Perils of Unforgiveness | Week 2

We began a brand new series last weekend entitled the Perils of Unforgiveness. You see the title on the screen. If you were not here, I strongly, strongly encourage you go back and watch part one. God did a deep work in people's lives last week.

And I cannot, I cannot implore you enough, I cannot beg you enough, plead with you enough to be here next Sunday. Thank you for the Unforgiveness Penitentiary Illustrated sermon with Pastor Joe Phillips. Going to be a very special day, very great time together. We defined the word peril last year, gave you a couple of definitions from Merriam Webster's Dictionary that just simply is the exposure to the risk of being injured, lost or destroyed. In the Cambridge dictionary defines the word peril like this great danger or something that's very dangerous.

And here's a concern I have as a pastor as it relates to this subject of unforgiveness is that there are many people in the body of Christ that are in great danger of being injured, lost or completely destroyed because they've been caught in the devil's trap of unforgiveness. And we're going to go to two verses or two passages today. One verse and then three verses in Luke 17:1, if you have your Bible or device. Luke 17:1, and then Matthew chapter 24 beginning in verse 10. Would you stand to honor the Word of God, the greatest book on the planet?

And that regardless of the attempts of the enemy or culture or mainstream media or the Antichrist spirit to destroy the Word of God. How many of you know it's been around for thousands of years? And though heaven and earth may pass away, the Word of God stands firm forever. Can somebody say Amen? And so we anchor our lives today to the unchanging truth and precepts and principles of the Word of God.

And I promise you, if you will anchor your life to His Word, regardless of what storms may come, regardless of the wind or the waves that crash against you or your house or your family or your business, if you anchor your life to the Word of God, you will stand firm. Can somebody say amen?

Luke, chapter 17, verse 1. Just one verse there, and it says this. And then he, meaning Jesus, said to his disciples, it is impossible that no offenses should come. It is impossible that no offenses should come. But woe to him through whom they do come.

And then In Matthew, chapter 24, beginning in verse 10, just three verses, it says this. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. And then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. And we're going to unpack that in just a few moments.

Is anybody in the room today ready for the word of God this morning? Amen. Come on, let's make some declarations before we receive it together. Everybody ready? Go.

I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the word and, and not a hearer only. And I am confident of this that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it. In Jesus name, Amen.

You can be seated. Every single person in this room, every single person who is watching online, every person that lives on the planet, some 8 billion people in the world today, and every person who has ever lived has one thing in common. We were all created in the image of God with a unique destiny of God inscribed on our lives. Every single person created in the image of God with a unique destiny or purpose that God desires that you would fulfill. But here's the plan.

Just like God has a plan for each of our lives and a purpose for each of our lives, so does the enemy. And the enemy's plan is to distort the image of God in you so that you never fulfill the destiny of God. Years ago, there was a baby boy born with a great destiny to lead very powerful nation. And the first glimpse or understanding that he had of this destiny on his life came at the age of 17 when he has a couple of prophetic dreams. You, most of you are familiar with the story.

You're familiar with the baby boy that was born that I'm talking about, and his name was Joseph. And you can begin reading about his story in Genesis 37. But at age 17, he has a couple of prophetic dreams that give him a glimpse into his destiny, a glimpse into his future. And if you've read the story or if you studied Joseph's life and we've done that here as a church body, then you know that Joseph was not really popular with his brothers. He was the favorite son of his father, Jacob.

There were many brothers, but Joseph had been given an exemption card to really doing hard work out in the fields. He didn't have calluses on his hands like his other brothers. His dad had given them, given Joseph this beautiful ornate robe that went all the way to the floor. And it was a constant reminder to the brothers that, that Joseph doesn't have to go out in the field and sweat and toil and labor like we do. But Joseph gets to hang out in the house and watch Netflix all day.

And so the hatred grew in the brothers hearts towards Joseph. And then when Joseph is 17 and he has these prophetic dreams, one of them being that Joseph would be in a position of power and that his brothers would all bow, bow down and worship him. And then he has a second dream that not only his brothers were bowing down to worship him, but his mom and his dad were doing the same thing. And Joseph, maybe out of ignorance, probably out of some arrogance, shares these dreams with his brothers who he knows already don't like him. And he shares the dreams with his brothers and with his mom and his dad.

And it goes over about like a submarine with screen doors, like they didn't appreciate it, they didn't like it. And it just enraged the hatred in their hearts even more towards Joseph. And the story goes that one day he goes out to visit his brothers who are out there sweating in the fields, and they're working hard in the fields, and he goes out to them and they see him coming and so they've reached a boiling point, so they decide they're gonna kill him. And they beat him up. And one of the brothers intervenes and says, no, no, no, don't kill him.

They throw him into a well and they're like, you know, what could we do? Well, let's make some money off of him. And so they sell him to a band of gypsies that were headed to Egypt. They sell him into slavery. If there's anybody in the Bible that has reason to harbor unforgiveness in their heart, it would be Joseph.

Severely mistreated by his brothers, they beat him up, they throw him in a well, they sell him into slavery. And then as Joseph is serving in the household of Potiphar, a great leader in Egypt, Potiphar's wife takes notice of Joseph because the Bible describes him as being very handsome. And she starts trying to seduce him. And Joseph, being a righteous man, resists her advances towards him. Until one day she pleads with him, pleads with Joseph.

The Bible says, come to bed with me. Come on, sleep with me. And Joseph runs from her. And she grabs hold of his robe, grabs hold of his coat, and Joseph runs out the door because he was a righteous man. And so she starts screaming, help, help.

She starts saying, this man tried to rape me. She falsely accuses Joseph of trying to rape her. And Joseph is thrown into prison. If there was anybody who had a reason to harbor anger and unforgiveness in his heart, it would be this guy. Anybody in scripture that would have a right say, I'm angry with my brothers.

I'm angry with Potiphar's wife who have falsely accused me. I'm angry with Potiphar because I've served him faithfully, and he knows me better than that, but yet he threw me into prison. And then while Joseph is serving faithfully in prison, he meets some guys who really have the opportunity to go back into a position of serving Potiphar. And Joseph has the ability to interpret the dreams of these guys in prison, and they kind of make some empty promises to Joseph. Hey, when we get out of here, we're going to remember you.

We're going to talk to Pharaoh about you. We're going to make sure you get out of here. And they get out of prison and they forget all about Joseph, and he stays in prison for two more years. So if there's anybody in Scripture that had a right to be angry or a right to harbor unforgiveness, I would say that it would be Joseph. You know the story.

If you've read in Genesis, beginning in chapter 37, Joseph is finally freed from prison, and he interprets a dream for Pharaoh, and Pharaoh promotes him to second in command of the entire nation of Egypt. So these dreams that he had some 12 or 14 years earlier become reality. They become true because he's promoted to this high level of influence and authority in the land of Egypt. Now, the Bible says there's a famine coming, and God forewarns Joseph about this, and he gives him a strategy to begin storing grain so that the people would not starve. The famine lasts for seven years.

And eventually Joseph's brothers and his family who are living in Israel, that they're very hungry and they have no grain, and they've done everything they can do, and the only thing they can do now is to travel to Egypt to try to buy grain from Egypt, because they've heard there's storehouses full of grain in Egypt. And they show up there, and guess who they have to go in front of? The brother that they beat up, the brother they threw into the well, the brother that they sold into slavery. That's the guy. And so they go in front of Joseph, but they don't recognize him, but Joseph recognizes them.

And in that moment, Joseph has to make a decision like you and I have had to make probably more than one time in our lives. And the decision was Do I get even or do I forgive?

Do I get even? And he had a right to. He had a right to be angry. He had a right to inflict harm on them. He had a right to exact revenge from his brothers.

And he had to make that decision as soon as he recognized them. Do I get even or do I forgive? We've been there. You and I have had to make that same decision before. Do I get even?

And I have a right to, or do I forgive? Now, Joseph had enough authority and he had enough power that he could have had them killed or he could have thrown them into the prison just like he had served time. He could have exacted revenge on his brothers, and he had a right to do that. And there are many of you that probably sit here today and you say, you don't know what's been done to me. You don't know how unfairly I've been treated.

You don't know the injustices that have come my way. And I have a right to. To be angry. And you know what? I might would agree with you.

I don't know everything that's happened in your life. I'm sure there's been some unfair things that have happened to you and some injustices and some abuse and bad things that have been said about you. And you were fired even though you should never have been fired, or you went through a divorce even though there was no fault of your own. I'm sure there's been injustices that have been done to you. And I might agree with you, you have a right to be angry.

But as I said last week, one of the greatest things you can do is to give up your right to get even and to release that to the Lord and to say, God, I have a right to try to get even with them or try to hurt them back or try to make them pay for what they did to me. But I give up that right to you, and I'm going to let you deal with them. That's not easy. We know it's not easy to do that, to give up that right and say, lord, vengeance is yours. I can just tell you that if they fall into the hands of God and they don't repent, that what God will do to them will be far worse than what you could ever do to them.

It's not really so much about them as it is about you.

Because as long as you hold on to that right. Listen to me. Y' all with me today. Are y' all receiving from your pastor today? As long as you hold on to that right to be angry or to get revenge or to inflict harm on them.

Let me tell you what you're doing. You are harming yourself. You are opening yourself up, as we said last week, to demonic activity. Serious business. You can hang on to that right.

You can hold on to that right, and you can open yourself up to demonic activity, or you can release that right to the Lord and say, I'll let you deal with them, God, because I want my spirit to be free.

Our enemy tries to lure us into a place of bitterness and unforgiveness through offense. Let me read Luke 17:1 again. It says, and he said to his disciples, it is impossible that no offenses should come. If you're breathing, you're going to be offended.

It's impossible that no offenses should come. John Wesley said this. People who wish to be offended will always find some occasion for taking offense. You ever known anybody that just. They just walk around with a spirit of offense?

Do you know what I'm talking about? Maybe you've got family members, maybe you have friends, maybe you know people in the church, and they just walk around with a spirit of offense and. And, you know, it's just a matter of time before somebody offends them again. Why? Because they're looking to be offended.

They're just looking for an opportunity for somebody to let them down or for somebody to offend them. Listen, that word offenses in Luke 17:1 comes from a Greek word, scandalon. It's where we get our word scandalous or scandalous. And here's literally what it means. Here's the word picture that the Greek language paints for you and I, so we can understand the seriousness of this.

That word skandalon just simply means a bait stick. A bait stick. Because when a hunter or a trapper would create a basket trap, they would have a stick and they would put bait on the end of that stick, and they would lure an animal into that trap through that bait stick. And that's exactly what the enemy wants to do to you and I. Through a fence.

He baits that stick with a fence, and he tries to lure you into a place that you won't forgive others. My friend John Bevere wrote a book that probably many of you have heard about or maybe you've even read the book. It came out almost 30 years ago, and the title of the book is the Bait of Satan. It has sold almost 2 million copies around the world. And God has used that to awaken people in the body of Christ to the tactics and the schemes and the devices of of the enemy.

Listen to Proverbs 18, verse 19. An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends. Like a gate locked with bars, cities had walls that they built around them in order to keep the enemy out, in order to protect them from the attack of the enemy. But listen to me, those walls were there for protection.

But a fence is like walls that we put up not to just keep the enemy out, but we erect walls to keep everybody out. When we get offended, we put walls up around us and we think that we're protecting ourselves. And the only thing you're doing is bringing destruction to yourself.

And the enemy doesn't want you to figure that part out.

He wants you to think, oh, I'm putting these walls up so that I won't be hurt anymore and I'm protecting myself. And all the while you are causing damage to yourself.

Just use your imagination for a moment. I want you to just pretend that this is a fence. Not offense, but a fence or a wall. And the vantage point of God as it relates to our lives is that he sees over the wall or over the fence and he sees our life from start to end. He sees the full picture of our lives.

And what he desires for you and I, because we're created in the image of God, is He desires that we have his vantage point, we have his viewpoint. And we don't see one moment in our life. We see our lives and our destiny from start to finish. And we understand that everything that happens in our lives, both good and bad, serves the purposes of God and the destiny of God being fulfilled in our lives. So even when something bad or unfair or injust happens to us, we don't lose sight of the bigger picture.

We have the vantage point of God. Are you with me so far? But here's what the enemy desires to do. He desires to drag you into a trap. And you see only through a knothole in the fence.

You see only through a hole in the wall of the fence. And you get laser focused on one thing that happens to and you lose sight of the destiny of God. You lose sight of the bigger picture. What we don't realize is that when we get laser focused and we lose sight of the destiny of God, we lose sight of the people that we're supposed to influence and the people that we're supposed to touch and the call of God on our life, to steward every season of our lives well. So that these people that are depending on us, ministering to them, they still receive what we have.

But the enemy says, no, no, no. Through offense, through anger, through unforgiveness, I'm going to pull you into a place that all you see is directly in front of you.

We lose the vantage point of God, we lose the perspective of God. And we hide behind our walls thinking that we're protecting ourselves from more of that thing that we've been subject to, that we hide behind the wall so that we protect ourselves. And all we're doing is bringing harm or destruction to ourselves. Let me tell you what God desires to do today. God desires to lift you out of miry clay, lift you out of anger, lift you out of unforgiveness, lift you out of the trap of bitterness, and restore to you the full scope and the full view of what he's trying to do in your life.

Will you today just give God permission and give the Holy Spirit permission to come in and do whatever he desires to do in you?

I know it can be scary, and I know there might be things that are dredged up inside of our spirit, just like last week where there was a deep work that was happening in these altars. And maybe you're like, I don't want to deal with that. I don't want to have to face that. I don't want to be reminded of that again. And Paul said, in view of the mercy of God, I can bring everything into the light of his presence because He's a good father.

He has only good things for you. He's not trying to just throw stuff up in your face to make you feel shame or condemnation. No, no, no. What God desires for you today is freedom. Everybody say freedom.

That's what God wants. He wants you to be set free and he wants you to walk out of here today with every scheme and every device of the enemy rendered powerless in your life. You walk out of here experiencing the abundance of joy, the abundance of peace, the abundance of freedom and healing inside of your spirit. That's what he wants for you. Remember, the enemy has a plan.

And his plan is to pull you into that place, to lure you into that trap so that you live as a prisoner, you live as a captive. Matthew 24, verse 10 says, and then many will be offended, will betray one another, will hate one another, then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many, because lawlessness will abound. The love of many will grow cold. I told you we were going to unpack this, and I believe I put this in your notes. But there is a progression with offense.

You got to understand this. You got to get this today. Y' all still with me? Don't think about the NFL game later. It's probably going to be a disappointment.

Don't anchor your life to some team. We can cheer them on. But stay focused. Stay focused. 10 more minutes.

Stay focused. I want you to understand the progression of what the enemy is trying to do. And the scriptures that we just read, unpack that for us. It starts with offense. And if we don't deal with the offense, it moves into betrayal.

You see it on the screen right there? Let me give you a definition of betrayal. When a person seeks his own benefit or protection at the expense of one, he has a relationship with betrayal. And if you don't deal with the betrayal, the scripture says that it moves into hatred. Hatred, the nature of God is love.

And God desires and seeks to give. He gave his son, Jesus. He always wants to give to us. But the offended person seeks to protect and to withhold. When you're offended, betrayal sets in.

And then hatred sets in. And you begin to view that person who hurt you or betrayed you as one that is an enemy. And you withhold anything good that God gives to you to give to others. You withhold that. And then if you allow that to continue, guess what happens next?

Deception sets in. John Bevere says that an offended heart is the breeding ground for deception. Deception sets in. And listen, offended people fall into one of two categories. The first one is this.

Those who have been genuinely mistreated. That's the first category. And the second one is those who think that they've been mistreated. They think they have, because the enemy distorts their perspective and deceives them and makes them live as a victim.

I hope y' all are hearing me today. Because when you live as a victim, you rob yourself of all of the things that God intends for you to have. And he says once that deception sets in, the next thing is lawlessness. Y' all got that progression? Put that progression back up for me, if you will.

Lawlessness. Simple definition. You're not submitted to the authority of God. And if you don't deal with the deception, it just continues to advance, it continues to progress to a place that you won't submit yourself to the authority of God. In other words, you dethrone God and you put yourself on the throne of your own heart.

And you say, I'm gonna do what I wanna do. And then the next step, and then the last step in the progression. Remember, it started with offense. And if you don't deal with these things, guess where it ends up. The Bible says that the love of many will grow cold.

In other words, your heart will become like stone. And the word love there in the Greek is not the word phileo. It's not brotherly love. It's the word agape, the divine love, the God kind of love. And agape by definition is just simply this, a love that God prefers.

It's a love that centers around the things that God prefers. And listen, offense. If you don't deal with this stuff and you fall into the trap of the enemy and you're only seeing one thing, you're laser focused on one thing that happened to you. Maybe it was recent, maybe it was decades ago, but you're laser focused on that one thing, then eventually what happens, those other things set in, the betrayal and the hatred and the deception and the lawlessness. And it will eventually lead you to a place that you don't give a rip about what God prefers.

You don't care. Your heart has become cold. And what I'm telling you today is even if you have lived in that for a long time, ah man, our God has a way of breathing on a glowing ember of your heart and bringing the warmth of his presence and the fire of his presence back into your life.

Do you know the hardest person to forgive sometimes? Yourself. Yourself. Because you have to see yourself the way that God sees you. You have to gain his vantage point and say, I've done some horrible things.

Maybe you've done it multiple times. Maybe there was years of sexual immorality and you can't forgive yourself. Maybe you literally killed somebody and you can't forgive yourself. Maybe you were a thief. Maybe you stole from your parents, you stole from your employer to support your drug habit.

Maybe you've been a chronic liar all of your life and you're having a hard time forgiving yourself. You have to gain the vantage point of God and say, how does God see me? Well, if I've repented, if I've confessed, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from some of our unrighteousness. Oh, so, so, so sorry. You're right.

He's faithful and just to forgive us. Say it with me. All. All unrighteousness and to wash us in the blood of Jesus. And that's why Paul says we have to cast down vain imaginations and anything that tries to usurp the authority of God, anything that tries to exalt itself above the authority of God.

And when Those thoughts come in that say, you've done it too many times, you've been too wicked, you've been too habitual, you've been too mean. We can say, yeah, you're exactly right, I was that. Come on somebody, I was that. But I repented and I've been washed by the blood of Jesus and therefore I am clean and righteous in his sight.

Yeah, and because he forgives you, you can forgive yourself.

A person who can't forgive is a person who's forgotten what they've been forgiven of.

Some years ago I used to show up at 6am at the gym three mornings a week and I would do CrossFit, just not, not too long ago actually. And my trainer, I had a trainer and he would have a workout every time I showed up. And the workouts all began the same way. The workouts were all different once we got past the first 10 minutes. But the first 10 minutes were always some type of warm up exercise to get the blood flowing and then stretching.

And the reason for that was so that I could prevent injury. When I was riding the bicycle a few months ago across the nation, every morning in my hotel room early 5:30, 6:00 in the morning, I was stretching before I got on the bicycle in order to prevent injury. It's a thing that happens in the body that it's not 100% guarantee that you're not going to get injured, but it definitely reduces the possibility of you suffering some kind of an injury. Now here's the thing. There are a lot of people in the body of Christ that need to work out, but they don't.

And they are susceptible to injury in their spirit because God wants to stretch you. And let me tell you something, you working out doesn't mean that a few mornings a week you're listening to an Oswald Chamber devotional or you're reading a little 60 second devotional. Well, that's not working out. That's not working out your spirit. No, I'm talking about regularly being in the word of God, regularly developing a prayer life, regularly worshiping him, being in the context of corporate community and worship with other believers.

Working out your spirit all the time so that you minimize and reduce the potential for offense to destroy your spirit.

Listen to what the Bible says in second Timothy, chapter two, verse 25 and then we're going to close.

Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts and they will learn the truth and then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap, for they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. And that's exactly what I've been doing with you this morning, is I've been gently instructing you from the word of God. Why? Because I love you and because I want to see the plans and the devices of the enemy rendered powerless in your life.

I'm not saying that you are one who opposes the truth, but I'm saying maybe you've bought into the lies of the enemy. You've let him pull you into a place that you've lost vantage point in the view and the perspective of God. And there's something that God desires to do through truth today to set you free. And you've got a pastor and a shepherd who has gently instructed you. And now you have to decide, will I give up my right to get even and to inflict harm, and will I relinquish that to the Lord?

Or will I hold on to that and cause more damage to my spirit? Psalm 119, 165. And then we're going to pray says this Great peace have they which love thy law.

Great peace have they which love thy law. And look at the next few words and nothing shall offend them. Wow.

Nothing shall offend him. Hey, thanks so much for joining us for this message. If God spoke to your heart in a special way, we would love to hear from you. You can reach out to us@testify. There.

I look forward to you joining us again, whether it's in person or online. God bless you.