05 Overcoming Anger and Unforgiveness - SBC 2017

we've been thinking about experiencing the presence of the Lord in in our life and in our home and all the time to living in the presence of God like we saw on the very first day Jesus said I've set the Father always before me they remind you of that verse again the verse that Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost David says of him in verse 25 acts 2:25 Jesus says I was always beholding the Lord that is the father in my presence he's at my right hand and I will never be shaken I think of perhaps humanly speaking one of the most difficult times that Jesus faced was when he stood before Pilate whipped beaten with a crown of thorns on his head and Pilate looking at this person with all authority and saying in John 19 verse 10 you don't speak to me but Jesus gave him no answer don't you know that I have authority to release you now I have authority to crucify you and there I see a picture in my mind Jesus the king of heaven okay he was stripped beaten blood flowing all over crown of thorns in his head but there was a dignity about him that frightened even Pilate the governor he looked straight at Pilate in his face and said you have no authority over me imagine a governor a judge like a Supreme Court Judge saying you I bought power to crucify you I got far to release you and Jesus is not leading with him oh don't let them crucify me down he said you have no power over me except what has been given to you from above that's all the only power you have over me is what my father gives you that's a tremendous attitude to have whenever we are threatened I remember once when religious people in India took me to court for religious reasons and I understand in the courts in India you're not allowed to sit you stand and when the judge was going to write his verdict I could not speak I was about 30 feet away from him I said under my breath you have no authority over me except what my father gives you couldn't touch me I believe that if we have faith according to your faith it will be done to you Jesus lived before his father between him and Pilate was his father is what did we read in acts 2 I've set the Father always before me it wasn't Pilate he saw he saw the father and I remember that day in the court I saw Jesus not all the others not by accusers the Lord said love your accusers and believe in your heavenly Father I said sure faith and love that's what we must have faith in our Heavenly Father and love for those who hate us or accusers and I see the same thing in the Garden of Gethsemane later on when you know Peter saw judas iscariot and the soldiers who had come to capture Jesus you know Jesus saw Jesus saw his father you read that and not later but earlier in John 18 before he came before Pilate Johnny teeners verse 11 Jesus said to Peter put your sword back don't try to defend me you're a wee teeny worm Peter here's my father Almighty God right here in front of me I can call 72,000 angels right now to meet me put your sword back I don't need it the cup which my father has given me John 18 11 shall I not drink it Peter saw Judas and the soldiers he took out his sword to defend his master Jesus saw the father the mailman was Judas Iscariot agreed but the cup came from the father that's what he saw imagine a betrayal where he's going to be handed over to be crucified that betrayal that cup he said I'm not worried I don't look at the mailman I look at the one who sent it my father in heaven sent it it doesn't matter to me who the mailman is what he looks like or where he hates me one loves me makes absolutely no difference when you get a letter from your loved one you don't care what the mailman looks like right it's how it is that's how Jesus was it doesn't matter what the mailman looked like it came from My Father I'm going to drink it there may be bitterness in the cup which the father gives but there won't be any poison in it that's for sure the cup which the devil gives you will be sweet they'll be poison in it so I see there in all those situations he never saw people he saw the father he lived in the father's presence and he is my forerunner he's your forerunner he's given us an example how we are to live on this earth in all the situations we face I have set the Lord always before me and because I've set the Lord always before me the rest of that verse acts 2 and verse 28 says he's also at my right hand where acts 2:25 I shall not be moved he's a quotation from Psalm 16 because in his presence verse 28 there's fullness of joy so in that difficult situation there was fullness of joy only for one reason but he saw the father and that's very often what we do not see you see people you be all familiar with this very well-known verse in Matthew 5 verse 8 blessed are the pure in heart what's the rest of the words they shall see God what does that mean does it mean that one day I will see him that's also true but I see another meaning to that verse and that is if my heart is pure I will see God everywhere that can be a pilot tour Judas Iscariot or soldiers or I don't see them I see God because my heart is pure if my heart is not pure I'll see people I'll see enemies critics and I want to fight back I'll be angry I will lose my temper because I haven't seen God there I see people I see people who are against me I look at it like this but it might heart is pure in every situation I will see God or during my circumstances to make me more like Jesus not to help me escape death the father did not allow Jesus to escape death the father did not allow Peter Paul James to escape that no he allowed almost all his apostles to become martyrs and many many more in the history of 2,000 years of Christianity godly men they saw the father I remember I'll never forget the story I read of an English missionary couple William Calvert he and his wife from the 1840s it's 175 years ago they left England on a sailing ship to go to the Fiji Islands in the Pacific to preach the gospel to the cannibals of that Island in those days they were cannibals there and they went in the sailing ship they just told the captain we take us to the Fiji Islands and when they reached the Fiji Islands the captain said to this young couple he was 25 years old William Calvert and his wife so why are you going here for he says we're going here to tell them about Jesus and the captain said you will die and he replied William Calvert replied we died before we got onto the ship I'll never forget that answer we died before we boarded this ship that's the way we're to live when we have died in Christ the world doesn't hold anymore threats for us we've already died and now it's no longer i but christ lives in us so it's a wonderful thing to live in this way the devil has no power over us do you know that it is God's will that Satan should not have power over you or the members of your family or any part of your life God surrounds you with his power the devil admitted that in the book of Joel I want you to turn to the book of Job in Chapter 1 as far as I know and I think I'm right this is the only place in the Bible which tells us that around God's children there is a three-fold hedge that God has put a hedge of protection three hedges of protection when the Lord said to Satan in job chapter 1 verse 8 have you considered my servant job there's no one like him in the whole earth a blameless and upright man one who fears God and turns away from evil job by the way is the first book of the Bible written it comes in the middle of your Bible but job lived about 500 years before Moses and Moses wrote Genesis and job lived 500 years before that and wrote this book so it was the first book of the Bible it's kept in the middle because all the poetic books like Psalms proverbs jobber all put together that's the only reason it was not the order in which it was written job should come as number 1 I've thought of that then when God wanted to write a book for the human race he didn't say ok first let me tell you how I created the heaven and earth no that can wait another 500 years my servant Moses will come up 500 years later I'll tell him about the creation of the heaven and earth but right now it was important for you fellas is not to know about the heaven and earth what's important for you to know is about a man of God was accused by Satan attacked by Satan but who stood up for me that's the first book God wrote and that's challenged that one God wanted to write a book for me to read he didn't tell me about the heaven and earth first alone so many people argue about creation and evolution and all that type of stuff was the earth created in six days or millions of years I'm not interested in that discussion I'm interested in the first thing God wrote which is a man of God whom God could boast about to Satan saying have you seen a man like this and I said Lord I want to be one of those I want to be a man whom you can boast to Satan I don't care of the heaven and earth were created I'm not going to get into that argument I want to be a man whom you can boast to Satan and say have you seen a man like that who fears me who turns away from evil who will not compromise who will speak the truth no matter who's against him no matter what he suffers you stand for the truth have you seen a man like that and you seen a woman like that take that challenge the first book that mad God wrote God wants you to be a person like that and Joe and Satan says oh well do you think Joe fears you for nothing verse 9 they've done so many things for him that's why he fear fears you God says okay you can test him but liquid the devil says verse 10 you have made a hedge around him that's hedge number one around his family wife and children that's his house sex number two and edge number three around all that he has which is his property his possessions in your case your bank account do you know your bank account is surrounded by a hedge that God has put around it so three hedges around you and your body around your wife and children your family and around your business your property your bank account there are three hedges and this is the only place in scripture where this is mentioned and it's very interesting that it's the devil who accidentally let it slip out of his mouth now you see the devil is a liar that there was a liar when he talks to you he dare not say a lie in God's presence never when he accuses you to God he doesn't tell a lie he speaks the truth and this is the absolute truth and he knew it but he didn't realize what a blessing it was going to be to me four thousand years later that I have a hedge God has put around me my wife and children my property my money my bank account and it's not that God will not open up those hedges for the devil to come in we read in the book of Job that he opened up that hedge for the devil to come in and the devil could not come in until God gave him permission this is a wonderful truth the devil can't touch my business or my property or even my bank account until God says okay I allow you to test him it's a test he cannot touch my wife and children unless God permits it and he cannot touch me that's a hedge number one without God's permission and even when God opened up the last hedge which was around Joe he told the devil he can touch his body but you cannot take his life there's a limit you see The Devil's like a lion on a chain it's only so much that he's allowed to do he must remember that he is not like a line avenge us tear you to pieces remember this threefold hedge around you if you believe it according to your faith it'll be unto you your life will be addressed in different situations you will see God and not Judas Iscariot and Pilate and your enemies so what I see here is in every situation if I can see God and then God is in control of the situation and God wants to make me a testimony to Satan as to what he has done in me it's a wonderful thing it says in Ephesians 2 that in the ages to come because one of the things God is going to do is to show forth Ephesians 2 in verse 7 in the ages to come that is after Christ has returned Ephesians 2:7 God is going to stick you and me up one by one and show forth the amazing riches of His grace and kindness which he showed us in Christ and show to the whole world and the devil and demons you know what this person was when I picked him up what he was a miserable wretch a man a woman who had made a mess of their life and you see what I made of him a trophy of grace that's what God wants to manifest in the ages to come so that's how testimony to Satan God wants us to stand against him and not give room to the devil in any area of our life he cannot touch you he cannot touch he gave full permission to the devil to destroy all of job's property hedge number three and he lost everything and then he opened up the second hedge and said you can destroy his wife and children and the devil destroyed his children but he left the wife alive the devil chose to leave the wife alive saying I think she is more useful to me alive I can use her to keep on nagging job day and night and trouble him that's why he kept her alive otherwise it a killed her also so without God's permission these things cannot happen we have to ensure that we ourselves don't open up the hedge if God opens up the hedge Emily accepted how can you open up the hedge where the devil comes in but you forget about the presence of God there I'll give you two examples says in Ephesians and chapter four one of the areas by which we open up the hedge to Satan because it says here Ephesians 4 verse 26 be angry but do not sin and don't let the Sun set on your anger and don't give the devil an opportunity you see how anger is connected with giving the devil an opportunity now that verse teaches us that there is an anger which is not sin and there's an anger which is sin so how to distinguish it whenever I come to a verse in Scripture which I don't understand I look at Jesus who's my example because he's the word made flesh this is the word printed with printers ink in the Bible but the word written with printer saying fits in with the word made flesh and so if I can't understand it here I'll understand it in the word made flesh is just like when I if I read a word somewhere in a newspaper or a magazine a word in English word that I didn't understand my habit has always been to put the book down take out a dictionary and find out the meaning of that word and then go back to the book I mean that's how I improve my English so in the same way when I come across the worse in the Bible I don't understand I put that worse down and I look at my dictionary which is the word made flesh Jesus and I say Lord I want to understand the meaning of this verse so when I want to understand be angry but don't say and I look at Jesus was he ever angry yes he was when he saw the people making money in the name of religion John chapter 2 twice once at the beginning of his ministry and once at the end of his machine I don't know whether you know that he did it twice he didn't do it whenever he felt like it he did it and the father led him and he was so angry with them he didn't tell them how will you gentlemen please move your table somewhere else no he you know what it says in John chapter 2 he told his disciples get me some cords here wondering why does our master want cords and he took those cords and twisted it and twisted it and he was a carpenter he knew how to do these things and he made a whip and the disciples are wondering what's our Lord doing he's making a whip and then he went and whipped he didn't with the people he whipped the sheep and chased them out and he turned the tables with all the money running around and I children in the temple must have enjoyed it see all this happening and then he said don't make my father's house a robbers den you fellas you come here and try to make money in the name of religion you want to make your profits here go to the marketplace and do it you know there were people selling sheep and doves in the marketplace he never took a whip over there it's permitted to make profit in the marketplace Jesus made profit when he sold tables and benches in Nazareth as a carpenter always how could he take care of his family with four younger brothers so it's perfectly okay to make profit in your business but don't come to the church and try to make profit here don't do your business in the church that's the wrong place to do it no it's one of the things the Lord warned us when we started our ministry of on internet ministry and book ministry never try to make profit every cent that comes in goes back to print more books for at the lowest grades possible where poor people can't afford it we just give it to them free as well and everything that comes and goes back into the ministry none of us make even one cent of profit now I know that a lot of Christian authors become millionaires writing Christian books I'm not here to judge them I'm not the judge of anybody but I cannot believe the Apostle Paul making millions by writing episodes there are people who write songs and become millionaires I don't have much value for those songwriters then you tell me this supposing you knew here's a preacher who is preaching only to make money here's another preacher who's preaching to glorify God which of the two do you think is likely to have a word from God you know okay here's a songwriter like Charles Wesley Fanny Crosby who wrote thousands of hymns never made a cent from it did it for the glory of God and here you have today's song writers who write two and a half lines repeated ten times and do it to make money and make millions which of the two is likely to have inspiration from God as far as I'm concerned I know clearly the one who didn't write it for money well it's a lot of money making in the name of religion and you can't do it in the name of Jesus you wanna go to the marketplace Jesus will not use a whip there do a legitimate business and make as much profit as you like that's up to you what profit you make is entirely up to you there are others who competing with you and you have to deal with that but in the church is not the place to make any profit at all and so Jesus chased them out so today when I see because a lot of people who came to the temple were poor people and Jesus is angry that these rich businessmen were exploiting these poor people in the name of God they said you can't put that Roman coin into the offering box you've got to exchange it for a Hebrew shekel that's what you've got to put in the box and the exchange rate of this they decide determine the exchange rate and those poor guys were being swindled and those are the money changers the sheep had to be offered for sacrifice but you had to pay a price for it high profit now we see something similar today in the television evangelist and megachurch pastors will become millionaires by taking offerings and then some come to the place where we say where they say we're not receiving any salary from our church now because we are now written so many books New York Times bestsellers and all that is bringing us millions millions from home from other Christians are made to buy these books at a high price why at a high price because the percentage of that has to go to the author as profit as royalty it's all business even Christian writers every one of them they make money on their books from Christians so it's one it's another way of making money so just to boast that I'm not taking a salary from the church means nothing they're making money from Christians through other ways buying if you reduce if you say if he says tells the publisher I'd want in a royalty the price of the book will come down but no they want their royalty and so they make their Millions through their books and I'm not taking any money from the church it's a deception that looks so spiritual I'm not taking any money from the church how are you living from jacking up the price of my books so that other Christians will pay that and by that I can get my royalty and I can become a millionaire not from the church but for my books don't be deceived by all this Jesus if he comes here today he'll make a whip again and chase all these people out he was angry and if you look at all these preachers and evangelists making money from other poor people and you are not angry you are not like Jesus Christ that's not the place to be gentle if you hear me preach against all these preachers is because I'm angry like Jesus is angry I'm not going to be diplomatic when I see poor people in churches being swindled but false fake healings and magic tricks which they call healing in the name of Jesus and all that deception and I will continue to be exposing all this rubbish and then which is going on in the name of Jesus and people can come to me and say brother the Bible says judge not I will say the Bible also says don't believe every spirit but test the spirits whether they are of God 1 John 4 verse 1 and 2 so I say if you quote one scripture to me you know the devil quoted a scripture to Jesus and Jesus said don't forget it is also written so I'm already with another scripture they try such verses with me so it Jesus was angry the other place where he was angry was in mark chapter 3 this is the two places I see Jesus angry and good for us though to obey the verse which says be angry and don't sin mark chapter 3 it says here Jesus came into a synagogue verse 1 and there was a man with a withered hand and they watched him to see if he to heal him on the Sabbath in order to accuse him and he said to the man rise and come forward and he said to them is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or not and it says they kept silent how could they say it's wrong to do good on the Sabbath and after looking around at them with anger he didn't say anything he was grieved there was a grief in his anger you see that a godly man will have a grief in his anger when he sees other people hard-hearted towards some poor person who is to be delivered and they won't let him be delivered because they say we don't want him to leave our denomination I've seen this they sit in that denomination they don't get any victory over sin they are paralyzed spiritually defeated and they won't let him come to our church or some other Church where they can hear about the overcoming life let him stay there defeated so long as he stays in our church and pays the tight here we don't want him to go to another church we don't want to lose this type they're not worried whether he's defeated by sin or knowledge exactly like this they are not worried whether his hand remains withered or not he must not be healed and Jesus looks at such people with anger he doesn't say anything but he's grieved look at this they won't allow this poor man to be delivered and He healed him so these are the two places and I say in such situation I want to be angry too I don't want to use any bad words or any such thing Jesus never used bad words he manifested his anger by driving people out and delivering people who needed deliverance coming back to Ephesians it says further down in Ephesians 4 and verse 31 read this let all rot and anger be put away from you so if it is written be angry and don't sin it is also written let all anger be put away from you the truth is found not only in it is written the truth is found in it is written and it is also written like Jesus told the devil in the temptation so one scripture balances another be angry but don't sin but let all anger be put away from you now you understand the type of anger we had to put away from us is the anger that relates to ourselves and there again I look at the dictionary the Word made flesh when they call Jesus disabled he read in Matthew 12 he said have you no word against the Son of Man you're forgiven and then another time we read that they slapped him and they have spat on him crucified him he said Father forgive them they don't know what they're doing didn't they know what they were doing killing a man is killing a man some things you can say they don't nobody they did not know who they were doing it to they did not know that this was the Son of God they did not know what they were doing Father forgive them he was merciful now he didn't that forgiveness doesn't mean he he had fellowship with them to forgive them he was not angry when they called him the devil he's not angry when they slapped him he spat on him or they even said he's born of fornication they called him a Samaritan he said you got a demon and you know sometimes they would when they were happy with him they've call him the son of Joseph when they were angry with him they call him the son of Mary meaning we don't know who his father is we would insult him in all these subtle ways you read that if you read in the Gospels you see sometimes they call him son and Joseph sometimes call him son of Mary it depends on whether they were happy with him or angry with him but he was insulted but he was never angry so what I learned from that is how do I obey both these commands be angry but don't sin and let all anger be put away from you any anger that concerns me somebody insulted me got upset with me irritated me worked me up I must not be angry must be put away completely if I say put away all the chairs from this Hall how many chairs will be left not even one so when it says put away all anger how much anger should be left in you zero except anger which concerns the glory of God and the good of other people that's all if you don't do it it says in Ephesians 4:26 the devil will get an opportunity in your life so this is the one thing I told you how to speak about two things one is this is how the devil gets a foothold in your life by working you up to get angry when it thing concerns you which doesn't concern the glory of God oh it concerns your family or what somebody said about your daughter or your son and it works you up and you get angry the devil's got an opportunity immediately and notice what it says in Ephesians 4:26 don't let the Sun set on your anger in those days before electricity was discovered sunset was the time people went to bed and before sunrise they woke up so what it's saying is before you go to bed get rid of your anger that is like a permission God gives for those who don't have victory over sin to at least make sure that by sunset you've got rid of it but a wholehearted Christian won't wait til sunset I mean it's like saying if you got a thorn in your foot try and remove it before sunset okay but the best thing is to remove it immediately right but if you lack sensitivity before you go to bed check your feet now I'm not I'm serious my wife worked with leprosy patients they don't call them lepers they call them leprosy patients what we'd call them lepers and I learned a few things about leprosy in leprosy you lose sensation and that's one of the effects of leprosy a leper can get thorns in his feet if he's walking barefoot and you won't know it too many of these people are poor they walk barefoot and thorns get into their feet and they don't know it so people with leprosy were taught before you go to bed look at the soles of your feet and see if there are any thorns there and if there are pull them out because whether you know it or not it'll cause infection you'll ultimately lose your feet so they were told to check up their feet before they go to bed now do I have to tell any of you here I don't think any of you got leprosy to tell you before you go to bed please check if there any prawns on your feet why not because you don't have leprosy you've got sensitive feet as soon as the thorn gets in you stop whatever important work you are doing and pull out that foot pull out the thorn and then walk why don't we do that with sin be angry I mean if you lost sensitivity at least check up before you go to bed but if you're a sensitive Christian you'll know immediately he I lost my temper there so what should I do when I lose my temper well the Lord told us what to do turn with me to to prevent the devil from getting an opportunity Matthew chapter 5 do you know that in the Sermon on the Mount the first sin that Jesus spoke against was anger first sin there were two sins he spoke about first of all anger and sexually dirty thinking adultery in the mind verse 28 first is anger in Matthew 5:22 and then Matthew 5:28 and it's interesting that these are the first two sins and these are the two things that plague the human race even believers after they are born again go and ask any believer what is the sin you easily are falling into anger or sexually dirty ways of thinking and Jesus knows that and he listed that is the first two and have you also noticed that these are the only two since there are many sins listed in the Sermon on the Mount anxiety love of money seeking honor when your prayer or seeking honor in giving and hating your enemies and many things like that and telling lies but among all the sins listed there are only two sins that Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that can send you to hell not lying not seeking honor not the love of money not anxiety but anger Matthew 5:22 you shall be guilty enough to go to hell those are the last words in verse 22 lusting after women verse 29 the whole body to be thrown into hell the only two sins in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said can finally land you in hell or anger and sexually dirty ways of thinking if you don't get rid of them many people ask me brother Zack we hear your sermon so much why do you speak so much against anger and sexually dirty thoughts I said because this would be only two since Jesus said can send people to hell and I'm here to save people from going to hell not just tell them to accept Christ and you're okay no what did Jesus say get rid of anger get rid of sexually dirty ways of thinking and here it says if you're angry verse 23 and then you come to offer an offering to God that offering could be prayer it could be an offering in the offering box and there you remember hey I lost my temper at my brother or sister or wife or husband earlier today stop praying stop praying God won't listen to it don't put that offering in the offering box he won't accept it you might as well put it in the toilet and flush it down God won't accept that money go to that person your brother your wife your husband be reconciled how are you reconciled it's very easy I'm sorry that was my mistake please forgive me how can I set it right do you know that those are some of the most difficult words to come out of your throat you try it I am sorry it's like teaching children say I am sorry that is my mistake please forgive me how can I set it right you try saying it to your wife or husband after you hurt him or her if you get stuck in your throat I guarantee unless you're a wholehearted Christian we keep that thorn in our foot for such a lot some people keep it for days you know that finally when the wife doesn't give them food and all then they go back and settle things and say okay I'm sorry so there is a way to set it right go and settle that matter before God otherwise what will happen the devil will get an opportunity in your life that's number one the second thing through which the devil can get an opportunity in your life I'm only talking about two sins one is anger and the other is mentioned in second Corinthians in chapter 2 where it specifically mentioned that the devil will get an advantage one we already saw in Ephesians 4 and the other is in if one 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 10 and 11 he's talking about forgiveness here's somebody who they had to forgive for the crime he committed to in that church somebody who come in to crime in their church he says the time has come the guys repented he's turned around he's given up that habit forgive him and he says in 2nd Corinthians 2:10 if you forgive anything I also forgive and I've done it in the presence of Christ why have i forgiven verse 11 in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes that's the second thing where Satan can gain advantage over you and you can lose the presence of God you can lose the presence of God by anger which you don't set right you can lose the presence of God by an unforgiving attitude or spirit towards another human being Satan gets an advantage he comes into that hedge not which God opened which you opened through your anger which you opened through unrighteous anger or which you open through an unforgiving spirit because jesus said turn with me to Matthew chapter 6 I want to read it slowly and like explain it a bit jesus said when you pray Matthew 6 verse 9 you must pray in this way he didn't say you've got to repeat these words he was selling a pattern of Prayer in this way that means put God first his kingdom his name his will and then your needs daily bread forgiveness etc but notice there are six requests here number one hallowed be your name Matthew 6 verse 9 - my kingdom come 3 thy will be done all concerning God then concerning our needs 4 5 and 6 our daily food number 5 forgive us our sins as we forgive our debtors and number 6 don't lead us into temptation deliver us from evil and then Jesus looks at the six requests and say to the disciples hey fellows out of these six I want to emphasize one especially which one Lord hallowed be your name Allah no forgiveness request number five is very important verse 14 and 15 why does he emphasize just that one request out of the six if you forgive men your heavenly Father will forgive you remember out of the six he took out one that's why it's important and if you don't forgive men your heavenly Father will not forgive your transgressions to whom is he speaking you read in Matthew five was speaking to his disciples now if he had said in verse 15 if you don't forgive men God will not forgive you then we could have said perhaps he's referring to unbelievers no when he says your heavenly Father will not forgive you he is talking to believers God's not the father of unbelievers your father will not forgive you who is that he's clearly talking to believers you don't forgive somebody your father will not forgive you your sins now the next question is can a man go to heaven if his sins are not forgiven no is there a second chance after he dies no what if a person dies without forgiving somebody a so-called believer would accepted Christ born again but he dies without having forgiven someone I don't know what you believe I believe what Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away what are his words if you do not forgive others your father will not forgive your translation it cannot be clearer than that nobody can give another interpretation to that Calvinists are Armenian or whoever it means only one thing if you don't forgive others your father will not forgive you then what happens if you die like that with that sin Unforgiven is there a second chance after death to somehow get that sin forgiven can you say well but I lived a good life all along can you atone for one sin with a good life are you a non-christian who believes that atonement for sins comes through a good life that's what some people think well I lived a good life all along just because I didn't forgive somebody I think God will overlook it in other words you believe that your good life will atone for that one sin your good life even of fifty years will not atone for one sin it's only the blood of Jesus that can cleanse sin and the blood of Jesus doesn't cleanse everybody sin if we confess our sins 1 John 1:9 he's faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness what if you don't confess your sin what if you are too proud to go and forgive somebody who's hurt you I believe God's Word your father will not forgive you and Jesus expanded on that with a long parable in Matthew chapter 18 I want you to turn there I've heard that among the Jews they said you must forgive your brother at least three times and Peter said where we are under the new covenant so we're gonna rise a little higher Matthew 18 verse 21 Lord shall I forgive my brother up to seven times and he expected Jesus to pat him on the back said great Peter you're far better than the Jews what a shot he got when he said not seven times but seventy times seven verse twenty-two in other words indefinitely and then he said a parable I want to tell you something about this unforgiving spirit there was a man a king who had to settle my accounts with the slaves and one of them owed him ten thousand talents and my margin says that is equal to ten million dollars today so the NSP margin says so here is a man who was ten million dollars and it's not easy for a slave to ever repay ten million dollars but he still makes bold to say I can't pay have mercy on me I will repay you everything the King knows he can never repay him and verse 27 the Lord had compassion on him and released him and forgave him the entire ten million dollar debt verse 27 Matthew 18 27 that slave went out in verse 28 and met one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii now one dinner is the wages for one day and I presume let's assume that in the wages for one day in those days two thousand years ago we'll say one dollar a day for a day's wages there's a lot of money in those days so a hundred denarii would be $200 okay a hundred dollars is not a small amount of money it's not like ten cents or something that this guy owes me a hundred dollars it's a lot of money I can't afford to give it up but you completely forget that you've been forgiven ten million just a few minutes ago and he says he catches him by the throat and says pay up and the man says the same thing which this slave told his master please have mercy on me and I'll repay you he says no no time I've given you enough time takes him to the court gets him jailed and the that's what it says in verse 30 and then the other fellow slaves saw this and they was sad this man's been forgiven so much and he won't forgive this hundred dollars so they went and told the king the King said get that fellow back here now listen to this very very interesting this is the one place in scripture where I discover something that God can forgive you something and then unforgive you afterwards that means put it all back on your head what do you say I thought God said he'll forget about my sins no there's not a single scripture which says God forgets about your sins what it says in Hebrews 8:12 is I will not remember that means I choose not to remember your sins how can God forget the sins I committed 60 years ago and I can remember them myself I remember the foolish things I did 60 years ago and I was unconverted you think my memory is better than God's has he forgotten he hadn't forgotten but he chooses not to remember when I come before him he will not hold that against me I will not remember his Hebrews 8:12 but he hasn't forgotten and if I don't forgive somebody all that is put back on my head that's what he said you wicked slave I forgive you all that debt now shouldn't you have had mercy and he had to verse 34 repay all that was owed him which is the 10 million dollars okay you ought to pay up your ten million dollars you wanted a hundred dollars from that guy right okay go and pay or ten million dollars now it's a serious thing not to forgive others and to forget how small the crime that fellow committed towards me is compared to the crimes I've committed against God that's the point of this parable but the other thing I want to show you is what is God's attitude towards a child of his who does not forgive from the heart listen to this social my Heavenly Father do to you again Heavenly Father not God he's not talking about worldly people he's talking to Peter who's a disciple Peter Peter you're my disciple so shall my Heavenly Father do to you Peter if you and all of you disciples don't forgive another person from your heart it's not just okay I forgive you there's a lot of difference between forgiving a person and forgiving from the heart I remember one case in my own life where I somebody did some harm to me and I forgave him I said Lord I forgive him but some time later I heard that he got into some serious problem and I was secretly happy and the Lord said to me are you happy that that person who harmed you has got into some trouble I said Lord unfortunately I am I'm sorry and the Lord said to me that's because you did not forgive him from your heart I fell on my face and said lord thank you for giving me light so now when I forgive some and I also say lord please bless him blessing mightily and do good to him don't let anything bad come to him I want really to go very well with him I want to make sure that my heart attitudes and so that when something good happens to him I'm happy and if something bad happens to him I'm sad and now I want to show you the attitude of God towards a person if there's anybody sitting here who's not forgiving someone all of us and I'm not a prophet to know all your past sins but I can say one thing from knowing human nature and being a preacher for more than 50 years at everybody if your more than five years old somebody has done some harm to you and the older you are there more people have done harm to you to your family to your children you may be just speaking evil spreading scandals or physically doing harm cheating you of money or whatever it is family inheritance of property name it all types of things which make us angry with people but whatever it is it's a drop in the bucket drop in an ocean rather let me say compared to what you have sinned against God you and I and if I don't if you don't forgive him I want you to see three things God calls you verse 32 a wicked person number one you are a wicked person verse 32 because you don't forgive number two verse 34 God is angry with you you thought God will never be angry with you your heavenly Father is angry with you your wicked and he calls you wicked second he's angry with you and third he will hand you over to the torturers the demons verse 34 so that they can torture you it means with probably some sickness with from which you won't be cured or some other way the torturers are the devil the demons they could God can you imagine God allowing demons to attack he'll not possess them but attack them from the outside a demon cannot enter the heart of a child of God is born again impossible there's no such thing as a demon possessed believer but they be handed over just like these torturers can torture people in prison to torture you with sickness and all types of heresy or in your mind and trouble you and disturb your sleep and all kinds of things that you don't have rest because God's handed over you to the demons because you haven't forgiven somebody so shall my Heavenly Father do to you and when you do forgive miracles can take place I know I've said the story before a few months before my marriage I had to go into a hospital for a small small treatment for which there to give me general anesthesia I was put out and a few weeks later I found a severe pain nerve pain right down my right arm and nerve pain is the most painful thing you can think of it's not like any other injury and I went to a neurosurgeon and I said I don't know what's causing this and he asked me he never knew anything about this I'd gone to a village hospital for that anesthesia and this person said did you ever wear you ever put under general anesthesia sometimes said I said yeah a couple of months ago and he said ah this is what must have happened when they lifted you up from that operating table they did not hold your head up properly as they should have done maybe careless technicians or whatever it is and your head must have fallen back in such a way that a nerve got pinched or whatever it is and this has happened to your hand you had to live with this for the rest of your life I said Wow and I was going to get married the next month after that I was so angry with that doctor who was a believer that in a moment of anger and I had no victory over sin then as you can understand I was born again but I hadn't any victory and I wrote a real stinker to that doctor how careless you've been and he made me suffer over the rest of my life as soon as I came home the Lord said he got to write another letter asking for forgiveness for the way you wrote that's not the way to a child of God right was write to somebody else first of all he didn't do it deliberately was accidental I mean if he did it deliberately you got it for you so I wrote down I humbled myself and said dear brother I feel ashamed that I wrote such a letter to you I'm a child of God please forgive me I said those difficult words and sometimes get stuck in our throat I'm sorry please forgive me I want to have a good relationship with you in a few days this plane disappeared which I was supposed to live with for the rest of my life this happened nearly fifty years ago there is power in forgiveness when injections and tablets and pills will never heal you the torturers are not driven out with injections and pills the torturers are moved away from you by God when you forgive our heads in prayer before we get up I want you to bow your heads close your eyes such your mind away from everything that's happening around you in this room and ask yourself is there anybody you have not forgiven anyone the names will come to your mind immediately maybe something that happened years ago maybe someone who harmed your children years ago or someone else this person that person and the other person name them before God silently and one-by-one say Lord I forgive that person so you got to say Lord I forgive this other person and this other person and this other and there's anyone else like that name the major ones that you can think of the rest when you go home you can think about it forgive each one now forgiveness doesn't mean you got to visit them or fellowship with them you may never see them for the rest of your life don't worry about that Jesus forgave the Pharisees but he didn't go fellowshipping with them or visiting their homes forgiveness is an act of the will you don't have to feel like it and let me remind you you will not forget the evil they did we cannot forget because we don't have control over our memory but God doesn't look at our memory he looks at your will is your will exercised to forgive that person don't let the devil get an advantage over you and you miss the presence of the Lord all these years which you could have had because of this unforgiving spirit two things you need two unforgiving spirit you can get out rid of right now and anger you can get rid of over a period of time as you see ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit Heavenly Father please help us each one that we shall live in your presence the devil will not get an advantage over us in any area pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: New Life Fellowship

Views: 3,047

Rating: 4.7288136 out of 5

Keywords: Zac Poonen, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, last days, end times, Bible, gospel, word, Lord, truth, wisdom, salvation

Id: lw8K2hV-vBc

Length: 59min 10sec (3550 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 23 2017