Forgive One Another, Says the Lord (Matthew 18:15-18)

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18:15-18 NKJV)

Why are we living here on earth? No one can argue the fact that life is full of struggles. Is there any meaning and purpose of thinking and doing all the life pains and heartaches? What do we want really? Humans yearningly and longingly want to be forgiven, which leads to righteousness that is wholeness and the unshakable and unmovable sense of worth. The real mountain-like burdens for humanity are not on external things but on internal minds and hearts like guilt, despair, and fear. That’s the reason God sent His begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish in guilt, despair, and fear and fall into eternal judgment but have eternal life.

What we are commanded to do as the forgiven saints in Christ is to forgive one another. This is the new command that we ought to love one another as Christ has loved us. No one can argue that all is in trouble to forgive others. Ah, it is not difficult to forgive those who admit and change their attitudes. But when a brother sin against you it is a different story. For that, Jesus gives us the perfect prescription in Matthew 18^th Chapter. Three steps are listed out to follow carefully. In each step, the key is forgiveness if other party listens to the truth and repents. Christ died while we were still sinners. That’s the unwavering foundation that we ought to forgive one another. Christ blotted out all our transgressions and sins by the cleaning blood of His own when we received Him, admitting and repenting our faults and failures honestly and humbly. There is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ.

“Come now, and let us reason together,”

Says the Lord,

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They shall be as wool.

If you are willing and obedient,

You shall eat the good of the land;

But if you refuse and rebel,

You shall be devoured by the sword”;

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 1:18-20 NKJV)

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:9-10 NKJV)

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,

Whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,

And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

When I kept silent, my bones grew old

Through my groaning all the day long.

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;

My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah

I acknowledged my sin to You,

And my iniquity I have not hidden.

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah (Psalms 32:1-5 NKJV)