Jim Bakker Show - 7 Proofs of Forgiveness - Dr. R.T. Kendall on The Jim Bakker Show
Aired: 2017-09-11
Duration: 10:18


=== Proof Number Four (06:44) ===

[00:00:00]  Total forgiveness goes right against nature because the most natural thing in the world is to want to see them punished.
[00:00:09]  It's natural.
[00:00:11]  So when you totally forgive, you're going against nature.
[00:00:16]  I have to say also it's an act of the will.
[00:00:19]  God's not going to knock you down.
[00:00:22]  He will use his word.
[00:00:24]  And this moment, he's speaking.
[00:00:28]  The Bible says, seek the Lord while he may be found.
[00:00:31]  Call upon him while he is near.
[00:00:34]  Well, he's near now.
[00:00:36]  This is probably the closest you're going to get.
[00:00:38]  In this moment, when this kind of teaching is put to you, well, then the question is, how do you know that you have totally forgiven?
[00:00:48]  Well, I give five proofs, but I will go through them quickly.
[00:00:52]  Proof number one, you don't tell anybody what they did to you.
[00:01:00]  You see, Joseph had everybody leave the room when he was going to reveal his identity to his brothers.
[00:01:06]  The reason he had everybody leave is because he's going to persuade them to come and live in Egypt.
[00:01:11]  He doesn't want anybody in Egypt to know what they did to him.
[00:01:16]  Joseph knows that he is a hero in Egypt.
[00:01:20]  He wants his brothers to be heroes.
[00:01:23]  They're the ones that did what they did to him.
[00:01:26]  And now he's protecting them.
[00:01:28]  So behind closed doors, he reveals who he is.
[00:01:33]  He knows if the word leaks out, every Egyptian to a man would hate him, which is the way he used to feel one day.
[00:01:42]  There was a day he wanted everybody to hate them.
[00:01:45]  But proof number one, you don't tell anybody what they did to you.
[00:01:52]  Now, there are two exceptions.
[00:01:54]  One, you need to tell one other person for therapeutic reasons.
[00:01:59]  I told Joseph, so you need to tell your pastor, somebody you trust.
[00:02:04]  You can tell one, not two, not ten, not 500.
[00:02:07]  One.
[00:02:09]  The other exception, I had a lady come into my vestry at Westminster Chapel, and she said, they have found my rapist, and they want me to testify in a court of law.
[00:02:18]  I said, well, you must.
[00:02:19]  Oh, Dr. Kendall, you've taught me to forgive, and I've forgiven it.
[00:02:23]  I said, well, I believe you.
[00:02:24]  It's not personal.
[00:02:26]  He is a danger to society, which means a crime must be reported.
[00:02:32]  That's different, but it's not personal.
[00:02:35]  Proof number two, you don't let them be afraid of you.
[00:02:40]  You see, perfect love casts out fear.
[00:02:44]  Fear has to do with punishment.
[00:02:46]  You want to see them punished.
[00:02:47]  You want to punish them.
[00:02:49]  And what did Joseph do when he saw his brothers?
[00:02:53]  He says, come close to me.
[00:02:56]  He just wanted to love them.
[00:02:57]  They couldn't believe it.
[00:02:58]  They couldn't believe it.
[00:03:00]  He had totally forgiven.
[00:03:01]  He just wanted to love on them.
[00:03:02]  Proof number three, you don't even let them feel guilty.
[00:03:06]  He said, look, I know what you've done.
[00:03:10]  But he said, don't even be angry with yourselves.
[00:03:14]  You may say to somebody, well, I forgive you, but I hope you feel bad about it.
[00:03:18]  Look, you're still wanting to rub their noses in it.
[00:03:21]  You set them free.
[00:03:24]  And don't be surprised if the person you have to forgive is close to you.
[00:03:29]  They might even be well known.
[00:03:32]  Maybe they're known as being godly.
[00:03:35]  You know, Christians can be the meanest people in the world.
[00:03:39]  You may have to forgive another Christian for what they've done.
[00:03:43]  You've heard the poem, Living with the Saints Above, oh, that will be glory.
[00:03:49]  Living with the saints below, well, that's another story.
[00:03:54]  Proof number four.
[00:03:58]  Proof number four, you let them save face.
[00:04:04]  I use the phrase, rubbing their noses in it.
[00:04:07]  That's what we want to do.
[00:04:08]  Joseph could look at them and say, look here, don't be angry with yourselves.
[00:04:13]  God sent me ahead of you.
[00:04:16]  Somebody had to get here first because it was predestined.
[00:04:19]  God said to our grandfather Abraham that your seed will be coming up out of Egypt.
[00:04:24]  Somebody had to go first.
[00:04:26]  God said, Joseph, you go first.
[00:04:29]  He said, that's all it was.
[00:04:31]  And he says, God did it.
[00:04:34]  It wasn't you who did it.
[00:04:36]  God did it.
[00:04:37]  You know, these brothers, they can't believe their luck.
[00:04:41]  The very man they were going to kill is now saying God is at the bottom of it.
[00:04:46]  You let them save face.
[00:04:48]  Proof number five, you protect them from their darkest secret.
[00:04:53]  Actually, what was their dark secret?
[00:04:56]  Well, they yanked that coat of many colors off Joseph's back, dipped it in blood, lay it before old Jacob.
[00:05:04]  Actually, they didn't lay it.
[00:05:05]  They sent it.
[00:05:06]  I don't know if you ever noticed this.
[00:05:08]  They didn't take it.
[00:05:09]  They sent it.
[00:05:10]  They couldn't face their father.
[00:05:12]  And they said, we found this.
[00:05:14]  See if you recognize it.
[00:05:15]  Well, Jacob took the bait.
[00:05:18]  And they would rather die, those 11 brothers, than have to tell their dad what happened.
[00:05:24]  He won't let them.
[00:05:26]  He tells them what to do when they go back to Canaan.
[00:05:28]  He writes the script.
[00:05:30]  He won't let them.
[00:05:31]  Chances are you know something about somebody.
[00:05:34]  If you were to reveal it, it would destroy them.
[00:05:37]  Set them free.
[00:05:38]  Let them know.
[00:05:39]  No one will ever know.
[00:05:43]  There are actually seven proofs, not five.
[00:05:46]  Proof number six, and this is so important, total forgiveness is a life sentence.
[00:05:55]  It's like your physician gives you a pill.
[00:05:58]  You're going to have to take this the rest of your life.
[00:06:01]  I have to take an acid reflux pill every morning.
[00:06:05]  I took it this morning.
[00:06:07]  As long as I live, I have to take it.
[00:06:09]  You see, total forgiveness is something you have to do as long as you live.
[00:06:13]  You never outgrow it.
[00:06:14]  You say, well, I did it once, that's enough.
[00:06:16]  Wrong.
[00:06:17]  Husband says to the wife, I thought you forgave me.
[00:06:21]  Oh, she says, well, that was yesterday.
[00:06:23]  No.
[00:06:24]  You've got to do it today.
[00:06:26]  You've got to do it tomorrow.
[00:06:27]  You have to do it next week.
[00:06:28]  A year from now, 10 years from now.

=== Blessing Others Prayers (03:48) ===

[00:06:30]  Don't expect them to come around because you're praying for them.
[00:06:34]  Oh, by the way, you don't tell them that you're praying for them and all that.
[00:06:41]  That's just going to make you look good and them look bad.
[00:06:45]  When you pray for them, it's something between you and God.
[00:06:50]  So be careful about that.
[00:06:51]  But you're going to have to forgive them as long as you live.
[00:06:54]  And principle number seven is when you bless them.
[00:06:58]  You pray for them.
[00:06:59]  You actually ask God to bless them.
[00:07:01]  You say, well, R.T., I can never do that.
[00:07:04]  I understand it.
[00:07:05]  But Jesus said, bless your enemy.
[00:07:08]  He didn't just say, pray, oh, Lord, I commit them to you.
[00:07:12]  You see, you're hoping God will kill them.
[00:07:15]  You actually ask God to bless them.
[00:07:19]  Do I have time to tell a story?
[00:07:20]  Yes, you do.
[00:07:21]  Okay.
[00:07:22]  I remember coming into Westminster Chapel one Sunday morning, leading the worship as we did in those days.
[00:07:28]  We're singing the great English hymn, Praise my soul, the King of heaven.
[00:07:35]  And I looked out of the audience.
[00:07:37]  There was a woman out there who has done irreparable emotional damage to one of our children.
[00:07:48]  When I saw her out there, I lost it.
[00:07:51]  I couldn't sing.
[00:07:52]  I just had to mouth the words.
[00:07:53]  And then I had to read the scripture.
[00:07:56]  Another hymn.
[00:07:57]  I don't know how I got through it.
[00:07:59]  Then I had to pray.
[00:08:00]  I always prayed five, six, seven minutes.
[00:08:04]  I don't know how I prayed.
[00:08:05]  I kept thinking of that woman, how could she be here?
[00:08:08]  I was angry.
[00:08:10]  What saved me was offering time.
[00:08:12]  I sat down and the deacon comes, greets the people, lifts the offering, and it gave me five minutes.
[00:08:18]  I'm sitting there by the pulpit.
[00:08:22]  Jim, Lori, this has not happened to me before or since.
[00:08:25]  But that morning, as I sat there on the pulpit in my chair, it was like a conversation.
[00:08:36]  Is clear?
[00:08:37]  The Lord said, R.T., you want to see revival in Westminster Chapel?
[00:08:42]  Is that right?
[00:08:44]  Yes, Lord.
[00:08:46]  Good.
[00:08:47]  How much do you want to see revival?
[00:08:48]  Oh, a lot.
[00:08:50]  Which would you rather have, revival or for me to punish that woman out there?
[00:09:02]  Wow.
[00:09:05]  Revival.
[00:09:11]  But you had to think about it.
[00:09:14]  Wait, he said, Are you sure?
[00:09:19]  Then I want you to pray for that woman.
[00:09:23]  I pray for her.
[00:09:24]  Wow.
[00:09:25]  He said, That's not good enough.
[00:09:27]  Ask me to bless her.
[00:09:29]  Oh, yes.
[00:09:31]  Bless her.
[00:09:33]  Say it again.
[00:09:35]  Bless her.
[00:09:37]  Say it again.
[00:09:39]  Bless her.
[00:09:41]  Do you mean that?
[00:09:44]  Yep.
[00:09:47]  So what if I answer your prayer and I bless her?
[00:09:51]  Lord, you wouldn't do that, would you?
[00:09:54]  But that's the point.
[00:09:55]  And I had to start saying, Lord, bless her, bless her, is killing me.
[00:09:59]  Bless her.
[00:10:00]  And to prove a minute, I to put her on my prayer list every day from then on.
[00:10:05]  You know what?
[00:10:06]  Guess what, Jim?
[00:10:09]  The Lord answered my prayer.
[00:10:11]  That woman thrives today.
[00:10:13]  She thrives.
[00:10:16]  You know, when I get to heaven, I'm going to go up to her and say, I know how you.