Hidden Treasure | Part 7

They numbered some 2,000,000 people and were in the middle of a desert in a place that they had never been before. And it wasn't so much that they were in a desert, it wasn't so much that they were in a place that they had never been that made it so unusual.

It was the fact that they were standing at the foot of a mountain that was literally shaking. And on top of that mountain was billowing smoke and fire and thunder and lightning and strict orders had been given that no human being and no animal even touched the mountain.

With the exception of their leader, a man named Moses. In recent weeks Moses had been up and down that mountain on numerous occasions, but on this day he would make this bold audacious request. And to understand how bold and audacious this request was, we need to back up in the story a few months.

So the nation of Israel had been enslaved by the Egyptians so for for about four hundred years. They were desperate. In fact, by this time, Pharaoh had actually ordered all the firstborn baby boys to be slaughtered

because they were fearing how fast their population was growing. So there was a desperate time for the Jewish people. God sends Moses to set them free. So Moses goes to Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world at that time, and says, Pharaoh, let my people go. Pharaoh says no. So God sends this supernatural miraculous

plague. Moses goes back to Pharaoh, let my people go. Pharaoh says no. So God sends another miraculous supernatural plague. 10 times this happens. Now imagine, again, put yourself in their sandals if you will. Imagine what it was like for these people and Moses 10 times to witness the power of God. Supernatural

miraculous power of God. Finally after the tenth one, Pharaoh's like leave, take the people with you. So Moses takes 2,000,000 people. They go to the edge of the Red Sea. They're camped there and now Pharaoh changes his mind. He's like wow, this is gonna ruin our economy. 2,000,000 slaves just left. So he sends his army after them.

Now Moses is standing there, the Red Sea on one side, the the Egyptian army coming on the other side, and he cries out to God, save us, and so God parts the Red Sea. Can you imagine what that was like?

Of all the miracles in here, of all the things that you read in here, I don't know why but for me that's one of them I would have wanted to be part of. I I would have pushed my way over to the side, you know like right next to the wall of water. I don't know what it was like. Were you like walking along? Was like this aquarium. I mean are there big fish and sharks swimming right next? I I would have been like dragging my finger through the water. I I had to be amazing, right?

They get through the Red Sea. They get to the other side. 2,000,000 people now in a desert, and now all of sudden there's no water. So again Moses cries out, God 2,000,000 people. You set them free, but now we're in the desert. We're gonna die of thirst. So God sends them water from a rock.

Now again, put yourself in their sandals. They've seen God perform these 10 miraculous supernatural events. They saw God part the Red Sea. They saw God give them water out of a rock. Now they're standing at the base of a mountain that's literally shaking.

The Shekinah glory of God is on top of that mountain. Thunder and lightning, smoke and fire billowing up. Moses is up there and he makes this bold audacious request. After seeing all the things that Moses had seen, Moses says, God, I wanna see your face.

In other words, he's saying, God, I wanna see you in all of your glory. Now I'm now thinking what he just has witnessed over the last few months and and Moses saying I wanna see more of you God. And God says Moses you you can't. Nobody can see my face. No one can see me in all of my glory live.

But he puts Moses in the cleft of a rock. God passes by Moses in all of his Shekinah glory, shielding Moses. Moses is allowed to see the back of God, just a little bit of the glory of God, and then Moses comes down the mountain and his face is literally shining

like a light bulb because he saw just a little bit of the glory of God. But what I want us to notice is what happens as God is passing by Moses when he's in the cleft of the rock and all of the Shekinah glory of God is going by Moses. So if you have your Bibles open to Exodus chapter 34,

it's the second book of the Bible. Just go to the very beginning. You'll get the book of Genesis. Turn to your right. Your very next book is Exodus. Exodus 34. And as you're turning there, let let me let me just suggest this. If you wanna know who God is, you can go read books about him.

You can come to a place like Rock Point and hear us talking about him and I would encourage you to do that. But if you really wanna know who God is, go look at what he says about himself. Like how does God describe himself? That's what happens in Exodus 34.

Moses is in the cleft of the rock, the Shekinah glory of God is passing by and he's gonna describe who he is. Oh this is good, you gotta get this. Exodus 34 starting in verse six. The Lord passed in front of Moses calling out Yahweh

the Lord. In case Moses forgot who was walking by him. The God, now he's gonna describe who he is. The God of compassion and mercy. I am slow to anger. Aren't you glad he's slow to anger? And filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to how many generations? To a thousand generations.

I, circle this word. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. Okay. Stop reading there. Okay. Stop. Seriously, look up. I see some of you cheating. Don't look. Okay.

We're gonna go back to it in a moment, but you gotta get this. Here's what God is trying to get across to Moses three thousand five hundred years ago or to you and I today. God is saying, my first foot forward is love and grace and compassion and kindness and forgiveness.

God is saying I long for you as human beings to experience my first foot forward. Love, grace, mercy, kindness, compassion, forgiveness. That's what I long for you to experience. But there is another foot. Look again, God goes on describing himself. He says, but I do not excuse the guilty. He's a just God.

I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren. The entire family is affected, even children into the third and fourth generations. Essentially God is saying sin has a price and the price of sin is heavy. And we get it.

In fact God is saying that the price of sin is so heavy that it sometimes goes down and affects the next generation and the generation after that and the generation after that. And we get it. We do because we we've either been part of this or we've witnessed it. People that grow up in an abusive home and they say, I will never be like that.

And sometimes we become what we hate. Someone that grows up in a home with addictions and they say, I will never do that. The price of sin sometimes affects future generations.

We become what we hate. That's what God is essentially saying. But here's what I don't want us to miss. On top of that mountain thirty five hundred years ago when God was describing himself, he was saying to Moses then or you and I today, my first foot forward

my first foot forward, the foot that I want you to experience, what I want you to experience is my grace and my love and my compassion and my mercy and my forgiveness. You see how you understand God matters. How you view God matters. How I view God matters.

I think for many of us, especially those of us that have grown up in the church or we've been in the church for very long, if you've been in the church world for a couple of years or it goes back to decades, here's the danger. Way back in your subconscious mind, sometimes you view God as this overbearing boss

sitting up in heaven looking down, handing down all these endless lists of do's and don'ts like he's trying to make our life miserable. As if he's up there saying, behold Patrick McCullough, he's having fun. No. And unfortunately,

that's how we view God. Three thousand five hundred years ago when God described himself, he's like that's not who I am. My first foot forward, I am a God of compassion and mercy and grace and kindness and forgiveness.

Let me ask you a question that may help you identify how you personally identify God. How do you understand God? When you screw up, do you run to God or away from God?

When you screw up, do you run to God or away from God? When you say that thing you vowed you would never say again, when you do that thing you you vowed you would never do again, when you look at that image that you said, I'll never do that again, do you run to God or away from God?

You see how you understand God matters. Fifteen hundred years after this event when Moses was on top of Mount Sinai and the mountain shaking and God describes himself, fifteen hundred years later, God comes to earth and takes on flesh. We knew him as Yeshua, as Jesus. And Jesus tells a story, a parable

that you and I cannot understand the depth of what Jesus is trying to get across if we don't properly understand God. The parable we're gonna look at this morning, you and I will not understand the depth of it if we don't grasp what God was trying to get across about himself three thousand five hundred years ago. That his first foot forward is love and grace and mercy and compassion

and forgiveness.

And so Matthew chapter 18, turn your Bibles there now. So you're gonna go to your right. You were in Exodus. You're gonna go about two thirds of the way through the Bible. First book of the New Testament is a book called Matthew. We're in Matthew chapter 18.

And while you're finding it, let me just preface this by by saying this is this is gonna get uncomfortable for us today. This is gonna get really uncomfortable for us today because

I understand that what God is calling you and me to, what we're gonna look at today is maybe one of the hardest, most difficult things that Jesus calls us to. This is gonna be uncomfortable for any of us that would call ourselves a follower of Jesus.

Let me show you what I mean. Matthew chapter 18, we're gonna start looking at it in verse 21.

It starts with Peter asking Jesus the question. I love Peter. If I was alive two thousand years ago, he would have been my bud. Verse 21, then Peter came to him, to Jesus, and asked, Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?

Now understand the religious leaders at that time taught that you needed to forgive someone up to three times.

So the religious leaders would teach if someone wronged you, forgive them. They wrong you a second time, forgive them. They wrong you a third time, forgive them. They wrong you a fourth time, you don't need to forgive them now. So when Peter comes to Jesus,

he's doubled what the religious leaders. So I almost picture him like puffing out his chest, know like Jesus, how many times should we forgive? Up to seven? You know like he's gonna impress Jesus. He doubled what the religious leaders taught. But Jesus isn't impressed. Look at verse 22. No,

not seven times Jesus replied but 70 times seven. Now a lot has been done with what exactly that number means. I'm not gonna take the time today. Suffice it to say that Jesus is trying to tell Peter, stop counting. Jesus, how many times should we forgive? Up to seven? Stop counting Peter. Forgive, forgive, forgive.

You don't know what they said to me. Forgive, forgive. You don't know what they did to me. Forgive, forgive. Yeah, but you don't know. Forgive. And then he tells a story because he wants to make sure they understand. Jesus says stop counting

and then he tells this parable a story. It's a great story. Look at it starting in verse 23. Therefore,

the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. Verse 24, in the process one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. Now at this point in the story of the people listening would have went like, I

I mean that's a lot. So in fact you're gonna do this. I'm gonna read that again and you do that. Okay? In the process one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. Yeah. Okay perfect. You're good. Yeah. Because what Jesus Jesus is purposefully exaggerating.

He's purposefully using a number that everyone listening knows there's no way this person can ever ever ever ever repay this. He goes on verse 25. He couldn't pay. They all know that.

So his master ordered that he be sold along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned to pay the debt. So don't miss this. You're gonna miss the whole point of the story if you miss this. This guy has a debt that he can never ever ever ever repay. If he were to live several lifetimes,

it wouldn't be enough time for him to pay this debt. So look what happens next. Verse 26, but the man fell down before his master and begged him, please be patient with me and I will pay it all. At this point the crowd is going. So

let me read it again. You know your job. But the man fell down before his master and begged him please be patient with me and I will pay it all. Okay. Now you know why you're doing that because remember he had a debt that he could never ever ever ever ever repay.

And this man falls down and he's saying just just give give me give me some time and I'll pay it all. Wait, it's a debt that you will never ever ever be able to repay. The crowd all knows that. Jesus is telling the story. They get it. So so look what's next. Verse 27, then his master was filled with pity for him

and he released him and forgave his debt. What? And forgave his debt. A debt that he could never ever ever ever repay. And the response of the man

should have been that he should fallen down and soaked his master's feet with his tears. He should have hugged his legs and said thank you, thank you. He's not even worried about being embarrassed anymore. He's so overjoyed

with thankfulness. He bursts out the doors, he's running down the village streets or the city streets hugging strangers saying, you wouldn't believe what happened to me. They're like this. He runs home. He kicks in his front door. He envelops his his wife and his kids and he starts sobbing trying to explain to them what happened, but he can't even get the words out because he's so overwhelmed

with thankfulness. A debt that he could never ever ever ever ever repay was just forgiven him. But that's not what happens.

Look at verse 28 in Jesus' story, but when the man left the king, it shows the immediacy. This wasn't weeks later or months later, but when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. Are you kidding me?

This guy has a debt that he could never ever ever ever repay. It's forgiven. He walks out the door, sees someone who owes him something that they could probably repay in a matter of weeks or months and he grabs them around the throat and says pay me back. In fact, look what happens next.

Verse 29, his fellow servant fell down before him begged for a little more time. Notice he's gonna give the same request. Be patient with me and I will pay it, he pleaded. Verse 30, but his creditor would not wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison

until the debt could be paid in full. One had a debt he could never ever repay and it was forgiven. Another one had a debt that he could repay in a matter of weeks or months, and this guy who was forgiven a debt refused to forgive. Look how Jesus finishes this story. He was a master storyteller.

Verse 31, when some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. So they went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Uh-oh. Verse 32, then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, you evil servant,

I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Verse 33, you should underline in your bible. This is the key. This is the core of what Jesus is trying to get across. Verse 33, shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you? Shouldn't you forgive the way I forgave you?

Shouldn't you have the attitude of forgiveness that I had for you? Look how Jesus finishes this then. Verse 34, then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

You can imagine Jesus looking at the crowd now and saying, that's what my heavenly father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart. I told you this was gonna be uncomfortable. And see what Jesus is saying is our relationship with God hinges much on our relationship with each other.

In fact, let let let me ask you a question pertaining to the story. Who are you and I in this story? Who represents you and I in this story? It's the man who had the debt that he could never ever ever repay. That's you and I. That's Jesus' point of the story.

You and I as human beings have a debt to God that we could never ever ever repay. And Jesus' point is he's saying forgiven people should be forgiving people. Forgiven people should be forgiving people. If you've been forgiven much, you should be a forgiving person.

Now hold that thought because I wanna circle back around to it a little bit, but I wanna first explain what forgiveness is not and what forgiveness is because I think there's a lot of confusion.

What does it mean if if I forgive? So so let me begin by saying forgiveness is not condoning. Forgiveness is not pardoning. Forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness is not some kind of holy amnesia where we wake up one morning and we say a prayer and suddenly we forget all the injustices done to us.

Forgiveness is not pretending that an injustice was was done to you. Forgiveness is not a feeling. If you and I waited until we felt like forgiving, we would never get around forgiving. And especially when we talk about those deep wounds.

So I'm not I'm not this morning. I'm not talking about those little, you know, those little things that are said to you. In fact, Proverbs says, wise is the person who overlooks an insult. I'm not talking about a little insult. I'm talking about those deep wounds that have been done to you.

Maybe the physical abuse or emotional abuse or sexual abuse. Maybe those words that were said to you years ago or decades ago and they still cut you to the heart. Remember when you when you and I were growing up and we'd hear that that stupid little thing says stick and sticks and stones may break my bones but words

will never hurt me. That's stupid. Right? We get it. Some of the harshest things that have been done to you and me are words. Right now as you're sitting there, you can hear things that were said to you maybe a long time ago that cut you to the core. Forgiveness is not a feeling.

If you and I waited till we felt like forgiving, we would never forgive. Forgiveness is not necessarily reconciliation. See, you can forgive and no longer loan money to that person. You can forgive and no longer put yourself in that situation that keeps getting you hurt. Forgiveness and trust are not synonyms.

I have a pastor friend of mine and he actually says forgiveness is free, trust is earned. That's good. Forgiveness is free, trust is earned. So what is forgiveness? What does it mean for you and I if Jesus is saying you need to free it? What does that mean? First of all forgiveness is a process.

You and I need to understand and and I think we all get it again with those deep open gaping wounds,

those things that have been done or said to us that cut us to the core. It's a process. You don't wake up one morning and said well I guess I'll forgive them and then that's it. You never think about it again. It's gone. It's taken care of. It's a process.

You know what I'm talking about. What actually happens is you maybe wake up in the morning and you say, oh God I forgive them. And then you go to work and you come home that night, you unlock your door and open the door and there on your living room couch is sitting bitterness and anger and vengeance saying welcome home.

And then again, that night, as you're laying in bed you're going, God I forgive them. And you wake up in the morning, you go in the living room and guess who's sitting on the couch again? Bitterness, anger, and vengeance. Forgiveness is a process.

I get it. In fact, I'm gonna be really honest and transparent with you which is a little dangerous because I'm a visiting speaker. Most of you don't even know me but we're in the middle of this right now, my wife and I. We were recently wounded. Some of the harshest wounds we've experienced in life.

To the point that in recent months, I would often get up in the middle of the night and the reel, the movie reel was replaying in my mind and I kept going, no, I don't wanna think about it. I wanna move on and I would end up out in the living room, on my knees, on my face in tears at times,

begging God to take away the bitterness and anger. And in fact, one night I I was out there and I actually took a blank sheet of paper and I wrote down the name of every person that that had wounded us in this recent situation.

I wrote down everything they said, everything that was done. I wrote down every feeling that we experienced.

And then I I took that piece of paper and I held it in my hands and I said, God, I forgive them and I named them by name. And I forgive them and I named them by name. And I forgive them and I named them by name. And then I took a lighter and I lit that piece of paper on fire and it was a physical representation saying, I'm done with this. I'm done with this. I'm not carrying this anymore. It's gone.

I thought. And then two nights later I had a dream. You know how realistic dreams can be? How vivid and realistic dreams can be? In my dream there was a knock on the door.

I go out and I look outside. It's one of these people that had recently wounded us and they're standing right outside of the door. And so in my dream, I open up the door and this guy steps into my house.

He steps into my house and he starts right in my face. He starts saying all of these things that he had said these these these months before and and really wounded us and he's right there saying these things and in my dream, boom, I just throat punched him right there. It was he was it was a good one too because in my dream, he drops down and he's in my know, he's right inside my door going

And I wish I could tell you that I woke up and I just felt grief. I woke up and I had a little smile on my face. It kinda it kinda felt good. Why do I tell you that? Because I understand we're human. I understand that if you've been deeply wounded, it's a process. Forgiveness doesn't just doesn't happen overnight.

Forgiveness is giving it to God. Rock Point, hear me on this one. This is the one that resonates with me. This is the one that helps me understand best what forgiveness means. I want you to imagine that in front of you is an accounting sheet. Remember, forgiveness is not pretending things didn't happen.

And on this accounting sheet is every hurt that's been done to you. Every deed that has been done to you, every word that has been done to you, every person who has hurt you, the way it made you feel, it's all on that accounting sheet. What forgiveness is is it's saying, I don't wanna hold this anymore.

Here God, you take it. That's what forgiveness is saying. I'm not saying that the justice shouldn't be done. None of that. It's just saying, God it it's not healthy for me to hold this. I'm giving it to you. You see forgiveness is one of the most freeing things that you and I will ever do.

It's so sad to me how many people are chained to their past. They're chained to their past because they harbor unforgiveness and when you harbor unforgiveness it leads to bitterness. And I remember reading that bitterness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. Think about that.

Bitterness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. Who's really hurt by it? You are. There's an ancient Chinese proverb that says he who seeks vengeance should dig two graves. One for the other person and one for you. Here's what fascinating, that in recent decades

here in The US there's been so many studies that have been done about the healing power of forgiveness. Okay, this is what's really interesting to me. Not just faith based, but non faith based. People that would not believe in the Bible, would not believe in God have studied and they found that psychologically

when we choose to unhinge ourself from unforgiveness and choose forgiveness, it releases us from the chains of our past into the freedom of our future holistically. They said you are a healthier person physically, spiritually, emotionally, and socially. And certainly God knows that because he created us.

Certainly two thousand years ago when Jesus is telling this story, he knows the power of forgiveness. But here's what I find fascinating. It's not why he told you and me to forgive.

Certainly he knows it's a byproduct, but think of the story. Jesus said, you need to forgive because you have been forgiven. Forgiven people should be forgiving people.

I want to just take a moment. We're gonna have a worship service here. The band's not coming back out, it's just me and I'm definitely not gonna sing. So there's no singing here. It's gonna be you and me and the worship service is gonna be you clapping,

however you're shouting, whatever you wanna do to God. I picked just a few of my favorite passages

that describe the forgiveness that has been given to you and me if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus to remind us of the enormity of what's been forgiven us. Remember Jesus' story. This man had a debt that he could never ever ever ever repay.

Look at this. So so when I'm done reading, celebrate, clap, whatever you wanna do. Isaiah one eighteen, one of my favorite verses. Come now, let's settle this, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow. I know they're red like crimson,

I will make them as white as wool. Amen. Thank you God.

I love how that verse starts. Come now let's settle this. Doesn't sound like a parent. You know, it's almost like you and I have been arguing with God and he says sit down and I'm gonna settle this.

You keep bringing up these sins that we've already dealt with and I want you to understand that even though they were red like scarlet, they were as red and scarlet, now they're white as snow.

Oh look at this next one. This is even better. Okay, said the last one was my favorite, this is my favorite. Isaiah forty two twenty five. I, yes, I alone will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. Oh, thank you God. Never

think of them again. See when I was a kid I learned that in a different translation and it actually said, God said I will remember your sins no more.

And then I'd go to Sunday school class, see that I'm gonna date myself and we'd have the flannel graph board up there and they'd be talking about God and everything and they'd tell me that God is all knowing. And even as a kid I'm going, wait a second, if God is all knowing then how does he forget things?

Right? Have you ever thought of do you have you ever thought about what it means when we say that God is all knowing? It means that God has never learned anything. Isn't that crazy to think about? He's never learned anything

nor can he forget anything. You will never go to God and say, hey, I have an idea, and God goes, wow, I never thought of that. It won't happen. So what does it mean when it says that he remembers our sins no more? Well, was written a thousand years ago in Hebrew

and the Hebrew word that is used there literally means it's no longer an issue. This is good news Rock Point, get this. So you know, you know, I know you know because you're a fellow human being, you have some sins, you have some dirt, some baggage in your life like I do

that I would die before I'd let play on that screen right there.

See there's some things we'd all come up here and be like, yeah, let me tell you about some of the things I've done. But there's some if I was standing over there, you told me what they were gonna play on the screen. I'd be like, kill me now. I ain't going up there. No way.

And you know how it is if you've brought those things to god. What happens later? The guilt comes back. Right? And you go back to God with those things and you know what God is telling us in Isaiah? When you come back to God with those things, he's going, I don't know what you're talking about. It's dealt with.

Oh, thank you Jesus. It's dealt with. Yes, thank him again. It's dealt with. Okay, was wrong. This is my favorite verse. Psalm 103 verse 12. Okay? I love this one. Look at this one. He has removed our sins as far from us as the East is from the West. Thank you God.

Far as the East is from the West. Now I don't know if the writer did this on purpose, but I do find it interesting that if I had a globe up here and we started going north, we would go north, north, north, north, north. We'd get to the North Pole and we'd start going

k, a few of you know south, south, south, south, south, south. We'd get to the South Pole and we'd start going k, you're catching on. K, more of you follow. Now north pole, we start going then south, then we go north, south,

north. Isn't it interesting that he didn't say I threw your sins as far as the North is from the South? Take a globe and start going east, east, east, east, east, east east east east east east Aren't you thankful? This is gonna be a long message. East east east east east east east. Yeah.

As far as the East is from the West and what he's saying, what he's trying to get us to understand, he's saying you had a debt that you could never ever ever repay and if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, what he's saying is you know where those sins are now? Eternity past, they're gone. Yeah.

Let me illustrate it another way. So in the mid nineties I was a teacher and a coach and I was teaching this online course. I gave you the date because young people you need to understand computers,

home computers were kind of a new thing so we were just learning them at that time. So this day I had spent hours preparing this one lesson that I was gonna post online the next day. I I I worked on this lesson. I saved it I thought and then the next day ten minutes before I was supposed to post it I came and it was gone. Ten minutes I'm supposed to post this for international students

and I can't find it anywhere and I put hours into it. And I'm getting angry and distraught and frustrated and remember computers were a new thing. So someone comes to me and they said, did you check the deleted folder? I said, deleted folder? What is that? And they said, on the computer when you delete something, it's not really gone. It goes to the deleted folder. So I found the deleted folder and there it was. And I was like, whoever created the deleted folder is a genius.

Unless it comes to our sins. Then I'm glad there's not a deleted folder. And what Jesus is trying to get across to us in Psalm one zero three verse 12, as far as the east is from the west he's saying, there's no deleted folder with me. When I I tell you your sins are taken care of, they're taken care of for how long?

Forever. Forever. Okay, I got one more. I got one more. This one's even better. This is my favorite. I'm serious this time. Second Corinthians chapter five, Paul is writing this to these Jesus followers in Corinth. I want you to substitute your name in this verse to really feel the full impact of this.

So any place I put my name Patrick, gonna pause for a moment because I want you to put your name there. Okay? This means, I'm starting in verse 17, this means that anyone, Patrick, this means that Patrick, put your name there, who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old Patrick is gone. The new Patrick has begun.

And all of this is a gift from who? From God who brought Patrick back to himself through Christ. And God has given us, Patrick, this task of reconciling people to him. Oh here's where it gets good. For God was in Christ reconciling the world or Patrick to himself, underline this next part, no longer counting Patrick's sins

against him. Thank you God. Thank you. Oh, thank him. No longer counting your sins against you.

No longer counting our sins against us. No longer counting my lust against me. No longer counting my anger against me. No longer counting my bitterness against me. Forgiving people should be forgiving people. In fact, okay this is where it's gonna get really uncomfortable Rock Point. I have to change that phrase slightly

because if you claim to be a Jesus follower, if I claim to be a Jesus follower, the phrase needs to be changed slightly for us. It's not that forgiven people should be forgiving people. If you claim to be a Jesus follower, forgiven people must be forgiving people. Because Jesus didn't give you and I the option.

He he didn't say to you and I if we're Jesus followers, hey, if you feel like it, if it's convenient for you, forgive.

He he said forgiven people must be forgiving people. Well, that's easy for you to say, Jesus. No, it wasn't. Back up with me two thousand years to an early spring day, early morning. Jesus has been up all night. He's gone through six mock trials. He's been spit on. He's been abused.

He's been beaten. He doesn't even resemble a human being anymore. He's drug out to a place called Golgotha and they're getting ready to crucify him. One of the most torturous,

humiliating forms of death that humans have ever come up with. The Greeks and Romans have spent hundreds of years perfecting this is a is a is a horrible way to die.

And they take this Jesus who now doesn't even resemble a human. He's been beaten so badly and they stretch his right arm out and they nail it to a cross. And they stretch his left arm out and they nail it to the crossbar and then they lift him up on that post and they nail his feet into the post. And there Jesus

is hanging and there's blood and sweat flowing down his face and urine and feces and blood flowing down his legs. Humiliating and his own mother is at the foot of the cross. And some of his closest friends are there and a crowd of people mocking him. And I want you to imagine that you're in that crowd

and somehow you know who that is.

You know that's not just a human being. You know you're in that crowd but you know the guy hanging on that cross is the king of kings and lord of lords. He is the creator and sustainer of the universe. He's the one that Philippians two says that someday every knee will bow and every tongue confess. So you're sitting in the crowd and you're watching this person who doesn't even resemble a human anymore and blood and urine and feces flowing down his body and you know he's God and you start thinking what's he gonna do next?

He Is gonna call down the armies of heaven and wipe out his enemies? Is he gonna supernaturally come off of that cross? And then all of a sudden you see him start to pull himself up on those nails because it's the only way you can speak hanging on a cross

and he pulls himself up and you hear the first words he utters from the cross. Father, forgive them.

Forgiven people must be forgiving people. That's easy for you to say, Jesus. No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't.

Thirty five hundred years ago, Moses is on top of Mount Sinai and god is trying to get him and us all these years later to understand my first foot forward, what I long for you to experience is my love and my grace, my compassion, my forgiveness.

Fifteen hundred years later, Peter comes to Jesus. How many times should we forgive? Up to seven? And Jesus like, Peter, counting. And then he tells a story that reminds you and me

that we are the one who had a debt that we could never ever ever ever repay. And what did he do with that debt? He took it on himself and said, it's wiped clean.

Let me finish with this quick story. So I I grew up in Montana and I loved floating the the Blackfoot Blackfoot River. If you've ever seen the river run through it, that's where they would do the fly fishing. It's on the Blackfoot River. So we had float this this river and there was this one bend in the river. There was this deep pool of water. There was a tree that had grown straight out from this cliff edge,

and someone brave enough had crawled out on that tree and they tied a rope off of that. And so it was this perfect place to do this rope swing. So you'd grab the rope, you'd scramble up to kind of this rock cliff, you'd get up to this one edge, and then you know how things are always higher once you get up there. You know you get up there and you're like, oh, oh, oh. Take a couple of breaths and then you'd go and you'd swing out and right up at the peak of it you'd be over this deep pool of water and you'd let go and fall into this clear, crisp, cool river water.

Well one time I'm floating and I come around the corner and I find a group of high schoolers and there's a girl there who is obvious obviously scared of heights and her friends, since they're typical high schoolers, were being very encouraging to her. Right? You know how high schoolers are,

Joking. They were not being encouraging to her. They were mocking her and belittling her and making fun of her. So finally she goes, okay, okay, I'll go. I'll go. So she grabs the rope. She scrambles up to the side side of the rock. She gets up to the top. I can see her legs shaking up there now. She grabs the rope and of course her friends are still encouraging her.

You chicken, you won't do it and so she goes.

She jumps out there and she starts swinging out and I'm down in the water, I'm treading water off to the side and so I see her, she gets right up to the peak, she's way up there and I see her looking down and I can see the fear on her face and all of a sudden I recognize she's not gonna let go. So I'm like let go, let go, let go and she starts swinging back and now all of her friends who had been encouraging her, they're all screaming let go, let go. And she swings back and finally she let go and she falls in water about this deep and she cuts her leg up and her arms up and

her hands up. What was her problem? See some of you are thinking that she even got on the rope swing in the first place. No, no, no, her problem was that she wouldn't let go. And I think Jesus' message for you and me today is he's saying, you have some things that have been said and done to you and you won't let go

and it's hurting you. It's hurting you. You are chained to your past because you won't let go. And in fact, Jesus is saying to us today, you know why you should let go? Because you had a debt that you could never ever ever ever repay, and the one you owed that debt to paid the penalty and said, it's gone. It's forgiven.

I wanna ask. I'm gonna close in prayer right now, but I'm gonna ask us to do something a little different. If you would just stand up. And as I close in prayer, I wanna I wanna ask if you just do this. Would you hold your hands out in front of you like this, palms up?

And this is just a physical representation of you and I letting go. I'm gonna pray in a moment. I I wouldn't just ask if you would agree with me in this prayer, but for some of you, maybe whatever's in your hand, I don't know which whatever hurts been done to you, whatever things been maybe you have already

asked to forgive that or for to forgive that person a thousand times. But once again, bitterness and anger and vengeance is rising. And so once again, you have to do it. For some, maybe this is the very first time.

God, first of all, we stand in awe of you. A God that loved us enough that you have forgiven us. We had a debt that we could never ever ever ever repay. And when we think about you hanging on that cross in humiliation, your pain and your suffering because you took our debt

so that now we have the assurance that our sins have been thrown as far as the East is from the West. And so we say thank you. But right now, god, here at Rock Point, there's a group of us standing here and our hands are open and you know every hurt, every pain that's that's in our hands. You know it.

And and we're telling you god, we wanna let this go. We don't wanna carry this anymore.

We're not saying what they did to us was right, but we're saying here god, you take it. We forgive them. We love you, Jesus. Amen.