Listen to the Sermon:
09072014Luke17.1-4ForgivenessDonRuhl
Forgiveness
Luke 17.1–4
Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • September 7, In the year of our Lord, 2014
Scripture Reader and Reading: Dan Calvert – Matthew 18.6–7
Song Leader and Song Suggestions: Phil Joseph – No suggestions
Prelude:
- Let the devil rule in your heart, and
- you will hold a grudge, because
- you have not known the way of forgiveness.
- Let the Lord rule in your heart, and
- you will forgive, because
- you have experienced forgiveness.
- Jesus did not get complicated when He taught forgiveness.
- We look for ways not to forgive.
- He taught plainly that we should forgive.
Persuasion:
- Luke 17.1–2 – The Certainty of Occasions of Stumbling
1 Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones” (Luke 17.1–2).
- Offenses will come, because
- disciples of Christ are not shielded from occasions of stumbling.
- He never promised that difficulties would not occur.
- Why do Christians think everything will always be easy?
- Did Jesus face conflict?
- Did the apostles?
- Did the prophets?
- The Bible even prophesies
- that we will have conflict, and
- the Bible reveals why,
19 For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you (1Co 11.19).
- Offenses show
- whether we will still follow the Lord,
- whether we know how to implement what He has taught,
- whether we want to implement His teachings.
- Therefore, offenses can show who truly walks with the Lord.
- Offenses show
- Satan will throw stumbling-blocks before you, because
- he wants you to lose faith in God.
- He will use everything imaginable, including:
- Christian sources,
- anti-Christian sources, and
- non-Christian sources.
- Whereas we may endure persecution and temptation,
- that comes as a direct assault on our Christianity,
- what about things that appear
- to have no connection to religion? For example,
- problems in finances, family, health, friends, etc.?
- Satan assaulted Job with these because of his faith.
- Jesus then added, “But woe to him through whom they do come!”
- He who causes stumbling is not a blessing.
- Some, as they persecute, justify themselves, saying,
- “You are supposed to take it,” or
- some other reasoning.
- He has a woe upon him, because
- he has sold himself to Satan.
- Listen to what Jesus had to say of the offender,
6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” (Matt 18.6–7).
- disciples of Christ are not shielded from occasions of stumbling.
- To drown is better than causing someone to stumble!
- Picture of the horror of having a millstone hung around your neck,
- then someone throws you into the sea.
- Tom and Jackie Hawks had a similar experience in November 2004,
- when Skylar Deleon and his co-defendants tied the Hawks
- to an achor and threw it overboard.
- However, Jesus said to experience something of that nature
- is not as bad as what will happen to someone
- who causes others to sin.
- Tom and Jackie Hawks had a similar experience in November 2004,
- Everyone is responsible for his own beliefs and business.
- However, that does not discredit someone who influences.
- Who literally killed Jesus?
- The Romans did, but
- Peter accused the Jews (Acts 2.23, 36).
- Offenses will come, because
- Luke 17.3–4 – Forgiveness
3 “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him” (Luke 17.3–4).
- What is important here?
- Saving a brother and
- keeping him as a brother.
- However, this takes a Christ-like heart, because
- this has serious ramifications whether we practice it or not.
- Therefore, Jesus prefaced His teaching
- with an exhortation to take heed to ourselves.
- Let us examine ourselves to see whether Jesus lives in us.
- He taught elsewhere
- that if we forgive,
- we shall be forgiven, but
- if we do not forgive,
- we shall not be forgiven.
- Jesus did not teach us to leave the congregation, and
- that we should think to ourselves,
- “I thought Christians were not supposed to sin against one another.”
- No, Jesus knew that there would be relationship problems, and
- He taught us how to deal with them.
- If your brother sins, rebuke him.
- Jesus did not say to blow your brother out of the water.
- Jesus did not say to tell others about it.
- Jesus did not say to tattle to the elders and let them handle it.
- Rebuke does not mean to get in your brother’s face and
- chew him out, but
- simply to correct him, and
- correct him as you wish to be corrected.
- If your brother repents, forgive him.
- We cannot forgive unless there has been an effort to change, but
- a brother has to know of our eager willingness
- to forgive him for him to be motivated to change.
- Remember the example of Jesus,
34 “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23.34).
- The Father did not forgive them right then, but
- He did 51 days later
- when they repented.
- The Father forgave them, because
- Jesus truly wanted them forgiven.
- Remember the example of Jesus,
- This does not authorize grudges until a person has repented.
- Forgive your brother.
- Some object, asking how can God expect them to forgive.
- He forgave us.
- How can we not forgive?
13 …bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do (Col 3.13).
- Others object saying, I cannot forgive.
- What they mean is: I do not want to forget.
- Remember Colossians 3.13 and now Hebrews 8,
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more (Heb 8.12).
- We forgive when we submit totally to Jesus Christ.
- He said it, that settles it, therefore I do it.
- We have to have complete confidence in His instructions.
- Some object, asking how can God expect them to forgive.
- We cannot forgive unless there has been an effort to change, but
- How far should we go with forgiveness?
- What did Jesus say in Luke 17.4?
- Remember that we live the second-mile religion.
- Even as we do not want Jesus to limit His forgiveness toward us,
- so we cannot limit our forgiveness toward our brother.
- It helps me to think on my sins against God, but
- His readiness to forgive me.
- How often have I sinned against Him, and
- how repulsive have my sins been against Him and others?
- When Jesus said
- that if you brother sins against you seven times in a day, and
- that if he seven times in a day returns to you and says, “I repent,”
- did Jesus mean to count up to that number,
- then after that no longer forgive him?
- First, has someone sinned against us seven times in one day?
- If so, it is a lot.
- However, that is His point.
- Jesus told Peter to forgive seventy times seven (Matt 18.21–22).
- First, has someone sinned against us seven times in one day?
- Is it possible to repent sincerely repeatedly?
- Yes,
- even as we do toward God and toward others.
- Repeated genuine forgiveness
- for genuine repentance
- does not necessarily encourage abuse.
- Does God’s repeated forgiveness encourage abuse of His grace?
- For some, yes.
- For others, no.
- It builds reconciliation,
- which builds fellowship,
- which builds friendship, and
- friends avoid offending one another.
- Friends hasten to forgive in order to restore friendship.
- Does God’s repeated forgiveness encourage abuse of His grace?
- What did Jesus say in Luke 17.4?
- What is important here?
Exhortation:
- Experience the forgiveness of Jesus.