Forget those things that are behind

By Pastor Peter Linnecar
It doesn't matter what anyone says, we focus on Jesus Christ. We need to forget those things behind and press towards the mark of the high calling in Jesus and we don't go back.
As we go forward, and as we lift up his name, and as we get used to the openness of sharing our faith that God has given us, so it will be that others will discover the life of Jesus Christ and who he is, for themselves.
Without God, without his life inside by the power of his holy sprit, there's nothing. There's an attempt to get the answer for Christ. There's an attempt to fill up that emptiness inside but you haven't. Inside it is only Jesus inside, that sets them free.
Acts 3:1-11 (show/hide)

1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
11 And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.

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It dawned on Peter that the holy spirit, the spirit of truth and power, to be a witness was inside him. And God in the way he worked things out, caused that man to be a living testimony.
Acts 4:13 (show/hide)

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

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Acts 4:14-22 (show/hide)

14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.
22 For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.

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If you're a Christian here tonight, we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Acts 5:17-18 (show/hide)

17 Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,
18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.

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They had to act. There was no way they could shut these people up. And they thought right we'll put them in prison'. Don't think that only happened then. Jesus Christ is alive today; he's a miracle working God. It's the same God, the same father, the same holy spirit.
And they put them in prison.
Acts 5:19-20 (show/hide)

19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,
20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

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"All the words of this life". What are we talking about here? We're talking about the difference between life and death. "Tell them all the words of this life". In your life, what God is going to be doing more than you've ever seen before, is create those opportunities where you will share with someone or other, or someone will come to your mind. Why? Because God's alive. Because he's building his church because that's why he died and rose again. He died for the sin of the whole world.
The angel was definitive: "Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life."
Acts 5:21-33 (show/hide)

21 And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.
22 But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told,
23 Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.
24 Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.
25 Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.
26 Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.
27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
33 When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.

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Acts 3:14-15 (show/hide)

14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

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The Jesus Christ who is inside you and caught your attention and made you stop going this way; he's shown you his salvation, and you're walking the other way; it's chalk and cheese. I think we sometimes underestimate what is going on in our lives.
Acts 5:33-39 (show/hide)

33 When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.
34 Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;
35 And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.
36 For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
37 After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

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You can't overthrow what God does. You can't stand in the way of his purposes. You can't overthrow something which God has initiated. The work that God has started in your life, he's going to complete. He doesn't take you on and then just leave you. Not at all! That which he starts, he finishes. His whole life, 30 years, and then the 3 years, when he gave up his life on the cross, it was as if that was it; failure! Ah, but his mission was complete. And yet, when he rose from the dead, he conquered death and sin in your life, he conquered the power of death and by his holy spirit, the prince of life is alive, right here, tonight. And that which he begins he completes. If it be of God, Gamaliel said, you can't overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
Acts 5:40 (show/hide)

40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

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Don't think "I've done my bit for God." Not at all.
Acts 5:41-42 (show/hide)

41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

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Who is it God is bringing across your path? God has given you the faith to give to others, anyone that God draws across your path. No way did they sit down and think "that's it". They didn't pray for the opposition to be silenced, they prayed for more boldness! What is that foundation? It's Him. Wow, so if he's my foundation, he has purposes for me to walk into. He has good things for me to walk into and I want to do what he wants in my life. And I want to be committed to his word.
They rejoiced, that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
No greater love hath no man than he who lays down his life for his friends.
He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He intercedes for us at the right hand of God and he always will do. There is coming a time that Jesus is coming for his people and his church.
What God has started in your life he is going to complete. And what God has placed in your life, life itself, he is going to use you to be the channel to reach out to others. Don't ever think "Well, he can't be saved." No! When he hung on the cross, he thought "You weren't too bad or an impossibility for him to reach to." He took into himself everything that would oppose your going forward in life. He took away everything that would thwart you from being a person that would outwork his purposes in his life.

Forgiveness

This morning I want to look at a parable that we all need to hear. We have to be open to what God wants to teach us this morning. I am going to talk about forgiveness. Forgiveness is vital in how we treat each other. Some people have actually written that forgiveness is as important as your belief in Christ.

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Matthew 18:1-20

The disciples have seen Jesus pick up a child and He has shown them that they have to become like a child to enter the Kingdom of God. He has talked to them about His heart of compassion for the one who has gone astray. He then talked, in verse 15, about the situation where someone has hurt you in some way. He showed them that there is a procedure when this happens.

Matthew 18:21

Peter was worried about this whole relationship of brother with brother in God. He wanted to know how many times he had to forgive his brother. He had a problem with this particular point because of his character. Peter knew that in the Jewish law it was written that you should forgive your brother three times. So, he doubled it and added one, thinking that that would be sufficient.

Matthew 18:22

The effect on Peter’s face due to this reply was such that Jesus recounted this parable:

Matthew 18:23-24

In modern equivalent ten thousand talents is about £72,000,000. In this parable, for money, read sin. So here’s someone who owes £70,000,000.

Matthew 18:25-28

In a parallel sense, all of us here when we are first born are born in sin and have clocked up a life of rebellion against God. The amount of sin that you have been forgiven in coming to God is colossal; we have broken the law in every part. When Jesus went to the cross it was to forgive you and me all our sin. He completely changed our nature so that we then have the choice not to sin and the power to go the other way; before that the default is that we can’t help but sin. The amount of sin that each one of us brings to the cross is inevitability a life-full of cross. When Jesus hung on that cross, make no mistake, it was you and me banging those nails in. But, yet He still hung on that cross because of His love for us, even when were His enemies. £72,000,000 of sin was written off because of His death; He paid a debt we could not.

Matthew 18:28-31

Here we have then a person who has been totally forgiven all that amount of money in the context of the story. In the parallel, we have been forgiven all our sin by our Redeemer who paid the penalty of our sin. In monetary terms we have had £72,000,000 of sin written off. And then, I come over to this person here has £120 of debt towards me, and I take him by the throat and command him to pay back the debt. Even though this man had been forgiven so much, he threw his debtor into prison, despite his pleadings.

Matthew 18:30-36

We have to forgive our brother from our hearts. There is a duty and command of God that we forgive one another. As we will see in a moment, unless we do that, we can pray as much as we like but our hearts will be a million miles from where God wants us to be. This is a quotation from a Puritan:

“We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our sins are forgiven, let us look into our hearts and see if we can forgive others. ”

That is the bottom line because the enemy of our souls wants us to get at each other’s throats. We cherish anger when we think of the people who have wronged us, but yet all that time, my Redeemer lives and I can see His glory. If there is a source of bitterness against someone inside you, it makes no difference how much you praise God, because it is impossible to praise God whilst harbouring bitterness against others. You must leave the person who has wronged you to God, so that He can sort them out.

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

If we do hang on to a slight the net result will be sourness in our spirit, bitterness of heart, and God will not bless us. Now I don’t mean you should make a list of all the people you must forgive. You know in your heart whether you have forgiven someone, or whether you have held on to your bitterness against him.

Matthew 6:14-15

That is pretty clear.

James 2:12-14

In other words, we can trust God to sort things out, in the sense that, we commit everything unto Him. If we harbour bitterness against someone else it will eat into us like a cancer.

Ephesians 4:31-32

This is a direct command.

Colossians 3:13

Jesus is our example. When He was on the cross He cried out: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. ”When Stephen was being stoned He prayed: “Lay not this sin to their charge. ”

Mark 11:24-27

This attitude can develop into a whole realm of bitterness. This is obviously important because this the way Jesus has told us to live. I know that there are some who will not let go the throttling of the £120 debtor because they did what they did. This morning it is time to let it go.

Here we are amongst the children of Israel who have just gone through the Red Sea today.

Exodus 15:23-26

The waters were bitter. What had to happen was that the tree had to be cut down and thrown into the waters, only then did they become sweet. That is a picture of us allowing God’s Holy Spirit cleansing us of any malice we have against anyone. We must do this because it will cause us to view things from a bitter and wrong viewpoint. God has showed us all a tree: Calvary’s Cross, which means that the bitterness inside us can be cleansed and made sweet.

Some of you may be thinking that you don’t need to forgive anyone. Let me be clear, God is faithful, and if there is anything that anyone of you is harbouring inside, God will have already put His finger on it. We are not to dust off that thinking process which we know if we get involved with will only end in us boiling with antipathy against an individual.

Romans 12:19

So God is sorting things out in the overall sense and we can commit everything to Him. This means I’m not going to resurrect something that someone did to me in the past.

Therefore, what are we supposed to do?

Romans 12:20-22

That is the bottom line: ‘be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good’. God has brought this to our attention this morning because He wants us to live clean and right. In your heart are you asking God who He wants you to reach todayIt is the glorious Gospel we are involved in that enables us to reach those who are lost. We are servants of the living God; that’s who we’re involved in. But we can’t harbour stuff inside. I’m convinced, more than ever, that God by His Holy Spirit wants to work through each one of us, so that He can reach others who are in desperate need. The only way that the enemy can stop us is if we allow bitterness and hatred to dwell in us against others.

Actually, Peter asked the wrong question. We should not really stop forgiving our brother when we’ve fulfilled the correct number; that is not the heart of a Christian. To anybody who wants to come into this hall: you are welcome. I’m not going to harbour stuff against anyone. This place will grow because we are going to lift up the name of Jesus, and when His name is lifted up, He draws people to Himself.

The heavenly meaning of this parable is a direct input into the way you live your life each day. It’s an attitude of heart and of mind. God in His faithfulness, mercy and love has brought it to our attention because He wants to work through us for His glory in our lives, in reaching out to others. We forgive from our hearts, we forgive fully and we forgive often.