Forgiveness Is Freedom

Forgiveness sounds simple until it collides with real pain, real betrayal, and memories you wish you could erase. We go straight to the heart of it: the Father isn’t looking for perfect words or flawless performance, He’s after your heart, and He wants you free. That means facing the hard truth that unforgiveness doesn’t punish the other person, it cages you, keeping bitterness alive and stealing the settled peace you were made to live with.

We walk through what the Bible actually says about grace and conscience, including why guilt and condemnation linger when we think we’re only forgiven for what we can remember. We unpack how the cross deals with sin that is known and unknown, intentional and unintentional, and why that changes how boldly we can draw near to God. Along the way we connect Scripture from Hebrews, Ephesians, Leviticus, the Gospels, and the letters, keeping it practical and grounded in the written Word rather than opinions.

Then we turn to the “more than enough” side of the Father’s heart: stories like the widow’s jar of oil, the feeding of the five thousand, and Solomon’s request for wisdom show a God whose supply doesn’t run dry. The challenge is personal and confronting: what if the only thing limiting that supply is our capacity to receive, and what if forgiveness is part of making room?

If this stirred something in you, listen through, share it with a mate who needs peace, and leave a review or subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. What’s one thing you know you need to forgive, even if it’s hard?

Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:27

Now, today we're speaking about the father's heart still. But in saying that, what you need to understand is that the father's heart is what we're all after and what we're desiring. The same way is that uh uh God wants to know what's in your heart, not necessarily what comes

The Father’s Heart And The Word

SPEAKER_00 0:54

out of your mouth. And following on from what I was speaking about last week, I want to just uh clarify a couple of things, right? For us to be that way, whether we're a born-again Christian or someone who actually believes in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whatever aspect of uh Christian faith that you may have, everybody, and including a lot of Christians, will sometimes get there and says, Well, I believe this part of the Bible, I believe that part of the Bible, but I'm not into this or to that. But what I'm trying to do is holistically cover from Genesis all the way to Revelation and make sure you get a better understanding of the written word of God, and that's why sometimes I talk about, you know, like even this, my podcast, books that you can get, all these type of things. They're good, it's good for knowledge, good for learning, good for expanding on things, but it's not the be all and the end all. The written word of God it should be the most important thing in your life and in your Christian walk. And in doing that, then if someone's writing about something or someone's talking about something that's happened, or what's going on in their life, and they are bringing this through their sermon or through the book that they've written, um, it's fine as long as it lines up with the word of God because the father's heart is to bless you with much more than you can ever imagine, and in saying that, you've got to uh well, I sort of think that I'm going into not necessarily a controversial part of understanding, but more along the lines of the um remembering that it's a two-way street, it's like any relationship that you actually have, it's not all about just the one person, and so it's not all about what God can give you. What can you do for God? You know, and part of this comes to forgiveness. Now, I know a lot of people are gonna have a little bit of controversy about this, but I am just following along what the word of God says. Now, remember this forgiveness is a choice to release resentment,

Forgiveness As A Two-Way Street

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find personal freedom, and reflect God's grace. It means letting go of bitterness, offering a fresh start and moving forward without demanding revenge. So, why must we forgive? We want to be set free from prison, you know, and I'm not talking the physical prison like jail, I'm talking about things that are holding you back, holding onto anger is like drinking poison and hoping the person the other person gets hurt, not you. Unforgiveness traps your soul in bitterness. If I was to say release them, you will if I was to say release them, you would be set free, right? The very moment I say those words, your mind begins to argue with me and with your body. And and I'm not sort of like trying to preempt what you're thinking, but these are a few examples of the things that could come to mind, right? But you don't know what he or she did to me. They lied about me over and over again. She intended to destroy my career and she did. You can't imagine the hell I've been through. If you knew what this has done to my family, you would be angry too. They deserve to suffer like they made me suffer. I'm going to make them pay. My daughter was raped. How do you forgive that? I was sexually abused by a priest. How do you forgive that? I will never forgive those people. Never ever. I ended with this last week, and I was basically talking about for us to reign in life and to be able to draw near to the Father with confidence, we need a settled peace in our hearts. And this settled peace does not come from how

The Inner Fight Against Forgiving

SPEAKER_00 6:38

well we perform, but from knowing that our sins have been completely dealt with. It flows from a consciousness that has been perfectly purged by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without this settled peace, there will be no freedom in our hearts to worship, no power to serve, and no love for us to pour out on those around us. Everything flows from having a heart that is at rest knowing how forgiveness and how forgiven we are. See what I'm just saying there? Now it's it's not just me. I mean Hebrews 10 2 says this the worshippers having once been cleansed would no longer have their consciousness of sin. See, this doesn't mean that as believers we no longer sin, nor is it a license to live carelessly. We are all growing in the morality of excellence, the excellence in our lives, and our Lord Jesus desires this from us, but it doesn't mean, and I want to make sure that this you you understand this this does not mean, okay, that we have to forget what has actually happened, but we need to make sure that we reign in the life that God has expected us to reign in. Now, the thing is, I I know a lot of people aren't going to agree with this, and um, He wants you to reign in life and not just to live. We need to be able to, how will I put this? I mentioned this last week. God has got a plan and a purpose for every one of them, but it doesn't mean that we no longer live with a constant sense of guilt or condemnation. When our heavenly Father looks at us, he sees us through the finished work of Jesus completely cleansed, whiter than snow. And how much are we forgiven? Well, Ephesians 1 7 declares, in him we have redemption through his blood and forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. We are forgiven not out of the riches of his grace, but according to them. Who in this wide world can measure the vastness of God's grace? His forgiveness and grace are so expansive that the cross covers sin we are not even aware of. Many believers think that they are forgiven only up to the sins they remember or confess. But what about the sins they're unaware of? This is why some walk around with a lingering sense of guilt of not being good enough to draw near God. See, it's it's not only what you can remember, and this is why, and I remember trying to explain this to someone once before when they were talking about uh forgiving others, right? Now, if you want to look at it from a more natural perspective, okay, the easiest way of actually looking at this, I would say, is when you forgive someone, it's not for them, okay? It's for you, it's to soften your heart. Look, have a look at this. I mean, uh it says this, let me read this passage of scripture for you. If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the Lord's holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord, a ram without defect from the flock, the priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilty offering, and will be forgiven him. Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, he is still guilty and shall bear his punishment. He is then to bring to the priest a ram without defect from the flock as a guilt offering, so the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he committed unintentionally and did not know it, and it will be forgiven him. Now that's in Leviticus 5, 14 through to 18. Now, I know everybody says, but that's Old Testament, okay? Well, what is the ram that is being spoken about here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the of the world is Jesus. See these V these verses here speak of sin committed unintentionally, sins a person was not even aware of.

Settled Peace Through Finished Forgiveness

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So even he who was still guilty, and an atonement had to be made. In this passage, the ram without blemish is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, our perfect guilt offering. And what this reveals to us is so powerful, so so powerful, the cross did not deal only with the sins we remembered, it dealt with all of the sins, intentional or unintentional, known or unknown, such grace and such mercy. See, what I'm saying is don't limit the Father's blessing in your life. You can't limit it. But you also need to remember that everything was done at the cross. Everything was done at the cross and it was finished at the cross. Sin you remember, sin you don't remember. I mean, sometimes, you know, if someone asked me what I had for dinner last Tuesday, I couldn't remember it. Not because I didn't want to remember it, it's just not there. And so sometimes we do things that are against the word of God unintentionally because of lack of knowledge, and that's why the word talks about that we perish through lack of knowledge. Understanding the word is the most important thing in your life as a as a believer. If you don't understand the word of God, how can you actually use that in your life? And how can you come to boldly to the throne with grace, stand before the father and allow the desires of your heart to be met by him if you don't even know what it is that you've done right or done wrong? Now, when I'm saying this, we're talking about the father's heart, right? So we don't want to limit the father's blessing in your life, and this is why we can say with confidence that we are forgiven of all of our sins and can receive all the blessings due to the righteous in Christ, and there are so much more the Father wants to give us far more than you can ever think. There are so many things, the only things that limits the supply in your life is you. We see in this story of uh the widow and the jar of oil, right? Uh two Kings four. As long as they were empty vessels to fill, the oil in her jar kept flowing. The supply only stopped when the widow and her son couldn't find any more vessels. Not because God no longer wanted to give her that he ran out of oil, because he doesn't run out of anything. And in the miracle of the five loaves and the two fishes, as long as the people were hungry and eating, Jesus kept on breaking and handing out the food. But once the people were filled, the

Unknown Sin And Grace That Covers All

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supply stopped, and even then there were twelve baskets full of leftovers, and they were all collected. You can read that in Matthew 14, 20. And you see, it says, press down, shake it together, running over, man will give into your bosom because God will make man provide for you. You're not always going to see a direct manifestation from heaven, but what he's saying is that whatever you desire in your heart, God is going to give you more. Let's look at Solomon, for instance. God asked him, he says, What is it that you desire more than anything else? Now, because Solomon wanted to be a good king, he got there, and so his heart was in the right place. He got there and he said, I want the wisdom to be able to rule the people and to be a good king, right? And so God turns around and says, All right then, because you've asked for something for someone else, he said, I'm gonna bless you with more wealth than you can ever possibly contain. Because God is all about more than enough over and above. Um if you ask for an apple, he will probably give you a box of apples, right? If you ask for a pushbike, he could give you a car. Well, don't hold me to that. I'm not saying pray for a pushbike, he's gonna give you a car, but I'm just I'm just trying to put things in the right context, right? Whatever you're asking for, he will give you over and above because the father's heart is to bless you abundantly. It says, Beloved, your heavenly father is El Shaddai, the all-sufficient, all giving one. And just as his supply is greater than our capacity to receive, his forgiveness is greater than all of our sins. Take time to meditate on these truths. Let them drop into the depths of your heart. When they do, you'll have a settled peace in your consciousness, and from that place of peace faith will arise and you'll be freed to approach your Father and to receive from Him. So in the days ahead, okay, just try and prioritize the word. Sit as Jesus' feet and feed on the revelation of his finished work, the knowledge of his grace and the awareness of how forgiven you are and how you are already being righteousness

Do Not Limit God’s Supply

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of God in Christ, you'll find yourself reigning in life with the Father much more through the one, our Lord Jesus Christ. C.S. Lewis made this remark. This is what he said. He said, This is C.S. Lewis, not me. Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have to have something to forgive. There are two parts to the observation, and both of them are important for us to think about. Consider this. I'll say it again. Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive. Wow. Consider these words from the lips of our Lord. Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you'll be forgiven. Luke six thirty seven In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said it plainly and simply is couldn't get it any simpler than this. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive men their sins, your father will not forgive your sins. And that's Matthew six fourteen to fifteen. Even sometimes Jesus makes things simple, right? Because Have you noticed that it's the same thing that I was saying before? It's a two-way seat, right? He says, if you forgive men who have a sin against you, then your heavenly father will also forgive you. So it's always a two-way street. The Apostle Paul put forgiveness into a slightly different framework in Ephesians four thirty-two. It says, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you. He said a very similar thing in Colossians three thirteen. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Wow. I mean it is very powerful words. When Peter, a man who knew from experience the value of forgiveness, wrote his first epistle, he summed it up this way. Above all love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins. That's 1 Peter 4.8. I will always give you the scriptural reference so you can see that this is not my words, this is the word of God. There's another way of saying it, and it comes from the love chapter. Well, yes, the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. While describing the greatest virtue, Paul declared that love keeps no record of wrongs, 1 Corinthians 13, 5. That little phrase deserves a closer examination.

Scripture On Forgiving Others

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Eugene Patterson, you know, wrote uh the message, says this way, love doesn't keep score of the sins of others. Love doesn't keep scores because love has a bad memory. It finds a way to forgive the sins of others. Finally, we have the greatest, the most profound statement on this topic in the entire Bible, I believe personally. The finest, purest, highest example of forgiveness. When he, Jesus, hung on the cross, condemned to death by evil men who plotted to murder him, who produced lying witnesses to convict him, as he surveyed the mob

Jesus On The Cross And Our Excuses

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that were screaming and shouting and carrying on, assembled to cheer his suffering. Jesus the Son of God, the one who knew no sin, the only truly innocent man who ever walked this sin cursed planet, in his dying moments, uttered words that still ring across centuries. And it's plain and simple, and I believe you should all know it. Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing. Wow. After everything that he went through, the false witnesses, everybody saying, crucify him, let Barabbas go, and then he got you know got beaten and whipped, and the crown of thorns put on his head, all of that, and then nailed to the cross. Everything that he endured just in that small period of time frame, those eleven tortured words swept away all of our shabby excuses, all of our crappy misunderstanding of it, even to the extent when his you know, his own disciples that had been with him for three years, you know, had had just turned and run away. These words, they reveal the barrenness of our heart. They rip the cover of the unrighteous anger and show it for what it really is. Many of us say if only the person who hurt me would show some remorse, some sorrow, then maybe I would forgive them. But since that rarely happens, we use that as an excuse to continue in our bitterness, our anger, and our desire to get even. Well, we use it as an excuse. Remember last week what I said an excuse was? It's just a layman's term for not doing something that was required of you. You know, they're excuses. Things happen, but they're not an excuse. It's what actually transpired, but was it actually something created by you in the first place? I hope this is not getting too close to the bone with some people. But the thing is, no one seemed very sorry when Jesus was on the cross. Even as he said those words, the crowd laughed, mocked, cheered, and jeered. Those who passed by heard insults at him. They torted him. If you are the king of Israel, come down from the cross and save yourself. Let us be clear on this point. When he died, the people who put him to death were quite pleased with themselves. How pitifully wrong is that? To be happy with what they had done. How could there be any joy in anybody? You know, Pilate washed his hands of the whole sordid affair. The Jewish leaders hated him with a fierce, irrational hatred. They were happy to see him suffer and die. Evil was in the air that day, the forces of darkness had gone, and they'd done their work, and the Son of God would soon be in the tomb. No one said I was wrong. This is a mistake. We were such fools, and yet he said Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing. That is precisely what we must say if we are going to follow Jesus. We must say to people who hurt us deliberately and repeatedly, we must say to those who intentionally attack us, we must say to those who casually and thoughtlessly wound us, we must say to those closest to us, to our husbands, to our wives, to our children, even to our parents and our friends, to our neighbors, to our brothers and sisters, to our fellow Christians, we need to be able to forgive them for whatever they have done. If we look to the cross, that's where it started and that's where it finished with us. Look at the cross and think to yourself, He did nothing wrong. He was perfect in every way. What right have I got to judge others unless I'm judging myself? I hope it hasn't been too deep. I hope it hasn't rung the wrong alarm bells, but just pray on it and meditate on those scriptures and just remember it

Choosing Forgiveness In Real Life

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all was finished at the cross. God bless.