Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them the trespass against us.
Today we are having another one of those heart to heart talks regarding this portion of the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray.
Do you remember when I left your home the last time that we had our heart to heart talk regarding this thing of forgiveness?
I reminded you that Jesus actually makes our claim to our own forgiveness to depend upon our forgiveness of others.
We're obliged either to forgive our enemies in sincerity and in truth or never again to repeat this prayer.
Remember, when we forgive it must be in sincerity and in truth.
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, Jesus said, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Now I want you to see something. It's easy to talk about many women who hold malice, prejudice, jealousy, a grudge, an unforgiving spirit in their hearts.
It's the simplest thing in the world to point an accusing finger at someone. It's very simple to lay your finger on the sin in someone's life.
But not only lay a finger on that sin but tell that one how to overcome that sin, what to do.
And notice here, Jesus does not say forgive me my trespasses and I will try to forgive others. Neither does he say I will see if it can be done.
Nor does he say I will forgive generally with certain exceptions. No man. He obliges us to declare that we have actually forgiven and forgiven all.
And he makes our claim to our own forgiveness to depend upon that sincere forgiveness of our own hearts towards someone else.
Who is there who has grace enough to say his prayers at all? Who does not long for the forgiveness of the cancellation of his own mistakes, his own faults?
My goodness alive, I want everybody to forgive me. You know, I'm so imperfect and I make so many mistakes.
I no sooner make a mistake and have to go and ask someone's forgiveness until I turn around and bless me.
I guess it's because I'm so human. Sometimes I think I'm more human than someone else.
And don't tell me that you don't make mistakes because you wouldn't be human if you didn't make mistakes.
It's like that. We all make mistakes, but I make so many mistakes and I feel so good when somebody forgives me.
It's the greatest feeling in the world. And I'd like to know at the close of the day when I am closing my eyes and sleep,
that everywhere, the one to whom I have done wrong, or I might have said an unkind word, or I forgot to do that kindness,
that everywhere, those who have been hurt by my negligence, not intentionally, but I did those things,
I want them to forgive more than anything in the world. Who does not long for the forgiveness or the cancellation of his own mistakes, his own faults?
Who would be so insane as to endeavor to seek the kingdom of God without desiring to be relieved of his own sense of guilt?
No one. I believe with all my heart that the answer is no one.
And so we see that we are trapped in the inescapable position that we cannot demand our own release before we have released our brother.
You must forgive everyone who has hurt you if you want to be forgiven yourself.
That's the long and the short of it. Jesus lays it right there on the line.
You have got to get rid of all resentment, of all condemnation of others.
And I go a bit further, and not least of self-condemnation and remorse.
You have to forgive others. And having discontinued your own mistakes, you have to accept the forgiveness of God for them too.
Or else you can make no progress. There will be no progress whatsoever.
You have to forgive yourself. But you cannot forgive yourself sincerely until you have forgiven others first.
Having forgiven others, you must be prepared to forgive yourself too.
For to refuse to forgive oneself is only spiritual pride.
Oh, there's so much involved when Jesus said, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.
Having forgiven others, you must be prepared to forgive yourself too.
For again I repeat, to refuse to forgive oneself is only spiritual pride.
And by that sin, they'll be angels. We cannot make this point too clear to ourselves.
We've got to forgive. There are few people in the world who have not at some time or another been hurt.
Really hurt. Hurt by someone else. You've been disappointed. You've been injured. You've been misled. You've been deceived.
And such things sink into the memory where they usually cause inflamed and festering wounds.
And the thing grows and grows and festers and festers. Something that was only a word or two at the beginning.
It was only a little sore. A little tiny speck.
Maybe the word spoken with just an insinuation. But it isn't long before the little festering sore grew so large.
Until it took complete charge of your mind. It isn't long before it took complete charge of your body. Of you.
And it's like that. And there's only one remedy. Just one. It has got to be plucked out and thrown away.
And the only one and the only way to do is by forgiveness.
Now of course, nothing in all the world is easier than to forgive people who have not hurt us very much.
Nothing is easier than to rise above the thought of a trifling loss.
Oh, anybody would be willing to do this. But what the law of being requires of us is that we forgive not only these trifles,
but the very thing that is so hard to forgive that at first it seems impossible to do at all.
Oh, the old heart cries it's too much to ask. That's impossible. I can't do it. I can't do it. I'll never forgive. Never.
And it isn't long before the mind says you were not at fault in the first place.
That's the first thing the mind will say. That's righteous indignation. You were never to blame.
You were always right in this thing. The mind will tell you that.
And the more the mind impresses you of the fact of your own righteousness in the deal,
the bigger the injustice becomes to you. Until finally you cry out, I can't. I'll never forgive.
But watch something. Jesus himself makes our own forgiveness from God,
which means our escape from guilt, dependent upon just this very thing.
There's no escape from it. And so forgiveness must be there.
No matter how deeply you've been hurt, no matter how deeply you've been injured,
you may be 100% in the right. No matter how terribly we've suffered, we have got to forgive.
And it's just like that. Now then, how in the world am I going to do it, Miss Cooney?
I believe everything that you say because it's in the Word. Jesus said it. And everything hinges
on my relationship with my fellow man. Everything hinges on my forgiveness of my enemies.
I see the Bible teacher said, I must forgive before I can be forgiven. But how in the world
am I going to do it? Watch something. The technique of forgiveness is simple.
It's very difficult to manage when you understand how.
The only thing that is essential is the willingness to forgive.
That's the foundation for the whole thing. The willingness to forgive.
The very second that you are willing to forgive, then the forgiveness is easy.
It's like you've heard me say so many times that the only person that Jesus cannot help,
the only person who seems cannot be forgiven is the person who won't confess that he's a sinner.
When you're willing to confess, Jesus stands right there. He's more willing to forgive you
than you are to forgive. So when it comes to your forgiveness of another,
the big step is your willingness to forgive. And provided you desire to forgive the offender,
the greater part of the work is already done. People have always made such a big
thing out of forgiveness because they have been laboring under the impression that to forgive
a person means that you are compelled to just love him and go all overboard and be gushy over
the whole thing. I don't know how any better to describe it. Now you know something? Jesus never
said anything about that. Happily this is by no means the case. We are not called upon to like
everyone whom we do not find ourselves liking spontaneously. And indeed, it's quite impossible
to force ourselves to like people. You can no more force yourself to love somebody than you can
hold the winds in your fist. And when you on the surface have to force yourself to love someone,
have to force yourself to love somebody, when you are acting this love towards somebody,
you're being deceitful. That's just plain deceit. That's all. Jesus isn't talking about that at all.
No ma'am. Not that all. People used to think that when someone had hurt them very much,
it was their duty as good Christians to pump it up as it were, a feeling of liking him, of loving him,
gushing over him. But since it's a thing that is utterly impossible, they suffered a great deal of
distress and ended the whole thing with failure. And the result was nothing more or less than deceit.
Deceit. We're not obliged to like everyone, but we are under a binding obligation
to love everyone a love that the Bible calls parity, meaning a vivid sense of
impersonal goodwill. I think that's the best way that I can describe it. Sure.
It's just an impersonal goodwill. This has nothing directly to do with the feelings,
though it is always followed sooner or later by a wonderful feeling of peace and happiness.
Sure, that's somebody that gets on your nerves. You see, you don't have to have the same feeling
towards them if there's a conflict in personality that you have with somebody that you're in perfect
harmony with when it comes to personality. There's some folk that you just naturally love. Now,
you're not going to get any credit and glory for loving that person. No, if you think you're going
to get any reward by loving that somebody who's so easy to love, and you personally have checked
that up on your account and say, now look, I love her now, surely my love for her offsets
my dislike for the other doesn't work that way. You're going to get no credit for loving
the folks who are easy to love. But here's that somebody who's a thorn in your flesh.
That's what Jesus is talking about. There is a place in him where instead of looking for the
bad points in them, look for the good. Just look for the good. And if you really knew that person,
and you really knew some of the deep waters they were going through, and you really understood
some of their suffering, if you really truly learned to know that one, you'd find yourself
helping that one instead of condemning. I have been so ashamed of myself. I have felt so ashamed
of myself. I remember once there was a custodian in oil city, Pennsylvania.
He was the custodian of an auditorium where I was renting. That man was the meanest man.
I found myself just staying just as far away from as I possibly could. He was short. Everybody,
I wasn't the only one who thought he was impossible. Me. Till one day,
I bumped right into him. He bared his soul to me, and he told me that his wife was dying of cancer.
They couldn't afford a nurse. She was at home. And that he would work all day
and then would stay up and take care of his sick wife all night. He was working, holding down that
job. He had to hold down the job because the bills had to be paid. The doctor had to be taken care
of. He was working nine, 10 hours as a custodian, meeting the public, or not more than an hour and
a half and two hours of sleep. That's the reason he was grumpy and grouchy and had the kind of
disposition. You know something? I got to liking that man more than I could begin to tell you,
because I had learned to know him. And then inside of me, there was such a nice piece whenever I
talked with him and I didn't shun him anymore, to really understand, to really know, is to love
and to forgive. The method of forgiving is just this. Get by yourself, become quiet,
and say, now, I loose my enemy. I let him go. I completely forgive this whole business in question.
As far as I'm concerned, it's finished. It's over forever. I cast the burden of resentment
upon the Christ within me. I wish him well in every phase of his life.
The incident is finished. It's finished. Then get up from your knees and go about your business.
On no account repeat this act of forgiveness, because you have done it once and for all.
It's done. It's closed. It's buried. It's forgotten. It's forgiven. Forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive them that trespass against us. Amen.