in Christ that repents can have serious damage to them spiritually and to those that don't forgive also so it can damage the person that won't be forgiven or that that isn't being forgiven and it can damage the person that isn't being forgiven so it's a double-edged sword let's look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verse 5 now in 1st Corinthians Paul wrote about a man that need to be kicked out of the church because he was fornicating with his father's wife so wicked sin you know what people they didn't want to judge that guy they they didn't want to throw him out of the church and Paul said you know what you're puffed up you need to kick this guy out and the guy's a wicked person kick him out so they kicked him out and in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 Paul is saying hey now it's time to bring this guy back look at verse 5 because why because he repented look everybody that gets kicked out of our church is not a reprobate sometimes people get kicked out because they're committing one of the things in in the Bible that says that you should be kicked out for causing division in the church mark them which caused division and avoid them that's what we're supposed to do so people are causing division and trying to you know if someone came into our church and said you know what salvation's by repenting of all your sins pastors wrong guess what I'm gonna do I'm gonna throw that maggot out of this church and tell him to go find another church to corrupt because why because he's causing division what does everybody in this room believe hopefully everybody in this room believes that salvation is by faith alone and that it's eternal security so if someone comes in here preaching some other weird stuff they're out the door so and it'd be the same thing with with anything like that look what Paul says here though in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 it says but if any have caused grief he hath not grieved me but in part that I may not overcharge you all sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many so everybody kicked this guy out of the church they shunned him and when he got his life right what's Paul saying sufficient to the such a man is this punishment so if the person does the time you know they do the crime they do the time they get the punishment that they get and then they get it right then we're supposed to allow that person to come back we're supposed to let that person live it down look at verse 7 it says so that you ought rather to forgive him and what comfort him lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow so here's what we don't want to do when someone repents when someone does everything to get it right and they come back we want to make sure that we're forgiving them and comforting them member Job's friends wouldn't comfort him when all this stuff was going on but then in the end when God gave him back everything then people came to him and comforted him didn't they so as friends as brothers and sisters of Christ our goal if we if someone does get thrown out of the church or someone leaves the church for some reason you know our goal is if they would repent they can come back okay I'm not and I don't want to throw people out but sometimes people do have to be thrown out but it says less someone less such a one be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow so when you don't forgive someone that's committed some sin if you are not willing to forgive them that person could be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow and guess what happens when someone has overmuch sorrow it can ruin their life they could commit suicide they could do all kinds of things they could just go off into worse and deeper sin when they're not being forgiven correctly like the Bible says says wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him tell that person hey we love you we're glad to have you back so and that's that's what I want for this church is that we would be people that would be forgiving and that we would you know our goal is not to to throw every person out for doing something wrong our goal is to help people to live the Christian life and to be a great soul winner and to serve the Lord with all their might with all their soul and all their heart so look at verse 9 says for to this end that excuse me for to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you whether you be obedient in all things so what's Paul saying he's so the first time he told him kick that person out they obeyed him and then when they he asked him to forgive them he wanted to know whether they'd be obedient in all things hey now that you've kicked him out are you willing to bring him back in it says to whom he forgive anything I forgave also for if I forgave anything to whom I forgave it for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ lest Satan should get an advantage of us so what's gonna happen when you're not forgiving what's gonna happen when you don't do what God says he says if you repent thou shalt forgive him and if you don't do that then guess what you're breaking God's commandment and then he's gonna come down on you he's not gonna forgive you for your trespasses so the little pet sins that you have in your life too that you're as you're sitting there just trying to put someone on the cross for what they've done and then you have your own sins that you need to deal with and then you're not gonna be forgiving to that person when they ask for forgiveness when they repent when they do the right thing that's wicked and look you're I think in some ways you're even more wicked than that other person is because look that's what God look God forgives us of everything and how are you gonna be unforgiving when you've been forgiven for everything it's weird it's a weird mentality says for I forget okay let's see let's say you can get advantage of us for we're not ignorant of his devices what are his devices well first of all his devices are don't kick anybody out that's what most churches are like nowadays right that which is wrong also but then you know what are his other devices well if you kick someone out and then you refuse to bring that person back in or if someone sins against you you refuse to forgive that person of that sin or if that person sins a great sin in front of the whole church and they're rebuked for it and they're kicked out that you don't forgive them when they come back that's what it that's what it's talking about and so Satan will get an advantage of us remember I preached on Thursday about how we have a great advantage because we're in this church and we have the Bible we have God's commandments we have preaching and all that stuff well we don't want Satan to get the advantage on us because he's going around like a war and lion seeking whom he may devour he wants to devour every single family in this church he wants to devour your pastor he wants to devour the pastor's wife he wants to devour the pastor's kids he wants us to fall he wants this you know when when God said he was gonna take the candlestick away from Ephesus you know that part in the Bible and in Revelation where it says that why was he gonna do that because they lost their first love how did he say to get your first love back to do the first works right and so is there a church in Ephesus right now it's a Bible believing thundering the Greek the old the the TR in front of everybody what do you know where that church is in Ephesus you know why it's not there because they've failed to do what God said and so if we fail to do what God said you know what Satan's gonna get the advantage over this church and he's going to be allowed to cause destruction in it what devices would he get well what devices would he use causing division oh you shouldn't forgive that person they did this this and that wrong if they're repentant do you think if someone writes a letter telling you they're sorry and takes every punishment that they were they were given without do not without any any if ands or buts do you think that person would be repentant I think they would I think if anybody comes and says I'm very sorry you know obviously are we supposed to sit back and judge how sorry they are if they don't come to us crying then they're not really repentant not weird we don't we don't expect people like what we joke around and say well that person cried at the door when they got saved so we know they got really saved right but not everybody cries about stuff so does that mean that they weren't really repentant no it doesn't so we don't want Satan to get advantage of us we need to forgive people when they sin and when they're repentant of that sin so we need to allow people to live things down that's ultimately what I'm trying to say here someone can commit a big sin someone can say something stupid to you in church someone can can you know you can fight on Facebook about something and you know if someone says you know I'm sorry I was a little out of control or whatever whatever the thing is we should allow people to live it down now if you're a modalist heretic unsaved devil that's a different story okay and I'm gonna get to that in a minute but let's turn over to a Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 I think brother Shawn preached out of this last week I look once a person's repented once a person's been punished we need to restore them lest they become over us swallowed over much grief over much grief excuse me look at Galatians chapter 6 1 it says brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault you which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself lest thou also be tempted now I actually believe that this is talking about someone that is in the fault now I think we're supposed to shun people that are thrown out of the church so that they will get their heart right and come back but if someone if you want to help someone to get them back into church or you want to help someone that's having a problem I don't think there's anything wrong with that but it does say considering thyself lest thou also be tempted if this sin is some kind of sin that you could that you're easily able to fall into don't you know if it's drinking don't go to the bar and try to comfort them and get them back into church okay that's not the place for you to go and do that anyway but I think the Bible says in verse 2 bury you one another burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ for if a man think of himself to be something when he's nothing he deceiveth himself so we got to understand that you know we are supposed to be those are spiritual should be willing to restore someone in the spirit of meekness but be careful not to get wrapped up into that sin that they're committing so turn to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 it says in verse 30 and grieve not the Holy Spirit whereby you're sealed unto 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 you see that he wants us to be forgiving to other Christians why because even God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you how are you gonna sit there and not be forgiven when you've been forgiven for everything to me that that tells a lot about someone's character and look people have fights with people in church and people get upset with each other at church and there's certain people that maybe you don't get along with as good as you do with others and look I'm not trying to say you have to be friends with every single person in here but you should love them you know you should still be able to be nice to that person maybe that's not your favorite person to hang around but you can still say hello and be kind and tender-hearted to that person if they're sick if they sin you're willing to forgive them doesn't mean you have to be best friends but you should be kind to them you should be tender-hearted and willing to forgive like Christ forgave you turn to 2nd Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14 2nd Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14 I'm drawing nigh to the end here second cross Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14 Bible says if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land so God what what does he expect us to be like well he expects us as his people to be humble and pray and seek for his face and turn from their wicked ways and then it says he will forgive their sin so a repentant sinner God is willing to forgive all right and we should be willing to do the same thing Psalm chapter 80 go ahead turn to Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 34 I'm gonna read Psalm chapter 86 verse 5 for you Psalm chapter 86 verse 5 says for thou Lord are good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee see God's plenteous in mercy wouldn't the God that everybody in this church would be plenteous in mercy also towards other people just like God has been for us you're in Jeremiah chapter 31 look at verse 34 it says and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brothers saying know the Lord and they shall all know me for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord and I will forgive their iniquity and I'll remember their sin no more and see so God he he forgets our and he forgives our iniquity and he remembers it no more it's as far away as the East is from the West with God so you know what as Christians we should be the same way we shouldn't just keep holding things over people's heads all the time if someone asks you to forgive them forgive them and quit holding it over them and talking about it to other people that's not right and so we should if you want to be like the Lord then do like what the Lord does that make sense turn to Ephesians chapter 2 this the last verse so I'll have you turn to Ephesians chapter 2 and verse number 4 actually I forgot I did have another point but I still won't have you turned any more verses but look at Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 says but God who's rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace you are saved and hath raised us up together guess what Christ is gonna raise us up together it says and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus guess what we're all gonna be sitting together in heaven too the person you can't stand it's still gonna be sitting together with you in heaven so you might as well learn to get along with people right now and be forgiving to people right now because in heaven you're gonna be sitting with them anyway and maybe God's just gonna make you sit next to that person that you wouldn't forgive so it says that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus because that's really what it's all about you know living this Christian life together loving our brothers and sisters in Christ keeping God's command loving the Lord our God with all of our heart with all of our mind with all of our soul with all our strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves this is your neighbor include your Christian neighbor that you're sitting next to right now absolutely so the Lord gives us the ultimate forgiveness which is this all of our sins forgiven and you know but there's people that shouldn't be forgiven now this is the part where I'm gonna lose some people that's okay look I believe in being forgiving to everybody but there are certain people that I'd wouldn't forgive you know this and who are those people those that hate the Lord because those they hate the Lord or you know God doesn't love them and so and those that will not ask for forgiveness we don't have to forgive those people either so here's a scenario I was given to you real quick I know I'm out of time here here's a scenario a homo serial killer murders your entire family desecrates their bodies are you supposed to forgive this person that person you know how many times I've seen people in court these monsters these serial killers get up and they go well forgive me not a tear comes from their eyes you know why because they don't care that's just a fake show but you know how many times I've seen people get up that are Christians and go I just want to let you know Jeffrey Dahmer I forgive you okay why why do you forgive them how about the Green River killer I saw someone get up and say that they forgave him and the post trial now look it's your prerogative if you want to forgive people or not well understand this that that person's not going to heaven God's not forgiving them so why aren't you forgiving them well I mean if that just helps ease your mind you don't want to hold the hate in your heart or whatever you know if someone killed my family I would hate them I'd do everything I could to get them the death penalty so in that scenario I don't think that we are commanded to forgive people the Bible says put away from yourself that wicked person the Bible says that people some people should get the death penalty is that is that true that some people should get the death penalty and most Christians won't won't say well I don't think they'll say I believe that I believe in the death penalty for murderers I agree with you but they won't take it any further than that but the Bible gives the death penalty for adultery the Bible gives the death penalty for homosexuality the Bible gives the death penalty for murder the Bible gives the death penalty for kidnapping the Bible gives the death penalty for rape and so look if you what's one of those do you disagree with none of them do you do if someone rapes another person don't you think they should be put to death absolutely but our country doesn't believe that our government doesn't believe that they should put innocent children in the womb to death but they don't believe that you should do you should put someone to death that harms another child they're talking about us all wearing masks right now if you cared about people you'd wear masks and these same people that are saying that Jay Inslee the wicked governor that we have right now these same people are saying that vote for the most atrocious abortion rules in existence partial birth abortions I bet you if it came up to a vote if it wouldn't freak people out too bad they would vote for people to be killed children to be killed outside the womb and I know there's people that are that extreme and all these Hollywood weird actors that are standing you know they stand up with their masks on and saying how you don't care about people if you don't wear one but the same person is saying I'm glad I had an abortion you know what I don't care I'm not gonna forgive those people because you know obviously I could forgive someone for an abortion I'm not saying that I'm just saying for the people that got that hate God Jehoshaphat made a league with a with Ahab and he'll let his sons and daughters their their families intermingle and get married and he was caught by a prophet in Second Chronicles chapter 19 and it was Jehu the prophet and said that it was the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord it's a good question should we love the ungodly and those that hate the Lord see there's a difference between someone that's just a sinner and someone that hates the Lord should we love those that hate the Lord it says therefore wrath is a wrath upon thee from the Lord doesn't sound like God's happy with them for loving for loving that person that hates God no so and David in Psalm 58 says break their teeth out Oh God in their mouth break out the teeth of the young lions Oh Lord let them melt away as waters which run continually when he bended his bow to shoot his arrows let him be cut in pieces as a snail which melteth every one let every one of them pass away like the untimely birth of a woman that they may not see the Sun and in verse 10 it says the righteous shall rejoice when they see the vengeance they shall wash their feet in the blood of the wicked to be able to most time the church churches don't preach these kind of verses because it's super offensive to people but you know God's people should never be offended Bible says great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them if you love God's Word these these verses should be just as good to you as any other verse he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked the Bible there the Bible teaches there's some people that God hates and those are people that hate him and reject him and so I would say this we don't have to forgive them that's not somebody we have to forgive think about Judas Jesus said about Judas he said better if he had never been born I mean does that sound like Jesus is ready to forgive him how about when Jesus says whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me they were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea does it sound like Jesus is saying that guy has forgiveness no he's saying it would be better for him for that to happen to him than for what I'm going to do to him and so look I know that this isn't a popular teaching but the Bible does say that there's people that are given over to a reprobate mind and those people people are like oh I forgive them anyway okay so you're just better than God then that's what basically what they're saying they're more loving than God they're more forgiving than God these queers can get saved these homeless can get saved the Bible says they're implacable that means they're unable to be placated that means that no matter what you do there it's never gonna be enough for them they're always gonna want more and what do you see happening once we let them all get married now they want all this other they want to adopt children then they want to do this and they want to do that and they want to get into every workplace they want to change all the work laws and so that you have to sit there and look at some clown wearing makeup that's a dude while you get served your food that's disgusting when Dylan was in Idaho he said that there was one of those people like that and he left a review on the restaurant's website and they said we're so sorry you had to deal with that Idaho might be the promised land I don't know so he was thinking they were just gonna say well don't come back then you LGBT hating weirdo but they were actually apologized to him for it do you think that if you ate in a restaurant in Portland and you sent a thing like that they would apologize they probably have you on the news the Bible says that they're back biters that they're haters of God these reprobate people they're haters of God so why would you love someone that God hates that makes no sense why would you forgive someone for doing some atrocious crimes that God hates it doesn't make sense it doesn't make sense at all so we got to keep things in perspective we got to understand that we got to forgive the unsaved we got to forgive brothers in Christ that are saved that ask for that are repentant the Bible commands it but there's people that you know and that and and we got to remember that God forgive us of all of our sins and so when we start getting ultra spiritual and high-minded remember the Bible says to take heed lest you fall if you're looking down at everybody and you're on this spiritual plateau you're the most spiritual person in this church and nobody's better than you nobody's kids are more subjection than you and I should be the pastor of this church guess what take heed lest you fall because the fall is gonna be great so anyway and then the last thing is that the people we shouldn't forget are people that are wicked reprobate God hating people and we all know who those people are you know but look not everybody's a reprobate there's certain people you can tell that are though and they're the people with purple paint on their face and a dude wearing a dress and all that kind of stuff that's who we know for sure is so anyway let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you Lord for this wonderful day we pray that you bless and Lord help us to have hearts that are bent towards forgiveness for our brothers and sisters in Christ and remember that you forgave all and Lord that we should be following in your footsteps and being like you and that Lord we should have an attitude and a willingness for people that repent to get their hearts right and let them live it down and Lord not act like it's the end of their Christianity Lord I pray that you'd help us to have that heart here at this church help us as we go so wanting today and to get somebody saved and I pray that you'd bless the Lord's Supper as we partake together tonight in Jesus name we pray amen