“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains
wide,
do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your
Recap
• The Preparation & the Promise
• Lengthen
•
•
Appropriate length (rather than extending it)
Prolonging its life (condition)
Forgiveness impacts everything
•
•
•
•
•
God’s love
Grace and mercy
Relationships
Sin and Temptation
Stewardship and
Giving
•
•
•
•
•
Righteous living
Worship
Prayer
Reconciliation
Confronting
inequality
Forgiveness runs throughout the
Bible
• Sacrifice
• Restoration
• Life stories
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Abraham
Esau & Jacob
Joseph & brothers
Moses
David
Jonah & Nineveh
Forgiveness runs throughout the
Bible
• Prophetic word
“If my people, who called by my name, will
humble themselves and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear
from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal
their land”
(2Chronicles 7:14)
“This is the covenant I will make...I will put my
law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I
will be their God and they will be my
people...they will all know me...for I will forgive
their wickedness and will remember their sins no
more”
(Jeremiah 31:33-
34)
Forgiveness runs throughout the
Bible
• Prophetic word
“If you O Lord kept a record of sins. O Lord who
could stand? But with you there is forgiveness
of sins”
(Psalm 130:3-4)
“The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love
and forgiving sin and rebellion”
(Numbers
14:8)
Forgiveness runs throughout the
Bible
• Jesus’ teaching and actions
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Prodigal Son
Unforgiving servant
Woman caught in adultery
The Lord’s Prayer
Paralysed man
Forgive as God forgave us
Forgiveness runs throughout the
Bible
• Epistles
“Bear with each other and forgive whatever
grievances you may have against one other.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you”
(Colossians 3:13)
“...without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness”
(Hebrews 9:22)
“Be kind and compassionate to one another,
forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave
you”
(Ephesians 4:32)
”…confess your sins”
(James 5)
The Law of Lamech
“Lamech said to his wives, ‘Adah and Zillah,
listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I
have killed a man for wounding me, a young
man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven
times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.’”
(Genesis 4:23-24)
• Cain: revenge x7
• Lamech: revenge x77
It has to do with the heart
“The heart is deceitful above all things and
beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
(Jeremiah 17:9)
“I the Lord search the heart and examine the
mind, to reward each person according to their
conduct, according to what their deeds
deserve”
(Jeremiah 17:10)
“The Lord was grieved that he had made
man...and His heart was filled with pain”
(Genesis 6:6)
The Law of Life
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord,
how many times shall I forgive my brother or
sister who sins against me? Up to seven
times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven
times, but seventy-seven times’”
(Matthew 18:21-22)
• How many times?
• Who to forgive?
• For how long must this go on?
Jesus reverses Lamech’s law
Challenge
Forgiveness is a lifestyle
• We often fail to acknowledge we’re the ones
who need to be forgiven but we all need to
forgive
“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he
repents, forgive him. If he sins against you
seven times in a day, and seven times comes
back to you and says, ‘I repent’, forgive him”
(Luke 17:14)
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if
any of you has a grievance against someone.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you”
(Colossians 3:13)