Sunday

A preacher concluded his sermon on forgiving your enemies, by asking his congregation, “How many are willing to forgive their enemies?” Fewer than half the congregation raised their hand. This was not what the preacher expected or wanted. So instead of concluding his sermon he expounded on the necessity of forgiving your enemy for another twenty minutes. He again asked the question, “How many are willing to forgive their enemies?” This time it appeared that 80% of the congregation raised their hand. Still unsatisfied, he preached for another twenty minutes quoting every verse of scripture that dealt with forgiveness. Certain there would not be a single person who would not now raise their hand he asked, “How many are willing to forgive their enemies?”

Every hand in the church went up, except for Ms. Jones. Ms. Jones, the preacher called out, “Are you not willing to forgive your enemies?”

“I don’t have any.” Ms Jones replied.

“Ms. Jones, that is very unusual.” commented the preacher. “How old are you?” he asked.

Ms. Jones replied, “Ninety-three.”

The preacher responded, “Ms. Jones could you please come down here and tell this congregation how a person can live to be ninety-three and not have an enemy in the world.”

Ms. Jones slowly made her way to the front of the church. She turned and spoke to the congregation saying, “It’s easy. I just outlived them.”

Unfortunately, we may not all have the opportunity to outlive our enemies. In which case it may do us all some good to listen what God has to say this morning about forgiveness.

“Blessed is he whose
transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord
does not count against him
and in whose spirit
is no deceit.”

The truth is plain and simple God wants to forgive sinners. Forgiveness has always been a part of God’s loving nature. As the footnotes in my life application Bible states, God announced it to Moses, revealed it to David, and dramatically showed it to the world through Jesus Christ.

This is exactly the point that Paul is making in Romans 5:17,

“For if, by the trespass
of the one man,
death reigned through the one man, how much more will those who
receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in the life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”

We have the ability to do wrong, but we don’t have the ability to make our wrongs right. Salvation comes only by and through God’s grace. Only God can save us from sinfulness. God did indeed save us from our sinfulness and separation from God by and through Jesus Christ. The righteousness and obedience of Jesus saves us from our sins. We have the power to separate ourselves from God, but we do not have the power to reinstate ourselves with God. God took the initiative to reinstate us by forgiving our sinfulness by His grace as demonstrated in Christ Jesus.

Simply stated, you and I are saved from our sins by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, being saved from sin doesn’t mean sin has been eliminated from existence. The truth is that sin abounds, but the grace of God abounds more.

“Blessed is he whose
transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord
does not count against him
and in whose spirit
is no deceit.”

Lisa and Brent were brother and sister. They were as different as night and day. Lisa, the older by two years struggled with everything she attempted to do, school work, athletics, playing musical instruments. Brent seemed to succeed in everything, especially in playing the oboe.

In Sunday school they learned the story of forgiveness, when Peter asked Jesus,

“How many times must I forgive,
seven times?”

Jesus responded,

“Seventy times seven.”

When Lisa got home from Sunday school she took out a piece of paper and made several columns of numbers counting from 1 to 490 and it was then the counting began. The next time she did something wrong to her brother and he got mad, she said, “You have to forgive me 490 times.” Brent said, “OK, but now it's 489 times.”

Whenever Lisa would do something wrong or make one of her usual careless mistakes she would refer to her list and how many more times he still had to forgive her. Then came careless mistake number 491. Brent had received an opportunity of a lifetime. As one of the best oboe players in America, he had been given a chance to tryout for New York City’s great orchestra as high school senior.

Lisa was late for work and as she was running out the door she stopped to answer the phone. It was the orchestra’s secretary calling to inform Brent of the time of his audition.

Can you guess what happen? Lisa forgot to tell Brent and he missed the audition and missed the opportunity to have his dreams come true. Lisa was so sorry knowing that she ruined Brent’s life and believing he could never forgive her. She left home during the middle of the night. She left a note saying she was sorry and the she would be ok. A few days letter she got a job as a waitress in Boston. She ignored all the attempts her parents made to reach her. Except one time she wrote, “It’s too late. I’ve ruined Brent’s life.”

One day a friend of the family came into the restaurant where she worked. She recognized Lisa and began a conversation with her. During the conversation she expressed her sympathy for what happened to Brent. It was then that Lisa learned her brother had been killed in a terrible accident. She returned home immediately.

As she sat in her room thinking about her brother she was looking through a box of memories. Among the things she found was her list of forgiven mistakes. Attached to it was a note form her brother.

Dear Lisa,

It was you who kept count, not me. But if you’re stubborn enough to keep count, use the new chart I’ve made for you.

Love Brent

She opened the chart and found on the top of the page, Number 491. Forgive Forever.

“Blessed is he whose
transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord
does not count against him
and in whose spirit
is no deceit.”

If you’re holding on to unforgiveness towards someone, let it go. If you don’t, your inner healing will never come. Ask the Lord to reveal to you if you have any unforgiveness towards anyone and then ask Him to help you forgive that person. The only one you are hurting by not forgiving is yourself.

Remember,

Sin abounds,
God’s grace abounds more!

Amen