I Will Not Forgive You!

Jesus said, “For if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:15. Does this mean that if I refuse to forgive someone, I am in danger of not going to heaven, because God will withhold His forgiveness?

There are some who teach that a genuine believer can lose his or her salvation by disobedience, is that what Jesus is trying to teach us here?

A believer is adopted by God and can never be unadopted.

There is a mountain of biblical evidence that declares a genuine believer to be secure in the love of God through Christ. Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:33, “Who shall bring ANY charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” Justification is the gracious act of God by declaring a believer righteous in His sight, because of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness into the life of the believer. This is the great exchange, our sins imputed to Christ, who then died for our forgiveness and Christ’s righteousness imputed to those who believe, and God counts us as righteous.

Therefore, this statement is not about our salvation. Jesus is telling His disciples that they must maintain an attitude of humility and be willing to forgive those who have hurt you. Why? Because God has forgiven us all our sins.

Jesus teaches another parable in Matthew 18: 21-35, where He tells us of a man who owed a million dollars to a king. Unable to pay, the debtor pleaded with the king to not send him to jail but that he will repay all of the debt. The king had compassion on the debtor and forgave him the entire sum! The man who was just forgiven went out and found a man who owed him a month’s wages. This man pleaded to be forgiven, but the one who was just forgiven threw the man in prison until the month’s wage be paid in full. When the king heard of this man’s lack of compassion and harsh treatment, he sent for the man he had forgiven and threw him into prison for life.

Again, face value of this parable seems to suggest that if we don’t forgive, we are in danger of losing our salvation and ending up in an eternal prison. Yet, that cannot be the case according to the Word of God. Here is what Jesus is trying to tell us.

Our walk with Him here is conditional, meaning what we do will determine how we are blessed, if we want your prayers answered and to have peaceful contentment, it is based on our obedience. Our salvation is of the Lord and the only condition is faith, which is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8. Whereas, walking with Him and receiving His guidance, comfort, blessing and peace is conditional to our obeying His commandments. If we hold this attitude of obedience, but fail, He provides a way of forgiveness through confession, I John 1:9. Yet, if we ignore His commandments, refuse to forgive those who hurt us, He will discipline us (remove blessings) as a faithful Father. Hebrews 12:3-8

As a Christian you are called to forgive. It is for your sake to forgive as much as it is for the person asking for forgiveness, for forgiveness sets you free.

Forgiveness is the most Christ like action a believer can do, next to prayer, which is another topic.

John