We return once again to Mark's gospel. So if you will take your Bibles and turn there, Mark chapter 11. We're going to be examining verses 22 through 25, under the heading, "Essentials of Effectual Prayer." The great 19th century Scottish preacher, Robert Murray M'Cheyne, once said, "What a man is on his knees before God, that He is and nothing more." How do you see yourself as a Christian? What measure do you use to accurately assess who you really are? Does your self-evaluation match God's evaluation of you? Dear Christian, the most accurate measure of our true character is our secret devotion to God in prayer. What we are on our knees before God, that we are and nothing more. Christ was in constant prayer. Don't you think we should be as well? After healing many people with various diseases and casting out many demons, we read in Mark one verse 35, "In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went away to a secluded place and was praying there." Matthew tells us in chapter 14, verse 21, and following, that Jesus after feeding "5000 men who ate besides women and children...Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. And when it was evening, He was there alone." And in Matthew 26, beginning of verse 36, we read, "Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' And he took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved, and distressed. Then He said to them, 'My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.' And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet, not as I will, but as You will.'" Jesus said in Matthew six, verse six, "'when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father, who is in secret. And your Father who sees what is done and secret will reward you.'" And Paul said in First Thessalonians five and verse 17, that we should "pray without ceasing." We need to just be in a constant state of communion with our Lord.

Our passage here in Mark 11 is very instructive regarding the essentials of effectual prayer. There will basically be three that we will look at. Let me remind you of the context; Jesus has entered into Jerusalem and been he's been hailed as the Messiah, they're long-awaited deliverer. Then the next day as Jesus and his disciples return to Jerusalem, he cursed and unproductive fig tree which was a powerful parable, portraying the pretense of spirituality that was indicative of the people and to give a preview of the coming destruction upon the temple. And there Jesus symbolically denounced the nation Israel for their unbelief. Next, Jesus cleansed the temple; he physically removed the criminal merchants that had occupied its precincts. Men that were working on behalf of the high priest. Jesus claimed possession of the temple, we believe, for probably two days, Monday and Tuesday of the Passion Week. And there he ruled as sovereign. And every stratum of official Judaism came and challenged his authority. They did this publicly, and he not only defeated every one of their arguments, he humiliated them. And during this time, Matthew 21 records Jesus speaking three parables that clearly condemned Israel. There was the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21, verses 28 through 32, that speaks of the rebellion of the nation, then the parable of the wicked husbandman in Matthew 21, verses 33 through 46, which speaks of the retribution of the nation. And then the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22 one through 14, which speaks of the rejection of the nation. And we know that during that time, some of the Pharisees and even some of the Herodians, approached Jesus to ask whether it is proper to pay tribute to Caesar. And Jesus answers them, you will recall, with the illustration of the coin, we will read more about that in Mark 12. The Sadducees approached Jesus with their favorite question about the resurrection because they didn't believe in a resurrection; they didn't believe in an afterlife. And he answers them and literally rebukes them openly for their ignorance of the scriptures. And again, we will see this more when we get to Mark 12. And later in Mark 12 we also read what was going on during this time there was a Pharisaic lawyer that asks a legal question of Jesus. He says, "which is the greatest commandment?" Mark 12:28. Jesus answered, 'The foremost is , "HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE TEH LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOULD, AND WITH ALL YOUR MOND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH." The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these. ‘The scribe said to Him, 'Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burned offerings and sacrifices.' When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.'" Not far, but not in, which was a shocking insult to the Pharisee. And then we read, "After that no one would venture to ask Him any more questions."

And then, on the heels of that, Jesus went on to prove his Messiahship by means of an appeal to David, out of Psalm 110. So, I'm telling you all this to help you see that by now, the antagonism of the Jewish religious leaders was absolutely at a boiling point; that they were afraid to do anything to him, because the people were in awe of Jesus, albeit superficially so; they didn't really understand who he really was. Jesus had been living among the common people outside of Jerusalem all this time, but now he has invaded the very territory of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Worse yet, he has publicly humiliated them by not only taking over the temple, but by completely besting them in all of their arguments.

Now, back to our text. If we look at Mark 11, actually, in verse 19, we can kind of get the flow here. "When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, 'Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed, has withered.'" And then we come to our text for this morning. "And Jesus answered, saying to them, 'Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them. And they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.'"

Now, as we read this, it's appropriate to ask why such an abrupt transition in the narrative. Peter says to him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed, has withered." And then Jesus answers and says, "'Have faith in God.'" Then he teaches a lesson on prayer. At first glance, there was this, would seem to be a non sequitur. It doesn't seem to follow; it doesn't quite connect. But when you understand the context, when you understand what was happening at that moment, in time, it becomes very, very clear what Jesus was doing. Bear in mind that the Jewish leaders now are trying to kill him. And soon they would succeed. And soon after that the temple, which was called the House of Prayer, would be destroyed. Now think about it. Jesus has been with the disciples. He's been teaching them. He's been providing and protecting them. He's been encouraging them, strengthening them, but in a few days, he's going to be gone. They're going to be all on their own. They will be utterly dependent upon the power of prayer, to access God when Jesus is gone, therefore, now catch this. Therefore, they must be absolutely confident that they have access to the same power that withered the fig tree. And I wish to explain and apply this passage under three headings. I hope this will be helpful to you. And think of it this way, effectual prayer--in other words, prayer that God hears and answers--requires three essential convictions. Number one, we must be confident of God's power. Secondly, confident of God's character. And thirdly, conscious of God's forgiveness. Want you to examine your heart, as we look at this. And I might say that it's been my experience over the years and dealing with so many people, that what we are about to examine is foreign to a lot of Christians. So let's pray that the Spirit of God will help us see these things.

First of all, let's understand the issue of being confident of God's power. Notice again, how the Lord's teaching on prayer follows this miraculous withering of the fig tree, that he has cursed. Now, obviously, this isn't by coincidence, it's by design. You see, what the Lord wanted to do is give them a living illustration of what God can do. One, that they would remember, one that they would never forget. Because what was happening symbolically in the withering of the tree was going to happen in reality, especially in AD 70, when the temple was destroyed by the Romans, but first they must learn the essentials of effectual prayer. And that begins, it begins by remembering his supernatural works in the past. And this is what bolsters our confidence in who God is and what he can do in the present. Notice again, in Mark 11, verse 21, "Peter said to Him, 'Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed, has withered.'" Matthew adds this in Matthew 21, verse 20, "Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, 'How did the fig tree wither all at once?' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea', it will happen.'" Obviously, Jesus is using hyperbole here to make his point. Then he says, "'And all things you ask and prayer, believing, You will receive.'" So what we see here is the profound importance that God places on remembering the miraculous works of deliverance that he has performed in the past. And this is what fortifies us in our prayer life. And the key is the word "remember"-- the word "remember." Let me give you some examples. In Exodus 13, verse three, Moses said to the people, "Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand, the Lord brought you out from this place." And repeatedly, God instructed Moses to tell the covenant people to remember the powerful acts of God on their behalf in the past, in order to prepare them for what they would encounter in the future as they entered into the land of Canaan. Earlier we read out of First Chronicles 16, the story of when they brought the Ark of God and placed it inside the tent, which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God; and then David assigned Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the Lord. And in verse eight, we read, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord." He says, "Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; speak of all His wonders, seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face continually." And here it is, folks "Remember His wonderful deeds, which He has done, His marvels and the judgments of His mouth." Psalm 105, beginning of verse five, the Psalmist says, "Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God, His judgments are in all the earth."

And think about what David did when he was in the depths of despair, fearing for his own life, because in the enemies were about to destroy him; he was desperately in need of deliverance. We read about this in Psalm 143, verse five. It says, "I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings. I muse on the work of Your hands, I stretch out my hands to You; my soul longs for You, as a parched land." And, folks, this is so instructive to us. I mean, think about those times when we are in the depths of despair. When terror has overwhelmed us, where there is great sorrow or there is great pain. What we learn here is one of the things that we need to do. In fact, the very first thing we need to do when we call out to the Lord is remember who he is and what he's done. Oh, Lord, in the midst of my pain, right now, I am crying out for deliverance. My mind goes back to all that you have done down through redemptive history, my mind can rehearse those things that I read in the Old Testament, and what I can see in the New Testament, and what I can see in my life, thank you for that. Therefore, I will trust you come what may. Isaiah spoke of this in Isaiah 46, beginning in verse eight. "'Remember this," he says, "and be assured; recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.''" But friends, I would ask you, is this characteristic of your prayer life? When you come before the Lord in prayer, do you take time to remember what he has done?

If not, you're going to lack confidence in God's power. You will operate in the flesh. And frankly, your prayers will, in many ways, be an insult to God's character. I encourage you to emulate Asaph. We read about him some earlier today and Psalm 77, for example, there's a record there of a communal lament where he expresses past and present fears and wonders if God is willing and even able, to deal with his concerns. And as one of God's chosen servants to lead the people of Israel spiritually, Asaph would have been accustomed to traversing the oceans of sorrow. And I'm sure he had weathered many a gale in his own life and his ministry. And often the storms of trials associated with serving the master can tempt one to even be drowned in your own tears. We can all identify with his agony of soul. Here's what he says in Psalm 77, beginning of verse one, "My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud; my voice rises to God and He will hear me." So in other words, he begins by just voicing his complaint to God, rather than allowing his depression to cause him to sink even further into some self-centered morass. He verbalizes his problems before the throne of grace. He goes on to say, "In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord." In verse four, we read, "You have held my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak." You know what those sleepless nights are like, don't you? I do. We've all been there. It's easy to sink further into a quagmire of depression and despair, to doubt God's goodness, to somehow think that he's abandoned us. How can we have confidence in God's power and goodness, if these deceptions are somehow ruling our mind? We can't. So we need to do what Asaph did in Psalm 77. He says this beginning in verse 11, "I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds." You see, again, dear friends, rehearsing God's mighty acts in the past, bolsters our confidence that he could certainly perform them yet again. In particular Asaph recalls the Exodus, perhaps the most glorious of all the deliverances in the history of Israel, when the earth trembled, and God miraculously delivered them beginning in verse 13. We read "Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. You have by Your power redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob, and Joseph. The waters saw You O God; the water saw you, they were in anguish; the deeps also trembled. The clouds poured out water; and skies gave forth a sound; Your arrows flashed here and there. The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; the lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea and your paths in the mighty waters, and your footprints may not be known. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." Folks, this is the stuff of effectual prayer. This is what one does when one is confident in the power of God.

But secondly, we must be confident of God's character. Notice again, verse 21 of our text and Mark 11. "Being reminded, Peter said to Him, 'Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed, has withered.'" And Jesus answered saying to them, 'Have faith in God.' Interesting statement, "have faith in God." You see, by itself, faith is powerless. Contrary to the teachings of so many charlatans in the word faith movement, our confidence you see must not be in our faith, but in the object of our faith. Namely, in the character of God. Faith is merely the door to having access to the power of God. Our faith is what successfully invokes God's supernatural power to accomplish his purposes, for His glory, whatever that might be. And most of the time, we don't really know what his purposes are, but we relax in them. In fact, I was thinking about this, it's easy for me to blur that line, in my thinking, in my prayers. It's easy for me, wanting God to somehow make me more glorious than what I would deserve; to somehow answer my prayer just for me personally, in some special way, because I'm deserving of this as if I'm the number one priority rather than him. And I'm thankful that the indwelling Spirit can help align my prayers to the will of God. Because we don't know how to pray as we should, right? We read about this in Romans eight, verse 26, "The Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." There's some kind of inner Trinitarian communication that occurs, even while we're praying. "He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints, according to the will of God." I might add that the Spirit's work in our prayers, really parallel, Christ's high priestly work of intercession. But at the most fundamental level, we've got to have faith in God. And He will always respond consistent with his character. He will always respond in perfect holiness. He will always respond in perfect righteousness, judgment, according to his will, and according to his timing; always for the purpose of bringing glory to himself. Because you and I are merely incidental to his purposes. We can be confident knowing that he will never act contrary to the infinite perfections of his character. And it is this confidence that is so essential for effectual prayer. First, John 5:14, "this is the confidence which we have before him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, and whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him." Practically, think of it this way. Father, it is my great desire to be healed from this dreadful disease. Father, it is my great desire to be healed from what has tormented me from years or to be delivered from this horrible situation? It is my will that somehow, we have a government that isn't corrupt, and oppressive. Father, I've got a whole list of things, but I am absolutely confident as I cry out to you with my requests, that you are going to hear the cry of my heart and you will act consistent with your holy character. I know that whatever your answer will be, it will be holy, it will be just, it will be righteous. And ultimately, it will be good for me and mainly for your glory. And therefore I know that you're always up to something grand and glorious in my life, something that I might not even experience and enjoy until glory. So I trust in your good purpose, to bring glory to yourself. Because I trust in your character. Because I'm united with you, I will one day experience the fullness of what that means.

So Jesus instructs them "'Have faith in God.'" And of course, what he's thinking is, things are gonna get really rough pretty soon. So you need to trust me, I'm not going to be here. And know that there is nothing that can thwart my purposes. Know that there is nothing that can separate you from my love. Know that I can do all things. Verse 23 goes on, "'Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and you will, and they will be granted to you.'" Interesting phrase, "all things for which you pray and ask." Obviously, this would not include anything and everything that we would throw before God as if there's, you know, carte blanche; whatever we want, he's gonna give it to us. But anything that we pray and ask that is consistent with his will, to bring glory to his name. I was thinking about the Lord Himself. Remember, in the depths of the unimaginable agony that he experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane? Jesus cried out to the Father in Mark 14:36, saying, "'Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet, not what I will, but what You will.'" And folks, this has to be the attitude of our heart.

Now, it's also very important that we do as we read in the text of verse 24, that we "pray and we ask." James four two says, "You do not have because you do not ask." We know that it goes on to talk about how that many times we ask with the wrong motives, right? But to be able to say, you know, Father, I do not know your will on this particular matter but it is certainly my desire that you grant my request. But as always, I will submit to you, and in the humbleness of my heart, I know that you can do all of these things, but I don't know what your will is. But certainly, this would be the cry of my heart. John 16, beginning of verse 23, knowing that he would soon depart, and his disciples who would be left alone, he said, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive so that your joy may be made full.'" Oftentimes, people will say, Well, how do I know what the will of God is on a matter? Well, many times we don't know. But much of it, we do know, because it is written in His Word. If you want to know what the will of God is, become a student of his word and his will, will become part of your will, because you will understand who he is, how he thinks, what he's up to, what would bring honor to him. I marvel at the Lord's provision for his own, how he blesses us. You know, I was thinking, as I was contemplating these great truths, you know, as a father, and as a grandfather, there is nothing that I wouldn't do for my kids, or my grandkids. You all know this, you're the same way. There's nothing I wouldn't do for them. Except granting them some wish, that I knew was absolutely stupid, and foolish, and it would destroy them. Right? And many times, I know what that is, and they don't. Often, especially teenage logic, you know, it ends up two plus two is five and you know, it snot going to be five. But I'm always deeply touched when my kids or my grandkids ask me for something when they want my help. It reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew seven, beginning of verse seven, "'Ask and it will be given to you. seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give what is good to those who ask Him!'" And so here again, we see the holy, gracious character of God.

But Jesus adds yet a third component of effectual prayer. And this is really intriguing. And that is,we need to be conscious of God's forgiveness. Let me explain what I mean by this. He goes on in verse 25 to say "'Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you and your transgressions.'" In other words, when you pray, be conscious of the fact that you have been forgiven, and therefore you need to have a forgiving spirit towards others.

Verse 26, "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.'" Just as a side note, because some of you might ask this, in some of your Bibles that might have a little parentheses around it. Verse 26 is actually absent from the earliest and most important Greek manuscripts and was not part of Mark's original text. Its presence in the latter manuscript tradition is best explained by the insertion by scribal copyist imitating Jesus words recorded in Matthew six where he did say this in verse 15. "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."

Now, back to the text here, what Jesus is saying is this. We've got to have a forgiving heart when we come before Him and petition him in prayer. Because to do otherwise would somehow insult the grace that he has given us. Now, bear in mind the forgiveness Jesus is referring to here is not our eternal pardon, that one receives and justification, which is a comprehensive, a total acquittal from the guilt and just penalty of sin based solely on God's grace. That's not what he's talking about here. Instead, Jesus is referring to our unwillingness to forgive others that will inevitably result in divine chastening in our life. It carries the idea of holding a grudge against a fellow believer, that's the idea, which I might add, always betrays an exaggerated sense of self-importance. And I've also known that those who tend to be easily offended are always those that have a hard time forgiving other people. Think of someone perhaps that has offended you or injured you in some way? Maybe, at work, maybe in your family? I've even heard of it happening in the church, you know, think about that. What's your attitude towards them? Is it one of bitterness? Do you look for opportunities to slander them? To get other people to join your cause against them? You won't speak to them. Do you seek revenge? Or do you seek reconciliation? Big difference? Do you seek to destroy them? Or are you willing to suffer indignities with grace and humility; with forbearance, with patience, trusting God to accomplish his purposes in the ordeal; in you and in them and other people? Bearing in mind Ephesians 4:30, to "be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Yes, but pastor, you don't understand what he did to me, or what she did to me. Oh, my, well, in that case, you need to get your pound of flesh? Absolutely. I mean, you can't forgive a person like that. That person doesn't deserve your forgiveness. Aren't you glad God doesn't try to get his pound of flesh from us? Think about that. We certainly don't deserve his forgiveness.

Over the years in counseling, I think of those times when I sit down with someone, and will say, okay, how can I help? And suddenly, they just unload on me. All of the things that someone has done to them. I mean, it's like suddenly you get sucked into outer space with them in this world of offenses; often, things that happened years ago. And they describe these things in vivid detail. Many people will literally have notebooks. I've had spiral notebooks filled with all that has happened. I remember one lady saying here, "I want you to read this." And I said, "no, I'm not going to read it. You know, Scripture says we're not to keep a record of wrongs. Why don't you just summarize it for me? And then let's deal with it here." You see, that's an unforgiving heart, and when you're that way, the wound, the wound never heals. And frankly, if that is you, you're self-absorbed. You're self-centered, you're self-righteous and you're self-deceived. And you wonder why you're miserable. And why everybody that knows you is miserable when they really get to know you, and they don't want to be around you. You see an unforgiving heart is certain proof that you're walking in the flesh and not with a spirit. You grieve the Spirit, you quench the Spirit. And folks, unforgiveness will inevitably produce bitterness and hatred and revenge, and it will imprison you in a dungeon of negative emotions. It's a very sad thing. You will be filled with self-pity, alienation, broken relationships, a fruitless powerless Christian life. I mean it's the opposite of First Corinthians 13 verse four and following, "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own; is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things. I mean, what a mockery to petition God in prayer when you mock his grace in forgiving you, by not forgiving others. That's the point. And see, Jesus knew this with the disciples because remember, they're always bickering, wondering, you know, who's going to be first in the kingdom. You know all that stuff. Psalm 66:18, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear." James two verse 13, "Judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy." Micah tells us this in chapter seven, verse 18, "Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?" You see folks, we are most like God when we forgive, when we have that kind of an attitude, and that is essential for effectual prayer.

So again, "forgive" he says in verse 25, Mark 11. "If you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions". And as I mentioned earlier, Matthew 6:15, Jesus said," If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." The idea of divine chastening. Using the example of an abusive master, Peter said this in First Peter two beginning of verse 19, "Servants," literally slaves, "be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right, and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God." I'm sure you're like me, my flesh wars against that. That's where you feel that battle between the spirit and the flesh right? Galatians five. And while suffering unimaginable torture on the cross, Jesus even loved his enemies and prayed in Luke 23 Verse 34, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."

I want to camp on this forgiveness concept for just a few more minutes as we wrap this up this morning, I was thinking how we would all do well to learn the lessons in forgiveness found in Second Corinthians two, verses five through 11. Let me give you real briefly the context. Remember, Paul had dealt with a sending member in the congregation there in Corinth, a man was sexually involved with his stepmother. First Corinthians five talks about it. The church then officially excommunicated him and as a result, the man repented. And now it's time to forgive and extend mercy. So in Second Corinthians two, verse five, Paul says, "But if any has caused sorrow," and he's referring to the offender but he's guarding him by not even using his name, "but if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree--in order not to say too much--to all of you." It's interesting. Here we see the heart of tender forbearance towards this man who mistreated Paul as well as the rest of the congregation. And he not only avoids mentioning his name, he doesn't even say anything about the nature of the offense. That's a heart of forgiveness. Imagine the unnecessary grief and shame Paul would have placed upon the penative sinner had he mentioned his name and then elaborated on the injury. "Yeah, well, so and so over here, you remember, he did this"...No, he's not doing any of that. He's protecting him. He's diffusing the whole thing. The man had been punished enough. He's repented. So he says, "he has caused sorrow, not to me, but to some degree--in order not to say too much." In other words, I'm not going to exaggerate this thing. I'm not going to blow it out of proportion. So folks, lesson number one, when it comes to forgiveness, don't keep stoking the fire, drop it, drop it, rejoice, the person has repented. They've asked for forgiveness, move on. Don't keep a record of wrongs. Don't keep reminding the offender of his or her sin. Psalm 103, verse 12. We see God as our example here, "As far as the east is from the west so far has He removed our transgressions from us." In other words, so as to no longer having any effect on our relationship with Him. How wicked it would be for us to remember what God has chosen to remember no more. As we read in Hebrews 10, I think it's verse 17.

So don't keep stoking the fire. Second, be quick to forgive and comfort the truly penitent. Verse six "Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority." You see, the great sorrow associated with being removed from the fellowship of his Christian brothers and sisters, produced what it was intended to produce, and that's genuine repentance. And then there can be genuine reconciliation. Church discipline really provides a living illustration of the broken fellowship that an unrepentant person has between him or her and God. And certainly the purpose of church discipline is reconciliation, never retribution. Verse six again, "Sufficient for such a one is this punishment, which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary, you should rather"--catch this now-- "forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow." Yes, the punishment was deserved, but it had its desired effect. This is what Paul longed for. When we've been offended and perhaps severely; do we have a longing for that person to see their offense? And to be reconciled to God because he has been more offended than we are? Is that the passion of our heart? Or do we want our pound of flesh? So now it's time to forgive and comfort. Which by the way, are two essentials for genuine restoration. So be quick to forgive and comfort, the truly penitent. I mean, this is it. This is at the heart of Christian love, beloved. And you want to ask yourself, does this describe me? Paul says in Colossians 3:13, that we are to be characterized by quote, "bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone." Again, this is our supreme example in forgiveness. And how can we, who have been forgiven the most heinous of sins against the Most High, not forgive the lesser sins that have been committed against us? That's the point.

If we don't have that kind of an attitude, we're just really out of fellowship with the Lord and it is going to hamper our prayers. A third lesson is we need to reaffirm our love for the truly penitent through acts of private and public restoration. Notice verse eight, he says, "Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm"-- "kyroo" in Greek, the original language; it carries the idea of "to rule judicially" or "to decide" or "make a formal declaration of something." "I urge you to reaffirm your love for him." In other words, he's asking them to be reaffirming, both privately and publicly in loving restoration. Now, I know oftentimes people or unrepentant. People will ask me, "Well, how can you forgive somebody that's unrepentant?" Then most of the time, that's the case by the way, and the answer is simply this well you pray for them with a forgiving heart that sincerely, passionately desires their repentance and their restoration and reconciliation; first with God and then with you. And if that doesn't happen, you move on. That's between them and God at that point. This is precisely the kind of situation dear friends in which we are commanded to turn the other cheek, Matthew 5:39. "Yes, but he or she did and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah..." Well, yeah, that's really bad and I'm sorry that's happened. We need to pray for his or her repentance and reconciliation. But you also know that you deserve far worse, so do I. So let's be open. Let's pray. Let's have an attitude of forgiveness. And pray that God will do a work in their heart. Now, granted, there are some times where people are so evil, that we have implications against them like the imprecatory psalms. I mean, there are times where you say, "Lord, I pray that you will pour out your wrath upon their unholy head." We understand that because God you have been offended. And there we're defending the glory of God. But my, so often what we do is we hold grudges against people, rather than going to them, like in Galatians six and try to restore them in a spirit of gentleness. So many times, I've had people mad at me, I have to laugh about it. Because, I mean, sometimes I deserve it, really, I truly do. And other times, I truly don't. But you know, whatever is the case, when fellowship is broken, you have to have an attitude of forgiveness and you try to be reconciled and if people don't do that, then you just have to move on. You just have to love them and let God deal with them in his own time. We've got to be like the father of the prodigal son, right. I mean, we're praying for the son to come down the road one day and then all my word there he is, well, what do we do? We run out to meet him. We kill the fatted calf, and on it gone, it goes. Proverbs 19:11, it's "man's discretion, makes him slow to anger and it's his glory to overlook a transgression." So friends, I exhort you, learn to forgive. Otherwise, you will remain bitter. And you will demand redress of your injuries, and you'll just stay that way. I won't take time to go through it. But in Romans 12:18 and following it says, "if possible, as much as it is up to you be at peace with all men." Don't be ruled by your wounded pride. Learn to forgive. Otherwise, you will forfeit blessing in your life. You will live under a cloud of divine chastening, and God will not answer your prayers, because you're out of fellowship with Him.

So in summary, this is what Jesus wanted his disciples to do. And by extension, all of us. Effectual prayer, prayer that God hears and answers, requires us to be confident in its power, to be confident of his character, and to be conscious of God's forgiveness of us, so that we too will forgive others. The disciples had to learn this, they did learn this, and so too should all of us, amen? Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word that speaks so directly to each of us. Thank you for your goodness and your Grace. And oh, Lord, thank you for forgiving us. Thank you for providing a way, for we, as sinful people, to be reconciled to you as a holy God, through your gift to us, your Son that paid the penalty for the sins of all who would trust in Him. And Lord, not only have you forgiven us, but you have radically changed us. You've given us a new heart, a new mind, a new song, a new nature. And, most importantly, you have imputed to us the righteousness of Christ. So that no, even as we sin, and certainly we do, you do not see our sin, but the righteousness of your son, our Savior, and whom we are forever hidden. So we thank you for these eternal truths. May they bear much fruit in our lives. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.