Good Morning and welcome in everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 5. ¹⁸ And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. ²⁰ Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Reconciliation is such a huge part of the Christian Life, that the Apostle refers to it as the ministry of reconciliation. But before reconciliation with God or others can happen, humble confession of one’s faults must first take place. After all, in order to be reconciled unto God, we must first confess our sins unto Him. God also commands to confess your faults to one another, and reconcile with the party that you have offended. Before the healing process can take place, sin must first be admitted.
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16
Once you humbly apologize to an offended party, they are required by God to forgive you in their heart, releasing you completely of the debt. If they truly do this, they will no longer remember the event in their heart anymore. This is the way that God treats us, and He commands us to be the same way with each other. Some people who profess to be Christian, actually teach that you can forgive but never forget. These kinds of teachings are the doctrines of devils and promoted by false apostles and false prophets. It is actually a fulfillment of prophecy, because God is sending them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie and be damned. God can completely forget about our sins, but they can’t? This is because they are not of God. They are filled with the spirit of the world, not the merciful Spirit of Christ.
When you apologize to somebody, you might ask them, do you forgive me? If they say yes, then you are completely released from the debt. The past sins that were committed, are completely expunged and forgotten. The next thing to do is to wash away your sins in the blood of Christ by having Holy Communion with each other. These events must take place within the church. If they continue to harbor any ill will after that, or retain any memory of the past, then they never really forgave you in their heart. The worst part is that they lied on top of it, which is an attribute of the devil. This type of behavior is an unforgivable sin in the sight of God, because if you refuse to forgive and reconcile with others, God will withhold his mercy from you, which will ultimately lead to the eternal damnation of one’s soul.
Matthew 18 ²¹ Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? ²² Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. ²³ Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. ²⁴ And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. ²⁵ But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. ²⁶ The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. ²⁷ Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. ²⁸ But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. ²⁹ And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. ³⁰ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. ³¹ So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. ³² Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: ³³ Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? ³⁴ And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. ³⁵ So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Genuine forgiveness will result in immediate reconciliation, and is the evidence that forgiveness really took place. The proof that it just rained, is seeing water dripping from the trees. The proof that somebody planted tomato seeds, is a row of tomato plants in the garden. Reconciliation is the evidence of divine love and mercy in one’s heart. Without it, is to deny everything that the Christian faith stands for.
Nowadays, people attempt to buy their own salvation. They try to buy themselves out of contrition and humility because their hearts are filled with pride. Rather than admit fault to those who they have wronged, they figure that they can throw a bunch of money and possessions into a church offering somewhere. In that way, they don’t have to admit fault to others. There’s no reward for these kinds of things, and people are just throwing their money away. God doesn’t demand our sacrifice, He wants humility, confession and reconciliation with others. To obtain heaven, we must be reconciled to God. If you cannot be reconciled with others, the truth is that you don’t deserve heaven.
Matthew 5 ²³ Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; .²⁴ Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Another point is that for Christians, the bond of holy matrimony can only be dissolved by death, (unless an unbaptized unbeliever left you, whereby you’re not under bondage in that situation) Divorce is absolutely forbidden for those in the church. Those who are concerned about eternal salvation will never get involved with it, because it is to rip apart and destroys what God has brought together. If a wife departs from her husband, she is to remain unmarried. She must never divorce him. This is so she can recover herself out of the snare of the devil, and be reconciled to her husband, just as the church is reconciled to Christ. Those who encourage a baptized wife to depart and eventually divorce her husband are servants of the devil. I guarantee that there is no Gospel of reconciliation found in their hearts. The only thing that they promote is the false Gospel of divorce. Any woman who has been baptized in the faith must return to her husband, in order to be reconciled to the teachings of Christ.
1 Corinthians 7 ¹⁰ And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: ¹¹ But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
When people apologize, genuine forgiveness must happen, otherwise you alienate yourself from God’s forgiveness. Some people refuse to forgive from their heart, because if they did, it would mean that they would have to let the past go. It would require the complete restoration of past relationships. Many times, pride will not allow that to happen.
Reconciliation is the proof that you forgave somebody from your heart. Reconciliation with others not only opens doors to renewed relationships,….it opens the door to your own forgiveness, because those who are merciful towards others, will receive……
……Mercy from God
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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