***
A REMINDER - The Comprehensive Nature of the Atonement.
1 Peter 2:24 - “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might
die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
The
Message - His wounds became your healing.
How wide is the healing?
I think… it is for everything on heaven and earth
that needs to be healed.
The need for healing is
comprehensive.
Isa. 1:5-7
Your
whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil.
7 Your
country is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
So… a whole lot of healing is needed.
Healing of
nations. Healing of cities.
Healing of
the creation.
Healing of persons,
from their head to their toe…
… of physical bodies…, healing of hearts…
…
healing on the outside, and on the inside…
… healing and restoration of the soul…
What has God done about this? Well… that’s 1 Peter 2:24.
God has provided healing once
and for all through the Son’s atonement, which begins with God the Father
sending the anointed One
… (Jesus the Christ)…
… to preach good news to the
poor…
… to proclaim freedom for the
prisoners
and recovery of sight for the
blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the
Lord’s favor. (Lk 4:18-19; Is 61: 1)
THIS IS WONDERFUL…
but it’s not wonderful to Satan.
This is where the battleground
is… a battleground over our souls, our minds, our bodies, our families, our
communities, our nations…
Unfortunately, there are hindrances to our healing.
We’ve talked about things that
hinder the comprehensive healing that is in the atonement.
Cessationism… Dualism…
Naturalism… Hierarchism
This morning…
something else – a different sort of thing – that comes against
comprehensive healing.
UNFORGIVENESS
Unforgiveness affects us physically.
I
know this from experience.
King David knew it from experience – Ps. 32
When I did not confess my sins, I was worn
out from crying all day long. Day and night you punished me, LORD; my strength
was completely drained, as moisture is dried up by the summer heat. Then I
confessed my sins to you; I did not conceal my wrongdoings. I decided to
confess them to you, and you forgave all my sins
(Ps. 32: 3-5).
One of God’s rules of the universe… is
that unconfessed, unrepented, undealt-with sin… puts people in captivity…
…their
hearts… in their souls… even affecting
their physical bodies.
Charles Kraft - Unforgiveness is like emotional and spiritual cancer.
As it
spreads, it blocks emotional and spiritual healing and can lead to a kind of
spiritual death.
It can
even be one of the root causes of numerous serious physical illnesses.
That’s what is going on in Matthew 9 – the healing of the paralyzed
man
Walter Brueggemann – “This story is a specific instance where
two major features of Jesus’ ministry come together – forgiveness and healing.”
Jesus
stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some
men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith,
he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are
forgiven.”
This paralyzed man… his sickness is related to his unforgiven
sin.
Not
every sickness is caused by sin.
But
surely are.
Unforgiveness
is not good for us… physically or emotionally.
Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go
home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with
awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.
Jesus healed this man to show that He, the Son of Man, has
the authority to forgive sins.
If He could heal the disease,
He could also heal the cause of the disease, the sin.
In
Ps. 103:3 we see a connection between
forgiveness and healing.
"He forgives all my sins and heals all my
diseases.”
***
A main part – of the comprehensive nature
of the Atonement… is the forgiveness of
our sins.
The
forgiveness of our sins produces a great healing.
John Arnott – “When people forgive
themselves and others, powerful emotional healing comes to them as they step
into the grace and mercy of God. As we pray for emotional healing, it is common
to see
wonderful physical healings taking
place in the wake of forgiveness.”
Charles Kraft - I can’t estimate the large number of people, for whom I have prayed,
that have received emotional, physical or spiritual healing almost immediately
when unforgiveness was dealt with.
On
several occasions, people have come to me with extreme tightness and pain
across their shoulders. But when they forgave the person they were angry at,
the symptoms left immediately.
One
woman’s whole personality and outlook on life changed when she gave up her
unforgiveness toward scores of people against whom she held bitterness.
Kraft - Unforgiveness is the most frequent
block to freedom, and the cause of much difficulty for those who come for
ministry. The habit of holding things against self, others or God results in
the unforgiving person being bound up in captivity to the Enemy. This is why
Jesus had so much to say about the necessity of forgiving.
David
Seamands calls forgiveness “the most therapeutic fact in all of life.”
***
What is forgiveness?
2 – You reinterpret
the person who wronged you in a larger format.
This is to help us avoid creating a
"caricature" of the person who wronged us.
"In the act of forgiving, we get a
new picture of a needy, weak, complicated, fallible human being like
ourselves."
3 – You develop a gradual desire for the
welfare of the person who injured you. (Compassion, empathy)
Benefits
of forgiveness (From Robert Enright, 8
Keys to Forgiveness)
Why do you forgive?
1. You
forgive because you have been forgiven much.
2. You
forgive because Jesus commands you to forgive.
Why does Jesus command us to forgive one another, just as
we have been forgiven?
Forgiveness
can restore relationships.
It will
release others from their indebtedness to us.
It brings
healing to us.
Robert Enright’s (U. of Wisconsin) research has discovered that
forgiving others produces strong
psychological benefits for the one who forgives. They include:
·
Reduction in psychological depression
·
Reduction in anxiety
·
Reduction in unhealthy anger
·
Decrease in posttraumatic stress symptoms
·
Increased quality of life
·
Increased focus
·
Increased self-esteem
What
Forgiveness is not
- To forgive is not to forget (deep hurts can rarely be
wiped out of one's awareness).
- Forgiveness does not require two people (reconciliation
takes two people, but an injured party can forgive an offender without
reconciliation).
- forgiveness does not excuse hurtful behavior.
- Forgiveness takes the offense seriously, not passing
it off as inconsequential or insignificant.
- To forgive is not to trust.
Forgiveness is a personal
transaction that releases the one offended from the offense.
Forgiveness is a gateway to healing.
To
physical healing.
To
emotional healing.
Forgiveness… is beautiful… it is so
powerful!
Forgiveness is hard…
E.g. – Leannda (Chelsie) Bruck
She gave the convicted murderer who
killed her youngest daughter a Bible and although she will never forget the
tragic events these past few years, Leannda Bruck said in court that she has
forgiven Daniel Clay.
“Today with the strength of Jesus Christ, I
forgive Daniel Clay, because if I don’t, all that has happened the last 2 and
three-quarters years will destroy the rest of my life,” she said.
“I do not want my Lord to ask why I could not offer
forgiveness to Mr. Clay.”
I do not want the rest of my life to be
destroyed.
Sin is its own
punishment because it eats us up from the inside.
It is not God’s joy to punish us for our sin; it is His joy to cure it.
Mack was raised
in an abusive home, where his father, a very religious man, beat him severely
many times.
There is a scene…
where Mack gets a wider vision of heaven as thousands of souls appear pear in a
meadow at night.
They
look to Mack like multicolored lights.
And
he sees angels and other heavenly beings, including a majestic Jesus.
During
this event (whether vision or reality) Mack encounters his abusive father and
they embrace tearfully.
Mack
forgives his father just as the heavenly Father has forgiven him.
Apparently,
at some point Mack's father accepted God's forgiveness, because he is
among the heavenly host.
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