Let it go.
- Ashland Church of Christ
- Oct 20, 2024
- 17 min read
Updated: Nov 3, 2024
Guest Pastor J Cook
October 20, 2024
Listen, watch, or read the transcript below.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
'Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” '
'Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.'
Transcribed by Turbo Scribe
(0:00) We have youth, we have some grade school, peer, dad was preaching. (0:04) My brother and I used to do different games to entertain ourselves while dad was doing the preaching. (0:11) And we counted the not-pulls in each one of these sessions.
(0:17) And did that for a while. (0:19) There were all sorts of games that we did to distract ourselves from the guy that was yelling at all of us, (0:25) the hell-car in Brimstone. (0:26) So dad would, he would come in the morning, he'd turn up the register so it got real hot, (0:31) so when he preached about hell, he'd peel it.
(0:35) Six good servants and a red-hot board, that was my dad. (0:38) I'd be wasting my time here, how'd I do this? (0:41) Like this? Was this how I did it last week? (0:43) No, you were down on the left. (0:45) I was down on the left.
(0:46) I was just standing down here, right? (0:48) Yeah. (0:48) Alright. (0:50) You know, you might remember last week that I suggested that we do three different things that you identified in Christ.
(0:59) The first one was? (1:01) Chosen people. (1:02) Chosen people. (1:04) Royal priesthood.
(1:05) Royal priesthood. (1:07) Holy nation. (1:08) What? (1:09) Holy nation.
(1:10) Holy nation. (1:11) I can see that the words have gone with you all week. (1:16) I learned my lesson.
(1:17) I made the mistake of doing it in three. (1:19) I'm going to do it today in two. (1:22) And you guys are going to have to speak a little louder because there's more people over here.
(1:27) I'm going to talk about a topic that truly is neglected in today's churches and societies. (1:35) We get caught up in all sorts of things as to how people are given. (1:39) We very seldom try to impress upon our people the importance of you learning that in order to be forgiven, you have to forgive.
(1:49) The words are really simple that I want you to repeat to me. (1:53) It's the very short, I guess, definition of forgiveness. (1:59) It's the words, let it go.
(2:01) So I want to see over here first. (2:03) My point to you is to say, let it go. (2:06) That was not good, you all.
(2:07) That was terrible. (2:09) If you feel sorry for him, you might go ahead and do it with him. (2:12) On the count of three.
(2:13) One, two, three. (2:14) Let it go. (2:15) One, two, three.
(2:16) Let it go. (2:17) Let it go. (2:18) Good.
(2:18) That's true. (2:19) If you haven't, I've heard her too. (2:21) I'll take that as an amen.
(2:24) When we talk in terms of forgiveness, the feeling of wanting to know that redemptive power that comes to us through the blood of Jesus Christ, (2:35) very seldom is any responsibility placed on you. (2:40) The fact that the Bible trickles all the way through in the New Testament. (2:45) It says, you know what? (2:46) If you're not willing to forgive others, how can you possibly expect God to forgive you? (2:57) That's a hard one.
(2:58) Because I can tell you, every Sunday at every church that's in existence, we come with our smiles on our faces and like our lives are all together. (3:07) But I know that there are lots of people who suffer and drag behind things that have happened in the past that they just have trouble letting go of. (3:17) A man was making a pretty decent salary.
(3:20) He was making $5,000 a month. (3:23) He did it for a long period of time. (3:25) And all of a sudden, there was one week that unbeknownst to him as to why, he received a $100 extra.
(3:34) It was $4,500. (3:36) And of course, he didn't say anything about it. (3:38) Thought he'd pull a fast one on him.
(3:41) And it wasn't too long after that that he came back. (3:44) His paycheck was $4,900. (3:47) And so he walked straight up to the HR director.
(3:51) He said, hey, there's been a problem here. (3:53) There's an issue here. (3:54) You've slided me $100.
(3:56) The HR director said, well, why didn't you say anything about that when we gave you more than you needed? (4:02) He said, when you make a mistake once, I'm apt to forgive it. (4:05) But twice, I feel responsible for speaking up. (4:11) Forgiveness.
(4:14) In our text today, you'll find that Peter's talking to Jesus. (4:20) And he's asking him, how many times, Lord? (4:22) How many times do I have to forgive? (4:25) I think he uses that type of terminology. (4:28) I'm obligated to do this, Lord.
(4:31) How many times? (4:32) The word for forgiveness in the New Testament is a word that means to expel something. (4:37) To throw it away. (4:39) To let it go from oneself.
(4:41) To send it away. (4:43) Some people allow themselves to be weighed down for decades from things that wounded us in our past. (4:50) For people that we should have been able to trust, that no longer have our trust.
(4:55) And the closer they were to us, the more we depended on them and trust. (5:00) The more they're capable of hurting us and wounding us. (5:03) And the more it makes us unrelentant to go ahead and forgive.
(5:08) And I want to impress upon you the importance today. (5:12) God's Spirit is speaking to you. (5:15) The truth is, you need to let it go.
(5:17) Whatever it is, you need to let it go. (5:20) Regardless of how serious it might seem, you need to let it go. (5:26) The importance of doing that is trickled throughout the New Testament.
(5:33) How can I forgive those who hurt me? (5:35) That's the question. (5:37) So many people come to me years ago when I would counsel with them. (5:40) And they say, I just can't do it.
(5:42) And I'm telling you that even though it's hard, God doesn't ever ask you to do anything that you are incapable of doing. (5:53) He just wouldn't do that. (5:56) So who is it? (5:58) Who is it? (5:59) What circumstances in your past did you allow to just keep Harvard there? (6:04) The first thing that I want to talk to you about is one I've already mentioned.
(6:07) And that's the fact that to be forgiven, you have to be willing. (6:11) It's not that you should be willing to forgive. (6:15) It's that you have to be willing to forgive yourself.
(6:19) Matthew 5, verse 7, the Beatitudes. (6:23) In the Beatitudes, the word blessed means happy, fulfilled, joyous. (6:29) And he says, blessed are the merciful.
(6:33) For those ones that are going to be shown mercy. (6:36) Do you notice the thought behind that? (6:38) He says that if you don't show mercy, if you don't show forgiveness, then you won't be shown forgiveness yourself. (6:45) The theological life-giving artery of forgiveness runs throughout the New Testament time and time and time again.
(6:54) You hear, hey, we need to go ahead and take care of these things, put them in your past. (7:00) And quite simply, what it means in three short words are? (7:03) Let it go. (7:04) Hey, thank you over here.
(7:05) Let's try that again, because we're all sloppy. (7:11) Okay, we'll start over here. (7:23) Our text today comes from a place where Peter is walking along the side of Jesus.
(7:30) And it was a time for asking questions, I guess. (7:34) And picking it up in Matthew, the 18th chapter, verse 21 and following, it says, (7:38) Then Peter came and asked Him, Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? (7:44) Seven times? (7:45) He's wanting another. (7:46) Notice that.
(7:47) What's the limit to where I don't have to forgive anymore? (7:52) He says, is it seven times? (7:54) No, not seven times, Jesus replied. (7:57) But it's 78 times seven. (8:01) And therefore, the Bible says in the next few verses, 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.
(8:13) In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him, and the theologians are different in this, but some say billions, some say billions of dollars. (8:22) He couldn't pay it, of course, so his master ordered that it be sold along with his wife and his children, and everything that he owned should pay the debt. (8:32) But the man fell down before his master, begging, please, be patient with me.
(8:36) I'll pay all that. (8:38) Then the master was filled with pity for him, and he released him, and he forgave his debt. (8:44) Notice he didn't put it on installment plan.
(8:47) He didn't say, we're going to go ahead and do it for a layaway. (8:51) The Bible says that he forgave the debt. (8:54) He erased it completely.
(8:56) It was gone instantaneously, the nature of forgiveness. (9:01) But when the man left the kingdom, he met a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars, and he grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. (9:10) His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time.
(9:14) Be patient with me, and I'll pay it, he pleaded. (9:17) But his creditor wrote him away. (9:19) He had been arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
(9:25) When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. (9:28) They went to the king and told him everything had happened. (9:32) Then the king called the man and forgave him and said, you evil servant, I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.
(9:40) Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant just as I have mercy on you? (9:45) The importance for you and I to understand is that it's not just an important thing to speak about today. (9:52) It's imperative. (9:54) We'd like to think that we've got doctrinally other things that take care of us.
(9:59) When we talk in terms of baptism, the Gospel says that I believe all of those things. (10:04) But there's also the underlying assumption throughout the whole New Testament where it says, hey, there is this thing that you need to pay attention to. (10:11) If you're unwilling to forgive that other person, you will not be forgiven.
(10:21) In the model of prayer, we've known since childhood, we ask God to forgive us our debts. (10:26) But the debt is never paid in installments, but it's due in full. (10:30) And after that, it says clearly that your Heavenly Father will not forgive you if you don't forgive.
(10:38) You fill in the blank. (10:40) You have someone in mind. (10:41) You know who it is.
(10:43) It might be multiple people. (10:46) But nonetheless, the most liberating moment in your life as a Christian will be the moment that you realize it doesn't make any sense. (10:53) I don't want to do this, but because He tells me to, I'll forgive.
(10:57) And you'll be set free. (11:01) Peter says, basically, hey, what are the limits? (11:06) I mean, how many times do I really have to forgive someone? (11:09) Give me a number. (11:10) And what Peter suggests is the number seven.
(11:13) Because back in the Old Testament, you'll note that in history, in the book of Amos, there were three times specifically that God forgave Israel. (11:22) And three times specifically in that same book where He forgave the enemies of Israel. (11:26) And so that the modern people of that day, the teachers, the rabbis, they said that a person should forgive three times.
(11:34) After that, they're on their own. (11:37) Peter, knowing that Christ was always elevating the standard, he said, you know, let's try seven. (11:45) That's more than the three that most generally some of the rabbis were teaching.
(11:49) What about just seven? (11:52) And he thought that he was doing something good. (11:54) And Jesus said to him, Peter, I know how to hurt you. (11:59) I know that they let you down.
(12:03) I know that you feel wounded at times. (12:06) And it comes back up even when you don't try and bring it up. (12:09) It just is there.
(12:11) Getting in some dark closet to come out and scare you sometimes. (12:15) To wound you. (12:16) To make you feel bad.
(12:18) But Peter, the important thing is this. (12:22) You've got to let it go. (12:24) You've got to be set free yourself.
(12:27) Let it go. (12:30) I mean, I don't think that Peter was just starting this conversation about forgiveness without reason. (12:36) He had someone in mind.
(12:37) He had an issue in mind that created his question for people that he was reluctant to forgive. (12:44) This was what he was doing. (12:47) He was asking Jesus to give him validation.
(12:51) The truth is that Peter could have asked him while they were walking along there any number of questions. (12:57) It's nonsensical. (12:58) It had nothing to do with life itself.
(13:01) Did Adam and Eve have a belly button? (13:04) Jesus, I've been thinking about this theologically. (13:07) I was kind of wondering, you've been there. (13:10) Did he have a belly button or not? (13:12) No, he goes to something that really is close to home that is haunting him.
(13:17) The idea is that he had trouble forgiving like many of us do. (13:22) Old Joe was dying. (13:23) For years, he did an ox with Bill, formerly one of his very best friends.
(13:29) One of the strangest things is that he sent word to Bill to come and see him. (13:34) When Bill arrived, Joe told him that he was afraid to go into eternity with such a bad feeling between them. (13:40) Then very reluctantly, very hesitantly, with great effort, Joe apologized for the things that he'd said and done through the years.
(13:49) He also assured Bill that he'd forgiven him of all of his other offenses as well. (13:54) Everything seemed fine until Bill decided to turn to the door thinking that the conversation was over. (14:00) As he walked out of the room, Joe called out after him, (14:03) but remember, if I don't die, this doesn't count.
(14:08) That's the way we forgive sometimes, a condition. (14:13) You've got to say you're sorry. (14:15) You've got to act sorry.
(14:16) You've got to look wounded, whatever it might be. (14:18) One of the most frustrating things that I've seen in ministry is where people have seen people that have wounded in and they're dead and gone. (14:28) They're out of the picture and they're still wanting that apology.
(14:34) They're still wanting somehow that healing that they don't have to forgive because no one asked them to forgive them. (14:42) Why is this subject so critical? (14:44) I think it has to do with the degree of what God went through, how much he forgave us. (14:51) I mean, you look at it, the king here is the person that obviously has gotten bothered.
(14:56) We're talking about a debt in the millions or billions of dollars, whereas the other guy is maybe a few thousand dollars, (15:05) but it was something that was realistically something that he could repay. (15:08) The truth is, Jesus is saying, you know, if you think about all that I've been willing to bet that we incur, even as Christians. (15:23) I mean, I think every day of different things that I have done, either wittingly or rebelliously, or just by accident, wounding other people, (15:35) doing things self-centeredly, the sin of omission, not doing the things that I know that God wanted me to do.
(15:44) Day by day, week by week, month by month by month, we say, God, we want you to forgive us of all of it. (15:55) How many times have you said to him, hey, I am sorry that I did it, only to do it again? (16:02) It happens all the time, and Jesus says at the end of this, that's what my heavenly Father will do to you (16:09) if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart. (16:15) I think he says something important there.
(16:18) I still remember with trepidation, right in that street over there. (16:24) My brother and I, when we were in grade school, we fought every day. (16:27) We fought, and it was kind of like having Rocky Jr. die.
(16:30) They needed to fight, and so we were constantly fighting with each other. (16:36) And I remember Dad taught us one day, and he did the old, let's get them together, these two boring young men, (16:45) and he said to Timothy, say you're sorry. (16:48) And Timothy went something like, I'm sorry.
(16:52) And said to me, tell your brother that you're sorry. (16:55) I said, I'm sorry. (16:57) And then he did the worst thing ever.
(17:00) He took us out on the front of the old car stage there, passed, hugged one another, and stood there while cars went past, (17:09) and hugged one another. (17:11) Now granted, there were times where it looked like we were hugging, (17:14) but I was trying to flip the old headlock on you. (17:17) The truth is that you can say you're sorry, and he says hey, it's important that you realize (17:24) that it's done genuinely from the heart.
(17:28) That it's not something that you ask to do and leave your heart behind. (17:32) Let it go. (17:34) We have a tendency to be tunnel vision when it comes to this subject.
(17:38) Our nature wants revenge when we're wrong. (17:41) We want the other person to pay. (17:42) We talk in terms of getting even, but we don't want to get even.
(17:46) We want to get one or two up on them because of the way that they hurt us. (17:51) In an interview years ago during the September 11th crisis, (17:57) General Norman Schwarzkopf was on the news quite a bit, (18:02) and he was asked in an interview whether there was any room for forgiveness (18:05) for those who had harbored and abetted the terrorists who perpetrated the September 11th attacks on America. (18:13) His answer was typical of how men feel.
(18:17) Schwarzkopf said, I believe that forgiving those people is God's duty. (18:22) Our duty is simply to arrange that meeting as quickly as possible. (18:28) There's so many times we want to get even, and we hope that God doesn't forgive them.
(18:36) How many times have I been asked, mass murder, do you suppose that he's really forgiven? (18:43) I suggest yes. (18:45) I think that, quite honestly, from a repentant heart, there's nothing that God won't forgive. (18:53) The older we get, the stakes are much higher.
(18:56) Now it's your reputation that's been thrown into shame. (19:01) Someone shamed you years ago, and you're still embarrassed to even think about it. (19:07) You may be able to relate to the painful ripples of something in your family (19:12) that happened that shouldn't have happened, and it drags you behind you, and it steals your joy.
(19:19) The thing is, we need to learn to let it go. (19:23) In ministry, it's awful to see people that have hurt for years. (19:28) I think of one family that sits with an empty chair at their dinner table (19:32) because someone else had decided to drink alcohol and go out on the street and kill their child.
(19:39) They think every time they look at it, they cheer about who was there, the love that they had. (19:46) The thing that, if they were there and asked me, what do I need to do? (19:52) I'd tell them this. (19:55) Let it go.
(19:56) You have no choice. (19:59) Let it go. (20:00) The Bible tells us that God Himself will be the one that instills the punishment.
(20:09) He says, trust Him. (20:11) God is the one that will repay. (20:14) I've seen people who have been physically and verbally abused through the years by their spouse.
(20:23) I know they come and act as if everything's all right, but in reality, it's not all right. (20:28) What do they need to do? (20:30) They need to let it go. (20:33) I've seen where there was a man who was in business with his partner.
(20:39) They both went to the same church. (20:42) The partner decided that he needed to do a decile of money and get ahead of things. (20:46) He stole money from the company and the company went belly up.
(20:51) The man that was cheated ended up being a man that himself had planned on retiring. (21:03) All that money is gone now. (21:04) They're starting over at scratch.
(21:07) He says, what do you think about that, Jake? (21:10) You need to let it go. (21:11) You need to let it go. (21:13) You don't let it go because they deserve it.
(21:16) They don't deserve it. (21:18) You let it go because you need to be free. (21:22) You need to be released yourself from the fountain of life in every few.
(21:28) There's a pool of tears. (21:30) Some of the feelings of anger and resentment cause us to feel good. (21:34) It's kind of cathartic when we've got someone in the back of our mind.
(21:38) There are people that we anger at, that we haven't forgiven. (21:41) They're not even aware. (21:43) They don't remember what it was that they did that offended you.
(21:46) So who are you hurting? (21:49) You're hurting yourself. (21:52) The final thing I want to just point out is if you truly want to do beyond singing about it and beyond acting as if it's happened, (22:03) if you truly want to be set free, let it go. (22:08) Let it go.
(22:09) Move on. (22:10) The Bible says in Psalms 103, it says, (22:13) He has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. (22:18) Chuck Swindell says, (22:20) There is no torment like the inner torment of bitterness, which is the byproduct of an unforgiving spirit.
(22:27) It refuses to be sued. (22:29) It refuses to be healed. (22:31) It refuses to forget.
(22:33) There is no prison more damaging than the bars of bitterness that will not let the battle end. (22:43) I've heard it said that resentment is like drinking a bottle of poison but waiting for the other person to die. (22:51) I heard about an elderly single woman.
(22:55) At a pre-planned funeral, was sitting down getting the arrangements with the funeral director. (23:00) He was intrigued by the fact that she had chosen six female pallbearers, all of them about her age. (23:07) He just couldn't figure it out.
(23:08) Finally, he said, (23:09) Hey, are you sure that you want all the women to carry the caskets to the grave? (23:13) That's heavy. (23:14) Those caskets are heavy. (23:16) She responded quite positively, (23:18) If those men wouldn't take me out when I was alive, I hope that they'll take me out when I'm dead.
(23:26) The only answer though, for bitterness. (23:30) For those who never ask for your forgiveness when they have ripped your heart out, (23:36) or stolen your innocence, or trashed your family name, or ruined your finances. (23:41) Let it go.
(23:43) Matthew 6 says, (23:44) If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. (23:49) But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will know and will not forgive your sins. (23:56) Being a preacher's kid had its benefits.
(23:59) In Atlanta, Missouri, before we got to Ashland, (24:03) there was an old church building that we would go early in the afternoon and open up the building. (24:09) It ended up that one of the chores that we had back then was, (24:13) you rang the church bell. (24:15) Called people in the small community to church to faithful.
(24:18) So a reminder to them every Sunday morning. (24:21) And on days that my brother and I were lucky, (24:24) Dad would let us ring the bell. (24:27) Now remember the weight of that big rope, (24:30) as we started pulling, both of us were yanking on it, (24:33) and we can't hardly even get it to ring.
(24:36) Eventually though, the bell with its weight would start swinging in a pendulum, (24:42) and it made it easier. (24:43) You almost got lifted off of your feet by holding on to the thing and pulling on it. (24:48) We clanged for as long as Dad would let us do that, ringing the bell.
(24:53) Then Dad would say, it's time to quit. (24:56) Time to let go. (24:59) I had to let go of it.
(25:04) At first it rang the same as loud as it ever did. (25:09) But as time moved on and gravity gave its way, (25:12) it finally slowed down to where it was quiet. (25:15) There are people that are afraid.
(25:16) I try to forgive, but I don't feel like I'm forgiving them. (25:21) It doesn't feel like it. (25:23) I want to point out, that's like the old bell.
(25:26) At first it might be painful. (25:28) At first it might seem impossible. (25:31) Let it go.
(25:33) Continue to let it go. (25:34) As time moves on, you'll find out that it is so much better. (25:38) And you, your life is so much better.
(25:42) Because you finally decided the wisdom of God is true. (25:46) Letting it go lets you free. (25:50) Ephesians 4 verse 32 says, (25:52) Instead of being kind to each other, (25:54) being forgiving to one another, (25:56) just as God through Christ, (26:01) thank you Father, for, (26:03) that's when we stand forgiven, (26:06) because we realize, (26:12) Father, give us the courage, (26:17) that in our past, (26:19) and in our life, (26:20) and in our present, (26:20) and in our future, (26:22) where there is no more pain, (26:23) there is no more suffering, (26:24) or crying, (26:25) where the old order is done away.
(26:27) Thank you Father, (26:28) for that opportunity, (26:29) in Jesus' name.
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