I'm I'm Are you quick to forgive someone who has wronged you, or do you lean toward holding a grudge,

maybe even plotting revenge? Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg explores radical forgiveness and explains why it should be a factor that identifies us as Christians, both as individuals and as a church.

I may invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me, if you would, to Genesis chapter 45

as we resume our studies there in the life of Joseph.

We noted three things, one that it was a demonstration of human emotion.

Secondly, that it was an illustration of divine providence, and thirdly, that it was an expression

of human forgiveness.

And since, as is common with my final point in a sermon, we really never did it justice at all,

I concluded that it would be important for us to return today

to this most important and crucial matter of forgiveness, because it is in the life of Joseph

one of the most dramatic elements in all that unfolds for us, that this young lad who at the age of 17 was hustled off into a foreign

country to live separated from his loved ones for the ensuing 22 years or so, should respond in the

way that he did to these ugly brothers is really quite incredible. And therefore, upon reflection,

I determined that since it was such an important point, we ought not to miss it. And so I want

to think with you this morning, particularly about this whole matter of forgiveness. The unhappiness

of countless numbers in our society today can be traced to this singular

root, namely that they have never experienced genuine forgiveness, or in turn, that they themselves remain unwilling to extend forgiveness to those who seek

it from them, so that whether in the inability to receive it or to grant it, men and women's lives are held trapped, and they in many cases

have never understood that at the root of it all is this issue. Indeed, many who are attempting

to help such individuals at the level of psychological counseling find themselves totally unable

to crack the code.

And the reason is that the root situation is a matter of spiritual dimension.

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