Romans 8:1 – Forgiveness, the Miracle Cure – Bible study

Romans 8:1 Forgiveness, the Miracle Cure I believe this will be the third and last message in the series on Christians Must Control their Emotions. \See "Romans 12:14-15"\ \See "Hebrews 12:14-15"\ We gave seen the danger in not controlling our emotions; namely, our emotions will control us. We have seen Pauls successful fight to control his emotions. He found. 1. The Greatest Power – The power of Jesus Christ 2. His Greatest Need – To forget the past 3. The Greatest Goal – To know the excellency of Jesus. We have seen the dangers of the Malicious Emotions and are in the process of seeing how to stop these motions from overtaking us and how to set ourselves free if we are in their control. I gave the three steps this morning and want to say a few words about the middle step this evening. Since most malicious emotions have their root in anger, we find the three steps are: 1. \#Matt 18:15\ – Go to the one who offended you. Matt 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: 2. Forgive 3. Forget – \#Phi 3:13\ Phil 3:13 forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I. There is another subset of emotions that the Bible speaks of. A. The Bible speaks of many emotions-love, lust, fear, fret (worrying), greed, lust, envy, jealousy, and others. 1. I mentioned one specific group set this morning, the malicious emotions. a. \#Eph 4:31\ b. Bitterness, wrath, anger, malice (hatred, resentment) 2. But there is another a. It is the guilt emotions. b. The Bible does not list a lot of them: (1) Condemnation \#Romans 8:1\ (2) Shame – Used 98 times in Bible. Re 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. c. Most of us would use a single word, GUILT. We have done wrong and now the condemnation, the shame, the guilt of what we have done bothers us. B. Why would I bring this up now? 1. Because guilt is one of the most powerful emotions that believers struggle against. 2. Because the cure for guilt is similar to the cure for the malicious emotions. Matt 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 3. Notice two things: (a) The Condition (1) \#22\ You are unjustifiably angry with another. (2) That is an open and shut case – you are at fault. (3) \#23\ While you are trying to worship God, you are smitten with guilt over it. (b) \#24\ The Command – Leave the gift and your worship. Go get things right. 4. Isnt it interesting that no matter whether the Christian is the one who was wrong by another or the one who did the wrong to another, he must be the one who goes to make things right? (a) Why? (b) Because the Christian is the one who listens, controls his emotions, and is capable of going to the other! (c) We are the embassies of peace and reconciliation; both between God and man, and man and man. 5. So what does a Christian do when he feels guilty? The first step is he goes to make it right. C. There are two other steps and they are similar to the ones I mentioned when someone has trespassed against us. 1. In both cases, we are the ones to go. 2. In both cases, we are attempting a reconciliation through forgiveness. (a) If they have wronged us, we offering forgiveness. (b) If we have wronged them, we are asking forgiveness. 3. Everything I said this morning about having to grow our spirits to the place where CAN do this, still applies. II. Lets understand forgiveness better. A. Forgiveness has three directions. 1. Forgiveness comes from God to the sinner – salvation. Is 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 2. Forgiveness comes from God to the saved – cleansing. 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 3. Forgiveness comes from the saved to others. Mark 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. B. While these different kinds of forgiveness have different sources, they always have the same meaning. 1. To forgive means to erase the past and start new. 2. Forgiveness is always the same no matter what the source and no matter to whom it is given. C. Forgiveness is he same 1. When God forgives the sinner. It means He erases the past and starts over. a. This is seen in the pictures of new that God gives throughout the Bible. b. Salvation is compared to: (1) the new birth \#John 3:7\ (2) the new creature \#2Cor 5:17\ (3) the new heart and spirit \#Eze 36:26\ (4) the new wine in new bottles \#Matt 9:17\ (5) the new lump \#1Cor 5:7\ (6) the new man \#Eph 2:15\ (7) all things being made new \#Rev 21:5\ c. So when God forgives, the past is wiped clean and everything is new. Ps 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 2. When God forgives the saved. Forgiveness means that He erases the past and starts over. 3. When we have wronged someone else and seek their forgiveness. We are asking them to erase our past and to start things over. a. Here is the beauty. Whether they are willing to forgive us or not is not the issue. b. We are to go and seek it. c. Even more, we are to do whatever we can do to make our wrong right. (1) If we lied, we confess it to those we lied to. (2) If we stole, we make restitution. (3) If we deceived, we do our best to straighten out the wrongs we did. d. Of course sometimes we cannot and sometimes the people we wronged are not going to forgive us. (1) That is their right, a sinful right but it is theirs. (2) God commands us to go and once we have done that, and done our best to reconcile: (a) God forgives us. (b) The hurt the ones we wronged feel is not because of our wrong but because of their choice. (3) When it comes to Who holds the record of wrongs, God is the only One who counts. (a) \#Romans 8:1\ There is no condemnation (guilt) from God. Why? Because God has erased our past and given us a new start. Romans 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifieth. (b) If God has done that, there is no one else who can charge us! (c) Why? i. Because God is the One who determines the wrongs and rights. ii. Because God is the only One Who can keep a record of rights and wrongs. (d) A lot of people feel false guilt because one or more of the people they have offended will not forgive them. i. We do not want to minimize the things we have done wrong. ii. It is their right to stay in the past if they wish, but they are the ones now inflicting the wrong on themnot us. iii. The only One who can define wrong is God. The liberals are right, if there is no God, there is no truth. They are not wrong in their reasoning, they are wrong in their supposition. They suppose there is no God. Without God, what one man calls right may not be right for me. iv. So when God erases my wrong. It is gone no matter what! Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. v. Here is the power of Gods forgiveness. It can take guilt and shame away because it removes the wrong. vi. However, there is a catch! The same forgiveness that God gives the sinner, the saved. 4. And when we forgive someone who has wronged us. It means we erase their past and start over. a. We cannot change what forgiveness is just because we are now the source of the forgiveness. Matt 10:8 freely ye have received, freely give. b. So I go back to drop this truth of forgiveness into the message I preached this morning. (1) The text \#Matt 18:15\. (2) The condition is that we were wronged by another. (3) This makes us angry and we must deal with it or malicious emotions may control. (4) What are we to do? (a) We are to go to them. i. We are to reconcile with them. ii. If they will make right their wrong, wonderful. We will move on to the next phase. iii. If they will not make right their wrong, wonderful. We will still move onto the next phase. (b) We will forgive them. i. We will erase our past and start over. ii. Doesnt that seem dangerous? Not really. You ought to be somewhat cautious with people you have no past with. Move on but move on cautiously until you see if you can trust them. (c) But either way, forget the past and move on!