42. FORGIVENESS & MERCY
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If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you (Mt.6:14).
1. We deserve Hell, punishment & the whole works, but we get to escape it because we believe in Christ & receive His forgiveness & His punishment on the cross in our place.
2. You have a Defence Lawyer who pleads your case: He says to the Judge, "I have already paid for this sin!"
3. Your kisses, Jesus, kiss away their hurts and their tears and their sins and their diseases!
4. Regret can be an appalling waste of energy--you can't build on it. So acknowledge your sin, accept God's forgiveness, & get on with living for His honour & glory.
5. Before the Throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea:
A great High Priest, Whose Name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
6. God pardons like a mother, who kisses the offense into everlasting forgetfulness.
7. You can never be too bad for Jesus--only too good.
8. There's an all-seeing Eye watching you--but He's loving, gentle, tender, forgiving and waiting with open arms.
9. David and some others made some big mistakes, but they had big repentances, so they had big forgivenesses.
10. King David was one of the worst sinners that the World has known, but he was also one of the greatest saints, because he knew he was totally dependent on the love & the mercy & the grace of God for forgiveness.
11. Until we confess, God won't forgive.
12. God can forgive us for our sins, but it's hard or sometimes impossible to undo the damage they've done, & we often have to suffer & watch others suffer for them for the rest our lives!
13. It is only love that makes God's mercy work.
14. You can't appreciate God's mercy until you've known the Devil's justice.
15. God will forgive anything except total unbelief.
16. If I have wounded any soul today,
If I have caused one foot to go astray,
If I have walked in my own wilful way,
Dear Lord, forgive!
17. He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.
18. It also takes two to make up after a quarrel.
19. A good memory is fine--but the ability to forget is the true test of greatness.
20. It is only the forgiving who are qualified to receive forgiveness.
21. One of the great arts of living is the art of forgetting.
22. Before you flare up at someone's faults, take time to count ten--ten of your own.
23. Forgiveness is the noblest revenge.
24. His heart was as great as the world, for there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.
25. Your mercy is a sacrifice! To forgive someone is a sacrifice! To be sorry is a sacrifice.
26. Our own weaknesses make us sympathetic with other's frailties.
27. Let's forgive one another, as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us!
28. The remedy for wrongs is to forgive & forget them.
29. Forgiveness is the fragrance the flower sheds on the heel that crushed it.
30. If we're only going to be forgiven the way we forgive others & be shown the mercy that we show others, some people are going to be in a pretty bad fix!
31. To err is human, to forgive divine!
32. To forgive & forget a wrong is the best revenge.
33. You have a tremendous advantage over the person who slanders you or does you a wilful injustice: you have it within your power to forgive that person.
34. If they are truly repentant, you must forgive those who have wronged you, & truly seek forgiveness of those whom you have wronged & take them by the hand back into your circle of love & fellowship & happy, joyful labours & pleasures together.
35. He who injured you was either stronger or weaker. If he was weaker, spare him!--If he was stronger, spare yourself!
36. Forgiving starts with your asking the other person to forgive you.
37. There's a time to wink as well as to see.
38. Sympathy is the result of thinking with your heart.
39. If you don't have love enough to forgive, you don't have love--because forgiveness is love!
40. God's Mercy is unlimited, His Love is boundless, the Love of God is greater than His laws. Love is God & God is always. It's like a stream, like a river that just keeps flowing no matter what, because of the dew of Heaven--Jesus!
41. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin!--Past sin, present sin, parental sin, every sin!
42. How can you not comfort others with the comfort wherewith ye yourselves are comforted? How can you not extend the same mercy that He has extended to you? How can you not at least give them a chance?
43. God doesn't even remember your sins, why should you?
44. Going mad with remorse for your yesterdays, makes the cross of Christ of none effect.
45. Every day of the past is beyond our reach & we should leave it there.
46. Before Jesus found us we were all black sheep--but He washed us with His blood & made our wool as white as snow!
47. Justice has no mercy. Justice just decides if a thing is right or wrong & that's it. But love & mercy, though they know the sinner's wrong, they forgive.
48. If you forgive people when they really shouldn't be forgiven, then God has to forgive them, because He said, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them." (Jn.20:23.)
49. But why should you forgive people who know what they're doing & are causing trouble, if they're not repentant & if they don't come & ask you for forgiveness?
50. God can still forgive you for your past errors & mistakes & He can still mightily use you in mighty battles & victories & great things to come--if you'll just be meek & quiet, humble & obedient.
(See also No.18, 25, 75, 531, 583, 594, 606, 635, 641, 647, 648, 681, 718, 719, 753, 763, 1247, 1371, 1396, 1547.)
51. GEN.18:26 And the Lord said, if I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
52. EXO.20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.
53. EXO.32:14 The Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people.
54. NUM.14:18a,19 The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
55. 2SA.24:14,16 Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for His mercies are great. When the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented Him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand.
56. 1CH.21:13 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are His mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.
57. PSA.18:25 With the merciful Thou wilt shew Thyself merciful; with an upright man Thou wilt shew Thyself upright.
58. PSA.32:1,2,5 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
59. PSA.51:1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
60. PSA.51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
61. PSA.86:5 For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.
62. PSA.103:8-13 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the Heaven is high above the Earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, to far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.
63. PSA.103:17 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him.
64. PSA.130:3,4 If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.
65. PRO.3:3,4 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
66. PRO.16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.
67. PRO.24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
68. ISA.1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
69. ISA.43:25 I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine Own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
70. ISA.44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee.
71. ISA.54:7,8 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
72. ISA.55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
73. LAM.3:22,23 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.
74. MIC.7:18,19 Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
75. MAT.5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
76. MAT.5:23,24 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
77. MAT.6:14,15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
78. MAT.9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.
79. MAT.18:21,22 Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
80. MAR.11:25,26 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your trespasses.
81. LUK.6:36,37 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.
82. LUK.7:47,48 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
83. LUK.23:34a Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
84. JOH.20:23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
85. ACT.26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them form darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.
86. ROM.5:20b But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
87. 2CO.2:6-11 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
88. EPH.1:7 In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
89. COL.3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
90. JAM.2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
91. 1JO.1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
92. 1JO.2:12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name's sake.
(See also JON.4:2,10,11; MAT.18:23-35.)
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family