<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

To Forgive Is To Benefit

I have to take out the trash at my house.

Believe me, if we don't take out the trash in my house, it can be a problem real quick.

In fact, somebody here learned that lesson the hard way back this fall.

We were at the church campout and it was raining and James left a nice little present and a diaper and Elizabeth put that in the van and it was only there for about 10 minutes, and I thought, whoa, this is a problem.

And I said, we've gotta find a trash can to dispose of this.

I don't wanna ride all the way home smelling this diaper.

And so we decided to, we couldn't find a trash can, but we did find Mario's car.

So we put it in their truck, I put it right in the seat, right here on the side, you know where the center console, I just kind of wedged in there.

I figured it'd be there all of 5 minutes before, and Mario's quite the jokester, so I didn't feel guilty about it at all.

I put it in there, I closed it up, and then Mario came to me later, and Maria just a few minutes later, He said, Pastor Ry, we want you to come and see our place.

I said, no problem, Mario, show us where it is.

So we went up and they all got in the truck and we were like.

We got up to the cabin, they all got out, everything seemed fine.

We saw their cabin, and then we proceeded to exit, and it looked like they were done with the truck for the day.

Until eventually we're at the Mills River Park.

I say, hey Mario, do you ever recall anything in your truck that was unusual?

Nothing that smelled a little bit suspicious.

He said, oh, for 2 weeks that was in my truck.

I couldn't find it and Maria kept saying, Mario, clean your truck, it's terrible, please.

It can be very important to dispose of and take out the trash.

Sometimes it gets infested or there's maggots.

And the longer you wait and the longer you leave it, the worse it's going to be.

They finally came and found this apartment.

They estimated there was like a pile of trash everywhere in this house.

It was all quite organized, but it was everywhere, and they estimated it was 4 years' worth of trash, not throwing anything out.

They have a word for those people, hoarders.

Yet she paid her rent on time, she was always well-dressed, she always looked very presentable, but She never wanted to throw anything away.

Now some of you here might be wondering, I really don't like this idea of trash in the house of God, in the sanctuary.

But how many of us week after week after week after week are bringing our garbage, things that we need to let go and get rid of, but we hang on to them and we harbor them.

And we don't think it's going to matter, we don't think it's going to affect us, but there's a stench that goes along with that.

And it permeates throughout our spiritual life, through our relationships, through how we view God.

I mean, if you go into a room that doesn't smell good, and you can clean and clean and spray and clean, but until you empty the trash, you're wasting your time.

If there's something potent in there, it won't make any difference.

If you have your Bibles, I would encourage you to turn with me to the book of Genesis.

We're going to look very briefly at a well-known story here about Joseph.

You may recall Jacob and Rachel's first son, after many years of waiting, Joseph finally comes along and so we pick up this story in Genesis chapter 37 verse 3 and 4.

Like to hear the sound of those pages turning.

Genesis chapter 37, beginning verse 3, and we read, Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age.

But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

And as you go on through this story, he starts to reveal some dreams that he has.

People don't like him, his brothers don't like him, I should say, and they conspire to kill him, it says in verse 18, in fact let's read that in verse 17 and 18, the middle of 17.

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan and now when they saw him afar off, they could recognize that hated robe.

And they conspired against him to kill him.

And as the story goes off, they of course strip that robe in verse 23, they cast him into a pit in verse 24, and finally they are talked out of actually killing him.

And that's exactly what they do, at the price of a handicapped slave.

As the story goes, Joseph wallows in self-pity.

He rehearses the wrongs of his brothers, he dreams of revenge, of making them pay, and dies a bitter angry slave.

But then he works his way up, if you will.

He's put in charge of Potiphar's house, and then he's falsely accused of rape, of all things, by his master's wife.

So Joseph, put in prison, where he again wallows in self-pity, rehearses the way he was set up.

He dreams of revenge, making her pay, and he dies in prison, an angry and bitter man.

No, he must have chosen to forgive his accuser.

He obviously let it go because he became so helpful in prison.

They put him in charge of the entire prison.

And the Lord gives him the interpretation of dreams, and the butler promises to remember Joseph, but for 2 more years, Joseph hears nothing.

So does Joseph get bitter and angry, filled with revenge as he rehearsed the faults of the other?

No, he chooses obviously to forgive once more and move on.

And Joseph rightly tells him the dream and Pharaoh places him as the chief minister in charge of the preparations.

And during the famine, he sees, and this is where the story gets very interesting, he sees who?

And so Joseph, being a shrewd man, takes advantage of the situation and in revenge he shames them, he has them tortured, he gives them a piece of his mind, and he throws them into the dungeon to rot forever because they deserve it.

Years have gone by, you've wrecked and ruined my life.

Genesis 45, many chapters have gone by, a lot of time has gone by.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph.

But his brothers could not answer him for they were dismayed in his presence.

And Joseph said to his brothers, please come near to me.

Back to Menu

To Forgive Is To Benefit

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Choose To Forgive

37m

Marriage Heart to Heart

Forgiveness

54m

The Parables

The Unforgiving Servant

39m

Restoring the Home

04 The Power of Forgiveness

1h 10m

The Cries of the Cross

03 Forgive Them

22m

The Power of God's Forgiveness

1- Our Need to Forgive

39m

Christianity 24-7

4. Finding the Freedom

1h 5m

Forgiveness: The Power of Letting Go

38m

Care Enough To Confront

42m

Jesus Friend of My Wounded Heart

The Power of Letting Go: The Importance of Forgiveness

58m

The Cost of Forgiveness

52m

The Power of God's Forgiveness

2- Our Freedom in Forgiveness

57m

Sound Doctrine