To forgive others is to release them from any obligation

to make up to us what they have taken from us.

The dynamic of forgiveness involves
the response of repentance & confession.

We humble ourselves before God & admit the reality of our sinfulness,

We have His gift of forgiveness & new life in Christ.

We’ve put our trust in Christ alone for our salvation,

We stay in fellowship with him by asking the Spirit

to search our hearts & reveal any areas of unconfessed sin,

We acknowledge these to the Lord,

We thank him for His forgiveness

Ps 139:23–24; 1 John 1:9

God’s forgiveness erases our sin from existence.

He removes it “as far as the east is from the west”

Ps 103:12

He casts our sins behind His back

Isaiah 38:17

He wipes out our transgressions for his own sake

Isa 43:25

He remembers our sin no more

Jeremiah 31:34

He casts all our sins into the depths of the sea

Micah 7:19

When we were dead in our transgressions

He made us alive together with Him,

having forgiven us ALL our transgressions,

having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us,

which was hostile to us;

He has taken it out of the way,

having nailed it to the cross

Col 2:13–14

We struggle to accept God’s amazing forgiveness.

There’s a natural disposition to think

we must work off a debt to earn God’s forgiveness.

Guilt feelings can cause us to revisit the sin

instead of embracing God’s forgiveness.

We may forgive our offenders instantaneously

That has nothing to do with trusting them again

We may determine their offenses & sins against us are irrelevant now

That has nothing to do with stepping out on the bridge they’ve burnt

It’s impossible & impractical to step out

on an old pile of ashes which was once a bridge