Hosanna Restoration Church

This week, we celebrate the ultimate act of love and forgiveness. Jesus was and is all about forgiveness. He came into this world to reconcile everyone who would believe in Him, to God. In order for us to be restored to fellowship with God, we had to be forgiven, and He was the only one who could arrange that.

Of course, not everyone understands this truth. Not everyone understands that God so loved the world that He allowed His only son to be nailed to a cross for us. Not everyone understands that type of forgiveness. In fact, only God can put that kind of love and forgiveness in any of us.

When Jesus was telling them that they could receive anything they asked for if they would just really believe; He was quick to point out that they would need to forgive first. Have you ever found yourself explaining some truth to someone and while you were doing it, God was reminding you of something? Jesus knew that every single one of the disciples would desert Him. He also knew that Judas had plans to betray Him. He had to go into the garden and forgive them all. Jesus was tempted in everyway that we are. Don’t you think he had to fight the urge to be bitter? Don’t you think the devil tempted Him to ask God fix them good? After all, they did not deserve to be forgiven!

We know that later when He did go to pray, he asked them watch with Him. He woke them up three times. He told them to be alert or temptation would over power them. He knew from personal experience how much of a battle it was to overcome the temptation of the devil. He was not just warning them, He was warning us as well.

It was His great love for us all that compelled him to tell us that we must always forgive. What good would it do us if we prayed and believed and got everything we wanted from God and then died with bitterness and unforgiveness in our hearts? Jesus said if we forgive, then God can forgive our sins. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Just as Jesus died and rose to new life, so we must be renewed by the Spirit into new life. Bitterness and unforgiveness do not produce life; they bring death. What good would it do if we had faith to move mountains, but did not have enough love to forgive?

Do you want the blessing of the Lord? Do you want your life filled with all the fruit the Holy Spirit produces? Then you must first, forgive. In Christ we have been delivered from the power that bitterness had over us. There is nothing that we cannot forgive. Jesus hung on that cross and asked His Father to forgive those who crucified Him, and those who betrayed Him. He asked God to forgive us. How can we not forgive as well? Leave the past behind and reach for what is ahead.