Forgiveness | Special Guest, Pastor Ayo Omopariola

A joy to be here as we shared earlier.

My name is A.L.

Omuperiola, and I get the joy of serving as the lead pastor for the West Church in the A Leaf community of Southwest Houston, aka the SWAT.

And because nobody said SWAT back, that tells me nobody knows where Aleaf is.

Everybody who represents A-Leaf, they always either yell out SWAT or the West, which is why we named our church the West Church.

But it's a joy to be here.

One, just thank you so much.

You all have been incredible.

The joy, the hospitality, the welcome.

The Pastor Jason has been wonderful.

We played at our church four and a half years ago.

And our heart was the city of Houston at the time, and still does, had a list of complete communities that they said here are about eight or nine communities that we've historically neglected and frankly forgotten.

And we haven't invested that much resources and a much of a lot of things in there.

And we prayed and we said, Man, Lord, we want to see a healthy gospel-centered multiplying church in that community.

And so we chose the A Leaf Westwood community.

Most people know about our area because the street, we're on Bissonet Street between 59 and the Beltway.

And unfortunately, that is the street where the majority of the human trafficking occurs in our city.

And we wanted to be there to be able to bring gospel light and push back darkness.

And so our mission is that we exist to transform our community with the love of God by making disciples for Jesus Christ.

And so it's a joy uh to be here.

Thank you.

Amen.

And I want a big, big shout out to your pastor.

Pastor Chris has been wonderful.

We met through the Houston Church Plenty Network, which I also get the opportunity to serve there as well.

And I mean, just being able to get lunch with him and hear what the Lord's been doing in here at United City and his family.

And you know, the moment he told me he was a Cowboys fan, I said, man, I knew there was something about you that I like even before we started uh having lunch.

Um and of course, all the Astros and Texans fans said, man, get off the stage.

Um, but it truly he's been uh just a huge blessing in a lot of different ways.

And so very grateful and honored to be here with you this morning.

If you don't mind, join me in a brief word of prayer as we prepare to dive into God's word.

Lord, we thank you that we get to do this again.

We get to open your word and hear from you.

And so now we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would teach us what we know not, Lord, that you would give us what we have not and make us what we are not through the power in the match's name of the Son Jesus.

Amen.

Well, after enduring ongoing abuse, neglect, and mistreatment at the hands of the very person who should have loved and cared for her, after being abruptly forced into a life of servitude, having every door of hope slammed in her face, and every precious jewel of her dreams robbed and stolen from her, the time for vengeance and payback had finally occurred.

Prince Charming had found Cinderella despite the manipulative schemes of the Grand Duke and Lady Tremaine.

That glass slipper fit, they reconnected their love, they kissed, and as they are leaving the home, the camera pans to the staircase, the winding staircase that has Lady Tremaine sitting at the top of it, her evil stepmother.

And this is the opportunity.

This is the moment to get back at her.

This is the time where she can be passive aggressive.

This is the time where she can make her feel as miserable as she made her feel in that house.

And if it was me, if I had just become queen, I would have looked straight at her on that winded staircase and I would have said, off with her head.

But my wife says, Sometimes I'm a petty patty, so you know, thankfully, Cinderella didn't do that.

She looks at her and says three simple words.

I forgive you.

Now, some of you are thinking, I oh, man, that's a fairy tale.

My life, it in my life, there are no fairy godmothers turning pumpkins into chariots.

The people who have wronged me are still walking around as if nothing ever happened while I'm left with the emotional pain and trauma and turmoil.

That's you, and I would argue to some degree at some point in some season, that is all of us.

I want to remind you of the key, the master key that unlocks every door in the home of your heart.

The key of forgiveness.

The key of forgiveness.

Over the last couple weeks, we've been in this one another series.

We began by talking about loving one another.

Last week, Pastor Jason talked about serving one another.

And one of the ways we practically serve one another is by offering forgiveness.

The big idea for today, the main point, if you don't hear anything I hear today, hear this.

Forgiven people, forgive people.

Forgiven people, forgive people.

And if we want to be the kind of people who forgive, three things have to happen.

Number one, we have to take the journey.

Number two, we have to fight for peace.

And then finally, we have to receive the gift.

Look at me in Ephesians chapter four.

We'll be in Ephesians 4 as our anchor text before we dive into 2 Samuel 19.

And our first point, take the journey in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32.

Ephesians 4:32

The apostle Paul says this be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.

Paul anchors our forgiveness of other people in the reality of God's forgiveness for us.

And the support beams that hold our forgiveness up, he says, are kindness and a tender heart.

Which means if you have a hard heart, if you have a bitter heart, if you have a stony heart, if you have an unforgiving heart, you may be able to utter the words, I forgive you, from your mouth, but you will not be able to experience the fruit and freedom of forgiveness in your heart.

Because forgiveness is not theoretical, pie in the sky, ethereal.

It is practical, it is boots on the ground, it is deeply emotional.

There's a difference between uh forgiveness in theory and forgiveness in practice.

One of my favorite uh sports figures, Mike Tyson, is this very popular 1987 quote that people kind of misuse all the time.

But he says, Everybody got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

In other words, you say, Listen, people talk crazy.

They everybody thinks they could get in the ring with me and really go toe-to-toe until they get in the ring and I hit them with a one hit, hit or quitter.

C.S.

Lewis, author and writer, who to my knowledge has never stepped in the foot in a ring with anybody, says very something very similar about forgiveness.

He says, Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.

It's like, oh yeah, we forgiveness sounds good.

Like, oh yeah, we're we're for that.

We love, yeah, it's a it's a good character trait.

We want it to in on our kids.

We we love all of that.

It's a difference when you're talking about forgiveness and then when it's your turn.

When it's your turn, how are you going to respond?

In 2 Samuel 19, verses 16 through 20, we see a very real, very practical example and story of how we should respond when that time comes.

2 Samuel 19:16–20

Look with me in 2 Samuel 19.

The first part of our message today, we'll be doing a lot of Bible calisthenics, so you're gonna be flipping all over the place.

Thank God for the digital ages who's gonna be on the screen.

Amen.

And Shemiah, the son of Girah, the Benjaminite from Bahurum, hurried to come down from with the men of Judah to meet King David.

And with him were a thousand men from Benjamin, and Zeba, the servant of the house of Saul, with his fifteen sons and his twenty servants, rushed down to the Jordan before the king.

And they crossed the ford to bring over the king's household and to do his pleasure.

And Shimeon, the son of Girah, fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan and said to the king, Let not my Lord hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem.

Do not let the king take it to heart.

For your servant knows that I have sinned.

Therefore, behold, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph, to come down to meet my Lord the King.

Here we have a man by the name of Shimei, who is a relative of King Saul.

We'll see why that's important later on.

He is throwing himself down, prostrating, throwing himself down, begging for, asking for mercy, begging for forgiveness.

He gets specific.

He says, For for what I did, the wrong I did to you when you left Jerusalem, don't take it to heart.

One of the things I love about this, this is for free.

When you are receiving or seeking forgiveness from others, you have to be very specific.

He says, My Lord the King, forgive me for what I did to you when you were leaving Jerusalem on your way out.

This is important.

One of my wife and I, we try, we have four kids, three sons, one daughter, and my daughter, she she's a daddy's girl.

I ain't gonna lie to you.

The moment she was born, I literally saw my wallet open up and all the money just flew out of that thing.

She knows anything she wants, she'll run to me.

But the thing I gotta be hard on her about, because she's a you know, because there's she got three brothers, and there's just one of her, you know, she's a she's a warrior, she's a gangster.

So she'll do something to them, and then she'll come to me thinking, Oh, daddy's gonna let me slide.

But in those moments, I said, uh-uh, ma'am, you need to walk back over there and you need to apologize to your brother.

So here's what she'll do: she'll walk, she'll look back to see if I'm looking at her, which of course I am, and she'll say, Sorry.

To which, no, no, no, don't awe her.

Because then my wife and I will say, Sorry for what, Eden?

Because here's what she wants to do.

She wants to get all free.

She wants a general sorry that really don't hit nobody.

But we always remind her, no, no, no, no, no.

You caused a specific hurt, so you need a specific apology.

So then she'll say, Sorry, Ezra, for slapping you in the face.

And, you know, I'm like, come on, sis, we can't be out here slapping your brothers in the face.

But I'm thankful because she understands the temptation that she has is the same temptation you and I have.

We want to cruise on the highway of forgiveness without taking the on-ramp of specificity.

We want a we want a general apology that hits nobody so that we don't have to talk exactly about the wrong we did, who we hurt, when it happened, and pull up the incident.

Shimei says, My Lord the King, forgive me for the wrong that I did to you.

Now, of course, the question you ask is, Okay, what did he do?

I'm glad you asked.

Three chapters earlier in 2 Samuel 16, verses 5 through 8, he says, This When the king came to Barum, and there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei.

2 Samuel 16:5–8

There it is again, the son of Girah, as he came, he cursed continually and threw stones at David, and at all the servants of King David, and all the people, and all the mighty men who were on his right and right hand and on his left.

And Shimei said as he cursed, and I quote, Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man.

The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom.

See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.

You do not need a theology degree or a Bible to be a Bible scholar to know those are fighting words.

Like, you know, there's a saying, never kick a dog while it's down.

Shimi, I don't care nothing about that.

He sees David in a moment of weakness, and that boy is a town stomping all over him.

Why?

You have to remember this is this is one of the darkest seasons of David's life.

You have to remember what's going on right now.

Well, his son, Absalom, who was in exile, he brought him back and he wasn't locked in as a father, as a parent, as he should have been.

And in the meanwhile, while he had exile, while he had Absalom back, but living somewhere else in the kingdom, Absalom was like, Hey, you see my daddy over there?

Man, he ain't he ain't talking about nothing.

He he's not really leading y'all the way he could.

If I was your king, we'd be doing this, we'd be doing that, you your life would be better.

And all the people like, okay, he starts a revolt, an insurrection, a rebellion.

All the people, by the time David finds out it's too late, his son is after his throne and his life.

He gathers his things, his mighty men, and he's leaving.

As he is leaving, here comes Shimei, who apparently is still salty and mad that his relative Saul is no longer the king.

And so he starts cursing at him.

He starts hurling insults at him, he starts throwing stones at him, he starts flinging dust at him.

Many of us will say, Man, I got some haters in my life, I got some people who don't like me.

To be clear, this is not, hey, I'm gonna post something online about you that I'd never say to your face.

This ain't that.

This is the person who says, Man, forget TikTok, forget posting some vague general statement online that you know it's about you, but I'm not really calling you out.

Forget TikTok, forget Instagram.

I'm gonna pull up to you and insult you to your face.

Are there people in your life who you know, if you were in a season of vulnerability at your lowest, instead of coming to lift you up, would descend on you like vultures on a dead body.

That is what David is dealing with.

In those moments, when that happens, you have to do two things.

Number one, do not ignore it.

You know, some of us we'd be like, we like to say things like, Oh, that don't that didn't bother me.

Oh, uh, you know, it wasn't that bad.

Um you know, it's it's just another day.

You know, they you know how they'd be acting.

They I'm not worried about it.

No, no, no, no, no.

You have to get close to it.

Don't ignore it.

But number two, you have to prepare yourself for the journey of forgiveness.

What happened between chapter 16 where Shimei is flinging dust, cursing David?

He's yelling at him, he's ridiculing.

What happened between that and then chapter 19 where he's on on the face, prostrating, begging for mercy?

Two things happen.

Number one, Shimei had to go on the process of forgiveness, but so did David.

Look at what happens in 2 Samuel uh verses chapter 16, 9 through 13.

This is how David responded.

And this is what I call big boy, big girl Christianity.

It is one thing to come, sit, listen.

We are in man, like worship today was incredible.

There is a temptation to think, man, this is the real work, and it is part of the work, but the real work is evidenced in the fruit of forgiveness in your life.

After Shemiah goes in on David, after he hurts him verbally, here's how David responds 2 Samuel 16, 9 through 13.

Then Abishai, the son of Zurih, said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse the king?

Let me go over there and take off his head.

Parenthetically, I know you can't say amen to this, but everybody know they want a friend like Abishai.

When you've been wrong, when you've been hurt, when somebody did you dirty, you don't say amen.

Look at somebody already like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know you want somebody to say, Hey bro, what they say, I'm rotting.

But what anytime, any place, anywhere.

They they did what to you?

Nah, they're not gonna do that to my cousin, they're not gonna do that to my kid, they're not gonna do that to my you, you know you want, but you you you know you don't need Abishai's in your life when you're trying to go for forgiveness.

Abishai says, Let me go over there and take off his head.

We'll talk about Abishai later.

But the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zariah?

If he is cursing, because the Lord has said to him, Curse David, who then shall say, Why have you done so?

And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, Behold, my own son seeks my life.

How much more now, this Benjaminite, leave him alone and let him curse?

For the Lord has told him to, it may be, it may very well be, the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.

So David and his men went on the road while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones and flung dust.

David is essentially saying, I was wrong and I was done dirty.

And yet, instead of lashing out at Shemiah for what he did, I gotta number one hash this out with the Lord.

He turns to God first before he goes off on Shemia.

That is important, and it's the part of the sermon you did not want to hear today.

Oftentimes, when we've been hurt, when we've been wrong, when when there when somebody has done something to us, there is a part of us that thinks, man, I have no part in this.

To be very clear, there are situations and circumstances of which this young lady in our church, I was just talking to her, like when you are, you have no blood on your hands, you've been abused, you've been assaulted, like there, well, the wrong that was done to you, it it should not have happened, and you had no part in it.

That's not what this is talking about.

David says, Man, I had to look in the mirror.

And he's thinking to himself, do I have blood on my hands?

Now, let me remind you of what's been going on in David's life over the past couple chapters.

He's sitting and he's thinking to himself, man, I had that situation with Bathsheba.

I abused my authority and my power.

Then the baby that we had after I killed her husband, the baby we had died.

And as a result of that, turmoil wrecked shopping my family.

My son Amnon violated his sister.

I wasn't locked in as a dad, and so I did nothing about it.

Absalom said, Dad ain't gonna do something about it, I'm gonna do something about it.

So he kills his brother, which is why I exiled him.

And then he comes back, and now he started a revolt and a revolution against my people and me.

David is sitting here and he's thinking to himself, Lord, do I have any part to play in this?

Did I did I contribute?

See, this is a hard thing to do in the process of forgiveness because we don't want to ask these kind of questions.

We want to stay on the highway of forgiveness, and we we don't want to actually like use the feeder road of looking in the mirror.

We should know I'm on here.

Because we never think, oh I know that they were cussing me out, but did I raise my voice at them?

We we don't think, yeah, I dodged the vase that they threw at me, but then I was that only because I threw the table.

Like I know he was being short with me, was because I've been ignoring him for the last six months.

That is a very different way to think through forgiveness.

Because the temptation is to think, I'm always the victim, I've done nothing wrong.

It's easy to think, look at what they did.

And of course, the adversized in your life, they're gonna gas you up.

They're gonna say, Yeah, can you imagine that?

I can't believe that.

They're still walking around.

But David says, Man, I gotta look in the mirror.

He gets with the Lord before he starts talking.

This he gets with the Lord and says, Lord, I know this season has been difficult.

You know the season's been difficult.

And my eye has been off the ball in multiple as a leader, as a father, as Lord, I've made some mistakes.

Am I here because is is what Shemia is saying to me, is it deserved?

You may you may ask that question and it very maybe very may well be, no, it's not deserved.

I did nothing wrong.

Praise God, but you at least gotta ask yourself the question.

One of the reasons why going on the journey of forgiveness is so important is because it forces you to ask yourself, Lord, was I being slick with my mouth?

Was I being passive aggressive?

Did I contribute?

Yeah, they yeah, they stormed off, was it only after the fact that I rose my voice?

Asking yourself these kinds of questions are important.

Absalon, David's son, his story didn't end well.

He was later killed by one of David's men in battle.

And David travels back, he's going back to the kingdom, back to be reinstated as king.

And on his way back, Shimei is back.

Instead, he's not throwing stones and flinging dirt.

Now he's throwing himself and asking for forgiveness and for mercy.

Now, some of you are thinking, man, see, I couldn't do that.

Because Back when it looked like oh David was down and out.

Back when David looked like, man, you're about to die.

Your son took the throne.

He's coming for your life.

And when that happened, Shemiah said, Oh, yeah, I'm about to tell this brother what I how I really feel.

Jesus says, Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So all this stuff he's been holding, you're a cursed man, you're a man of blood.

He's going at but now all of a sudden David is walking back to the kingdom.

He's being reinstated as the king.

Everything is about to go up and to the right.

Oh, how convenient, Shemiah.

Now you want to come over here and you want to ask for forgiveness.

Now you want to come over here and you want to ask for mercy.

David understands it is not my job to discern the motives of the heart.

It is my job to offer forgiveness.

David will show us the importance and the journey you have to take when you're giving forgiveness.

But Shemia shows us really clearly when you are seeking forgiveness from other people, you got to do three things.

Number one, you got to go to them.

None of this general stuff that's just like, hey guys, sorry if I hurt anybody, go to the person.

He goes to the king.

He not only goes to the king, he gets specific for the wrong I did as you were leaving Jerusalem.

He says, Listen, let's pull up that timestamp.

Remember when you were leaving Jerusalem and I was flinging stones and I was going in on you and I was saying things about you that was hurtful?

Yeah, that's what I'm apologizing for.

Then he asked for forgiveness.

And that sounds very similar to what Jesus tells us in Matthew 18 about restoring relationships, about going to the person.

Now, in his case, he's the one that did the wrong, but it's almost like God had been preparing for this since the Old Testament.

Who in your life do you need to seek forgiveness from?

Have you been avoiding them?

This is not an easy journey.

I already knew I mentally prepared myself because this was not one of them sermons where we're going to be like, yes and amen.

Let's go, Pastor.

I'm ready to do this.

This is one of them where it's going to be like, I'm going to be preaching to myself.

But we need it.

Take the journey.

But once you take the journey, if you're in the position where you're trying to give forgiveness to other people, you have to fight for peace.

We see that in our second point in verses 21 through 22.

Abishai, the son of Zariah, answered, Shall not Shemiah be put to death for this?

Because he cursed the Lord's anointed.

But David said, What do I have to do with you, sons of Zariah, that you should this day be an adversary to me?

Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day?

For do I not know that I am this day the king of Israel?

Number one, remember, Shemiah has already set the stage.

He said, Forgive, no, he said, I was wrong, which are the three critical words when you are asking for forgiveness.

He doesn't say this was a slight indiscretion.

He doesn't say, man, you know, when I drink too many blood light limes or Hanukkah, I say stuff I don't mean.

He doesn't say, Oh, you know, hey, you know, sometimes you know how I can get, you know how your uncle is, you know how your mom is, you know how your stepdad is around how he doesn't say none of that.

He gets specific about the indiscretion, he gets specific about the sin.

He calls it a sin and a wrongdoing.

He doesn't try to manufacture something that isn't there.

He, what we do now in the digital age, when somebody's done something wrong, you know, it's like, hey, Claude, Chat GPT, put together a very generic apology that really don't hit nobody, but communicates that I'm sorry for something.

And so that hits nobody.

And everybody's like, okay, but wait, what happened?

What's going on?

Did that he don't do that.

He gets specific.

Now Albershai says, Hey David, listen, you know you're my boy.

Uh my trigger figure has been itching for a while.

This sword has been ready to fly for a minute.

Let's go get them off with his head.

Him and all his homies who are with him.

You have to be careful.

When you are on the road to forgiveness, you got to fight for peace.

Because there will be voices in your mind that will only want to play the highlight reels of what was done to you, and then they'll start marinating in your mind.

So you're only thinking about the wrong, you're only harboring the bitterness, you're only stewing in the unforgiveness.

Like it, and I know none of y'all wanted to say amen to this, but you're all like, man, I, you know, I from the neighborhood I grew up in, I always keep at least one abbe shot with me just in case somebody wants to pop off and do something crazy.

Like, I got a number I can dial, like, hey man, you and they and they don't even say anything.

Hey, you you did something to my friend, you did something to my coworker.

They don't need you may have had a major part in it, they do not care because they're ready to ride.

It's almost like my son, uh, my kids have been playing basketball in this little basketball league.

They're um some kind of way about it because they give everybody, you know, some kind of trophy at the end, which in my head, I'm like, come on, we gotta do better.

Some of these kids, uh the all they did was their parents dropped them off, and they still getting, hey, sportsmanship award.

I'm like, come on, man.

But I picked my battles.

It was one of those games where it there, it's usually calm, you know.

We in Shaker Land, nobody's we here having a good time.

The kids, they just want to eat the snacks afterwards and drink the Gatorade.

But it got intense.

Shots were being made, it was coming down to the wire.

And this lady on my son's team, she saw that her son was not getting any fouls.

So she started acting out of character, or maybe her true character showed up.

She said, Oh, ref, number 12, nah.

Tell him to get his hands off my son.

She's over and now, number 12, mama was sitting right in front of me.

She looked back the first time, she said, okay, it hurt.

I can I've been in too many of these situations.

I saw it happen before it happened.

The lady kept talking.

She looked back again, and she because that's her son she's talking about.

Her son was wilding on the court, but you just can't be talking about her kid and act like she's not gonna do nothing.

And then, and you know she was a sister too, so I I held my wife's hand.

I said, I said, Listen, we need we need to start praying because the last thing we need is a suburban fight at this high school gym right now.

Lady started taking her earrings off, putting her ponytail back, took her wig off.

I said, Lord Jesus, not today.

But but the the reality, she said, You're not gonna talk to my son crazy like that.

See, you all know you want an abishine in your life, but Abishai, the voices in your life when you are pursuing forgiveness cannot be the voices of the Abishhas in your life.

It has to be the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Because the Spirit will push you, it will lead you to say, Lord, I know I was wrong, I am hurt, but I'm not gonna let the devil tap dance on my brain by stewing it on forgiveness.

Why?

Because God is a heavenly sculptor.

What do I mean by that?

God's what God wants to do in your life, He wants to conform your life into the image of the Son.

He wants you to look more and more like the Lord Jesus every single day.

So he looks at you like a worker art, like a precious stone.

He takes the hammer and he says, Man, we got some, we got some irritability we got to work on, chip, chip, chip.

We got some impatience we have to work on, chip, chip, chip.

We got some anger we got to work on, chip, chip, chip.

There's still some childhood trauma we got to get through, chip, chip, chip.

That unforgiveness is holding on to you, chip, chip, chip.

But after he's chipping, chip, he looks back and you're like, look at you.

More godly than before, more holy than before, more understanding than before, more patient than before.

Your friends and your family, like, man, you don't yell at us like you used to.

Your kids are like, Man, did I get a new palm?

Did I get a new dad?

What's going on?

The spirit of God is flowing.

Here's the thing: when you stew in unforgiveness, the devil will do that same work with a different tool.

You are giving him a hammer and he remixes it for a chainsaw.

He's not trying to conform you to look more like Jesus, he's trying to destroy you.

You have to be careful, you have to fight for peace.

In your mind, you're thinking, but you don't know what they did to me.

I gotta get paid, I gotta get him back, I got to go for payback.

Paul reminds us in Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

He says, Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.

David understands vengeance and payback, that is not my job.

My job is to fight for peace.

When I got these voices, my rider dies, my day ones, my best friends who are egging me on, gassing me up, wanting me to continue.

He says, No, no, no.

I gotta fight for peace.

Now, the other reason why you have to fight for peace is because when you are dealing with an individual who has wronged you and they pretend like nothing ever happened, like you don't got the receipts from the text messages, like everybody didn't see what happened at Christmas or at family dinner.

And you're like, I can I what am I supposed to do?

They are acting like they did nothing wrong when everybody and their mama know they did me dirty.

Two things.

Number one, you have to remember that forgiveness is primarily about what God wants and what your soul needs, not about how they respond.

On the cross, Jesus has a powerful prayer.

He's on the cross and he prays, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

That is interesting.

Wow.

So Jesus was praying forgiveness for people who didn't know what they were doing, didn't acknowledge it yet, hadn't confessed it yet.

Now you're saying, okay, I oh, you're trying to hit that gospel on me.

Uh I I I get it, I get it, but I'm not Jesus.

And I would say, we know, trust me, we all know.

But I would remind you, because you're thinking, how am I supposed to get back in relationship?

How how they they're acting like nothing happened, but then they want to go to brunch.

They're acting like nothing happened and they still want to be best friends at the office.

They're acting like nothing happened and they still and I would remind you, um, forgiveness only takes one.

Reconciliation takes two.

Which means you can forgive somebody and delete their number.

You can forgive somebody and still call the cops.

You can forgive somebody and still follow a restraining order.

You can forgive somebody and say, man, we can't be business partners no more.

You can forgive somebody and say, our friendship won't, we won't, we just can't be BFFs anymore.

Because forgiveness only takes one, but reconciliation takes two.

The other reason why this is so important before we round third base and head for home, very clearly, all the devil wants to do, he wants to use unforgiveness as a foothold to get into your life, and part of it will result you into um you majoring on the minors, meaning the things that you shouldn't be aggravated or that you shouldn't be expanding in your life, you are.

Not only does it allow you to become very petty, but it also allows you to miss celebrating the very thing God is trying to do in your life.

Where do I get that from?

David says his response was this He said, Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day?

For I do not know, for do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?

Somebody say, This day.

What is this day?

Well, this day happens to be the day that David is being reinstated as king.

This day happens to be the day that David is getting the crown back.

This day happens to be the day that David has been victorian, albeit at the cost of his son, but victorious nonetheless.

And David says, Man, if we make Abishai, if I listen to you, I'll make the focus of this day, death, mourning, and vengeance and payback.

But if I focus on what the Lord has done, then we gotta celebrate.

Unforgiveness will rob you of joy, and it will rob you from celebrating the very thing God wants to do in your life.

The psalmist says it like this in Psalm 118.

This is the day that the Lord has made, and we shall rejoice and be glad in it.

When you're focused on forgiveness, it doesn't mean you pretend like nothing happened, but it does mean, Lord, I'm gonna keep my eyes on you and I'm gonna fight for peace, which means when I'm driving on 45 or 59, and after the come to Jesus moment, after we talked about it, after we hash it out, after we said I'm sorry, they said I'm sorry, we got specific, but then I'm driving at work and I think about what was done to me.

Instead of me calling the Abishai in my life who's gonna rile me up, I'm gonna say, Lord, I'm gonna do what you tell me to do in 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

2 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

I'm gonna take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

Lord Jesus, I'm not gonna allow this unforgiveness to keep stirring in my soul.

Lord, I want I want to walk in the freedom you've given me.

So every time that pops up, Jesus says 70 times seven, you got to forget, Lord, I'm gonna forgive again because I'm fighting for peace.

Now, this ain't got nothing to do with what was done to you.

This is everything to do with what was trying to do, what God is trying to do in your heart.

I need peace.

I need mental peace, I need emotional peace, I need relational peace, I need familiar peace.

I cannot be at my job stinking eight hours about the wrong that was done for me.

I need, you need peace.

You gotta fight for it though.

And you have a God who fought for you, you have a God who laid down his life, the true king who pardoned you so that you can be into his family and so that he can throw you out like a boomerang to forgive others.

Not only is it important for you to take the journey of forgiveness, not only is it important for you to fight for peace, but finally you have to receive the gift.

Look at me at verse 23 as we round third base and head for home.

And the king said to Shemiah, You shall not die.

And he gave him his oath.

One scholar calls this a magnanimous pardon.

Here, God is teaching us that forgiveness is a gift and it's a choice.

To offer forgiveness, to give it, it's a choice that you get to extend.

It could be that David remembered the forgiveness God gave to him after he sinned against Bathsheba, her husband, his troops.

Maybe he's thinking about, man, God, I've been a terrible father.

Like my son wants me dead and my throne.

My kids are they I I have not been locked in and tapped in, and you still forgave me?

Psalm 51, David's masterpiece of repentance against you, and you only, Lord, have I sinned.

Henry Nowen, the Dutch priest and writer, says there are two sides of forgiveness, giving and receiving.

Although at first sight, giving seems to be harder, it often appears that we are not able to offer forgiveness to others because we have not been able to fully receive it.

Only as people who have accepted forgiveness can we find the inner freedom to forgive.

This story is a powerful story of forgiveness, but it points us to the great forgiver, the capital F forgiver, the Lord Jesus Himself.

It's incredible to me that Shimei was offered forgiveness by David so that he wouldn't die.

But the Lord Jesus offers you and I forgiveness not that day, this day, but he chose to die.

Shimei came, threw himself down so the king would pardon him.

The Lord Jesus throws himself, he comes to us.

The writer Romans tells us that in our sin, in while we were yet sinners, God Christ died for us.

He came to us.

We did not make the first move.

The king made the first move, and he pardoned us through his through his magnanimous pardon and grace.

And he's inviting us.

Do you see that?

When you have when you see what he's done for you, when you see that you have a cosmic debt that you cannot repay, and that the king comes to you, we should be the ones throwing ourselves, saying, Lord Jesus, I've been living my life on my own.

I've been the Shemiah, not David.

I've been the one hurling stones at you.

I've been the one acting like I'm the God in my life, treating you like you are worthless, calling you a man of blood.

I've been Shimei.

And the Lord Jesus says, But I I gave my life for you.

I've pardoned you.

Not just so you can be happy about what I did to you, but so now the person that you're thinking about, that you said, I'm never gonna let that go, you can pardon them because forgiven people forgive people.

And with this quote by Charles Spurgeon says, Perhaps you have been like Shimei, who cursed the king, and you are afraid that Jesus will never forgive you.

But David forgave Shimei, and Jesus is ready to forgive you.

He delighteth.

I know we, you know, we don't use King James at our church, but sometimes I tell our church every now again you need a good King James in your soul.

He delighteth in mercy.

I do believe that the harps of heaven never give to Christ such happiness as he has when he forgives the ungodly and saith, Thy sins are forgiven, go in peace.

It is a it is a a joyful thing when you know the God of the universe has forgiven you.

But it's even an even greater thing when now you have that forgiveness stirring in your soul, and you're like, Lord, I got the I got the power.

Through your spirit, I can forgive someone else.

In a moment, the serve team and some of the staff will be here and they'll be available here to pray for you.

If you're here and you've realized, man, I've never I've never surrendered to the king.

You don't have to throw yourself down like Shemiah did.

You just have to share with one of our one of the members here.

Man, I I want pardon.

That forgiveness, as a young lady who was talking to me after the first service, she said, Man, I'm not a Christian, but I I need that.

And maybe you're here and you need prayer.

Because there is somebody in your mind you know you need to forgive or you need to seek forgiveness from.

He said, Hey, I need somebody to pray with me.

Not for whether I'm gonna do it or not, because I'm gonna walk in obedience, I'm gonna do it.

Amen.

Amen.

Just like the second service.

When I say we gotta walk in obedience and forgive, everybody was like, Amen.

Listen to sermons on forgiveness is easy.

Doing it is hard.

Amen.

I know.

But I want somebody to pray with me because there's a number I gotta call, a FaceTime I gotta make, a house I gotta pull up to, and ask for forgiveness.

Because I don't want to just hear God's word, I want to do it.

Amen.

Would you please stand to your feet as we go to the Lord in prayer?

Father, we thank you for the forgiveness you've given us.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for giving your life so that we can receive your forgiveness.

And Holy Spirit, we thank you for giving us the power to do just that.

Move in our hearts for your glory.

It's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

Man, what an amazing time that we had today.

Hey, if you know of someone that needs to hear this message, we'd love for you to share that on socials.

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And if you need to take the next step, we'd love to help you do that as well.

Love you guys so much, and we'll see you next week.