Louie Giglio - The Chain-Breaking Power of Forgiveness
This collection is called «Astonishing,» and it is all rooted in the idea from Acts chapter 4 of Peter and John being filled with the Holy Spirit, going up to the temple, and, in the name of Jesus, speaking healing over a lame man. The man walks after years of not being able to walk, and people are astonished that he was healed. Then, they start preaching about the power of Jesus who healed him. In the next chapter, they are dragged before the authorities, and they speak boldly to them while preaching the gospel.
Luke records in Acts chapter 4 that all the religious leaders of the day, hearing them preach, were astonished. They noted that these were ordinary and unschooled men, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. In other words, they knew these men hadn’t been to seminary and lacked theological training. No knock on that, by the way; I have been to seminary and do have theological training. You want a pastor who has theological training. However, these men were fishermen who had followed Jesus, seen Him dead, buried, and raised from the dead, now filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and moving in the power of God’s spirit, preaching boldly.
As they did this, the well-educated religious leaders were astonished and remarked, «These are ordinary men; these unschooled men have been with Jesus.» The whole idea of this collection of talks is to live a life that leads to the question «why.» In other words, to live a life in the power of the Spirit that elicits the question from someone in your world: «What is your deal?» I believe that should be ordinary and normal for every Christian who is filled with the life of Jesus and the Spirit of God, living a life that is above normal. This life should say to the world, «If you want to see something different, you can see it in me because Christ lives in me.» Amen.
A few weeks ago, when we kicked off this collection, a couple approached one of our pastors at the end of the gathering at 5:15 and after the 11:45 session. They asked, «Is there any way we can talk to Pastor Louie?» That pastor replied, «I’m not sure where Pastor Louie is right now, but you can talk to me.» They proceeded to share their story. You may recall that the week we launched this collection, on the Saturday night before the bombing occurred in Iran, there was significant turmoil and tension in the Middle East. At the end of this gathering, this couple approached, with the man being from around here. The young lady with him, who is visiting Atlanta from her country in the Middle East, was seated in the same row during this gathering.
Her story is that she came to Atlanta from a Muslim background to study at an undergraduate school here. She joined a study group where this guy was included. As the study group progressed, she observed that this guy was different from anyone she had ever met before. After some time, she finally built the courage to ask him, «I’ve never met anybody like you before.» When she shared her story with one of our pastors at the end of the gathering, she exclaimed, «This guy was astonishing. Everything about him was astonishing.» She kept looking at him, thinking, «This guy is astonishing.» Eventually, she asked him, «What is your deal?» He replied, «When the door is open, Jesus is my deal. Jesus lives in me. Jesus has changed my life. I have committed my life to follow him. If you want to know what’s going on with me, it’s Jesus.»
Their relationship blossomed from there, and more conversation ensued. God was working in her life powerfully through all of this. Footnote: don’t write anyone off on this Earth, regardless of where they’re from or whether they can have a Bible in their country. God isn’t giving up on anyone. He is giving people dreams. He is working in people’s lives at night. He is providing visions of Jesus, and He is working in her life. She encountered the song «Oceans» during this period and asked him, «What is this song about?» He explained the entire song to her and took time over the next few weeks to explain the gospel and answer every question she had about the seeking and searching in her heart. A few weeks later, or about a month later, she found herself alone in her apartment having a panic attack. She closed the bathroom door during this emotional turmoil and called on the name of Jesus, asking Him to save her life. Miraculously, she transitioned from death to life in that bathroom because of the witness of this astonishing young man.
The good news is that they are now dating. She graduated and returned home, where she told her family, «I met Jesus.» Praise God! She mentioned, «My dad is a kind man.» Therefore, she didn’t get thrown out into the street or handed over to the authorities. However, they were not happy about her decision at all. She came back to Atlanta to visit her boyfriend and his family and was present in this gathering, where she remarked, «This guy is astonishing.» We aspired to take a higher road that day. It’s not that we don’t care about issues in the world; please understand that we are 100% pro-Jesus at this church and aware of the significant happenings globally. But we also recognize that we are operating at a different altitude, a kingdom altitude.
That day, we discussed how God is moving in Iran. Separating that from the bombing and related events, we can acknowledge that God is indeed moving in Iran. There are house churches everywhere in Iran, and people are coming to know Jesus in great numbers. Is it against the law? Yes. Will a pastor be jailed? Yes. Can someone be jailed for translating Scripture? Yes. But God is moving. Just stating that resonated with her because she said, «That’s what it’s like in my country. I can’t go anywhere with a Bible; I can’t talk about my faith publicly. There’s no church nearby, and I would be persecuted or imprisoned for sharing my faith.» At least these people in this church understand that, and they recognize that God is working in spite of those challenges.
I wish I could share more details about her story—it’s incredible how God is moving. Don’t you want to be that guy? An ordinary guy, well, he is schooled; he was in an undergrad study group, which is how they met. However, he is an ordinary, unscheduled person—not on church staff, not a trained pastor—but an ordinary undergrad student in Atlanta, Georgia, living an extraordinary life. This has resulted in a girl from the Middle East waking up today, following Jesus, and worshiping Him on the Lord’s day, thanks to an ordinary person living an extraordinary, astonishing life. We followed up with them and had a Zoom conversation, where she shared, «I got baptized in a bathtub with two other Christians.» Come on! Amen! Can we not overlook the fact that we’re in church again today, singing these songs of worship, gathering together to boldly exalt the Word of God? Can we not appreciate that today? Praise God for her!
Don’t you want to be someone whose life ultimately leads to the question, «Why?» Why did you do that? Why did you say that? Why do you act like that? How do you have such peace? Why do you do what you do? What’s your deal? That is the heart of this collection. A few weeks ago, we discussed astonishing courage. Last week, across all our locations, pastors spoke about astonishing prayer from the end of Acts 4. Today, I want to focus on what I believe might be the most astonishing act of all: astonishing forgiveness.
I didn’t receive a single «amen» at 9:30 or at 11:45 when I mentioned this. But I preached by faith, not by sight or sound! I know that when you say the word «forgiveness,» attention begins to rise because I’m going to suggest that most everyone in this gathering, at Cumberland, Trillith, or 5:15, online, needs to seek forgiveness from someone for something. I would bet that most everyone also has something done to you, and ultimately, you need to find freedom today in forgiving.
When we talk about astonishing forgiveness, we’re ultimately discussing the heart of God. We looked at the text in Acts 3 and 4, where Peter and John are preaching and discussing the crucifixion of Jesus. To catch us all up, when we are in Acts 3 and 4, Jesus was crucified only about 60 days prior. This isn’t a distant memory; the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus happened just 60 or 70 days ago at most, and Jesus ascending to heaven could have been just last week or two weeks ago. This is all very fresh! The Holy Spirit has just come to fill believers, and everything is new. They’re preaching about the crucifixion and know they are addressing a Jewish audience at this moment in the temple. This is what they preach in verse 19: «Repent then and turn to God.»
That’s the same phrase in both directions, because repentance means turning to God. Repentance means I was going my way, but now I’ll turn around and go God’s way. Repentance means I was doing it my way, but now I’ll turn around and admit my way is wrong, and I’ll do it God’s way. So they preach repentance and turning to God, so your sins may be wiped out and that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. This is the gospel, which we are preaching today: Stop going your way! Admit that your way is not the right way! Turn to God, and God, through Christ, will forgive you. Not incrementally or superficially, but He will wipe out your sin. This is the gospel: not «repent and turn to God, and if you do good for a day, God will be kind for a day,» or «if you take a significant step toward Him, He’ll take a strong step toward you.» No! If you turn from your way and come through Christ to God in repentance, He’ll wipe your sins out. Wipe them out!
The text implies that He’ll blot them out. It’s like this idea: let me remind you that even one sin will cause you to fall short of the glory of God. One sin is enough to separate you from the perfection of God. That is what Scripture teaches! But none of us are in that boat anyway, right? Nobody’s in the one sin boat. No, we all have many sins! I was going to take the time to calculate how many pages that would be if we wrote out every thought, every attitude, every word, everything we’ve done, every time we’ve chosen our way over God’s. In that one season where it was more like this, and then that season and that season where I might have been a bit better, how many pages would that be? The gospel today says «repent and turn to God, and your sins will be wiped out.»
When they drove nails through Jesus' feet and hands, they mocked Him, spit on Him, cursed Him, and jeered at Him. They even ripped His beard out, with Him dying as the holy Son of God for the sins of the world. Even one of those who crucified Him realized it and exclaimed, «At the end, this was a righteous man.» Nobody had been in our line of crucifixion like that man, and no one had ever said what Jesus said when He was dying on the cross. Luke recorded it: He looked down at those jeering, cursing, and mocking Him—the ones who had driven nails into His flesh—and from the cross, He said those words: «Father, forgive them.» Astonishing forgiveness! A holy God through a perfect Son to everyone who turns to Him, wiping out their sins.
That’s how the psalmist wrote it in Psalm 103: «The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever. For He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.» He wiped them out!
You know, it’s interesting that when Luke recounts Jesus saying, «Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do,» he mentions that Jesus also said, «I thirst.» So they took a pole and held a sponge with sour wine to Jesus' mouth. The pole specifically mentioned in Luke was a hyssop branch. You may be thinking, «Who cares about the hyssop branch? What does it matter? It’s just a piece of wood from a tree.» The hyssop branch was first introduced to us during the Passover when the Jews were instructed by God to put the blood of an innocent lamb over the doorpost of their homes so that the angel of death would pass over. God instructed them to take the branch of a hyssop tree. Why? Because this branch, with its big clumpy flowers, made for an excellent paintbrush.
They would dip the big clumpy flowers of the hyssop down and use it to paint over the door so that Luke records specifically that we understand when Jesus was on the cross, they lifted the hyssop branch to Him. Why? Because He was the ultimate eternal paintbrush of God, blotting out the sins and transgressions of the whole wide world. He was wiping our sins away as far as the east is from the west, and God isn’t bringing them up to you. When you come to God today as a believer in Christ, He doesn’t say, «Oh, good morning. Before we get into your quiet time and devotion today, could we go back to the summer of 1998?» No, He isn’t doing that. You might wonder why you thought about it this morning during your devotion—it’s because the enemy is trying to bring it back up to you.
He is always moving to see who understands the gospel and who comprehends that for those who turn to God, their sins are wiped out, wiped out as far as the east is from the west. So our first stop today is to ask the question: Have you received the forgiveness of God? Or are you still carrying burdens? Are you carrying guilt, shame, and condemnation? Are you still burdened by the weight of your failures because the enemy convinced you that you must pay for it, and you haven’t fully embraced the fact that Jesus already did? When you repented and turned to God, He wiped your sin out!
Take off that backpack of guilt! It has already been placed on Jesus. You can take that backpack off. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You can take that backpack off! The shame was placed on him. Isaiah said He was made to be a guilt offering for you so that you could wake up today and approach a God who has removed your sins as far as the east is from the west, and say, «Thank you today that my sins have been blotted out! The ultimate hyssop branch of all hyssop branches, Jesus Himself, has blotted and wiped out my sin. I am forgiven today!» Astonishing forgiveness is my story today. I awake again today in astonishing forgiveness, with God accomplishing what I could never do in my life.
I want to ask you today: Have you received that? And if not, why not? God is offering to wipe out your sin today. I pray that someone will receive that. Perhaps someone who is a believer, someone who has been coming to church today for the 150th time, yet still carries shame. I hope today you say, «Oh, wow! What am I doing?» and that you will receive His forgiveness. I pray that applies to all of us because the rest of this talk is moot if we haven’t embraced that our sins have been wiped away. If we have embraced that, we can take the next step. I believe the next step is to understand that probably the greatest demonstration of our comprehension of the gospel is our willingness to forgive.
The greatest demonstration of our comprehension of the gospel is our willingness to forgive because the gospel is about forgiveness. This is how Paul wrote it in Ephesians chapter 4: «Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as—in Christ—God forgave you.» This pivotal moment in this verse is essential because it all hinges on what God has already done, not what we want to do or don’t want to do. He is saying, «In the same way that God in Christ forgave you, I want you to forgive one another.»
So, let’s talk about forgiveness for a moment, and I want to clarify a few things and share thoughts around it. First, forgiveness does not mean we sweep things under the rug. Some of you are already there; the enemy is already working. Some of you are holding onto unforgiveness because the enemy has placed these straw men in your story, suggesting they don’t deserve forgiveness, that they need to be held accountable, or perhaps you’ll think, «If I forgave them, they wouldn’t even accept it. They don’t even want to talk to me.» Maybe the person who hurt you is dead, not even in the story anymore. So, how can you forgive them? How can there be closure in that case? Listen, God wants to tell you today that forgiving someone for what they have done does not mean sweeping it under the rug.
Let me be clear: if something egregious has happened to you or is happening to you, you shouldn’t stay in that situation and say, «Well, I’m supposed to forgive them, so I’m going to stay here.» No! If accountability is necessary, then bring the authorities into the story. If the law has been broken, bring authorities in. But understand that forgiveness and accountability are not the same. You can forgive someone while still holding them accountable for what they have done. However, it must start from an attitude of the heart. When we say we will forgive someone, we’re not claiming, «Oh, we will just sweep all that under the rug and act like it never happened.» God did not do that with you! God did not sweep your sin under the rug; He swept all of my sin onto His Son because He is both just and the justifier of those who put their faith in Him.
The second point is that forgiveness is an attitude that understands we are transferring final and complete judgment to God. The enemy tells you, «Hey, they shouldn’t get away with it.» What’s your response to that? «You’re right; they shouldn’t.» That’s why I’m holding on to unforgiveness! No! Your response has to be: «Nobody gets away with anything.» Everyone will be held accountable for their actions before God, and you can count on that! For you to forgive means you are saying, «I’m transferring this case, this grievance, this offense to God.» That’s what Paul was speaking about in Romans chapter 12: «Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends.» Can we let the Holy Spirit allow this truth to penetrate our hearts today? Do not seek revenge. You’re thinking, «Why not? I need to take revenge! Someone has to pay!» No! «Do not take revenge, dear friends.» Why? Leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written, «It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord.»
Again, true forgiveness isn’t simply saying, «Okay, I’m going to forgive you, and then write you a letter listing all the ways you hurt me, took advantage of me, or lied to me, but I’ll forgive you because I know the wrath of God is coming for you.» No! The gospel says the wrath of God was coming for me until Christ stepped in front of it. Thank you, God! That’s the pivotal moment allowing me to do something that no ordinary person would do. Normal people don’t offer that level of forgiveness, but spirit-filled people can because of the engine of the gospel. He continues, «If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he’s thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.» Again, let the Spirit manage that. You don’t need to end the letter with a $250 dinner gift card with a note saying, «I hope every bite feels like burning coals on your head!»
The spirit of the gospel is a different spirit altogether. The third point about forgiveness to understand is that you don’t get free when forgiveness is received; you get free when forgiveness is offered. God is a forgiver not because you’ve received His forgiveness, but because He offered it. He is just and the justifier—not because you came to Him and said, «Thank you for sending Your Son for me. I receive Him and need Him and want to be forgiven.» That’s not what makes God a forgiver! What makes God a forgiver is that He paid the price to forgive you. Whether you accept it or not, He remains a forgiver. That’s the same principle for you and me.
We do not experience freedom from unforgiveness when a person says, «You’re right! I was wrong, and I’m so sorry!», and then tries to make amends. This is a wonderful gift, but that’s not when you become free. You become free when you say, «I forgive you!» The enemy has deceived many of us because some terrible things have happened to people in this room—some two weeks ago, others 27 years ago. The enemy may tell you, «You don’t need them anyway! You can forget about them!» But that’s not true! You do think about them and care about what happened to you. The enemy’s plan of just burying it isn’t effective. He’s saying, «Just push it down far; bury it as deep as you can.» Some of you have buried these things so deep that it would take a sonogram to find them. But the reality is, that thing will either rot or, worse, sprout later. When we bury it, we don’t forget it, and we cannot leave it behind! We end up tethering ourselves to it!
We think, «I’m moving on. I don’t need them. I don’t care. I’m doing fine.» The truth is that we are carrying it with us everywhere we go. You are dragging it into your adulthood, your marriage, and your relationships with your kids. Some of your kids are unknowingly carrying your unforgiveness toward those who wronged you. You are passing this burden down through generations; you’re writing a narrative of unforgiveness for all those who come after you. The enemy is so crafty, convincing you, «I won’t forgive them. They wronged me when I was helpless, but now I have control.» You’re believing you’re in control now—"I will decide if I talk to you. I will choose if I forgive you.» You think you are in control now. But you are in command to some degree through the Holy Spirit. Your main control is to say, «God, help me— I want to disconnect from this.» And, through the gospel, I want to walk free. You’re free not when it’s received, but when you offer it. It begins today, which requires most of us to take a step we might not want to take by asking God to help us dig deep. It is painful to revisit, but we must bring this burden to the foot of the cross of Christ and say, «God, because of your mercy and grace in me, I want to extend mercy and grace to this situation.» I want to forgive today—to fully, totally, and utterly release and forgive. You might say, «But they don’t deserve it.» No one does!
None of us deserved it, but thank God He has extended astonishing forgiveness to me and to you. The final thing to mention about forgiveness—before we wrap up—is that it serves as a doorway for true intimacy and worship with God. Matthew wrote it this way: «Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, and go and be reconciled to them. Then come and offer your gift.» In other words, it’s backwards for us to come in today.
Do you know what we sang about today? Our worship was rooted in the forgiveness of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God, and the goodness of a holy God who forgives those of us who don’t deserve it. That is what our worship was built upon today! What God is saying is, «How can you come and thank Me for My mercy while holding onto a grievance with someone—perhaps even in the room?» He says, «You need to leave your gift at the altar, set your song of worship aside for a moment, and go to them. Make that right. Then, come back and you’ll find a new level of intimacy with God and the possibility of worship when you live out forgiveness.»
So, two questions as we conclude today: Is there anyone you need to forgive? Now, I am not a psychologist, psychiatrist, or certified counselor, and perhaps you are seeking professional help in your life. You might want to navigate through this with someone who can assist. But, just a few practical observations before we close: The way in which you forgive will be unique to your situation. You may not need to confront the person to forgive them. In fact, confronting them might lead to the worst possible outcome today. The enemy would lead you to believe that confronting them will escalate the situation. But the truth is, you can still forgive them—hello! —without confronting them.
Forgiveness is about releasing. You could sit down today, write a letter to them—even if you can’t contact them. You might say, «Dear so and so, God’s spirit is moving in me, and by His grace, I want to forgive you for all the ways you hurt, lied to, or abandoned me. Today, in Jesus' power, I fully release everything I’ve held against you. From this day forward, by the grace of God, I entrust you to Almighty God and pray He would have mercy on you. I forgive you.» What do you do with the letter? Save it as a reminder of the miracle-working power of God!
You don’t need to confront them to forgive them. Forgiveness is about releasing in your heart. Secondly, is there anyone you need to ask forgiveness from? The text we read in Romans 12 says, «As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.» It doesn’t say «as far as it depends on them.» It’s «as far as it depends on you.» A few months ago, I found myself driving past a location that is part of my usual route. Each time I passed it, the Holy Spirit pressed on me to «make it right.» Things had gone sideways in the past, and while I didn’t believe I was entirely wrong, I also recognized I wasn’t 100% right. The Holy Spirit would say to me every time, «Make it right.»
I would respond: «Nah, it’s been a long time. I’ve moved on.» The Holy Spirit would persist: «Make it right.» I’d think, «That might be awkward. They probably don’t want me to make it right.» I heard the prompt again and finally made the decision to stop stalling. One day, I gave in to the Spirit’s prompting and said, «Okay, you will never have to tell me again!» So I sat down at my desk, penned a letter, and said, «You know what? Things didn’t go as either of us wanted, but I want to take total ownership of my part and ask for your forgiveness.»
I offered an olive branch in my letter, expressing love. You might think, «If I wrote that letter, they wouldn’t accept it,» but that’s not the point! Who might you need to ask to forgive you? This talk doesn’t end with, «Man, I have so many great notes.» It concludes with, «Holy Spirit, what are You asking me to do?» For many of you, it’s time to dig up the potato that has lingered for too long and walk free! Don’t you want to know how to ask someone, «Why did you forgive them?»