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Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The Absolute Necessity of Forgiveness

September 13, 2020 • Pastor Paul Becker

The absolute necessity of forgiveness points to the new reality of God’s kingdom in which the unpardonable offense is pardoned, the unpayable debt is deleted and our hard, cold, calculating hearts are transformed by the warm, generous embrace of God’s mercy.

1. In God’s kingdom, unpardonable offenses are pardoned
a. Outside are only retaliation, revenge and anger
b. God invites us to forsake the rebellion of sin and death

2. In God’s kingdom, unpayable debts are deleted
a. Some debts are too great to ever be repaid
b. The only hope is for someone else to absorb and thus erase, delete and cancel our debt

3. In God’s kingdom hearts of stone are transformed by mercy
a. By nature, we all have cold, hard, calculating hearts
b. By grace, we are changed by the warm, generous embrace of God’s mercy

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