Forgiveness and Justice
Pastor Tan Thai · Jun 3, 2018
This sermon explores forgiveness as a supremely precious spiritual blessing that God grants to those who believe in Christ, while clarifying that forgiveness does not mean ignoring justice. Believers are called to forgive because God first forgave them, and faith in His absolute justice is the very foundation that makes forgiving others possible.
The sermon opens by placing forgiveness within the framework of Ephesians 1:3-14, where the apostle Paul enumerates the spiritual blessings received by those who are in Christ. The pastor emphasizes that the forgiveness of sins is the first and most important blessing — without it, no other spiritual blessing can be received. Forgiveness is defined as absorbing the loss and damage that the offender ought to bear, reflecting God's love as expressed in Christ.
The second section reminds listeners that forgiveness is a courageous choice, not a natural emotion. The pastor uses several illustrations — a couple who slept in separate rooms for decades because neither would admit fault, and the biblical examples of Abraham, Esau, Joseph, Moses, and David. Jesus' teaching in Matthew 6:14-15 and the parable of the two servants in Matthew 18 are cited to underscore the grave consequence of refusing to forgive: those who withhold forgiveness will themselves not be forgiven by God.
The sermon's central section addresses the key question: how can forgiveness and justice be reconciled? The pastor examines legal and social definitions of justice, then affirms that true justice must be grounded in God's absolute standard rather than in majority opinion or earthly power. The case of Dr. Larry Nassar and the testimony of Rachael Denhollander are used to illustrate that it is precisely faith in God's absolute justice that enables a victim to forgive the one who wronged them.
The pastor makes clear that forgiveness does not mean agreeing with or accepting wrongdoing. We can forgive a person while still hating their sin — just as Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery without condoning her sin, or as the father welcomed the prodigal son home without approving of what he had done. The hope in God's righteous judgment — the assurance that He will one day right every injustice — is both the motivation and the foundation for genuine forgiveness.