Gospel—C. Hendricks
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Much thy name unfolds to every open deer.
The pardon sinners memory holds none other half so dear 165.
We talk tonight on the subject of forgiveness.
Forgiveness.
Five different aspects of forgiveness.
First aspect is what we would call eternal forgiveness.
Sometimes it's called judicial forgiveness.
Is that which God alone can give.
Which he proclaims to the Sinner pardons. Sinner memory holds none other half severe.
Of the Lord, Jesus proclaimed to that woman, thy sins are forgiven. Only he could do that. No man could do that.
And then there's restorative forgiveness.
When we as Christians.
Sin.
We don't lose our salvation. We don't lose the forgiveness that we have eternally, but.
We lose communion, fellowship, and so we need to be restored and we'll look at that and then there's personal forgiveness.
How we extend forgiveness to others.
And then there's governmental forgiveness.
Very solemn subject, we'll look at that.
And finally, there's administrative forgiveness.
Five different kinds. And there's so much confusion that has resulted because we haven't distinguished one from the other.
Eternal.
Restorative personal governmental.
Administrative Let's open our Bibles to.
Well, let's look at Luke 7 again for just a few moments. I won't go over the passage in any detail again.
In verse 47, the Lord Jesus is talking to Simon the Pharisee who would invite him to his house.
And this woman had come in and bathed his blessed feet with her tears, wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Kissed his feet, the Lord said to Simon.
Thou gavest me no water for my feet, but this woman had washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her tears.
Thou gave us me no kiss, but this woman hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
My head was oiled out. It's not annoying, but this woman hath anointed my feet with anointment.
Wherefore I say unto these Simon, her sins, which are many, are forgiven.
And then it says in verse. Well, I just quoted it, I'll read it. Verse 47. Wherefore I say unto thee, For sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much.
But to whom little is forgiven the same love at little? And then he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. What a wonderful message. What a wonderful.
Truth, the only one that can proclaim forgiveness.
And when he said those words to this woman, thy sins are forgiven, he was committing himself, absolutely committing himself to the cross, because there was no way he could forgive her sins unless he had gone through the cross to bear the judgment for them to pay the penalty which her sins demanded had to be paid. And so many other those blessed words, he was pledging himself to go to that cross of ignominy and shame, and to die.
For her and for her sins.
Acts, Chapter 10 We will look at a number of scriptures.
We have to go rapidly because the subject is quite extensive.
Peter is preaching to the household of Cornelius and he says in verse 43. Speaking of the Lord Jesus, he says to him.
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To the Lord Jesus Christ give all the prophets witness.
That through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. That word remission means forgiveness.
Forgiveness of sins. One sins are remitted, dismissed, sent away, forgiven. So through his name that blessed one is now proclaimed the forgiveness of sins.
Forgiveness of Sins turn to Acts, Chapter 13.
Acts 13.
Verse 38 Be it known unto you. Therefore men and brethren, this is Paul preaching the previous one was Peter.
That through this man the Lord Jesus Christ, has preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
And by him all that believe are justified from all things.
From which he could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Through this man has preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
I was talking to.
A young girl recently about this subject of forgiveness.
And I asked her, How many sins have you committed when the Lord Jesus died on the cross?
But she had a hard time understanding my question.
Well, of course the answer to that question is none.
We didn't even exist yet, but God, who knew them, laid them on him.
God knew all the sins that we would commit, and he took those sins and laid them on his son on the cross, and he bore them in his own body on the tree. And so God can proclaim to us the forgiveness of sins. Not just sins that were passed at the time we believed, but all our sins, even those that we haven't committed yet. We can say we have the forgiveness of sins.
We'll come into the good of it at the time, but it's been it's being proclaimed now, that's the aspect.
Of eternal forgiveness. Now let's go to.
Ephesians One. We could look at many passages, but I just want to touch on a few.
Ephesians chapter One.
Verse 7.
In whom again the Lord Jesus.
We have redemption through His blood.
The forgiveness.
Of sins according to the riches of His grace we have it. I remember my brother-in-law who was not my brother-in-law at the time. He was a fellow engineer working with me at Sure brothers where I worked. And I brought the gospel to him and he got saved.
And I remember he was at we used to, I used to bring him home to the house and we would spend hours in the Bible together. And he was, he was just like a spongy. He soaked it up. He just loved every truth that I brought to him. And we prayed one night. He stayed overnight that night and typical with most of Christendom, he asked, Lord, forgive me my sins.
And so as we got into bed, I said, Marvin, if you owed me $100 and I said to you, I forgive you that $100 debt, you don't owe it to me anymore. And then every time you saw me after that, you said, Chuck, would you please forgive me the $100?
So that would mean you didn't believe I'd forgiven you. I told you the debt was canceled. I forgave you. I pardoned you. But you keep asking me for forgiveness. That means you don't believe you have it. You don't believe me, that I've forgiven you. And he got the point. Next time we prayed, he said, Lord, I thank thee. My sins are good. I'm forgiven. He entered into the good of this wonderful message.
The forgiveness of sins in whom we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of sins we have it.
It is not an intelligent prayer to ask for the forgiveness of sins if you are a believer, because you already have it when you believe.
Let's look at another passage in Hebrews 10.
In Hebrews 10.
This is the testimony of the Holy Spirit, verse 15, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us.
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For after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Now notice it doesn't say thy sins, their sins and iniquities will I forget?
That's a human infirmity to forget. I've talked to a number of older folks here in Pella and they've all told me they are getting forgetful. And I'm not all that old, but I can relate to that too. My memory is not like it used to be when I was in my 20s, but forgetting is is a human infirmity. But God doesn't say I will forget your sins, He says. I will not remember them anymore.
That's an act of his will, he says. I won't remember them. I'll never throw them up against you again. They're gone.
Isn't that wonderful? That's the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Now, where remission of these is there's no more offering for sin.
The sacrifice of Christ has put away our sins once and for all.
God has accepted that work, and now the Holy Spirit says there are sins and iniquities. Will I remember no more? That's an act of God's will He chooses not to remember and he never will bring them up again because of the blood of Christ.
Now first John 2.
First, John, Chapter 2. This is the last one we'll look at in connection with the subject of eternal forgiveness.
I, John 2, verse 12 I write unto you little children, because.
Your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. That was the basis for his writing to them. I write to you because your sins are forgiven you.
And that's a wonderful thing to realize that you're forgiven that the question.
Of your eternal destiny has been settled by the sacrifice of Christ the once for all, never to repeated, never to be repeated Work of Christ on the cross that is done, and he proclaimed it. He said it is finished, and so now we can proclaim the forgiveness of sins.
Now the next aspect of forgiveness we want to look at is is restorative forgiveness. When we when one of us sins, we don't lose our salvation, but we lose communion. Turn back to chapter 2, verse one.
My little children, this is first John 21 These things right, I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
If any man's sin, notice the precision, the accuracy of the word of God.
It says if any man sin, we have an advocate. It doesn't say if any man's sin, he has an advocate. Nor does it say if we sin. We have an advocate that would suppose that all Christians must sin. And that's not true. If it says if any man sinned, he has an advocate. That would bring forth the thought that the advocacy of Christ begins to function once, once, once sins. But that isn't the case. No, what is the case is if any man's sin, which is the exception.
Scripture never puts it in such a way as to suppose that Christians are going to sin or that they must sin.
This is the exceptional case. If any man sinned, he no we we have an advocate with the Father. The Lord Jesus is our advocate with the Father right now, whether we're sinning or not. He's always there as our helper, our advocate and.
He's the one that leads us to repentance. If one of us has sinned, turn back to the first chapter, verse 9.
19 In John, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Notice it doesn't say if we if we say forgive me my sins, that's not what we say to God.
I don't believe that's ever presented in that way in Scripture. Not not in the case of eternal forgiveness. And this is a verse that is so broad that it could be applied to eternal forgiveness or it can be applied also to one who is in relationship with the Father. And that's the way I'm applying it here, Restorative forgiveness if we confess our sins.
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He is faithful and just. Notice it doesn't say merciful and gracious, which he is.
But it says he's faithful and just. Why does it say it that way? Because Christ has.
Is the propitiation for our sins. He has rendered full satisfaction to God for our sins. So God is faithful and He is just to forgive us our sins and more, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The sins that we might confess to God are the ones that we're aware of. There may be others in our life that we're not aware of. What if we confess the ones that we're aware of? He is faithful and just to forgive us and then to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He does more that just forgives us the sins that we've confessed and restores us into fellowship with himself. But if if we're conscious of having sinned in any way and we confess that to Him, then he He cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
Cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
Those of us who are parents, and I think just about everyone in the room is a parent. You know what? It is too, for your child to come to you and say, Daddy, I'm sorry I did wrong. Please forgive me. Well, what did you do? Well, daddy, just forgive me, But what did you do?
Oh, it's so hard for them to say what they did. This verse says. If we confess our sins, just tell me. The Lord says what you did wrong. Name it. Name it.
It's a lot easier to say forgive us our sins. That's the general prayer that we hear by many Christians. Forgive me my sins, but that doesn't really confess anything, does it? It's hard to say. Forgive me for that lie I did. Forgive me for that unkind word I spoke. Forgive me for that evil thought I had. Forgive me for stealing that thing.
Or whatever it was.
Well, that's what Scripture says.
If we confess our sins, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now I would like to read to us tonight on the 51St Psalm, one of the most solemn confessions of sins, probably the most solid, that we have in the whole Bible. And this will give us an idea of what it means to confess our sins. David had committed a grievous sin.
He had taken another man's wife. He had stolen a wife from a man who was one of his best warriors. He was one of David's mighty men, Uriah the Hittite, and he had taken his wife.
And made her his.
And then, when he couldn't conceal the evil deed, he arranged to have Uriah set in the hottest battle and killed by the enemy. What an awful thing. And Nathan had come to him and told about a man that was rich and had all kinds of flocks and herds, And there was a poor man that had one little ewe lamb.
That was nursed by that man and a stranger came and the rich man didn't take of his abundant flock, but he took of the poor man's lamb and killed it and fed the way for the stranger that came. And David was extremely angry. He said the man should die and he will restore fourfold.
Nathan said. Thou art the man.
Thou art the man. David had an abundance of lives, and he would have the Lord would have given him more.
Had he so desired that he took another man's life, another man's lamb?
And when it was couched in that parabolic form, David became very angry. It's amazing how angry we can get with another person's sins and not see our own. And now it says in Psalm 51 to the chief musician, a Psalm of David when Nathan the Prophet came unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin, as ever before me against thee the only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
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Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold thou desirous truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from my presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from the earth. But the New Translation puts it the Spirit of Thy holiness. Don't let me get into such a state of soul that I lose a sense of my holiness. Lord, do not allow this evil that I have done to.
Affect me to the point where I don't have horse sin any longer, but that's what he's saying.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, not thy salvation. But he D lost the joy of it.
And uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors. Thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee beautiful instance of one who had grievously sinned the Apostle Peter. The Lord had told him, You're going to deny me three times. And he said, Though I'll deny thee, yet will not I? He was so confident in himself, he did not know his own heart. He truly loved the Lord.
And he didn't think he was capable of doing such a thing. I'm sure David didn't think he was capable of doing such a thing that he did.
And there may be some in the room that don't think that, think they're not capable of doing it an evil like David did. Well, let me tell you, you're capable of doing. Every one of us is capable of doing.
David was a true St. of God, and he loved the Lord fervently. But he fell grievously into sin because at a time when kings went forth to war, he stayed home. He sent joy about to the battle and he stayed home. And then he got off his bed of ease and walked on the housetop and looked, and he saw a woman washing herself, and she was very beautiful. And that's all it took. He was not where he should have been. He was not in the battle. He was taking an ease, his ease and all the extra time that we had.
Is not good.
Because then we get into mischief.
It's probably better for the population when they had 12 hour work days instead of eight, because now a man has all kinds of extra time at his disposal to get into all kinds of evil.
And evil is increasing everywhere. And don't you believe it that we are immune to it? No, we are not.
David fell, and here we read his lament and his grief and the sorrow that his soul went through.
And the crying to God, I want a Holy Spirit within me.
And so on.
Well, Peter was one that fell deep deeply, and then you read of him on the day of Pentecost. He then restored the Lord had appeared to him in resurrection.
And.
Peter says to the Jews, he said, whom he denied in the presence of Pilate.
And a man demanded A murderer to be granted unto you, and he killed the Prince of life.
You might say, how could you do that? Because he was a restored man.
He was restored to the Lord and.
Used after his restoration. This idea that once one falls into a sin he can't ever be used again. That's not scripture. Peter was used Michael Lee after he was restored.
And so was David.
For thou desirest, not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest, not invert offerings. Verse 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite part of God Thou wilt not despise. Well, there's an example of confessing our sins. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now let's look at 2 verses, Luke 17.
Having to do with personal forgiveness.
We've looked at eternal forgiveness, which is based solely upon the work of Christ, and we can never lose that forgiveness.
Because it doesn't depend upon us in any way. It depends upon Christ in his work. And then the restorative forgiveness also is founded upon the work of Christ. He restores us because Christ has died for those sins and put them away. So He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now in Luke 17.
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Verse 3.
Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent.
Forgive him.
And if you trespass against these seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again to these saying, I repent.
Thou shalt forgive him.
You might think, well if he's done it seven times, you might think after the 4th or 5th time there's a bit of insincerity in his saying I repent, but the Lord says forgive him.
Show grace to him so on a personal basis if one comes to us and.
Confesses their sins and says they repent.
We forgive. That's what the Lord tells us.
Now let's look at Matthew 18, where we have a similar passage.
Matthew 18.
In verse 21.
Then came Peter to him, and said Lord.
How OFT shall my brother sin against me now? He had said in verse 15.
Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
If he shall hear thee, thou esteem thy brother that tells us how we are to.
Deal with one who has trespassed against us. We go and tell it his fault with the with the object of gaining him, Not of giving him a tongue lashing, but to gain your brother. And Peter was thinking of all this, and I'm passing over the instruction that comes in between. We'll touch on that in a moment. But. And so he asked the question in verse 21.
How often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him, and being very, very large hearted and generous, he said till seven times.
And then the Lord says unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until 70 * 7.
In other words, he's saying there's no limit to your forgiveness, no limit to forgiving.
We are to have an unforgiving spirit towards our brother. And if they come to us and say I repent, the Lord says thou shalt forgive him, Thou shalt forgive him. Well, that's personal forgiveness. Now some of these are tied. For instance, in Matthew 18 you have three, you have personal, you have governmental, and you have administrative. All in the same chapter. So we'll we'll now look at governmental forgiveness.
We're coming back to Matthew 18, so hold your place here, but turn back to Matthew 6 for a few verses first.
Matthew 6.
This is what is called commonly the Lord's Prayer, and in verse nine we have it.
After this manner, therefore pray thee.
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day Our Daily Bread, and forgive us. Here it is. 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. Now here it is again. 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. Now that seems like it's contradicting what I've just said about eternal forgiveness. But this is not eternal forgiveness.
This is governmental forgiveness and it's very important that we understand the difference.
In government, what is the principle of God's government?
Well, I'll read it to you in Galatians chapter 6.
You want to turn to it? You may. It's in Galatians 6. This is the principle of government.
Verse 7 Be not deceived.
God is not mocked.
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Or whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh, new translation says to his own flesh.
That's what David did. He sold to his own flesh.
Shall of the flesh reap corruption. Let ye that soweth to the spirit, shall love the spirit, reap life everlasting. The principle of God's not going back to matter. Many of you are farmers, if not all, and you know exactly what that means. You sow in the spring, you reap in the fall what you've sown.
And that's a principle, an inflexible principle of God.
It applies to the Saints, It applies to the world, it applies to all men.
First Peter 117 says if you call him the father who without respect of persons, judgeth according to the work of each pass the time of your sole journey here in fear that's the government of the father over his family. And it says in the 4th chapter of first Peter, because in first Peter you have the government of God with respect to his to the church, to the assembly, and in second Peter you have the government of God with respect to the world.
The government of God in his own house. It says judgment must begin at the House of God. And if it first begin at us, what shall the envy of them that will they not? The gospel, The end of the ungodly is going to be a horrible thing, but God has his government over his house and over his family as Father.
And so again, going back to Matthew 6, we have.
Verse 12 Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Verse 14 If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you forgive, not mend their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses in a governmental sense.
That applies that if we are, if we carry ourselves in the spirit of forgiveness.
Your father forgives us if we harbor unforgiveness. We come under his government, which is very, very solid.
It says he won't forgive us Like this has nothing to do with eternal forgiveness. This has to do with governmental forgiveness while we're living our life down here.
Have to do with.
With our father in that way, now let's go to 8 Matthew 18.
With all that, and we'll read from verse 23. Now this is governmental forgiveness we're looking at.
Therefore is the Kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his service. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him 10,000 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.
And the servant fell, 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 dead.
But the same servant who had been forgiven 10,000 talents.
The same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him 100 pence.
Very, very small amount.
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 that 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 their Lord all that was done.
Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant.
I used to think when I read that, that that was an unsaved person.
Not necessarily. If a Christian harbors an unforgiving spirit, a Christian who has been forgiven 10,000 talents by God, a sum that we could never have paid, and then someone does something to me and I say I can't forgive you for that 100 pence, and I can't forgive it when God has forgiven me 10,000 talents, I cannot say that.
And for one to say such a thing or to harbor such a thought, I know of a case.
Where a husband.
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Was caught in a.
With another woman he was caught in.
A temptation?
Are they committed sin with this other woman?
And he went to his wife and he told her, he said, I've sinned. I do not love this other woman. I was caught up in the in the moment, the emotion of the moment.
And I went too far.
I love you. Forgive me.
And she would say, I will not forgive you. That's it.
She puts herself in the class of being a wicked servant.
Her state is worse than her husband's, who has asked for forgiveness, asked her to forgive him, saying I repent. I abhor myself for what I've done. I love you nothing. And she said I could give you anything, but not that.
There's a government that would come upon her for that, and if we should harbor that kind of a spirit.
Towards anyone, no matter what they've done to me.
No one can do anything to me that's so bad that I can't forgive them because I've been forgiven 10,000 times.
Like a?
All thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that depth, because thou desirest me, Shouldst not thou also that compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?
And his Lord was wroth noticed this, and delivered him to the tormentors.
Should say all that was due unto him.
Who are the tormentors?
Torment of conscience.
That conscience, because I'm harboring an unforgiving spirit bitterness in my soul towards someone because of what they've done to me.
This spirit has wrecked assemblies.
It has gone unchecked and unjust.
And the person that harbors, that is delivered by God governmentally to the tormentors, whatever that means tormented conscience.
Loss of peace and joy and happiness in the Lord because I have a bitter spirit.
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you.
He will deliver you to the tormentor of success, if ye from your hearts.
Forgive not everyone, his brother, their trespasses doesn't mean that we go to them and say I forgive you until they come to us and say I repent.
God doesn't extend forgiveness to a Sinner until he repents.
God commands all men everywhere to repent.
And when he does repent, then God Forgives him.
Forgiveness is there, ready to be given out in the heart of God, and that's the way the Christian.
Has to be towards anyone. Your forgiveness is there. As soon as he says I repent you forgive ever.
And if you want.
You put yourself in the category of a wicked circle.
Dispensationally, this applies to Israel.
And they have been delivered to the tormentors.
To pay everything that they owe, they've been driven from one nation to another to another. The Jews. The history of the Jews since they crucified their Messiah. What a terrible thing.
And what they governmentally under the government of God. Let's turn to it. First, Peter Three we have the principle of God's government, and I'll I'll just read the verse. It's important that we get a hold of what we mean now by governmental.
Forgiveness verse 12 First Peter 312 For the eyes of the Lord, however the righteous.
And his ears are open unto their prayers. Just think of a person that's harboring.
A bitter, unforgiving spirit.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
That's an awful thing.
Governmentally, he sets his face against me.
The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, His ears are open under their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
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That's been applied to a true believer.
Hebrews 12 Says, watching, lest any root of goodness springing up trouble. You and many of you defile. The one that defiles the most is the one that harbors that root of bitterness. It's a root that's there, and it's ready to spring up. It's never been dugout, It's never been judged. And some of the things that have happened of late in the Lamentable, Grievous, the awful division has gone through. There's roots of bitterness that have lain dormant for years in any experiment.
And many have been defined. Some of the things that have been written should never have been written, never have been put on paper, much less thought or spoken.
And even put it on paper.
Forgiveness governmentally.
If we fail in this.
The father says. I won't forgive you government.
Isn't that an awful thing, to be living in such a way that you don't have the sense that that the father is smiling upon us in approval of our ways and instead he has to set himself governmentally against it doesn't mean he doesn't love us. As many as I love, I rebuke and chase him, be zealous, therefore, and repent of actions.
Governmental.
Forgiveness.
For that one sin, for that one moment of pleasure, of gratifying of his own lust, David paid and paid and paid and paid.
He said two things. He said the man shall die, And Nathan said, you will not die, the Lord has put away your sin, You will not die. But David also said he shall restore fourfold, and David paid with four cents.
Four sons.
The son that was born of Bathsheba died.
And then he took Tamar. His sister was killed by Absalom because he was forced. His sister, he died.
Absolutely.
Who rebelled against his father and usurped the Kingdom he was killed.
I had an idea, the sound of it says. David had never said made to him, never displeased him at any time.
He tried to usurp the throne with God. David had said he would give it to Solomon.
Solomon got the throne.
He didn't put a genitage to death right away. He sent him home. The dad denies he made a very serious mistake. He went to.
Solomon's wife that she does.
And his mother, it wasn't his mother, it was his mother. But anyway he went to her and his mother, he went to her and he said go to Solomon and.
I want ABBA ****. You shouldn't like to write it.
And so she did that.
Solomon said you might as well ask the Kingdom before him. He's my older brother.
So you've spoken this word to his own day. And so he was put to death four sons.
Sons of David, we reap what we sow. That's the governmental principle of God. We can't get away from it. Don't ever think you get away with anything. Don't ever think we get away with anything. Thank God we don't. Thank God. He loves us too much to let us get away with sin, with wrong thoughts, with harboring the bitter spirit. Thank God he deals with us until he brings us to repentance. Either that or removes us.
From the same.
I'll read verse 34 and five again and then leave this passage. And his 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.
You keep from your hearts forgive not everyone whose brother trust me.
Well, that's the 4th aspect of forgiveness, and the 5th is administrator forgiveness.
And we have that in Matthew 1818.
Let's look at this passage for a moment.
Verse 15.
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Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee.
Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone, if he shall hear thee. Thou esteem thy brother. This is the activity of grace on the part of the one that was trespassed against to get things resolved between him and his brother. So he goes to him in the spirit of grace, seeking to gain him, and that they might be reconciled to one another again if he shall hear thee. Thou hast gain thy brother. Then it stops there, and never goes beyond anyone else. No one knows anything about it.
But the two?
But if you will not hear thee.
Then take with thee one or two more that they would be from the local assembly there.
That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
But if this fails, again, it's the overtures of grace going out trying to gain him. But if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the church.
But if you neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Now I want to make this comment before we go on, because it's very helpful in expounding and understanding this passage.
Every second person pronoun that is singular starts with AT in our King James Bible. Same is true that Mister Darby's Bible, the modern translations. That's not true where they use you all the way through. But every second person pronoun that starts with AT is singular.
Thou, thee, thy line, we're all singular. That's it's always that way in in our Bible. And every second person pronoun that starts with AY is plural.
Ye, you, you're yours. So whenever you read you in the King James Bible, that's always Pearl.
If it was singular, it would be V.
So verses 1516 and 17 are all in the singular.
If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between.
Thee and him alone, if he shall hear thee. Thou hast gained thy brother. That's all, Singer, that's all that individual.
If he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, which of course makes that that part is plural. But it's still dealing with the individual that in the mouth of two or three witness may every word be established, and if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the church, the local assembly there. But if you neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee, as it's still singular, it's still instruction to the individual as an heathen man and republican. So what started out in verse 15?
As thy brother and thou hast gained thy brother.
Now he's not to treat him as his brother any longer, but he's to treat him as an heathen man and the public, and because he has refused to, to listen to the voice of the assembly, the voice of the Lord in the midst of the assembly.
That's the final Court of Appeal that we have presented in this passage. And so the man that started out as thy brother ends up as a heathen man and republican, just as though he wasn't saved at all.
Because he has refused to submit to the voice of the Lord Jesus in the assembly of the Saints. That's the administrative the authority that the assembly has. Now in verse 18, it changes to the plural. Now he's talking no longer to the individual, but he's talking to the assembly, the local assembly that that man had refused to listen to. He did not listen to the church or the local assembly.
So in verse 18 there's there's instruction now to the assembly. Verily I say unto you, plural, the assembly, Whatsoever ye plural shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now that verse is identical to the one in Matthew 16, with this one exception. When the Lord used those words to Peter, he said, Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. That was Apostolic authority committed to Peter.
But here its assembly authority is in the plural.
The authority to bind one sin upon him and exclude him from one from their fellowship, or to rescind that and to receive them back into fellowship to loose the sin.
Notice verse 18 starts out with verily I say unto you, Verse 19 starts out with again I say unto you, he had more to say to them in that local assembly, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. Here you have now agreement. In verse 18 you have the administrative authority committed to the assembly to bind into loose.
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And in verse 19 you have the promise that if there is agreement, if there is a competent testimony to a competent testimony in agreement in that local assembly, their prayers would be answered.
4 Where two or three are gathered together in or unto my name, there am I in the midst of them.
That is administrative authority verse 18. Now let's turn to, we are talking about administrative forgiveness. Let's turn to John 20 where we have it and it's it's a very similar passage to Matthew 18, John 20.
Verse 19.
Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week.
When the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, notice it's the disciples not the apostles. What we're reading of here has to do with the the the local assembly. The church wasn't formed yet. This was the first resurrection day 50 days later 7 Sabbaths plus one day was the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came down in Acts 2 and that's when the church was formed or what we have here in John 20.
On the 1St resurrection morning, it is a little picture, if you will, of the local assembly with Christ in the midst.
And it says.
The disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Came Jesus.
And stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Now he proclaims the fruit of his work, Peace be unto you he made peace by the blood of his cross. And now he stands in their midst, and proclaims peace to them.
That's the peace. That's eternal forgiveness, peace be unto you.
And then in verse 20, when he hath so said, he showed them his hands in his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord, They recognized him. When they saw the Neil Prince in his hands and his side, and they recognized him. They were glad when he saw the Lord. The effect of knowing his work is peace. The effect of seeing his person is joy and gladness. Then said Jesus to them again, verse 21, Peace be unto you this time not for themselves to enjoy, but that they might proclaim peace to a lost world.
As my father had sent me, Even so send thou you. So he sends them forth on the mission of peace, proclaiming peace by Jesus Christ.
Not only do we have it for our own enjoyment, but we can proclaim it to the world.
He's made peace by the blood of His cross, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the peace that He brings us into when we believe the gospel. And so He sends them forth with that message of peace. Now in the power of what life do we enjoy this peace? In the power of what life? Do we enjoy His presence? In the power of what life? Do we enjoy all the blessings that we have and go forth with the message of peace to the world?
Well, that's in verse 22. And when he had said this, he breathed on them.
And saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Now the article isn't really there, it's received, ye Holy Spirit.
The Spirit is given here as characterizing the resurrection life of Christ, which He breathes into them in resurrection conditions. He's the risen Christ here.
And he appears to them. You remember back in Genesis 2 when God created Adam, He took of the dust of the ground and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and then became a living soul. That was Jehovah Jehovah God that in that breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. You don't read that of any of the other creatures. Man has an immortal soul. He has a living soul by the in breathing of God. Now here's that same Jehovah as man, as a risen man.
In the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and in his resurrection state, He breathes into his disciples who already had life, the breath of resurrection life, that is life in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why he says, we see the Holy Ghost.
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So the Spirit of God was not to be the energizing power of that life, characterizing it and associating us with Christ in this direction.
That's the abundant life. Remember, in John 10 it says, he says I am come, that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly. It says more abundantly in the King James. It's really abundantly That is, we have the abundant life the Old Testament Saints have. Life is the same life that we have it in the power and energy of the Holy Spirit in connection with Christ risen from the dead in new creation conditions. That we could spend a lot of time on this, but we don't have the time.
Now we come to verse 23.
Whosoever sins, ye remit or forgive, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever seem to be retained, they are retained. This is a favorite verse of the Roman Catholics to quote, to try to show that Father so and so has power to forgive sins. This isn't an individual, this is the assembly he's talking to. And he says, whosoever sins, ye remit, they are remitted. That is, the assembly has the administrative authority to remit or retain sins.
And when we receive someone into fellowship, we are administratively remitting their sins.
You know, the practice today in the Christian world is that a person comes into a Christian assembly a total stranger, and he announces to the to the brethren there. I'm a Christian. I love the Lord. I'd like to remember the Lord. And I'm going to break bread here. That's my responsibility. I'm going to break bread here. Well, what should be the Brethren's response? The response should be that is not your responsibility at all. God has given us that responsibility to receive or not to receive, to remit or to retain sins. That's the administrative responsibility of the assembly.
Never do we find in Scripture that an individual can introduce himself into the into the Spirit. Or what the Spirit of God is he, that he must be received into that house? He received into the house? Well, he's baptized and he's brought into that sphere of blessing, and the brethren receive him there. I wish we had time, but we don't. There are instances in the Book of Acts that we could look at.
And the one that is the most probably the best illustration is First Corinthians 5.
There was a man that was inside. He had been received in, and he had fallen into sin. And Paul says, put away from among yourselves that wicked person, And they carried that out. So they retained that man's sins upon him. They bound his sins upon him, and excluded him from their fellowship.
Doesn't even say they put him away from the Lord's table. Put away from among yourselves. Now that should answer the question, Is it all right for us to eat with that person?
That they've been put away. If they're put away from among yourselves, you don't eat with them.
You don't fellowship with them and.
And that's been given to the assembly. It's not an individual. There's only one individual that had that, and that was Peter. He received right directly from the Lord in the Matthew 16.
But that's gone. The Apostolic authority is gone. We don't have any apostles walking along today, but we do have assemblies. So again.
I had to go very quickly because this is a vast subject. Eternal forgiveness that's founded in found the work of Christ. We can never lose it.
Restorative forgiveness if any man's sin.
We think it will be restored. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And the advocacy of Christ begins to operate even before the sin takes place. Remember, the Lord said to Peter, you're going to deny me, but I have prayed for thee. You'd already prayed for him before he even seen it, that thy faith failed. That's a result of the advocacy of Christ. And then there's personal forgiveness.
How often should my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Seven times. The Lord says 70 * 7 be come to you and say I repent. You shall forgive him seven times in a day.
And then there's governmental forgiveness, Very solid, very solid to think of governmental side of things.
If we from our hearts do not forgive everyone, our brother, their trespasses, neither will our father forgive us governmentally.
And then there's the administrative forgiveness. And I've heard preachers preach on this passage. John, 2023. I have never heard one get it right.
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Out there in the system and mess it up terribly. It's not eternal forgiveness at all.
God has never committed eternal forgiveness into the hands of men.
That's his prerogative, but he has committed restorative forgiveness.
And personal forgiveness.
Desires to exercise.
And to have a forgiving spirit in our hearts.
That's the way of blessing.