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Now, we're going to come back to Luke chapter 7, but go, if you would, to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter number 1, and we're going to read the famous verse in verse 14 of Colossians chapter number 1. And what I want to preach about this morning is the subject of forgiveness. And in Colossians chapter 1, the Bible talks about forgiveness in regard to salvation. The Bible reads in Colossians 1, 14, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. So what the Bible is saying there is that at salvation, or at our redemption, through the blood of Christ, we have the forgiveness of sins. Go to the next chapter, chapter 2, look at verse 13. The Bible says, and you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him. Quickened means brought to life. That's the resurrection of our spirit. He said, quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, and it goes on to talk about Him dying on the cross and so forth. You don't have to turn there, but in Psalm 103 verse 12, the Bible reads, as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. You don't have to turn there, but Jeremiah 31, 34, and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. And these are all verses that have to do with salvation. If you get them in their context and read about them, that when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says we shall not come into condemnation, we've been passed from death to life, our sins are forgiven, our faith has saved us, and so on and so forth. So there's the forgiveness that takes place at the point of salvation in the sense that we have this debt of sin on our account that one day we would have to pay for in hell. Now go to 1 John chapter 1. So the moment that we believe on Jesus Christ and get saved, all our sins are forgiven in the sense that the sins would have condemned us to a punishment, they would have condemned us to hell, and God just freely forgives all that. He freely gives us a pardon so that we can be saved and go to heaven and not be punished for our sins in hell. But there's another type of forgiveness that the Bible talks about, which is a day-to-day forgiveness. Because obviously the moment that we got saved, all our sins are forgiven in the sense that Jesus Christ died for our sins 2,000 years ago, before any of us were born, and He died for every sin we ever will do in our life. And so when we believe on Jesus Christ, all of our sins, past, present, and future, are paid for, they're all covered by the blood, and they've been removed from us, and we will not face hell, we will not face the punishment for those sins. But still, there's a fellowship that we have with God on a day-to-day basis. You know, once we get saved, that's just the beginning of our new life in Christ as His Son, and He is our Father. And so throughout our lives, as children of God, we want to have fellowship with God, and anytime we commit sins, that's going to cause a rift between us and our Heavenly Father. You know, if I go out and commit some awful sin, the fellowship and the closeness and the bond that I have with God is going to be broken. You know, and I'm not going to have the fellowship. You know, we look at people in the Bible like Enoch, the Bible talks about how he walked with God. And you know, we can go through life having fellowship with God, walking with Him, talking with Him, having Him speak to us, or if we live a life of sin and unconfessed sin and unforgiven sin, then basically we lose that fellowship. We don't lose our salvation, but we do lose that fellowship. Look at 1 John chapter 1, and I'll show you that. It says in 1 John 1.5, This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So here is a chapter that's written unto people that are already saved, that are already believers. The whole book of 1 John is geared toward people that are already saved, and that's why he says over and over again, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. All throughout the book of 1 John, you'll notice the we, we, we, we, because he's lumping himself in with those who he's writing to, because it's a book about believers, and he's writing it so that their joy would be full. Look down at verse 4, he says, These things write unto you, that your joy should be full. In the next chapter he says, These things write unto you, that you sin not. Because when we sin, it separates us from God. We don't have the fellowship that we once had with God. And you know that that's true in your life, that when you have some sin in your life, you don't want to pray, you don't want to read the Bible, you want to be like Adam and go hide yourself when you hear the voice of the Lord, because you're ashamed of the sins that you've committed, and because you're ashamed of the sins that you've committed, you don't want to lift your face to God, you don't want to face God. You know, whenever you do somebody wrong, you don't want to face them. A child who breaks the rules and gets in trouble, maybe they're off at school. I remember when I was off at school, you know, I'd get in trouble and I had to bring home some bad report to my parents for them to sign. You're not excited about seeing your parents, you don't want them to show, you know, because why? You have a guilty conscience, that's why. And you know you're in trouble, you know you've done wrong. And when we get a guilty conscience with God, we don't want to go to church, we don't want to read our Bible, we don't want to pray, and often that is what gets people out of church is a guilty conscience, they sin, they're ashamed, they don't want to read, they don't want to pray, and then basically it just creates a worse problem, because now they're not reading their Bible, now they're not praying, now they're missing church, and it just spirals down and they get further and further from walking in the light, and they have less and less fellowship with God, and it just gets worse and worse, and the joy is gone from their life. People who are backslidden and living in sin are not happy people. That's why he said these things write unto you that your joy may be full, and then he said these things write unto you that you sin not, because when you sin not, that's when you have the fullness of joy, and the more you sin, the less happy and the less joyful you're going to be as a Christian. Now he says here that the way to fix this problem, because he says look, if you don't walk in the light, you don't have fellowship with God, when you're walking in darkness, it ruins the fellowship with God. You know the modern day word would be the relationship, you know, we'd say hey it hurts the relationship, but in the Bible you use the word the fellowship, okay? So how do we fix this problem? How do we break this downward spiral? Well the Bible gives us the answer. First of all it says if we walk in the light, meaning if we do the right things and do good things, then we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin. So if we draw an eye to God, he'll draw an eye to us, and he will help us to do better in the future. He will cleanse us from sin. The other way to be cleansed from the day to day sin in our lives is to confess our sins. Because if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, meaning not only when we confess our sins to God, is he going to forgive us? Is he going to be ready to have fellowship with us once again? It's not like, you know, when we sin and we create this rift between us and God, and you know, we start getting distant from God, not wanting to read his word or pray or be in church, that when we're ready to come back to him and say, God, I'm sorry, I was wrong, I sinned, this is my fault, it's not like he says, okay, well I'm still mad about it though. Give me a few days. Give me a few days, you know, you've been, I mean after all, you've been breaking my laws for many days, you've been drifting away from me for many days, I need a few days now. No, the Bible says he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. He's ready to forgive. He's like at the prodigal son, remember when the prodigal son's coming home, the dad's already out on the porch and he meets him halfway. He doesn't even wait for him to come all the way home. He sees him coming and as he draws nigh, the father draws, you know, we draw nigh to God, he'll draw nigh to us, he'll meet us halfway, he's ready to forgive, he's ready to pardon, he's ready to restore that relationship instantly with us, and not only that, but he's ready to help us do better and to help us be cleansed of the sin in our life. And so this is why it's so important to confess our sins unto God because not only will he forgive, not only will it restore the fellowship, but it will also allow us to do better in the future because he will not only forgive but he will also cleanse us from sin. He will also wash us and help us to be better. Now there are two ways here that the Bible is teaching that we can restore this fellowship. Number one is by doing right all the time, walking in the light. But you know what, let's face it, we're all going to step out of the light and that's why we must get in the habit of confessing our sins to God so that we can be forgiven and so that we can also be cleansed of that sin. Now go to Mark chapter 11 because there is something that can cause us not to be forgiven when we go to God and confess our sins to him. And obviously if we go to God and confess our sins, which is something that you should be doing on a daily basis. Now a lot of people call this asking forgiveness, but here's the problem that I have with that. Number one, a lot of people will associate that with salvation. Salvation is a one time thing, being born again. And salvation can be likened unto many earthly similitudes. Like for example, salvation is likened unto being a child and God being your father. Now how many times were my children born into my family? Once. Okay. But isn't there still a day-to-day forgiveness, isn't there still a day-to-day fellowship or a day-to-day restoration of fellowship? Okay, what about my wife? You know, I married my wife once, okay, but there could still be times in the future where forgiveness is needed, okay. And so to sit there and think that we have to keep getting saved over and over again or that in order to stay saved we have to keep asking forgiveness, asking forgiveness, asking forgiveness, that is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that salvation takes place in the moment in a twinkling of an eye, we're passed from death to life, we are born again, we are a child of God, you know, we are espoused unto him. And so don't confuse that with salvation. And so when people talk about asking forgiveness, often they're associating it with salvation and I have a problem with that, number one. Number two, the reason I don't call it asking forgiveness is because I'm not going to ask forgiveness, I'm just going to confess my sins and he's just going to forgive my sins. Because I have the faith to know that he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, so I don't need to ask. I just need to confess and, you know, I ask for things, I mean, I don't like to put a question mark on the end of things that I already know the answer to. I just confess it and I know I'm forgiven. I don't have to sit there and ask and hope and, you know, whatever. That's why I don't really like that terminology. I'm not saying that, you know, you're bad if you use that terminology, I'm just explaining why I don't use it. But one thing that can prevent God from forgiving us on a daily basis when we go to him and confess our sins to him is when we will not forgive others, God will not forgive us. Now look if you would at Mark chapter 11 verse 25. The Bible reads, and when you stand praying, forgive. So God's saying, look, before you go to him in prayer, you'd better forgive others first, because all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them. And the Bible says that when you stand praying, forgive if you have ought against any, meaning if you have anything against anybody else and you go to God in prayer, that's going to hinder your prayers when you have something against someone else. And it says if you have ought against any, that your father also which is in heaven may forgive your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. And so from the context here it's clear, this is not a prayer for salvation, this is an ongoing, because he says when you stand praying, and if you look at that verb tense there, when you stand praying, he's saying basically every time you go to pray. This is an ongoing continual, you know, repeated action of going to God in prayer. He's saying when you go to God in prayer, you better first make sure that you forgive. You better first make sure that you don't have anything against anyone else because if you do, that's going to hinder God from hearing you. You say well God's going to hear me no matter what. Is that why it says in 1 Peter chapter 3 that your prayers be not hindered? Is that why it says if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me, spoken by David, the man after God's own heart? And so the Bible's real clear here that this can be a hindrance to your prayers. Matthew chapter 6, turn to Luke 17, I'll read for you from Matthew 6. This is from the Lord's Prayer, so called. It says in Matthew 6, 12, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. What does that mean? Forgive us in the same way that we forgive others. Can you pray that prayer? I mean would you want to pray that prayer? God forgive me the same way I forgive others. Or would you say well man I hope God forgives me more than that. Well then you need to forgive more because God's not going to forgive you any more than you're willing to forgive other people. He will forgive you as you forgive. And if you're a person who holds a grudge and has bitterness in your heart about something that somebody's done to you, whether it's someone in the church, whether it's your parents from when you were a kid, whether it's your child, whether it's your brother, your sister, your coworker, if you have bitterness in your heart and if you have anything against someone that you're holding against them and you're grudging against them and months and years go by and you're still holding that grudge and then you expect God to forgive you. You're wrong. God, everything that you do, God will hold against you because that's how you are toward others. That's what the Bible says. And I don't know about you but I want to be forgiven for all the mistakes that I make and for all the sins that I commit. But look at, or you're in Luke 17, let me finish with Matthew 6 says, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. And again, that's the father-son relationship of disciplining his children. Look at Luke 17 verse 3, take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. So when someone sins against you, should you just not say anything but in your heart just hate their guts and say, I'm going to get back at them? Doesn't God tell you that you should tell someone when they sin against you? You know, and a lot of people are not very good at this. A lot of people, you know, someone sins against them, someone says something that hurts their feelings, someone does wrong to them and they don't tell that person about it. And often that person doesn't even realize that they've done anything wrong. And so here you are, you're just keeping it all inside, you're not saying it, and instead you hold a grudge, you get bitter. You know, it can help you not to be bitter sometimes to rebuke those who sin against you. Say, well that would be rude. Yeah, but you know what, I'd rather be accidentally maybe too rude than to have bitterness and an unforgiving hardened heart. I'd rather just say it, you know, I'd rather just say, hey, you know what, you've done wrong to me. And the Bible says, you know, if he trespasses against thee, he said rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he trespasses against thee seven times a day, in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again to thee saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. Now you say, who in the world is going to sin against somebody seven times in a day? Well, you know, have you been married? Have you had children? Have you had children? Okay, I mean, look, when you're living with somebody, sometimes, you know, they can sin against you seven times in a day, okay? But even if you're, even outside of that, even if you, how about this, you work with somebody for eight hours a day, somebody might have a really bad habit, they might sin against you seven times in one day, okay? And obviously Jesus is using an extreme example here, and I was just kidding about your wife and your kids and your co-workers, but I'm saying that he's using an extreme example. He's not saying, well, you know, this is pretty common for somebody to sin against you seven times in a day. He's picking a number that's so high so that you're not like, well, this is the eighth time, you know, it's over. He's trying to set the bar high so that you'll be forgiving, so that you'll just understand. He's not saying, you know, start making a tally mark, that's number six, you're on thin ice, you know. What he's saying is, you know, if it's seven times a day, forgive, meaning that, come on, it's not going to happen seven times in a day. So therefore, just forgive every time, is what he's saying. Now go, if you would, to chapter number six. You were in chapter 17 there, jump back in your Bible to Luke chapter six, and the Bible says in Luke chapter six verse 36, be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged, condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned, forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. So you see how this principle keeps coming up over and over again, how God will forgive you according to the way that you forgive other people. Look at chapter seven verse 36, this is a really interesting story in Luke 7, 36, it says, and one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. Behold a woman in the city which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat and met in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears, and then wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner. So here this Pharisee does not believe on Jesus Christ, because he says, well if he were a prophet, basically he does not believe that Jesus Christ is a prophet, let alone that prophet which should come into the world, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and so forth. This woman is weeping, she's literally on her knees crying and using the tears coming out of her eyes to wash his feet, and she's using her hair to dry them, and she's kissing his feet. And he looks at that and he's just disgusted by that. He looks at that and says, you know, if he only knew what type of woman is touching him right now, you know, he would not allow her to display this affection toward him. Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, now it's funny because he just thought this, because it says in verse 39, he spake within himself, he's not saying this out loud, but in his mind that's what he's saying, isn't it funny how Jesus just answers what's in his mind? He said, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee, and he said, master, say unto thee. So you notice how, isn't it funny how people can be on the outside different than what's on the inside? Inside he's thinking, this guy's not a prophet, the next thing he's like, oh master, what would you like to tell me? There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the other 50. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of them will love him most. Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou has rightly judged. So isn't the Bible teaching here that a person being forgiven causes them to have love for the person who has forgiven them? And the more is forgiven unto someone, the more they will love. Because here one person owed 10 times as much and they loved more, according to Jesus' parable. I don't know if Simon fully understands that because he says, well I suppose, I guess, you know, the one who is forgiven more. And then Jesus explains it. He turned to the woman, verse 44, and said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. I mean Jesus would have just looked for just a kiss on the cheek, but he's saying this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet. You know, he's drawing a huge parallel between the way this Pharisee is treating him and the way this woman is treating him. The Pharisee doesn't even give him anything to wash his feet, is showing no hospitality, does not greet him with a kiss, which is a custom in that country, he does not treat him with respect, he does not treat him with love, whereas this woman is the exact polar opposite extreme of showing gratitude and love and affection. And it says, thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. Verse 46, my head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Now what would you rather do, anoint someone's head with ointment or anoint someone's feet with ointment? Which would be more humbling? He's saying, you didn't even anoint my head, she's anointing my feet. And he says, wherefore I say unto thee, her sins which are many, showing that he is a prophet and that he did know what type of woman it was that was treating him thus. Her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Now think about this for a moment. The wording there is a little bit different than we would have thought of it because wouldn't we have looked at this and thought to ourselves, wherefore I say unto thee, she loved much because her sins which are many are forgiven. Wouldn't we have probably put that sentence in the opposite order? But if we look at it in the order in which it is, what he's basically saying here is that the fact that she loved much is the evidence that she was forgiven of much. Because he's saying, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much. He can see the love as evidence of the fact that she is forgiven. And it says, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at me with them began to say with themselves, who is this that forgives sins also? And he said to the woman, thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace. And by the way, that verse 50, Calvinists hate that verse. Because they all, you know, it's not even your faith that saves you, it's God's faith, it's the faith of Christ that saves you. Wrong. Thy faith hath saved thee. We supply the faith, God supplies the grace, and the Calvinist doctrine that God supplies both is a false doctrine, to say that God forces people to believe on him or causes people to believe on him. No, he says, whosoever will may come, he draws them through his word, he draws them by being lifted up from the earth, he said if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. But let me say this, it's our faith that saves us, okay? And that's what the Bible tells us here, one of the many places that that doctrine is taught. But if we look at this story, we can apply this in our life as well, okay? We can apply the fact that when we forgive others, okay, that's going to cause them to love us more. Isn't that true? Because here the Bible says that she loved much because she was forgiven much, okay? Why do we love God? The Bible tells us, we love him because he first loved us, right? And because he has forgiven us much, we love him much, okay? And where sin abounded, grace did much more about it. And the more we've sinned, you know, the more we're going to love God because of his forgiveness and the fact that he has forgiven our sins, and the fact that he is able to receive us as we are, okay? So God is telling us that his example of forgiveness is the example that we should follow in our lives and that to the level that we forgive others, then God will forgive us the same way. And so God is teaching us here to extend forgiveness to others. It's a way of showing them love and it's a way for them to love us. Now go to 2 Samuel chapter 9. This is a great illustration of this. 2 Samuel chapter number 9, this is a story about David and Mephibosheth, if you remember. 2 Samuel chapter number 9. You see, there's nothing in the Bible that says that if you do nice things for other people or that if you do good things for other people, that it's going to make them love you. And think about this now. If you do nice things for other people, and when you buy things for other people, and when you give gifts unto other people, that's not going to cause them to love you. When you do things for other people, it's going to cause you to love them. But let me say this though, a way to get someone else to love you though is to be a forgiving person. That will cause other people to love you when you forgive them. But if you're the type of person that will not forgive people's trespasses, and you will not forgive their sins, and you will not forgive the wrong that they do, you can do all the nice things you want for that person, and you can give them all the gifts you want, but let me tell you something, that person is not going to love you. You must forgive sin to be loved, as Jesus is loved. You must forgive. And this is a very important sermon, because, look, everything depends on the fact of whether or not we are in God's favor. Everything in our life depends on the fact whether God is pleased with us. If God's pleased with us, he can make whatsoever we do prosper. And if God's not pleased with us, he can destroy our lives. He can put a roadblock in front of us everywhere we turn, no matter what we do. And look, God is not going to be pleased with us if we have sin in our life. And God's not going to be pleased with us when we're not walking in the light. And God's not going to have fellowship with us when we're in darkness. And how do we get that fellowship back? How do we get God to be happy with us? How do we get God to be pleased with us? We must confess our sins to God and have them forgiven, so that we can be back in his good graces. And the Bible says, his mercies are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. So if I get up in the morning and I pray and say, God, I'm sorry for the wrong things that I've done, and I confess, God, I've done this wrong, I've done this wrong, I've done this wrong, I'm sorry, then you know what? God promises he will give me a new start. God promises that I will now be once again in his good graces, and I can start out my day in fellowship with him, or I can end my day in fellowship with him. You know, whether this takes place in the evening or in the morning. Or even in the midst of the day, to stop and push a reset button and get in fellowship with God, and get back in God's good graces by confessing our sins to God. But wait a minute, all of that is derailed, none of that will do you any good if you do not forgive others. He said it will not happen. And you can go through the rest of your life out of fellowship with God, and you can go through the rest of your life sinning and messing things up and having God punish you and chastise you and chasing you for it, and you will not be in good graces with God. It will just be one discipline session after another. I mean this is a pretty important subject, wouldn't you say? And David understood this. David understood how important this was. Look at how David lived his life, and see how you can apply this to your life. Look at 2 Samuel 9 verse 1, and David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Look at verse 2, And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. So here David is just out looking for something nice that he can do to someone else. You see that? He's looking for kindness that he can show unto who? The house of Saul, the man who hunted him, the man who tried to kill him, the man who made his life very difficult, the man who, I mean look, Saul did a lot of harm to David. Separated him from his family, separated from his wife, took David's wife away from him and gave her to another man. I mean can you imagine a more hurtful and harmful thing? I mean Saul lied to David repeatedly, tried to kill David, and here's David saying, you know what? I want to show kindness unto the house of Saul. Now the guy he ends up helping out happens to be Jonathan's son, but that's not what he's asking for because in verse 1 it's very clear. David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul? He didn't say it has to be Jonathan's son. He said, Anybody of the house of Saul that I might show him kindness for Jonathan's sake. And you know what our equivalent to that would be? You know, who can I show the kindness of God to for Jesus' sake? For Jesus Christ's sake. Because the Bible says, look, you know, you see this in 2 Samuel 9, I'll read for you from Ephesians 4 where the Bible says, Be ye kind, and remember what's he trying to show? The kindness of God. And the Bible says, Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted. What's the opposite of tenderhearted? Hardhearted, right? So he says, Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. That's the Jonathan's sake there, represents the for Christ's sake. And the kindness of God is a forgiving heart that says, you know what, Saul has done me wrong, Saul destroyed my life for many years, but you know what, I'm going to show the kindness of God unto him for Jonathan's sake. I'm going to do something nice for one of his descendants. And of course he finds a way to do that in a tangible way. He finds this man Mephibosheth, who is lame in his feet, he's a poor man, he's got nothing going for him, and he lifts him up, sets him at the king's table, and takes care of him for the rest of his life. Just to show the kindness of God. Is it because Mephibosheth had done anything to deserve that? No. Did Mephibosheth earn that or have that coming? No, and it's a picture of salvation also, the grace that God extends to us for Christ's sake. He helped this guy for Jonathan's sake and basically forgives anything of the house of Saul. He said, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Now there's a lot of scriptures on confessing your sins. You know, we looked at the most famous one in 1 John chapter 1. Go to 2 Chronicles chapter 7, you're in the Old Testament right, you might as well go over to 2 Chronicles chapter 7. And while you're turning there, let me read for you from Proverbs. The Bible says, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. So there are two choices when we sin. We can try to cover our sin, or we can confess it and forsake it. And the implication there is that, you know, people who cover their sin, they usually don't end up forsaking their sin. And you know what, I've noticed, because everybody's done wrong in their life, everybody's committed sins and done things that they wish that they could go back and change. But I'll tell you something, there are people who can move on from their past, like Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, and then there are people who can never get over it. And they're constantly plagued by their past and plagued by their sins and they struggle with it and it makes them upset all the time. And it's something that just constantly bugs them and bothers them. You want to know what the difference is? The difference is the people who confess their sins from the people who did not confess their sin. Because I've noticed that people who will not admit that they've done wrong have the most guilt for what they've done. Now look at the Apostle Paul. Is Paul making excuses and saying it wasn't that bad? Paul said, I'm the chiefest of sinners. He said Jesus Christ came to this world to save sinners of whom I am chief. He said, I was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, I was injurious. He said, you know, I did it ignorantly in unbelief, but I was still a blasphemer, I was still the chief of sinners. He said, I count it all dung, my whole life was dung. He said, you know, I'm going to admit to you, I'm going to tell you that it was wrong. And I'm not going to try to make excuses for it and say it wasn't that bad. But you know, you'll find people with this, and you know, I'm going to bring up a sensitive subject, but you know, divorce is where this comes into play. You know, there are some people who've been divorced in the past, they've made that mistake, they've moved on from their life, and they're able to just live for God and realize, hey, that was in the past, that was a mistake. And they can be happy, you know, in their current marriage, even though they did wrong and the Bible says that if you divorce your wife and marry another, you've committed adultery. You know, they realize, okay, I sinned, I did wrong, they confess it and forsake it, they're not going to make that mistake again, they're going to stay with their current wife till death do them part, and there are people who can just get over it and still be used greatly by God. And it doesn't have to stop them from serving God. It doesn't have to hinder them from serving God. But you know what I've noticed? The people are constantly going around saying it wasn't my fault. It was 100% the other person's fault, and they haven't come to the grip with the fact that they've made mistakes and that they did wrong and that they're not perfect and they're just constantly trying to justify it and say, well, it was justified in my situation. Well, you know what? They're the people who can't move on because they haven't confessed it. You know, we need to just, and look, even just between you and God, I'm not, you know, you just need to just confess to God and not try to justify your sins and just say, God, I did wrong. I'm sorry. It was my fault. But that feeling of being forgiven, you know, will help you just move on and get over it. Because you'll know that, you know He's faithful and just to forgive you. But the people who cover their sins and try to cover up for it and say, well, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't really my fault. You know, they're the ones who can't get over it. They can't move on. And they're plagued by guilt for the rest of their life. There's no reason, look, there's no reason for you to feel guilty for the rest of your life about sins that you committed in the past. And if you do, something's wrong. You know, I've committed sins in my life. I'm not sitting here feeling guilty right now about every sin I've ever committed. You know why? Because I've confessed it and forsaken it and I know He's just and I know that I don't have to be held back. I can forget the things, I can press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Because I understand forgiveness. Second Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14. And if you're an unforgiving person, well, you know, you're not going to be forgiven anyway, so you're not going to be able to move on anyway. But look at Second Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14. The Bible says, If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. You know, we have to be humble enough to go to God and be sorry and turn from our wicked ways and confess and forsake Him. Go to James 5. And you know, James 5 is a chapter that we often neglect because of the fact that it's a chapter that's abused by the Roman Catholics. And you know, sometimes there are scriptures in the Bible that false religions will twist and abuse and then we sometimes make the mistake of just walking away from that scripture and ignoring it. Now just because someone is misinterpreting and abusing and misusing a scripture, you know what, we still need to go to that scripture and find out what it really means and apply it to our lives and not just throw it out. You know, and for example, the concept of, you know, anointing with oil and praying for the sick. You know, the Pentecostals have abused that and turned it into a Las Vegas show that comes to town, right? And claim to be an apostle but they're liars and they claim to be able to do these miracles that they can't really perform. Let me tell you something. We still should follow James 5 even though the Pentecostals have abused it. And then the Roman Catholics have abused it with their last rites. You know, where they anoint on the deathbed and the last rites and the false doctrine associated with that. And then also the doctrine of confession has been abused by the Roman Catholic Church with the confessional booth. You know, where you go to the priest and you confess your sins to the priest through this little anonymous little grating or whatever bizarre thing. And he tells you, okay, I forgive you. You know, do these Hail Marys and these Our Fathers and all. You know, that's a lie out of the pit of hell to think that we could go to some man who we have not sinned against in any way, shape, or form and that somehow he represents Christ. He does not represent Christ. There is one mediator between God and man and it's not a guy who calls himself Father. It is not a Catholic priest. He is not the mediator between God and man. Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man. And if I need to be forgiven by God, I'm going to pray to the Father in Jesus' name. I'm not going to go to that guy. I don't need him. I don't need his help for anything. Okay? But with that being said, even though the confessional booth is a wicked heresy and the confessional booth is totally unscriptural and wicked, but in James 5 the Bible does tell us, let's read it in verse 14, is any sick among you let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And that is something that we should do. I'm not saying, you know, oh you have a cold, okay, let's come and pray over you anointing you. But you know, when people are deathly, and I've done this before, when people are deathly ill, you know, this does come into play. But he says, let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick. And again, not talking about he's going to go to heaven now, that's not what it's saying. He's saying it's going to save him as in it's going to save his life from death because he's on the point of death. The prayer of faith shall save the sick, the Lord shall raise him up, meaning he's going to come out of the deathbed that he's on. He's going to be back up and about. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. But look, verse 15 ties in with verse 16. It says, confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So this is the part that we ignore is verse 16. Because we look at that and we say, you don't confess your sins to a man, only confess your sins to God. Don't confess to that priest. That's true, but hold on, the reason why the confessional booth doesn't fit in here is because it says confess your faults one to another. It doesn't say one person is always confessing their faults to the other guy because he's the representative of God on earth. That's the false doctrine. And hey, if you went into that confessional booth and ripped down the grading, tell them what you did and then say, now what did you do, you pervert, you stinking Catholic pedophile priest, whatever you are. But I'm just saying, the point is, you know, the Bible is teaching us to confess our faults one to another. So that shows that sometimes there is a time to confess your sins unto someone else besides God. Does it not say that? And it doesn't say confess your sins to the pastor, like I'm the holy man of God and I'm here to take your confessions after the service today. It says confess your faults one to another. That's a two-way street. That's an attitude that says, you know what, when I sin against someone and when I wrong someone I should tell that person, I should go to that person and tell them, hey I'm sorry, I've done wrong, okay, and not try to hide and cover our sins and to be a humble enough person to admit when we've done wrong and to confess our faults one to another and to pray one for the other that we will be healed, okay. So this is a biblical doctrine of confession. Confession to God, yes. Confession to our brothers and sisters in Christ, yes, okay. Confessional booth, no. Now if you would, go to Ephesians 4 and I'm almost done. Actually I'm not almost done but I'm going to force myself to be almost done. I'm almost done but my notes are not almost done. But Ephesians chapter 4 says this in verse 25, wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another. Be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and what is bitterness? You know the Bible tells us what this is. This is again something, it's like when you leave food out and it just keeps rotting and getting worse, you know, bitterness is when we hold on to some bad thing in our heart and it just keeps just rotting and festering and getting worse and worse. He says let all bitterness and wrath and anger, wrath is just a more extreme form of anger, and wrath and anger and clamor, you know this is like when you go into the kitchen you're banging dishes around or you go into the garage and start kicking things around, you know, clamor, right? Evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. I'm going to turn to one more place, which is Matthew chapter 18. Go to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18, I'll start reading while you're on your way there, verse 21, then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times. So I guess he misunderstood what Jesus taught earlier. He didn't catch the seven times a day, he just heard the seven times. So he says, how many times shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto the Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And the Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. Now look, I don't want God tormenting me. I don't want God disciplining me and making me pay on this earth for every sin that I've ever done. I mean, do you want God to say, Okay, let's take every sin you've done, I'm going to discipline you for that on this earth. I'm going to make you reap every seed that you've sown for the rest of your life, and you're going to reap the whirlwind. And he says, That is what the heavenly Father will do to you, if ye from your hearts. So this isn't just saying, I forgive you. This isn't even just acting like you've forgiven the person. But actually, from your heart, forgive everyone his brother their trespasses. He says, In order for God to forgive you, you must forgive everyone from your heart and actually feel no antipathy for that person. I mean, that's what the Bible is teaching. Is it not? Now it's interesting because in the very next chapter, you know, and often we look at things in the Bible compartmentalized, but really one thing leads into another as we're reading our Bible. That's why you should read more than one chapter a day, because you need to see things in their context. Look at chapter 19, because he goes into something that picks up right where chapter 18 leaves off. It says in verse 3, The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Can he divorce his wife for any reason he wants to? Saying, can he just divorce her for whatever reason? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read? And that's usually the problem, by the way. That he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, comitteth adultery, and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. Now, what did the Bible say about people who are forgiving? What did it say about their heart? It was tender, right? He said, Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, right? Now here, they're confronting him saying, Can a guy get a divorce for whatever reason he wants? Can he divorce his wife? And Jesus says, Well, no, you know, when you get married, it's till death do us part. You know, the two become one flesh, and what God has joined together, let not man put asunder. And then they follow that up. He pretty much tells them, No, don't put away your wife for any reason. But then they come to him and say, Well, but why did Moses command to put her away and to give her a writing of divorcement? Now if we were to, and we don't have time, but if we were to go back to Deuteronomy 22 and Deuteronomy 24, we would see what this is referring to. The Bible talks about that when a man marries a wife in Deuteronomy 24 at the very beginning of the chapter, if he basically is under the impression that she is a virgin, and he goes in unto her and finds her not to be a maid. Or if he finds some uncleanness in her, then he has the right at that time, not years and years later, but at that time he has the right to say, You know what, I'm going to give her a bill of divorcement. If he finds uncleanness in her, which that is what the Bible means when it says uncleanness, you can study that word all you want. And he says if he finds that, he can at that point back out and say, You know what, I'm going to give her a writing of divorcement. And then the Bible says that she could go and be another man's wife. Which here he says if you marry her that's put away, you're committing adultery, except if for that one reason, except for the cause of fornication. Notice it doesn't say except for the cause of adultery. People will twist this and say, If your wife commits adultery, you can divorce her. Wrong. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches here that if your wife, he said it's only for the cause of fornication that a man can put away his wife. And that's explained in Deuteronomy 22 and 24 why that is and what that means. But notice here, does everybody understand what I just explained? Well with that in mind, now look at the passage, what does it say? He says, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you. What does suffer mean? Allowed or permitted. He said, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you or allowed you to put away your wives, but from the beginning as well. Now what does that have to do with the hardness of someone's heart? What it has to do with is being what? Unforgiving, right? Basically you're finding out about a sin that was committed, right? And what he's saying there is you're finding out about a sin that was committed and you're either going to be forgiving or you're going to be unforgiving. And the Bible says because of the hardness of man's heart, God suffered them or allowed them to put away their wives. And you know, if you remember Joseph, when he found out that Mary was with child before they'd come together, before the wedding night had taken place, he found that she was with child. It says he was minded to put her away privately. But it says while he thought on these things, okay? Why? Joseph had to think about it because he's thinking, you know what, I love this person, you know, I love Mary, that's why I'm even marrying her in the first place. And he was thinking on these things and pondering these things and he was leaning toward, hey, you know, maybe I should call this off. Because he had basically been a spouse to her. They had said the vows but it was like, I don't know, maybe we'd call it like an engagement period but it was a little different because they'd already made the vows but they had not consummated the marriage, they're not fully married yet because they have not come together. And he's saying there, you know, he's thinking about it, he's pondering it. Because you know what, obviously that is a hurtful thing, right? That is something that is hurtful. Now in our society we don't think about this because, let's just face it, people that are unsaved, they're pretty much, none of them is keeping their purity until they're married or very few. But amongst God's people it should not be so. You know? And look, and I'm not going to do it now but I've gotten up many times and I've preached and screamed and yelled and foamed at the mouth about how bad of a sin fornication is and I've foamed at the mouth about being a virgin when you're married and being pure, okay? We all understand that. I'm not downplaying that. That's an important thing. But let me say this though, forgiveness. Forgiveness. The Bible is saying here that it's a hard-hearted person who cannot forgive sins. And here it's even tied in with marriage. Now look, obviously this isn't the only sin that somebody has to forgive their husband or forgive their wife if that sin is there, right? Because there are other times that we might do wrong by our spouse. And you know what? I'm sure that I have done things throughout my marriage, obviously not to this level, but I'm sure I've done things in my marriage that hurt my wife's feelings or said things that were wrong or done things that are wrong and she's said things and done things that were wrong. But you know what? It's a hard-hearted person who can't forgive. And if you have a hard heart and you won't forgive your wife or forgive your husband, you know what? God's not going to forgive you. And you know what? You're also, you're missing out on a loving relationship with your spouse because the Bible says that if you forgive much, you love much and they love you much. See what I mean? And so it can create a good bond. Basically I'll put it this way, you know, sin and look, we all have sin. I have sinned, you have sinned, your spouse has sinned. You know, sin can destroy your marriage if you don't forgive. You know, and I've known a lot of people who just, you know, their spouse committed one sin and I'm not saying it was even adultery, I'm saying a much more minor sin. And yet they just would not forgive that one thing and it destroyed their whole life. But you know what? I'll bet if they would have forgiven that one thing, then their spouse would have felt very loved as a result. The opposite would have taken place. And so he said to them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts, and it's funny, isn't it funny how he just talked about forgiving? And then he gets on this subject. He says, Moses because the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so. Now go to Revelation 19 because I want to just make one point and this is something I was thinking about this week and I never really thought about it until this week. But I thought about it this week and I just wanted to address this one point because, you know, different people have different views on what I'm going to bring up right now but I'm just going to give you my view on this and honestly I feel very strongly. I've never felt strongly about this in the past but, you know, I thought about this and I was reading my Bible and I have a very strong opinion about this now and in fact I would call it a conviction about this. And this is something that a lot of people may disagree with me on or maybe they won't but the bottom line is, you know, I've heard it both ways but I have a very strong belief on this and that is the subject of when people get married whether or not they wear a white wedding dress, okay? Now I remember when I was growing up in church my pastor always said, you know, if you're not purer as a woman when you get married you shouldn't wear that white wedding dress and you're committing sin if you wear that white wedding dress because that white wedding dress symbolizes your purity and it's, you know, and I grew up hearing that preached but let's see what the Bible says because the Bible actually brings up the white wedding dress. That is not just a tradition of man, that is actually a biblical philosophy. And let me show you what the Bible teaches about it. Go to Revelation 19 and look at verse number 7. The Bible reads, "'Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife had made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.'" Now a lot of people would look at that and say, see right there, that white dress is supposed to mean something. That fine white linen is supposed to represent your purity and your godliness and the fact that you have kept yourself pure to that day but wait a minute, what does the white of the wedding dress represent here in Revelation 19? The righteousness of saints. Let me ask something, is that because the saints have not sinned? Why were they granted to be arrayed in fine linen? Because they'd not sinned? Because they'd lived a pure life? Because they hadn't made any mistakes or because they were forgiven? Because the Bible says in Philippians 3, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. And it says in Romans 4, "'But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.'" And look, again, I'm a strong believer in being pure on your wedding day and I'm not going to, you know, change my position on that, but let me say this though. For those who have committed sin in the past, and for those who have confessed and forsaken that sin, there is nothing wrong in the world with a woman wearing a white wedding dress. Because you know what it symbolizes? It symbolizes the righteousness that is imputed unto us because of Jesus Christ. Because when the Bible says, to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white, what does granted mean? Is granted something that you earned? Is it because you deserve it? No. Granted is something that's given unto you as a gift. Granted is something that's given unto you that you don't deserve, it's just granted to you by grace. And so what the Bible is saying here is that the fine linen clean and white is the righteousness of saints. Look, it's not our righteousness. It's the righteousness of Jesus Christ which has been imputed unto us. That's why the Bible said they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. And for me, I just decided that for me, performing a wedding with a woman who is wearing a dress that is not a white dress because of the fact that she was impure before she was married, you know what, to me that would just scream out, we don't forgive. Jesus doesn't forgive. God doesn't forgive. There's no righteousness after, no, look, the Bible teaches that it is forgiven. That there can be a new start. That there is righteousness that's imputed unto us that's not our own righteousness. And you know, there's a reason why we do a lot of the things that we do in our world. And a lot of it comes from the Bible. And because marriage is a great symbol, okay, in the Bible, in Ephesians 5, doesn't the Bible say husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church? So there you go. So is, you know, a Christ-like husband is going to be, above all, what? Forgiving. Because that's what Jesus Christ, when he was crucified, he said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. And so, you know, first and foremost, a husband, if he's going to be like Christ, is going to need to be a forgiving husband. And obviously wives should be forgiving as well, no question about that. But this is an important subject, my friend. I hope you'll let these things sink down into your ears because honestly, you're going to live a life that's a really tough life if you don't learn how to forgive other people. And I'm not saying, well, I guess I'll forgive them because I have to. That's not what the Bible said. God knows your heart. You can put on a show, you can say, I forgive you, I forgive everything. You can say that, but you know what, if it's not coming from your heart, God sees right through that and God looks at that and God says, you know what, you're not going to forgive other people, I'm not going to forgive you. You know, you're going to sit there and hang everything over everybody's head, I'm going to hang that over your head. I'm going to hang everything over your head. And you know what, there's plenty for God to hang over our head. Say well I never did that, I never committed for an occasion. Yeah, but what about all the stuff that you did? What about all the other stuff you do? You know, what about all the other stupid things that you've done? I've never been divorced. Yeah, but what about all the other sins that you've committed? You know what I mean? And look, people are going to do you wrong, they're going to do you dirty, you just have to forgive people.