Sometimes Sometimes forgiveness can feel impossible.

Maybe you've been deeply wounded by someone,

or the rift in the relationship is so longstanding that reconciliation seems out of reach.

Today on Truth for Life we'll learn why we shouldn't give up

trying to forgive or seeking forgiveness from others. Alistair Begg is teaching from Genesis

Chapter 45.

The kingdom of heaven, he says, is like a king who wanted to settle accounts.

And then you have the story right there before you.

A guy who owes an incalculable debt is set free.

And then he goes out and finds a friend of his who owes him a few dollars.

And he says, hey, give me the money.

The chap says, I can't repay you. So he starts to choke him. And then deciding it wouldn't be

a good idea to choke him, presumably, because he'd never get the money, he hasn't thrown in the

jail until he can wait for his money. Despite the fact that he had been forgiven an incalculable

debt, he's going to choke somebody

to death for a few bucks.

The lesson here, the primary lesson, is simply this.

That is in Matthew 18 as an explanatory statement on Genesis 45, the forgiven sinner, prompted by gratitude, must always, and in every case,

do everything in their power to forgive whoever has offended against them, and must do all

in their power to bring about complete reconciliation.

Now, in seeking to unpack that principle or that lesson, there are, if you like,

subsidiary lessons which are part and parcel of it.

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