S1: We make excuses for ourselves. And Jesus died for our sins,
S1: not for our excuses. Because remember now what we're talking about,
S1: not how you feel about what you did to them.
S1: How do they feel about what you did to them?
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James
S2: Ford Jr, senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
S2: I'm Steve Hillard. Glad you're with us. As today we
S2: continue a message entitled When I'm Sorry Isn't Enough. And pastor,
S2: I can think of times in my life maybe you
S2: can as well, where I have wronged someone. And I
S2: thought it was a very minor slight. And I've gone.
S2: I've apologized and it wasn't over because apparently what I
S2: thought was a slight was actually a much deeper wound.
S2: And so you bring up a great point. We need
S2: to be sensitive to the person that we have wronged.
S1: That's right. Because even as you stated already, Steve, we
S1: don't know how that impacted them. Yeah, very minimal impact
S1: on me. I said it, I did it or didn't do.
S1: But what was the impact on the person. And that's
S1: what we're trying to do. Reconciliation. Bring back the relationship,
S1: restore this relationship that we've had that's been violated. And
S1: of course, you know, what we're doing now is a
S1: couple of months ago, we did look at forgiveness from
S1: the standpoint of Joseph. And so we were talking about
S1: how do you give forgiveness, which is sometimes tougher than
S1: needing to have to ask for forgiveness. So now we're
S1: looking at from the standpoint of the brothers, you know,
S1: how do you ask for forgiveness. And so it's very
S1: significant because I would say in the body of Christ,
S1: this is the I'll call it the sine qua non.
S1: What do you what do you mean by that? The
S1: lowest common denominator of why we have separations, why individuals
S1: leave our church and things of that nature because we
S1: haven't mastered what Jesus says about forgiveness.
S2: Now you bring up Joseph and his brothers, and obviously
S2: they had wronged Joseph in a very major way. But
S2: Joseph did come to the point where he did forgive them,
S2: and he totally let it go. He saw God's hand
S2: in that, but he also put his brothers through a
S2: test before he revealed who he was. If we are
S2: going to grant forgiveness of someone, do we need to
S2: see a change in them?
S1: Well, you know, we're going to talk about that in,
S1: in this series of messages. Yeah. So you just jumped
S1: ahead a little bit. All right. But what we'll talk
S1: about is the fact that he didn't do it to
S1: test them as to the validity of their need for forgiveness.
S1: He did it to test them because even though he
S1: had already forgiven them. Genesis 45. He wanted to make
S1: sure that he could now trust them. Yeah. So we're
S1: talking about two different issues forgiveness and trust. Because when
S1: you reestablish a relationship, because remember, some people say, well,
S1: what they did to me, I'll never, ever be in
S1: the same kind of relationship with them again. Well, it
S1: is a process for the re-establishment of the relationship. We're
S1: talking apples and oranges.
S2: Okay. Well, don't mean to jump ahead, so let's just
S2: get right into it. We're in Genesis 50. A message
S2: called When I'm sorry isn't enough. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: Here's the catalyst for acknowledging. So what's the first step?
S1: Acknowledge that you wronged a person. Acknowledge that you wronged
S1: the person. Now. Now, what's the catalyst for acknowledge the
S1: the person. Why is it some people won't ask for forgiveness?
S1: Now remember. Think about this. The first step in acknowledgment
S1: took them. How many years? Anybody remember? Holler it out. Right.
S1: 17 years. So then they put him in the pit
S1: at 17, and then he's 34, sitting in power second
S1: in Pharaoh's court, which, of course, Egypt was a world power,
S1: which means he's the second, not just in Egypt, in
S1: all the world. Look at that. Just let me throw
S1: that out to some of you who've been dogged out
S1: and hated. Maybe God will use their hateration for your elevation.
S1: That's what he did for Joseph. And so here. Now
S1: what happened? 17 years to admit to each other. Write
S1: it down. I don't have time to go through it.
S1: Genesis 4213 through 24. And in verse 21, after, after
S1: Joseph begins to try to test them, to see if
S1: the relationship can be restored because remember, it only takes
S1: one to forgive, but it takes two to restore the relationship.
S1: Let me say it again. It only takes one to forgive.
S1: It takes two to restore the relationship. What do you
S1: mean by that, Pastor Ford? Once you've been forgiven, people say, well,
S1: you know, we ain't going to never be the same. Well,
S1: that's not true. Biblical forgiveness. Can I get an amen?
S1: Deacon Thomas, am I right about it? True biblical forgiveness
S1: is what God did for us. He didn't say, okay,
S1: now Imma forgive your sin, but I ain't going to
S1: have nothing to do with you no more.
S3: Thank God.
S1: No, he got more to do with us after he
S1: forgives us of our sin than he did before he
S1: forgave us of our sins. And so, no, I don't
S1: want to hear that. And even preachers say it, you know. Well,
S1: it doesn't mean you're going to be restored. Your relationship.
S1: I want to hear that. That ain't biblical. Restoration is
S1: always the goal. And so then what do you what
S1: do you mean, Pastor Ford? That is, if if you
S1: forgive me. And unlike Joseph's brothers, I don't do what
S1: I'm supposed to do to get forgiveness. You're straight and
S1: I'm not. And there will be no restoration of the
S1: relationship until I have the biblical response to the act
S1: of forgiveness. Everybody's been forgiven their sin. Amen. Then did
S1: Jesus die for everybody? Then how come everybody ain't saved?
S1: Because everybody doesn't accept it. That's why. So a pardon
S1: is not a pardon unless you accept it. And if
S1: I accept it, it means there are elements of things
S1: I must do. Well, when he forgives you, is it
S1: a work? No. The Bible tells me. For by grace
S1: you have been saved through faith. And that is a
S1: gift of God, not a result of works, lest any
S1: man should boast. In other words, now what I have
S1: to do put faith in the forgiveness that's based on
S1: the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary. Preach, Pastor Ford,
S1: I'm doing the best I can.
S3: Amen. Amen.
S1: And so it took them 17 years to admit it
S1: to each other. So there, there in Genesis 42 and
S1: things ain't looking right. And the brothers say, you know what?
S1: Maybe this is because of what we did to Joseph
S1: 17 years ago. See that? Don't think that everybody doesn't
S1: care about what they did to you. For some people,
S1: it's riding them to. I would say based on that,
S1: when everything in the last 17 years, everything that bad
S1: happened to them, they thought, could this be because of
S1: what we did? Could this be because of what we did?
S1: Could this be because of what we did? Huh? Now,
S1: where are we now? Another 17 years. And so what
S1: do we find? It took them 17 years to admit
S1: it to each other. It took them 34 years to
S1: admit it to Joseph. 34 years. Reminds me of when
S1: I used to watch Happy Days. And so back in
S1: the day. Remember Fonzie man and Happy Days. What could
S1: he never say? Yeah, he said I was raw, raw, raw.
S1: You know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm
S1: trying to say. And you know what? There are people
S1: like that, man. Why don't you just admit. Yes, I
S1: sinned against you. Man. Acknowledge the sin. Now notice the
S1: catalyst for acknowledgement. What's the catalyst there? Daddy died. What
S1: does that mean? It means there was a buffer between
S1: them and doing what God want them to do to forgive. Now, remember,
S1: this is the first time the word forgiveness is mentioned
S1: in the Bible, which means it's to serve as an
S1: example of forgiveness throughout the rest of the Bible. So
S1: the first thing is to acknowledge it. And so they
S1: acknowledged it, like I said. And so the dad's dead.
S1: Now there's no buffer between us. Now, now, let me
S1: make the application. What is it that's between you that
S1: stops you from acknowledging that you wronged somebody? I wrote
S1: some things down. Let's walk through them. Number one, uh,
S1: maybe it's because, very truthfully, we didn't even know we
S1: wronged the person. I remember Sister God. She's in heaven now.
S1: And we used to be in the old sanctuary. We
S1: had three services. I used to sweat like crazy, I
S1: still do. I run and get changed and. And then
S1: get ready for the next service. I try to greet
S1: some people. I had a little few minutes in between.
S1: I was standing there one time. She walked up to
S1: me and she said, I forgive you. And I said,
S1: you forgive me. You forgive me? Uh, what do you mean,
S1: you forgive me? Yeah. It's under the blood. And I'm saying, okay, well,
S1: what's under the blood? She said, well, last week I
S1: tried to say something to you, and you totally ignored me.
S1: And I said, oh, last week, where was I? She said,
S1: you were right where you are now. I said it
S1: was a service being dismissed. Yeah. And was I shaking
S1: hands with people and saying, thank you for coming and,
S1: you know, hope you enjoy the worship service? Yes. And
S1: you wanted to do what? I needed some advice about something.
S1: I said, you know what? I never even knew that
S1: I offended you. That's the first thing. And she said,
S1: I know you didn't know. And I said, well, I
S1: felt you should leave that under the blood where you
S1: said it was. You didn't even have to come and
S1: tell me that because there's so many things happening, blah, blah, blah,
S1: you know, and you know all of that. I don't
S1: even know it. But you know what I did? I
S1: waited till everybody was gone. I went over to the side.
S1: I said, now, do you still need to talk to me? Well, no,
S1: it's God done dealt with it. Now I'm thinking to myself,
S1: that's who you should have dealt with in the first place.
S1: And then I said, forgive me. She said, well, you
S1: didn't even know. I said, forgive me because whether it
S1: was intentional or unintentional, I offended you. And that's not
S1: what I want to do. I need you to forgive
S1: me for that. Can I give you a suggestion? Yes.
S1: Next time you got something really important, please don't try
S1: to tell it to me in a public place. Call
S1: the office and make an appointment. Because you know what
S1: some people would do to me, bro? They won't make
S1: an appointment. They'll grab me on Sunday. When I got
S1: my mind on my message and my message on my mind,
S1: or they'll wait till afterward. I need to talk to
S1: you instead of making an appointment. See, you know, and
S1: then I just give a little grace to some folk,
S1: you know? But then they get too long. I say, okay,
S1: now we got to stop this because I done preached
S1: three times. I'm ready to go home. I'm tired. Now,
S1: if you want to, I'll tell you what we can do.
S1: You can take me to Red lobster, and, uh, we
S1: can have a conversation over a meal. Oh, yeah.
S2: While you're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. And
S2: I hope you're not hungry as you're listening to this broadcast.
S2: If you're like me, maybe you just got a little
S2: bit more hungry right there. But our message is called
S2: When I'm Sorry Isn't Enough. It's a look at Genesis
S2: chapter 50. And we're going to get back to this
S2: teaching in just a moment. You know, if you did
S2: go out to lunch with Pastor Ford, you may ask
S2: him a bunch of questions about the Bible or the
S2: Christian life and why we may not be able to
S2: take him out to Red lobster. You still can ask
S2: your questions of Pastor Ford. Simply come to our website.
S2: It's Treasure Truth radio.org. Click on the contact link and
S2: go ahead and ask that question. Who knows, we might
S2: just answer that on a future broadcast. Again, our website
S2: address is Treasure Truth radio.org and click on contact. Well,
S2: if you are just joining us our message is called
S2: When I'm Sorry Isn't enough. It's a look at Genesis
S2: chapter 50. So grab a Bible. Join us there as
S2: we get back to the teaching again. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: Yeah. And so we don't even know. Uh, secondly, we
S1: didn't mean to offend the person. And so there's a
S1: lot of things that are offensive to us, uh, as
S1: we interact with people and we find out, hey, that's
S1: a touchy subject with so and so. We didn't mean
S1: to do it, man. I'll tell you. You know, it's like, uh,
S1: there was a brother at the health club before they
S1: closed down, uh, Bally's in River Oaks. That's where I
S1: used to go. I know you could tell I don't.
S1: I don't work out much anymore. Amen. But that's alright.
S1: But anyway, uh, he was he was away for a while,
S1: and he, he did this thing and and I think
S1: it was that guy. What's his name, Richard Simmons thing
S1: he did that with, with him and boom boom boom boom.
S1: He lost £130 in one year. Then he came back
S1: to the club. He did all cardio and he came
S1: back to the club to tighten everything up. He walked
S1: in the back and we were all, you know, back
S1: there working out. He walked in, I looked and saw him.
S1: Everybody said, oh man, look at so-and-so. And I said, man,
S1: look at you. You lost a whole man. His face dropped.
S1: I call myself giving a compliment. And so when I
S1: saw his face drop, I said, oh man, I done
S1: blew it. I know I done blew it. I waited
S1: till he was getting ready to leave and so I
S1: caught up with him. I said, hey, man, uh, you
S1: know what? When I said that, your face dropped, man. Uh, man,
S1: please forgive me for that. Uh, I was just ignorant, man.
S1: I was just excited to see it. I'm too sarcastic.
S1: That's that's my problem. You know, somebody told me one time,
S1: you know, pastor, uh, you joke too much and you
S1: play too much, and especially in the pulpit is what
S1: I say, man. Look, you ought to see what I
S1: take out of my message. Now you think it's you.
S1: You should see what I take out. I have to
S1: take stuff out because you wouldn't anyway. Anyway. I take
S1: stuff out, man. And so you know you didn't mean
S1: to offend. Number three, we feel we need to give
S1: it time for things to settle down a bit. And,
S1: you know, they'll get over it. Just give it time.
S1: No they won't. What will happen is they will become
S1: bitter about it. And then bitter turns to anger. And
S1: then anger turns to hatred, and hatred turns to murder.
S1: Now they may not shoot you with a gun, but
S1: let somebody bring your name up, huh? Number four, we
S1: make excuses for ourselves. And Jesus died for our sins,
S1: not for our excuses. Excuses are like noses. Everybody got one.
S1: Because remember now what we're talking about, not how you
S1: feel about what you did to them. How do they
S1: feel about what you did to them? Now, when you're
S1: talking about relationships, that becomes significantly important because this is
S1: the person that you're with all the time, or this
S1: is the person you work with every day, or this
S1: is the person you see them every day when you
S1: go to the gym. This is the person you waking
S1: up in the morning looking at them. What do you
S1: think about when you see him? Number five we may
S1: have offended them before. I done offended them before. I'm
S1: tired of going to them asking for forgiveness. How often
S1: do you ask for forgiveness? Guess what Jesus said. He
S1: told Peter, come on. How much was it? Seven times 70.
S1: Where's my mathematician who got an A in arithmetic? And
S1: you know, that gets me, too. Because they say you
S1: gotta learn the three R's reading, writing, arithmetic, arithmetic starts
S1: with a three R's. So what is it? That's what,
S1: 490 times. How many times? Come on everybody. 490. In
S1: how many days? One. Can you imagine somebody doing something
S1: against you? 490 times in one day? I don't know
S1: about you. I can't imagine them doing it two times
S1: to me. How about you? Because the humanity in us say. Oh, no.
S1: No no no no, that ain't going to happen to
S1: me again because I ain't even speaking to him no more.
S1: All I did was ask a question number six. The
S1: person may have wronged you and never cleared it up.
S1: So you feel justified in your offense against them. Know
S1: what my mama used to tell me? Say, what did
S1: your mama used to tell you? Two wrongs don't make
S1: a right. That's what my mama said. My mama had
S1: mother wit. She only had a third grade education. But
S1: she was smart when it came to things of the
S1: world and relationships. And here's the seventh reason why we
S1: want pride. Stinking pride. Too proud. Why? Because please forgive me. Necessitates,
S1: first and foremost, humility and subjection. Did you hear what
S1: I said? Please forgive me. Necessitates two things humility and subjection.
S1: You have now put yourself at the behest of that person,
S1: and nobody wants that. Mm. So they acknowledge it. Now
S1: watch this. Watch this. Watch this. Watch this. Not just
S1: the catalyst for their acknowledgement. Notice the comprehensiveness of their acknowledgement.
S1: They use three words. They said we trespass against him.
S1: We sinned against him. The evil that we done. They
S1: use three different words for doing somebody wrong. Trespass. Stepping
S1: across boundaries that I shouldn't have crossed sins. That's omission,
S1: commission and disposition. And then evil. If it were New Testament,
S1: guess what word it would be? Say what word? Pain. Ross.
S1: Say pain. Ross what word is that for evil of
S1: the words in the New Testament for evil, Poneros means
S1: pernicious evil. No, no, no. What do you mean? What
S1: do you mean evil is evil? I'm content to just
S1: do myself. But Poneros evil is evil that infects somebody else.
S1: And so they're saying, we know that the evil we
S1: did for him affected him and infected us. And remember,
S1: we saw he he acknowledged it. You meant it for evil.
S1: You meant it for pervasive evil. But God meant it
S1: for good. I like what Peter Marshall said. Peter Marshall said, Lord,
S1: when I'm wrong, help me to admit it. When I'm right,
S1: make me easy to live with. Ain't that a good quote?
S1: That's a good quote. Notice he says. He says all
S1: the evil we did. The word did is Gamal. And
S1: guess what Gamal means. Succession. Now get this. Here's what
S1: Gamal using the word Gamal. They could have used another word.
S1: Why are you so excited about that word? Because here's
S1: what they're saying. All the evil we did. Come on.
S1: Guess what it means that they understood the implication of
S1: the consequences of putting him in the pit, that if
S1: we hadn't put him in the pit, he never would
S1: have went and been a slave in Potiphar's. In other words, all.
S1: And remember, it was no picnic. Okay, let me let
S1: me just show you. Let me just show you. I
S1: know I gave you the scripture, but I want to
S1: read it. I didn't read it. I just last time
S1: I just gave you the scripture, but I want to
S1: read it. I want to show you what the Bible says,
S1: that it wasn't no picnic. We always read it and
S1: I say it ad infinitum, ad nauseam. He went to
S1: the pit. He went to the Potiphar's. He went to
S1: the prison. Then he went to the palace. But they're saying,
S1: you know, all this stuff that happened to him that
S1: was evil. That's because of what we did. Now, you
S1: need to understand that there are some people that we
S1: have violated that we need to go and say, Will
S1: you forgive me, please? Because they are suffering consequences from
S1: what we did. There are people who have been abused
S1: and misused and confused as children that are suffering for
S1: it as adults because of what some adult did. Maybe
S1: a family member and they still suffering from that can't
S1: have a good relationship in their marriage because of what
S1: happened to them when they were children.
S2: Well, unfortunately, I think far too many are dealing with
S2: that today. You're listening to a message from Pastor Ford
S2: called When Sorry Isn't Enough. It's a look at Genesis
S2: chapter 50, and we're going to continue this teaching on
S2: our next broadcast. If you want to make sure that
S2: you don't miss it, of course, you can always be
S2: listening to your radio, but you can also listen to
S2: each and every program online. Come to our website. It's
S2: Treasure Truth radio.org. There you can stream programs, download mp3's,
S2: or even order copies of this broadcast on CD. Again,
S2: the website address is Treasure Truth radio.org. You know pastor,
S2: for somebody who's been listening for some time to this program,
S2: they will have heard us talk about the fact that
S2: we're listener supported. But in essence, what does that mean?
S1: What it means is we're able to bring good Bible
S1: teaching to our listeners because they are supporting the ministry.
S1: We couldn't be on if they would not be supporting
S1: the ministry.
S2: So there is a cost actually to doing radio production
S2: costs and airtime.
S1: Oh yes. Most definitely. And what they're doing is investing
S1: in their own spiritual growth.
S2: Yeah. Well, you can make an investment right now as
S2: you give a gift to treasure truth and Moody radio.
S2: Very simple to do that. Come to the website. It
S2: is Treasure Truth radio.org. Click on the link that says
S2: make a donation. Again, that's at Treasure Truth radio.org. Well,
S2: thanks for listening today. Thanks also to our producer Amy
S2: Rios for Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Hiller. Treasure truth is
S2: a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.