April 30, 2025 Morning Devotional

Morning Devotion: Read Luke - Temptation Not to Forgive.

Luke 17:3  Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 4  And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

Luke 6:37  Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

Matthew 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

How does this forgiveness thing work? Do we willy Nilly forgive everyone for their wrong, their indiscretions and sins? What do we do afterwards, do we forget and go on? Do we hold grudges not forgiving?

Jesus said if someone trespasses against you, and comes to you in repentance you should forgive. What if they don’t repent and just pretend like nothing ever happened?

Jesus gives us a great example on the issue of forgiveness. At the greatest point of hurt and agony, near to death, while His enemies were mocking and laughing and watching and waiting for Him to die on the cross of Calvary, He asked God to forgive them. Did God forgive them? No!, No!, No!

Notice what Jesus said in Luke. “If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.”

“If he repent, forgive him.” If there is no repentance there is no forgiveness.

Luke 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

Most people believe the prayer Jesus made was a blanket prayer for all mankind and everyone will be forgiven and everyone will go to heaven. That is definitely not the case. There must be repentance before there can be forgiveness.

Jesus said in Mark 1:15,  “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

Ok, Let’s look at Jesus’ prayer and the results. We know Jesus prayed Father forgive them. We know Jesus said one must repent. We know that Jesus taught that we should forgive. How does that all work together?

Let’s look at the book of Acts.

Peter, goes and preaches to the very same people who crucified Christ, to those who cried crucify Him, crucify Him. These are the same people that Jesus prayed “Father forgive them.”

Acts 2:22  Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: 23  Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

What did they do when they heard the message from Peter? They asked Peter what should they do.

Acts 2:37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

What did Peter say? Acts 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Peter said repent.)

God answered Jesus’ prayer, three thousand people repented and three thousand people were saved. After repentance, did God forgive them, Yes!, Yes!, Yes!

Acts 2:40  And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. 41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

The principle is this. When someone comes to you seeking forgiveness, you need to give forgiveness. If you do not, you are in trouble with God.

If they do not seek forgiveness you need to be ready to forgive, even if they hurt you. Jesus was ready to forgive even during His greatest hour of agony. To top it all off, Jesus never held a grudge, He simply forgave them and saved them.

If you never repent toward God, don’t expect God to forgive you and save you. He stands ready to forgive; He stands ready to save. The next step is yours.

The choice is still yours,

Pastor Cook