CURRENT SERIES
The Forgiveness of God
Jan. 7, 2018
LifeWay Moments
LifeNotes
2018 is the Year of Discipleship
• In order to be a good disciple, and one that disciples others, we have to understand the forgiveness of God in our own heart. It is impossible to give something to someone that we don’t have.
• It is important to be saved, but it is also important to disciple others. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19 to make disciples of all nations.
• Be a witness in the home, on the job and throughout the community. We are a witness by doing and being, not just by saying.
• Forgiveness: The act of forgiving; state of being forgiven; a disposition or willingness to forgive.
• If we really forgive someone, we will no longer talk about what they did.
• We can be in relationship with someone and still be in unforgiveness with them; it will hinder the relationship.
• Forgiveness is a willingness. God was willing to forgive us.
- Synonyms of forgiveness:
- Acquittal: The state of being acquitted; release, the discharge or settlement of a debt or obligation. We owed a debt we couldn’t pay, Jesus settled it at Calvary.
- Mercy: Compassion, kindness or forbearance shown toward an offender. Compassion, pity, benevolence, having mercy on a poor sinner. What we got from God is not what we deserve. Grace is unmerited, unwarranted favor.
- Justification: The act of God whereby humankind is made or accounted just or free from guilt or penalty of sin. When God forgave us, there is no remembrance of our sin.
• We don’t add anything to what God has already done. We won’t have more forgiveness, we will just understand more of what Christ has done. We need to renew our minds to what He did for us.
• It is so important to understand that there is a reason that we need forgiveness.
• Forgiveness is the first key to discipleship. Without it, we can’t be a disciple or disciple others.
• When you understand the grace of God, you will live better accidentally than you ever could on purpose not knowing it.
• God loves us. He is not mad at us.
The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
— Genesis 2:15-17 NLT
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
— Genesis 3: 1-5 NLT
• When the serpent went to Eve and tempted her about eating the fruit, in her reply, she incorrectly added to what God told her — she was in partial truth. The enemy was tripping her up. When we add to or change what God said, we will not have what God said. When you say what God said in His Word, when you believe what God said in His Word, you will have what God said.
• Satan was enticing Eve with the unknown.
• If the enemy can get you to question God, you will never obtain what God has for you.
But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.
— Romans 5:15 NLT
• Once you understand forgiveness, you walk in a new light.
• God made a conscious decision to forget our sins.
• As you put every doubt and unbelief under your feet, your faith will rise.
Life lesson
The more we learn about the forgiveness of God, the easier it is to lead others into that forgiveness.