Introduction: Matthew 18:21-22

1. Forgiveness is about conversations. (v. 15-17)

• The power of private appeal
• A direct conversation is true “love.”
  • “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18)

2. Forgiveness is about decisions.

• The “legal” nature of forgiveness B. Forgiveness and the cross
  • “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” 
 (Colossians 2:13-14)

3. Forgiveness is about memories.

• The nature of a memory: a “tree”
• “Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. ‘For,’ he said, ‘God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.’ The name of the second he called Ephraim, ‘For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.’” (Genesis 41:51-52)