Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: We need to communicate with God, but how can we enter into a communication with God when we know that I hate my mother, my father, my brother, my sister, or that I have unforgiveness for anybody outside of the church? Have you made it right with God? Have you made it right with the other person that you hate? Your unforgiveness is in your heart. You don't want to forgive.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. As we pick up in our study on the power of forgiveness today, Raul will urge you to ask for God's help in letting go of any hurt, bitterness, or rage that might be weighing down your heart.

Stay with us to consider that just as the Lord pardons you when you sin against Him, He can give you the strength to extend that same grace to others. Here's Raul Ries with the lesson, "The Issue of Forgiveness." If you have your Bible, join us in Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 14.

Raul Ries: Jesus here is going to deal really heavily because there are so many Christians in the body of Christ even today that have unforgiveness. Unforgiveness not only grieves the Holy Spirit of God, but unforgiveness will keep you from growing in the Lord to maturity. Unforgiveness will grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

Let's begin by reading what Jesus says in verses 14 and 15. He says, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses." Now, He starts with the word "for," which takes us back to the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer.

I can remember when I was an unbeliever that I had a real problem with unforgiveness. Number one, with my family. The reason for that is the way we grew up: a home of alcohol, a home of violence. Then there was the hardness of the hearts since I was a little kid, five, six, seven years old, until I became a teenager and became a young adult. Then I went to Vietnam and came back from Vietnam now with even a greater anger in my heart.

My father and I did not get along because of his drinking and because of his abuse, verbal abuse with my mom and physical abuse. My goal always, because of the unforgiveness, was to kill my dad. That was my goal. I almost got my wish completely done. Something held me back because the following week, I got saved.

When I got saved, the first thing that I did in my life, I went and apologized to my dad and to my mom. Even though they did something to me because of their son and because of my heart, the way I felt about them, I asked them to forgive me. It took ten years for my mom and dad to get saved, but they got saved.

My dad one day was in front of the altar accepting Christ. My mom got saved too. My brother got saved, and my sisters got saved. When we got saved, I immediately, nobody had to tell me. The day that I got saved and I started reading my Bible, I knew that I had to make things right with people. There are so many things that can separate us from God and from the Word of God.

But the most important thing that Jesus is bringing up here, which can separate us from the love of God, is unforgiveness, not forgiving those that have hurt us. We need to communicate with God, but how can we enter into a communication with God when we know that I hate my mother, my father, my brother, my sister, or that I have unforgiveness for anybody outside of the church?

Have you made it right with God? Have you made it right with the other person that you hate? Your unforgiveness is in your heart. You don't want to forgive. The coolest thing about that is that if you are a Christian and you want to do what's right, biblically, if you go to that person and you ask them to forgive you and they do not want to forgive you, hey, you've done what is right. You're free. You've got peace.

You move forward. You're growing in the Lord. God will deal with that person. You don't have to worry about that person. In verse 12, He said, remember, "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." So, the very idea that a person must forgive others is in order for God to forgive that person, but to forgive me. Don't you remember the way your life was before and how God forgave you no matter what you did?

That's a hard thing to understand. I can't understand that. It's because of His love, it's because of His grace and His mercy that He has toward us. And yet because we are human beings and because even as we are Christians, we miss the mark every day. we sin. But the Holy Spirit is always there in our hearts like a little alarm to alarm our conscience.

Before we commit that sin, God will warn you through the Holy Spirit. Then He gives you the choice to do it or not to do it, to obey or to disobey God. And the idea of forgiveness is just what Jesus is saying here: it is to forget, to completely bury it and forget it. What did Jesus do with our sins? He took them, He cast them as far as the east is from the west, and He buried them in the deepest part of the ocean.

Did you notice He used not the word "hamartia" to miss the mark? He used the word "transgression," a willful act, a willful act to go ahead and hate people and not forgive people. And yet people in the church not only tend to forget that Jesus has forgiven each one of us individually, but what about others that have forgiven you but you won't forgive them? And yet you sit in church every Sunday, every Wednesday, every Sunday night.

The first thing if you want to have peace with God is to get on your knees and ask God to show you the hardness of your heart. So when you stand up, you can go forward and go to any person that you've damaged their lives and make things right before God and them, to forgive them. And if they don't forgive you, you've done what is right before God.

Mark 11:25 says, "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." Wow. There's so much in this scripture about forgiveness because for us to understand, the word trespass here is "paraptoma."

It means to stumble, to fall, to slip, to blunder, to deviate from the righteousness and truth. So we get this word transgress, which also when you look at it, it's a willful act when we commit that. And the Holy Spirit not only is speaking to our hearts, but when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, when He speaks to my heart, the Holy Spirit immediately convicts me.

I have two things to do: either to go and apologize or to keep it in my heart and become callous and harden my heart and to hate and to do nothing to do with forgiveness, but unforgiveness in my life. So forgiveness here is very important. Forgiving people is their trespass. Notice what He's talking about here, meaning several things. Number one, we are not going to be judgmental. That's another thing.

How many times we are judgmental toward people. Jesus said if you see your brother and he has a two-by-two in his eye, make sure that you take that twenty-by-two out of your own eye before you tell him. judgmental to other people. And then how about secondly, we are not to be bitter or hostile. When you're bitter, you become hostile because you don't like that person. Whatever they've done to you, you hate them for that.

Thirdly, we do not plan revenge. Revenge. How are we going to get rid of them? Think of how many people have revenge in their lives and their hearts. Maybe you have someone in your life that way, where they have so much hate they want to murder you, they want to get revenge on you. Or we do not hold hard feelings. How many times we hold hard feelings against people: sons, daughters against their parents, parents against their children, or husband against wife, wife against husband, or friend against friend.

We cannot keep hard feelings. And then we're not to gossip or spread rumors about them, saying things to hurt their character. As a Christian, I constantly have to reflect. Look what I did and look what God forgave me for. And yet why is it that when I still sin, I can't forgive them when God has forgiven me for so much? You know what we should do? We should pray for that person.

He says about forgiveness in Matthew 5:7, remember the Sermon on the Mount there, the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Mark 11:25: "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anybody, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you and all of your trespasses." Luke 11:4: "And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation."

Luke 17:3: "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and even seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him." Seven times he comes against, seven times you still have to forgive him. That is so hard to do, but that's a command.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. We want to help you walk in the wisdom of God's Word, and we invite you to visit somebodylovesyou.com for resources. You can also join Raul for Straight Talk Tuesday mornings on the Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel. Now, back to the final part of our study, "The Issue of Forgiveness."

Raul Ries: Look at secondly, the warning of unforgiveness in verse 15. "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses." So what are some of the attitudes toward forgiveness? Number one, we have to have the attitude of not as a doubter, but a believer. Not as an agnostic, a doubter. Forgiveness from an invisible person, God, is far-fetched when you think about that.

And how about secondly, we have the attitude of guilt, the conscience-stricken person. The conscience is very powerful. He prays for forgiveness over and over, but he never comes to know forgiveness even himself because of the hardness of his heart. And thirdly, we have the attitude of a social religionist. That is, we view God as a patsy grandfather who allows a person to live like he wishes as long as he occasionally confesses his sins.

That's a condition of the church today. No conviction. No true repentance. So how can we receive true forgiveness from God? There is only true forgiveness when there's true repentance, true repentance before God. Not to continue in that state of sin. Not to continue the way you were in the past. You're a new creature now. New things are coming passing through your life now.

And then He's the one not only that truly knows our hearts, but He knows our sinfulness. He knows our self-unforgiveness within our hearts where we not only stand and people look at us and we can smile and play the part like the hypocrite. Remember, he puts on a face of angry, happy, whatever face you want to put on. You do that and in the church, many people are putting on a face of hypocrisy.

You're an actor. You play the part very well. But the real you is the one that is in trouble with God. If you don't want to have condemnation in your life, then there has to be true repentance. Paul says, "Therefore, if any man is in Christ Jesus, all things are passed away. Behold, all things become brand new," 2 Corinthians 5:17.

And then in Romans 8:1, "Therefore, there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Holy Spirit." Walking in the flesh is unforgiveness, unforgiveness before God. And then it's so important that we understand this because there is the warning. The warning that if we do not forgive, then we can't have peace with God, we can't grow, we can't develop, we cannot go forward in any way.

And when we pray, our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. Our communion with God is cut off. Just like when your battery in your phone goes out, you have to plug in. Well, you know what? With God, you're unplugged. Forgiving other people's sins, you see. We don't forgive people's sins. We forgive them because they're sinners. God's the only one that can forgive sin.

You see, bad feelings show that the person does not know the true nature of God, the true nature of God. Secondly, bad feelings show that the person walks in a life of self-righteousness and thinks that he is something before God, that God not only loves him and cares for him, but God is going to use my life. And yet it's not our righteousness; it's His righteousness, His righteousness.

He thinks that he's saved by the works that he does. Not true. Thirdly, bad feelings show that the person has not taken the biblical steps for him to forgive not only our sins but to forgive other people when they come against us. Bad feelings show also that the person will never ever grow spiritually, and they become bitter instead of spiritual.

Romans 3:9 says, "What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jew and Greek that they are all under sin. As it is written: 'There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues, they say and they practice deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.'" Notice that.

"Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. And now we know that whatever the law says, it says it to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and that all the world may become guilty before God, guilty before God."

Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And here again, Ephesians 4:31: "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you," being says, "all malice. Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ Jesus forgave you." In Christ speaks of what? My position in Christ.

Galatians 6:1: "Brethren, if a man is overtaken by any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted and fall. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." He deceives himself because he thinks he's better than another person.

And then the third point, the presupposition of forgiveness. Listen again. He says, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Father in heaven will forgive you." So, here we have not only the conclusion of forgiveness, but let's see how we can see ourselves in this problem of forgiveness.

The person who is holding bad feelings again against another person is a person that will fully fall into bitterness, and eventually, it will catch up with them physically and spiritually. And then secondly, the person who has bad feelings against another person causes inside of you, your internal organs, to be affected by bitterness. It happens all the time.

And yet people don't think that way. They say, well, if I have this bitterness with my life, it won't hurt me physically. Yes, it will. It will hurt you emotionally. It will hurt you physically. But most importantly, it will hurt you spiritually before God, spiritually. And yet I think there are three things necessary for God not only to hear our prayers and forgive our sins.

1 Timothy 2:8 says, "I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting, without wrath and doubting." So, we need to lift up our holy hands. What does that speak of? Surrender. Have you surrendered yourself to God? Surrender everything that is in you so that God can fill you and use your life to bring glory and honor to His name.

Secondly, we need not to have a wrath against anyone else. We need not to have wrath against anybody. And then thirdly, we need not to doubt how God has forgiven us. Don't doubt it. Know it. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believing in Him should not perish," forgiveness, but have eternal life.

In conclusion, the answer is having peace with life in Christ. What does it say? He is our peace. We know that the only way for peace is between two persons. Number one, Jesus can make both people one and break down that middle wall of non-communication. He can break it down.

Ephesians 2:14 says, "For He Himself, Jesus, our peace, He is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation." He's speaking about Jew and Gentile here. But there is a wall when there's unforgiveness between that person and yours and yourself. And the only way you can commune with that person and be back in fellowship is to take down that wall. How? By forgiveness. That's the only way.

Secondly, Jesus can abolish the enmity in His own flesh and make the two become a new man. Ephesians 2:15: "Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of the commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself a new man from the two, thus making peace, peace of God." Man, that's so needed today.