You know, I was surprised that the words, forgive him, are only used, that phrase is used three times in the Bible, and we'll look at all three of them today, but twice, two of those three times are right here in Luke 17, verses 3 and 4. Jesus said, Take heed to yourselves, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. 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, here it is again, forgive him. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for the young people. Thank you, God, for the day, and Lord, for allowing us to be able to come to church today. Lord, I'm so thankful, God, that we were able to have service, and Lord, there's so many that were able to come. Lord, I pray for Sister Debbie today. God, she's the one that I failed to mention. And Lord, I know there's others, Lord, that are sick. I pray you'd help them. Bless us that are here, God, give us help. Lord, from the scripture today is my prayer in Jesus' name I ask, amen. All right, you can be seated. That's what I'm gonna preach on this morning is forgive him, forgive him. And two out of the three times that that phrase is used in the Bible are in red letters, if you got a red letter Bible. And that, of course, means Jesus said, forgive him. And I am so glad that Jesus Christ is still, from time to time, looking over to the Father and saying, Forgive him, amen. Aren't you? Aren't you glad for that? Because I tell you, throughout my life, I have had to go to the Father time and time again and do exactly what this verse says and repent. And the Bible says if, and Sister Kathy Hale quoted this morning, if we confess our sins, He is faithful. Amen? He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I'm glad that Jesus Christ is still saying when it is needful, forgive him, forgive him. And that's what I want to preach about today is this subject of forgiveness and forgiving in particular other people. Not so much Jesus forgiving us, but us forgiving others is what I want to try to preach to you about this morning. And this is two verses that kind of sum up the whole process really well. and just going to try to look at these two verses this morning and another verse or two as we look at this subject of forgiving. And so as we get started this morning, the first thing that I see in verse number three is, take heed. Take heed. Take heed. That means to pay close attention to, to consider carefully. Take heed. That's what you're supposed to do when you see a flashing yellow light. You take heed, that's caution. That's what you're supposed to do when you see police tape or some other barricade, is to take heed, to be really careful. And so Jesus starts off the subject of forgiveness. Remember, we're talking about the subject of forgiveness. And Jesus starts off the subject of forgiveness with the words, take heed. And so when you take heed, obviously there is something to take heed to. And in the subject of take heed, or rather the subject of forgiveness, Jesus said take heed to yourselves. And so on this subject this morning that we're dealing with, of forgiving other people, we are to take heed to ourselves. We are to pay close attention to me. We're supposed to be paying close attention to ourself, to our behavior, to our ways, the things that we do. You've gotta watch out for you. That's what, on the subject of forgiveness, listen folks, the problem with forgiveness is not the other person or what they've done, it's you. Take heed to yourselves, you know, when our young people start driving. Every parent says what I'm about to say. I'll tell you what you gotta do, you gotta watch out for the other guy. Isn't that what we say? Well, that's true. But who you really need to watch out is for yourself. your own stupidity. Because if you'll not follow too closely, if you'll not drive too fast, if you'll follow the rules of the road and turn your blinker on, yeah, you need to be watch out for other people, but if you'll watch out for yourself, when somebody else is messing up, you're already covered. And so on the subject of forgiveness, Jesus Christ says, take heed to yourselves. It is you that will mess this up. I'm telling you this morning that when it comes to the subject of trespasses and sin and repentance and forgiveness, it's you that will mess it up. And Jesus doesn't say, He doesn't say, take heed to that other guy. He didn't say take heed and don't let anybody do you wrong. He didn't say take heed for people that do you bad wrong. He said take heed to yourselves. The subject of forgiveness, it starts off with take heed to yourself. The best advice I can give you this morning when it comes to forgiving others is take heed to yourself. And that's what Jesus starts off with, take heed to yourselves. Take heed to yourselves. I can't stress that enough this morning. It is not the other guy you need to be watching out for. It's not what somebody else has done you need to be looking at. It's not how bad they've treated you that you need to be thinking about. It's yourself. It's you that you've gotta watch out for. You will mess this thing up. This thing is really pretty simple. I hadn't planned on saying this yet. But it's trespass, rebuke, repent, forgive. It's a four-step plan to get things like they ought to be. There's the trespass. Well, technically, there's just a three-step plan. There's the trespass. The next thing's the rebuke. The next thing's the repentance. And the next thing's forgiveness. It's just a three-step plan, and it's over with. But you know who's going to mess it up? You are. The subject of forgiving does not require you to take heed to the other guy. It requires you to take heed to yourself because it is you that will mess it up. A similar passage in the other time that the phrase forgive him is used is in Matthew 18. Peter came to Jesus and said, Lord, you know it. How off shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? And then Peter asked another question. He thought he'd throw this in until seven times. Maybe he had heard this right here in Luke 17, I don't know. But Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until 70 times seven. Forgive him, forgive him, forgive him. Do you know why that's there, friend? Do you know why Jesus said 70 times seven? Is that so you'll keep counting till you get to 490? No. Why did Jesus throw that in there? For you. Do you know why you forgive and forgive and forgive and forgive 70 times 7, which doesn't mean 490 times, it just means you just keep on forgiving? Do you know why Jesus told you that? It's not for the other guy's sake. It's for your sake. Jesus is trying to, listen, you don't forgive so that you won't kill somebody. You forgive so you won't die yourself of bitterness. Forgiving is what you do for yourself as well as the other person. This thing is you, you're the problem. It's not for the other guy's benefit, it's for your benefit. So you can have peace, so you can have joy, so you can have contentment, so you can go to church and enjoy the worship service. Take heed to yourselves. Take heed to yourselves. Let's move on from that. The next phrase is, if thy brother trespass against thee. Now, if is used in a lot of different ways, and sometimes it has different meanings. If here, if thy brother trespass against thee, doesn't mean that there's a chance that it won't happen. Okay? That's like saying, if it rains, use your umbrella. Eventually it's gonna rain. In fact, I didn't read verse one to you, but Jesus started off this chapter. He said in his disciples, it is impossible, but that offenses will come. Yeah. And so this if means when it happens, not it may not happen. Because I can promise you this, people are gonna trespass against you and you're gonna trespass against other people. We're living in an imperfect world with a bunch of imperfect people and people are gonna trespass against you just like you're gonna trespass against other people. And so the Lord has given us a plan here how to deal with it. If thy brother trespass against thee. So get ready to follow these. Simple instructions. If thy brother trespass against thee. We're getting somewhere, we're making progress. If thy brother trespass against thee. Do you know what trespass is? You'll see the signs, used to see them a lot back when, there's not nearly as many people hunting as there used to be, but used to, back years ago, lots of signs were out that said, no trespassing. And maybe you've even seen them that say, no trespassing, all survivors will be prosecuted, you know, things like that. No trespassing. Well, the word trespass, it means this, to enter another space or property against their wishes. It's a compound word, if you will, trespass, which means across, and you know what pass means, which simply means to pass across somebody else's place. And so if we're going to master this thing of forgiving others, we've got to know what trespass means. And so, by the grace of God, I'm gonna try to explain it to you this morning. Some of you there, I thought you'd just explain it. No, I'm afraid most of us don't understand what trespass means. You see, you may not like your neighbor's junk cars. You may not like your neighbor's growed-up yard. You may not like your neighbor's garbage that he doesn't haul off. But until it crosses over the line onto your property, or until it violates the law, it's not a trespass. Are you understanding what I'm saying? If thy brother trespass against thee, you may not like everything about your neighbor, but if it doesn't cross the line onto your space, get over it. Get over it. This verse only deals with trespasses, not aggravations, not bad manners, not poor taste, not people being inconsiderate. You see, most of your issues with other people are not issues. Let me say that again. Most of your issues with other people are not even trespasses. They're non-issues. Jesus doesn't have a plan for that except for you just get over it. In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus talks about, why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye? Now whose eye is it in? It's in his eye. He said, and you're not considering the beam that's in your own. He said, why are you worried about somebody else having a mote in their eye? It's a speck in their eye. Why are you worried about that? That's their problem, it's not yours. Mind your own business, get yours out of your eye. That is not a trespass. Listen, you may not like the way I preach, you may not like the way I dress, you may not like the car I drive, but really it's just none of your business. I thought we'd have a good time while I was preaching this this morning. Take heed to yourselves. Take heed to yourselves. We're dealing with trespassers. We're talking about somebody actually crossing the line and being on your space, on your property against your wishes. And if they're not doing that, it's not a trespass. Listen, if they're hunting on their own property, I'm sorry. If they don't wanna haul their garbage off, I'm sorry. If their kids get out there and fight like cats and dogs, I'm sorry. If every car they've ever owned is parked in the yard, I'm sorry. As long as it doesn't cross over your property line, it's their problem, not yours. You know, folks, we'd be so much better off if we learned what a trespass was. You know, churches have been split over less than trespass. Friendships have been broken over less than trespass. People don't even speak to each other over something that wasn't even a trespass. The subject of forgiveness starts off with, take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, we've got to figure out what a trespass is. And if it doesn't cross the line of trespass, then we just need to pray for him and forget about it. You see, what happens is, is you give the devil an advantage. On this same subject of forgiveness, in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 10, Paul said to the church at Corinth, you see, they've got to forgive somebody. And he's talked about that in 1 Corinthians. This is 2 Corinthians 2. And he said, to whom you forgive anything, I forgive also. For if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ. And then the very next line says this, lest Satan should get an advantage of us. for we are not ignorant of his devices. You wanna give the devil an advantage? Carry around an unforgiving spirit. Especially when there ain't nothing that needs to be even talked about. Just get over it. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry your neighbor raises hogs. I'm sorry their dog barks all night. I'm sorry people in this church don't have the best manners that they ought to have sometimes. Just get over it. Just get over it. I'm sorry sometimes people don't speak. I'm sorry sometimes people come in in a bad mood. But it's not a trespass. Listen, you ought not to come to church in a bad mood. But it's not a trespass. You're just hurting yourself. I shouldn't let your bad mood hurt me. You know, if you're grouchy and ruin the service for everybody else, you've trespassed. But just coming in here in a bad mood, that's just something I've got to get over. Listen, if I'm going to preach, I've been at this thing for over 25 years preaching. Now I've already reached the place I pastored for 25 years. If I didn't preach every time somebody was in a bad mood, I might as well resign. That's not a trespass. Boy, I wish it was. I wish it was. I'd rebuke them. I've seen husbands and wives come in this church before, and as soon as they walk in the door, I can tell he's mattering wet hands at each other. And then when they sit down, I can tell for sure. You ever try to preach to people like that? Now, the ones I'm thinking about no longer attend, so if you're worried about it, it's you. It's not anybody here this morning. I'm not gonna think any further than that. I'm just trying to tell you, take heed to yourself. If thy brother trespass against thee, you need to know what a trespass is. And the bottom line is, if it ain't a trespass, you just need to get over it. You need to be praying for him because if you don't, you're gonna give the devil an advantage. And he's got all the advantage he needs in this world. Without God's people giving him another one. So if thy brother trespass against thee, we're looking at that word trespass, if it's a trespass, okay? Let's get to the next line here. Take heed to yourselves, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. That sounds almost like a commandment, does it not? It actually is. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. He didn't say, if thy brother trespass against thee, retaliate. He didn't say, if thy brother trespass against thee, reciprocate. He didn't say, if thy brother trespass against thee, revenge. He didn't say, if thy brother trespass against thee, repay. He didn't say, if thy brother trespass against thee, then retribution is necessary. No, he said, rebuke him. Oh, Brother David, I can't do that. Then forget about it. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. Rebuke means sharp disapproval. It simply means this. You crossed the line. You've trespassed against me. That's why you need to know what a trespass is, because you don't rebuke somebody unless they've trespassed against you. You don't rebuke them for being in a bad mood until it crosses the line. If your spouse is in a bad mood, eventually it becomes a trespass. Everybody okay today? If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, rebuke him. You're obligated. You're obligated to tell them that they trespass. You're not obligated to shoot at them when they trespass. You're not obligated to go do something to them that they did to you. Your obligation is to rebuke them. Let me ask you a question this morning. How did you get right with God? You got right with God because God rebuked you. Right? And the person of the Holy Spirit, using the law, which is a schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ, He showed you. He condemned you. You are guilty of trespassing against Him. And He showed you. If He hadn't have showed you, you'd have never got right with God. You would have never gotten right with God if God hadn't rebuked you for your sin. He gave His sharp disapproval. We call it conviction. God says to us as a sinner, you did wrong. You've wronged me. That's the rebuke of God. But you know, some people love drama more than making things right. The first step to getting things right between two people, there's been the trespass. There's the trespass. The first step to getting things right is rebuke. And you simply tell that person, oh, I'm gonna stop for a second. You don't tell that person this, I feel like. It don't matter how you feel. Did they trespass or not? You can feel anything. Are y'all with me? Either it's soaking in or something this morning. The rebuke is not, okay, somebody's hunting on your property. That's trespassing. You got no trespassing signs? They're out there, you hear a gunshot, and you see a guy walking across the field with a rabbit, okay? You don't go up to them and say, I feel hurt because that was my pet rabbit. No, you just say, listen, I've got posted signs. You're not supposed to be hunting. You have trespassed on my property. You have no business hunting on my property. You have no business shooting rabbits on my property. And you rebuke them just like that right there. It doesn't matter how you feel. Rebuking is not about how that person has made you feel. Rebuking is because they've trespassed. What I'm trying to tell you is, if you only rebuke when you feel a certain way, then your feelings will mislead you. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Did they cross the line? Then that's what you gotta deal with. If thy brother, let's start at the very beginning, take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him." Rebuke him. That's how God got us right with him. He rebuked us. According to this verse and common sense, you can't expect somebody to repent unless you're willing to rebuke. You know, some people don't even know where the line's at. Seriously. Some people don't know where the line's at. And so if thy brother crossed the line, if he trespassed against thee, then you go to him and you rebuke him, say, listen, here you are, this is the line, this is the line right here, and here you are, you've crossed the line. And I'm telling you right now so you'll know. And you know what, imagine this scenario. There's a boundary that's not marked. Or maybe there's a boundary that's marked and you know where the boundary's at, but he doesn't know. but he crosses the line and you rebuke him and there he is. He's on the wrong side of the line. Now what's he gonna say? I haven't trespassed. No, he's gonna say, yeah, you're right. Here I am. Listen, this thing is really so simple. And rebuke is simply where you point it out that they crossed the line and they've done you wrong. Did they cross the line? It has nothing to do with your feelings. If they cross the line, then you rebuke them. And if they didn't, quit wearing your feelings on your sleeve. You know we're so thin-skinned in our society today. I'm not exaggerating, and I know, let me preface this by saying this. My family has never been in the vehicle with me through millions of miles of driving in an accident that was my fault. However, I have been known to cross the lines. Okay. There have been times. People have become so thin-skinned. There's been times before that I was riding the line, and I just happened to glance up at the person I was meeting, And I'm telling you what, if Luke's could kill, you know what I'm talking about? I'm just saying, people are so thin-skinned, we shouldn't be upset at things that are less than trespasses. If thy brother, take heed to thyself, take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, if he crosses a line, if he's over on your property, if he's done you wrong, then rebuke him. And if he repent, if he repent. You know, you can't really expect an apology without a rebuke. If he repent. Well, I'll tell you Brother David, I don't think he's really sorry. Did you know you can't tell if somebody's really sorry or not? That next verse, Jesus said in verse number four, if he trespassed against thee seven times in a day. Well, that just blows everything out of the water that you're thinking. Seven times in a day. You know what Jesus is talking about? He's not talking about the condition of their heart. He's talking about them coming to you and saying, I'm sorry. Even if they really didn't mean it, you're supposed to do this right here. But why are you doing it? For you. See, you're missing the point. You're missing the point. It's not about whether they're truly sorry or not. Okay, did Jesus say if they come to you seven times in one day that they do you wrong and you rebuke them and you say, man, you should have done that. Okay, let's just say Timothy, while I'm preaching, is shooting spit wads at me. Okay? And I try to ignore it. And then one hits me in the eye. And finally I say, Timothy, You've crossed the line, big boy. You shouldn't be spitting spit wads at me. Timothy says, I'm sorry, Brother David. In the afternoon service, Timothy shoots spit wads at me again. I do the same thing again. Now, in my heart, I'm thinking Timothy ain't really sorry. But Jesus said if he does it seven times a day, then I just keep forgiving. I'm trying to tell you, okay, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. This is referring to a verbal apology seven times in a day, and you don't have any options. You're not looking for tears. You're not looking for gifts of remorse. You're looking for two words, and those two words are I repent, or we would say I'm sorry. That's all you're supposed to look for is two words. I'm sorry. Only God sees the heart. You've got to forgive for your sake. You've got to forgive for your sake. Did you know this process is really very rarely followed? Trespass, rebuke, repent, forgive. You know why? Because people don't want to forgive. I'm not going to rebuke them. Because then they might repent and I'd have to forgive them. Yeah. They'd rather shoot their bullets of gossip and bitterness. Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. Let's talk about the word forgive for just a minute. I'm not through with if he repent yet, but if he repent, forgive him. Let me give you a definition of forgive. To pardon or overlook an offense or debt, and to treat the offender as not guilty. Forgive is to pardon or overlook the offense or the debt. and to treat the offender as not guilty. It's not to overlook the offense and then treat them like they're guilty. You understand that, don't you? To forgive is to pardon the offense, to overlook the offense, and then treat them like they never did do it. That's what forgive is. If you're reading this this morning and you read, if he repent, forgive him, and thinking, so I don't have to forgive him until they repent. If that's your attitude, you won't be able to forgive him when he repents. The Christian's goal, the biblical goal, is to make things right. Right? The Christian's goal is to make things right with everybody. That should be our goal is to make things right. With no ill will between us and somebody else. And so as soon as the trespass occurs, your goal should be to forgive. Before they apologize, your goal ought to be to forgive. You will never be able to forgive until it's your desire to forgive. And I'm telling you, you can't wait until they repent to start trying to get the attitude of forgiveness. Because you won't be able to when they say, I'm sorry. Now, I know it helps. It helps. It helps when they say, I'm sorry. But the Christian's goal should always be to forgive. Did you know that forgiveness is the only thing that can make things right? It doesn't matter how many times they repent, forgive, nothing else can make things right. That's why you got to take heed to yourselves. You hold the key. You've been done wrong, you hold the key. Things will never be right until you forgive. And to forgive means to overlook the debt. You know, the Bible tells in Matthew chapter 25, I think it's Matthew 25. No, it's not Matthew 25. It's Matthew 18, where I was at earlier. The Lord that forgave the debt. of his servant there. He said, I forgive you. He forgave the debt. Well, that means it's no longer in existence. When you forgive somebody, it's no longer in existence. Forgive him. Forgive him. Did you know you don't even have to receive an apology to forgive in your heart? You don't have to receive an apology to forgive in your heart. I'll give you some examples. Jesus Christ in Luke 23, I think it is, said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Say, well, that was the Lord Jesus Christ. What about Stephen in Acts 7, verse 60? When they're gnashing on him with their teeth and they're fixing to stone him and he says, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Forgive him. Forgive her. It's for you. Take heed to yourselves. Now I realize this morning and yesterday morning as I was meditating on these verses, the Lord's speaking in my heart, there are some of you here that have been called on to forgive things that I've never had to deal with. There are some of you here that have been called on to forgive things that I've never had to deal with. And I'm sorry, but the magnitude of the trespass does not change or have anything to do with the policy. The magnitude of the trespass has nothing to do with the policy. Jesus didn't say, if thy brother trespass against thee in a big way. He didn't say to forgive just the little things. Or He didn't just say, forgive most things. He said, take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, if he's crossed the line, then you tell him what he did. You rebuke him. And then when he repents, you just say, forget about it. And you know what? It's all over with. It's all over with. Six years ago tomorrow, Sister Helen passed away. January 13, 2019, Sister Helen Bennett passed away. Now some of you never knew Sister Helen. Some of you knew her, but you didn't know her that well. But Sister Helen was a wonderful saint of God. And she was a dear friend to me and a source of great encouragement to me. And she died five years ago tomorrow. She was 84 years ago. Five, she would have been 89 if she was still alive. And there was a time that Sister Helen told me here at church, she said, I got to talk to you about something. And so I don't remember how long it was, but it was a few days that I got over to see her. And this is what she told me. She said, something happened years ago. Not here. It was where she worked at. Something happened where she worked at. I won't tell you what it is, doesn't matter what it is or what it was. But she said, there was a woman that I worked with that did me wrong. And she said, I thought I had forgiven her. But she said, I'm starting to realize that I never have forgiven her. I'm starting to realize, Brother David, that I've still got bad feelings in my heart because I have never truly forgiven her. You know what? Jesus said, take heed to yourself. You know what happened to Sister Helen? She had deceived herself. This dear saint of God had deceived herself. Her flesh deceived her. She thought she had forgiven and she really hadn't. You know, your flesh will do you that way. She had deceived herself, but she had not truly forgiven. And we prayed about it. She told me all about it. We prayed about it. And you know what? She got victory over that. She got victory over that. What are you saying, brother? I'm saying, brother David, I'm saying to you this morning, take heed to yourself and don't lie to yourself. You know, you know if you treat them as if the offense never occurred or not. And if you can't treat them as not guilty, then you have not forgiven them. based on the very definition of forgive. And you're probably lying to yourself and saying, oh, yes, I have. I've forgiven them. Well, then why do you still feel the way around them that you feel when they're around? Now, I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just telling you, my job is just to preach the Bible. And Jesus Christ said, take heed to yourselves. Karen, you make your way to the piano. Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. 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. Let's all stand. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. You just do what you need to do today. Cairn will play. I'd say if you got something that you're struggling with this morning, it's time to do something about it. Let the Lord help you. Others are praying, why don't you pray? You know, you know. Don't lie to yourself. If thy brother trespass against thee, take heed to thyself, take heed to yourselves. You know, maybe you're here this morning and you've realized that it really never was a trespass and you've let the devil take advantage of something that was never a trespass. Maybe this morning there's something bothering you and you just need to pray and say, Lord, help me. Lord, help me to know if this is trespass. Maybe you need to get courage to do the rebuke. Say, Lord, help me to do this the right way and get my feelings out of the way. Anybody else need to pray this morning? Well, I appreciate these that have come. Anybody else? Boy, the Lord makes things so simple. This thing is not complicated. There's not a lot of drama here when we do it God's way. If there's a trespass, just rebuke him. He'll probably repent. And when he does, you just forgive him. Maybe you're here this morning and you know in your heart that you don't want to forgive. Well, you're never going to be able to, even if they apologize. Anybody else need to pray this morning? You know, it'd be sad, and I say this in no way of disrespect to Sister Helen. She was a dear, dear, dear saint of God that loved the Lord. But I say to you this morning, don't wait until you're 84 years old, or 80 years old, I don't remember exactly how old she was, to finally decide whether you've really forgiven or not. Take care of it now. Don't let any time pass by without taking care of this. You can't afford to carry it around. Remember, it's for your sake. That 490 times is for your sake. You don't do it for them, you do it for you. You'll be miserable.