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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

Choose To Forgive

So it was between 1948 and 1994 there existed 1 of the most controversial political practices of the 20th century.

It can seem almost bizarre that South Africa, their system of apartheid was ever practiced, let alone accepted.

Apartheid is a word that simply means separateness, and the system was 1 of legal racial segregation spanning almost half a century.

Apartheid classified South Africans and even visitors to that country into racial groups.

You're either black or white or colored or Indian or Asian.

1949 law made it illegal for someone to marry someone of another race.

Everyone over the age of 18 was forced to carry an identity card specific to their race group.

And it was illegal for people of different races to use the same public amenities such as restaurants, public swimming pools, restrooms and blacks were relocated to live in black homelands, as they were called.

And in 1970, the blacks were no longer classified as citizens of South Africa.

Instead, they were citizens of 1 of 10 self-governing territories.

And of course, as you can imagine, and some of you may remember, the system bred massive discontent.

There were enormous protests and international condemnation And many people died and were brutally and cruelly and unjustly treated under this apartheid.

Now you might expect that when blacks in South Africa assumed power, that their prime concern would be revenge.

Many people feared mass bloodshed, vendettas, rioting, but what actually happened was something really rather incredible.

Although it was imperfect, and although some people would strongly disagree with it, there was something developed called Truth and Reconciliation, or the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and it was set up so that victims and perpetrators of violence and injustice could alike testify.

And the chairman of this Truth and Reconciliation Committee was Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

And like the country's new president Nelson Mandela, he was committed to seeing South Africa move forward and not descend into utter chaos.

After serving in that capacity, he recognized that there was 1 key component that would ensure the nation would in fact have a future.

And he said it this way, there can be no future without forgiveness.

I believe the Bible agrees with these words.

Matthew 6, verse 14, we read, for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

And we like God's forgiveness of us, don't we?

But it's in verse 15, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

If you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you.

It doesn't say if you don't obey me, God won't forgive you.

If you don't serve others, God won't forgive you.

If you're not kind to others, God won't forgive you.

But simply if you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you.

And that's a statement that many people struggle with because while you're sitting there wondering, does God really want me to forgive a certain individual for that?

The answer that comes back to us from this Bible verse is yes.

Even in the days of Jesus, it was spiritually fashionable for people to be outwardly religious, but full of garbage inwardly.

Do you remember those pitiful Jewish leaders?

They didn't want to desecrate Passover by any means, but all the while, They were in the throes of a plot to murder the Son of God.

Laboring in a new field and ran into some uncooperative leaders within the church and what did they suggest?

Jesus, can we call down fire on them and have them be consumed like what Elijah did?

Any leaders here ever wanted to say, Lord, send fire on them?

But you may recall, when Peter came to Jesus with a question, he felt pretty righteous as well.

But then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?

He says, I do not say to you up to 7 times, but up to 70 times 7.

So now we can count and it's just 490 times, is that the idea?

If you are an unforgiving person and if you're holding onto grudges and slights and hurts and crimes, that you're flat out refusing to forgive, not that 1, then don't waste your energy hoping to go to heaven, because you're not gonna go.

Heaven is not for those who refuse to forgive.

The 1 who had the greatest reason not to forgive was Jesus.

Here he was dying for the sins of others, not for his own sins, but for your sins and for mine.

And His people were driving nails into His hands and into His feet, and they hang Him on the cross to be a ridicule, naked to all.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." That's an interesting statement because they knew exactly what they were doing.

Crucifixion was calculated to inflict the maximum pain and damage, the greatest amount of suffering.

Yet Jesus cries out to his Father and requests that he forgive his tormentors.

Sometimes it can seem impossible to forgive.

I mean, how do you forgive someone who has ruined your marriage?

How do you forgive someone who is the direct reason why you are financially in the straits that you're in?

How do you forgive someone who has slandered you deliberately in the public square, who has spread lies about you?

How do you forgive the person that is responsible for you losing your job?

Or how about the individual that abused you or killed a member of your family?

How do you forgive a parent who ruined your life?

An African American, forgive a racist system or a South African apartheid.

These things seem impossible, but friends I don't believe Jesus asks you to do the impossible.

That is, He doesn't ask you to do anything that His grace cannot enable you and me to do.

No, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

And I believe that too means the forgiveness of the most awful things that to us may seem impossible.

Ephesians 4 31 is also a very challenging verse.

It says, let all bitterness, doesn't say some, let all bitterness, and we can say all wrath, all anger, all clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to 1 another, tender-hearted, forgiving 1 another." And here's the reason, even as God and Christ forgave you." Pastor, they don't deserve it.

Let's talk for a second about what forgiveness is not.

Now if somebody steps on your toe, we won't give that a second thought, but what if somebody abuses you?

How about this, saying something is okay, sorry, forgiveness is not saying something is okay or what they did was acceptable.

What they did to you is not okay and it was not acceptable.

You can forgive them but it doesn't somehow tell them that that's okay.

It just says I recognize this wrong was done and I forgive you.

Forgiveness is not necessarily making up with that person.

In some cases, it may be best to never see that person again.

It might be best to not invite that person to Thanksgiving dinner, but you can forgive, and you can forgive meaningfully.

And lastly, forgiveness is not removing consequences.

You do methamphetamines and repent or smoke and repent or practice an immoral lifestyle and repent, oh certainly God will forgive you, but you're still going to end up with perhaps a damaged brain or damaged lungs or terrible disease of some kind.

And so even if you forgive someone, there's often consequences.

You shoot someone in the foot, they might forgive you, but you're still going to be charged and might go to prison.

What forgiveness does is it frees you from being a slave to the hurtful things of the past.

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Choose To Forgive

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