Then Jesus said, ‘When other people do wrong things against you, you must forgive them. Then God, your Father in heaven, will also forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive you.’
Instead, help each other and be kind to each other. Forgive one another. Remember that God has forgiven you because of what Christ has done.
Do not become angry with each other. If you think that someone has done something wrong against you, forgive them. Remember that the Lord has forgiven you. So you should also forgive other people.
Do not judge anyone, to say that they are a bad person. Then God will not judge you in the same way. Do not say to anyone, “You are guilty.” Then God will not say that you are guilty. Forgive other people and God will forgive you.
Then Peter came to talk to Jesus. He asked, ‘Lord, if another believer does wrong things against me many times, how many times should I forgive him? Must I forgive him as many as seven times for the wrong things that he has done against me?’Jesus replied, ‘I do not say only seven times. I say you should forgive him 77 times!’
But when you stand up to pray, first you must forgive other people. If anyone has done something bad against you, forgive that person. If you do forgive them, your Father in heaven will forgive you. God will forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.’
We should receive much punishment for the bad things that we do. But the Lord does not punish us so much.For people who worship him, his faithful love is very great. How far is the sky above the earth? His love is greater than that!How far is the east from the west? The Lord has taken our sins further away than that! He no longer says that we are guilty.
The Lord says, ‘Please come, so that we talk about this together. Even if your sins are like a red stain, they will become as white as snow. Even if they are bright red, they will become like white wool.
Instead, we should agree that we have done wrong things and tell that to God. Then God will forgive us for our sins. He always does what he has promised to do. He always does what is right. He will forgive us and he will make us clean again, whatever bad things we may have done.
When God has forgiven a person's sins, they are truly happy! They may have turned against God, but when God forgives them, they are happy.Wicked people will receive a lot of trouble and pain. But if anyone trusts in the Lord, they will know that God always loves them.So all you people who belong to the Lord, praise him and be happy! All of you who are good, honest people, shout aloud because you are so happy!They may have done something bad, but when the Lord says, ‘Not guilty!’, he has truly blessed them. They are happy because they no longer try to hide their sins.
Happy are the people who are kind and who forgive other people. God will forgive people like that.
Anyone who hides his sins will never do well. But God will forgive somebody, if he agrees that he has done wrong things, and if he turns away from his sins.
Jesus said, ‘Father, these soldiers do not know what they are doing. So please forgive them.’ The soldiers then picked up Jesus' clothes for themselves. They played a game with dice to decide who would receive each piece of his clothes.
My friends, if someone has done bad things to you, do not try to punish them yourselves. Instead, let God be angry with them and punish them. This is what is written in the Bible: ‘The Lord God says, “When people do something wrong, I am the one who will punish them. I will pay them back.” ’
Yes, my Lord, you are very kind, and you are ready to forgive people. When anyone calls to you for help, you love them with your faithful love.
Some men came to see Jesus there. They carried with them a man who could not move his legs. He was lying on a mat. Jesus knew that they believed in him. He said to the man who could not walk, ‘Do not be afraid, my friend. I forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.’
When you forgive anyone, I also forgive that person. Whatever bad thing somebody has done, I have Christ's authority to forgive them. And I do it to help you.
I will be kind to them. I will forgive them for the wicked things that they have done. I will not continue to think about their sins. That is what the Lord says.’
Be careful how you live. If another believer does something wrong, warn him about it. He may say, “I am sorry for what I did. I will not do it again.” If he says that, you must forgive him.It will happen quickly like that, on the day when I, the Son of Man, show myself clearly.On that day, a person who is up on the roof of his house must not go back down into the house. He must not get his things that are inside the house to take with him. In the same way, people that are working outside in their fields must not go back to their homes.Remember what happened to Lot's wife. Whoever wants to keep his own life safe will lose it. But whoever agrees to lose his life will have true life.I tell you this. At that time, two people will be sleeping in one bed. God will take one of them away but he will leave the other one behind.Two women will be preparing food together in the same place. God will take one of them away but he will leave the other one behind.’Jesus' disciples asked him, ‘Lord, where will this happen?’ Jesus replied, ‘If a dead body is lying somewhere, vultures will come together in that place.’Your brother may do a bad thing against you seven times in one day. He may come to you each time and say, “I am sorry for what I did. I will not do it again.” If he does that, you must forgive him every time.’
We have forgiven people who have done wrong things to us. In the same way, please forgive us for the wrong things that we have done.
Please forgive me, God, because of your faithful love. Because you are so kind, please clean away my sins.God, please make me completely pure, deep inside me. Make my spirit strong and true.Do not send me away from you. Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.Give me joy again, because you have made me safe. Make me strong and ready to obey you.Then I will teach your ways to people who have turned against you. Then sinners will turn back and they will obey you.God, I am guilty of murder. Please forgive me! You are the one who saves me. When you rescue me, I will sing aloud about your righteousness.Lord God, help me to speak, and then I will praise you.I would be happy to offer sacrifices to you, but that is not what you really want. You do not want a burnt offering from me.You want me to be humble and sorry. That is the sacrifice that you want. When people are humble and they turn away from their sins, you will not refuse them.God, please be kind and help Zion. Make the walls of Jerusalem strong again.Then you will accept our proper sacrifices. Our burnt offerings and sacrifices of whole animals will make you happy. Once again, people will offer bulls to you, on your altar.I have done bad things, so wash me to make me clean again.
All people have done wrong things. Nobody is as good as God in his glory wants them to be.But because God is very kind, he accepts us as right with himself. That is God's gift to us. Jesus Christ has paid for our sins so that we have become free.
But you, my Lord, are a kind God who forgives people. You do not quickly become angry, and your faithful love is very great. We can always trust you to do what you have promised.
But I am the one who removes your sins when you do not obey me. I, the Lord, do that, because of who I am. I do not keep your sins in my mind.
If people do bad things to you, do not do anything bad to them in return. If people insult you, do not insult them in return. Instead, pray that God will bless those people. That is what God wants you to do. Then you will receive the gift of God's blessing.
You must leave your gift there in front of God's altar. First you must go and find your brother. Tell him that you are sorry. Then you can both become friends with each other again. After that, you can return to the altar and give your gift to God.
When Christ died as a sacrifice on the cross, he paid the price to make us free. Because of Christ's death on our behalf, God has forgiven our sins. God is so very kind that he has done all this for us!
If someone is wise, he controls his anger. When anyone hurts him, he is careful to forget it.
David says: ‘The people that God has forgiven are truly happy. They have done wrong things, but he has forgiven them.
I am writing this letter to you, my friends who are like my little children. I am writing to you because I do not want you to do wrong things. But if anyone among you does something wrong, there is someone who will speak to God on our behalf. That person is Jesus Christ, who always does only what is right. He will ask our Father God to forgive you.
If you forgive people when they hurt you, they will still love you. But if you continue to talk about what they have done, they will no longer be your friends.
When you are angry, do not do anything bad as a result. Once the day comes to an end, do not continue to be angry.Do not give the devil a chance to hurt you like that.
Then I told you about my sins. I did not try to hide the bad things that I had done. I said, ‘I will tell the Lord about the things that I have done against him.’ When I did that, you forgave my sins.
At one time, you were dead in your spirits, because of the wrong things that you did. God had not cut off your old nature. You did not belong to his people. But now God has caused you to become alive with Christ. He has forgiven us for all the wrong things that we have done.
The king felt sorry for his servant. He forgave him for all the debt and let him go free.
If they pray in that way and they trust that God will answer them, the sick person will become well again. The Lord will cause him to become well. And God will forgive him if he has done any wrong things.
Wicked people need to change the way that they live. Evil people must stop thinking their evil thoughts. They must turn back to the Lord our God, because he will be kind to them. Yes, God will completely forgive them, if they turn back to him.
If someone has done bad things against you, do not do bad things back to them. Try to live in a good way, so that people will respect you.
We should receive much punishment for the bad things that we do. But the Lord does not punish us so much.
God has chosen you to be his own special people. You belong to him and he loves you very much. So this is how you should live: Be kind to other people and help them. Do not think that you are better than other people. Instead, respect them and be patient with them.
Then Jesus finished the story and he said, ‘You must forgive other believers completely. If you do not agree to forgive them, then my Father in heaven will do like that king did. He will punish you very much.’
But when we live in a right way, it is like living in the light. God is always in the light. So, if we live in the light, we share together in the life which God gives. And when Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross, he saved us from all our sins. The blood of his sacrifice makes us clean.
Please forgive me, God, because of your faithful love. Because you are so kind, please clean away my sins.
So he started off to return to his father. But he was still a long way from the house when his father saw him. The father felt very sorry for his son and he ran towards him. Then he put his arms around his son and he kissed him.
Do not say, ‘I will pay you back for the evil thing you did to me.’ Trust the Lord to make it right for you.
When you believed in Jesus, God saved you because he is very kind. You could not save yourselves, but that is God's gift to you.
But God has shown us how much he loves us. Even when we still did not obey God, Christ died on our behalf.
When God has forgiven a person's sins, they are truly happy! They may have turned against God, but when God forgives them, they are happy.
God's Son, Jesus, paid the price for our sins and he made us free. Yes, God has forgiven us.
Then he says this: ‘I will not continue to think about their sins. I will forgive them when they do not obey my laws.’
If you answer people in a kind way, it stops them being angry. But if you say cruel things, it makes people angry.
Sin will no longer have authority over you. The Law which God gave to Moses does not control your life. God's grace now controls your life.
But I want you to know this: I, the Son of Man, have authority on earth. I can forgive people for the wrong things that they have done.’ Then Jesus said to the man who could not walk, ‘Stand up. Pick up your mat and go home.’
You want me to be humble and sorry. That is the sacrifice that you want. When people are humble and they turn away from their sins, you will not refuse them.
The message is this: you must say clearly that Jesus is the Lord. Also, you must believe deep inside yourself that God raised him to life again after his death. Then God will save you.
My friends, if you see that someone among you is doing something wrong, you must warn them. Those of you who have God's Spirit should warn that person. Show them how to live in a good way. But you must be kind and patient with them. Be very careful yourselves, so that it does not cause you to do wrong things too.
God is able to forgive all the wrong things that people do. He also forgives the bad things that people say against other people. But God will never forgive people who say bad things against the Holy Spirit.
Praise the Lord God, as he deserves! Every day he helps us with our troubles. He is the God who keeps us safe!
So I tell you, this woman has done many bad things. But I have forgiven her. She loves me a lot, because I have forgiven her for many bad things. If I only forgive someone a little, that person only loves me a little.’
If I love people, I will be polite. I will not just want to please myself. I will not quickly become angry. If someone does a wrong thing against me, I will not keep it in my thoughts.
David also wrote about the same thing. He describes those people that God has accepted as right with himself. God has not accepted them because they have done good things. It is his gift to them. David tells us how happy people like that are.David says: ‘The people that God has forgiven are truly happy. They have done wrong things, but he has forgiven them.A person is truly happy when the Lord God accepts him. The Lord does not think about that person's sin any more.’
I look towards your holy temple, and I bend down to worship you. I thank you for who you are. You love your people with a faithful love and they can always trust you. You are more famous than anyone, because you always do what you promise.
Even if our thoughts tell us that we have done something wrong, we still will not be afraid of God. We can trust God more than we trust our thoughts. He already knows everything about us.
So we should come near to God and we should not be afraid. God is our King. We can ask him to help us when we need help. We know that he will forgive us and he will be kind to us in whatever way we need.
When a fool becomes angry, everybody knows it! But a careful person keeps quiet when someone insults him.
Now we know this: God has forgiven those people who are united with Christ Jesus. God will never say that they are guilty.
Then Jesus said, ‘When other people do wrong things against you, you must forgive them. Then God, your Father in heaven, will also forgive you for the wrong things that you have done.
So we should come near to God and we should not be afraid. But we must be honest and we must continue to trust him. He has made us clean from the dirt of our sins. Our thoughts no longer give us trouble about our sins. It is like he has washed our bodies with clean water.
When Christ died on the cross, he carried our sins in his own body. He took this punishment so that sin would no longer rule over us. Instead, we can now do the right things that God wants us to do. Because people hurt Christ's body, you have now become well.
Lord, I am very upset, so please be kind to me. My eyes are tired because I weep so much. My whole body has become very weak.
Lord, I am crying aloud to you because I have great trouble.My Lord God, please listen to me! I am asking you to be kind and help me.
Christ has accepted you, so you must accept each other. In that way you will be praising God.
As it says in the Bible: ‘Everyone who calls out to the Lord God for help will be safe.’
I was very upset, so I called to the Lord to help me. The Lord answered me. He made me free from my trouble.
My Christian friends, God has chosen you to serve him as free people. But you are still weak and human. So you are not free to do anything that you might want to do. Instead, you must serve one another, because you love each other.
All people have done wrong things. Nobody is as good as God in his glory wants them to be.
My little children, I am writing to you because God has forgiven your sins. He has done this because of Christ.
A person who is patient is better than a brave soldier. If you can control your anger, you can win any battle.
When you are angry, do not do anything bad as a result. Once the day comes to an end, do not continue to be angry.