The Art Of Forgiveness | Exec. Pastor Tim Crossno

Devotional

Day 1: Blood and Breath on the Cross

Jesus hung naked before mocking soldiers. His lungs fought for air as nails pinned his hands. Yet He gasped: “Father, forgive them.” Blood dripped where soldiers had gambled for His clothes. The man who ordered His torture stood nearby. Jesus forgave them all with His dying breath. [44:19]

This moment reveals God’s heart. Jesus didn’t wait for apologies or signs of remorse. He forgave first – executioners, false witnesses, cowardly disciples. His forgiveness flowed from divine strength, not human sentiment.

You’ve been wronged. The wound feels fresh years later. Jesus shows how to break the cycle: speak forgiveness before feelings change. Who have you been waiting to “deserve” your mercy?

“And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’”
(Luke 23:34, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to help you speak forgiveness today for one specific hurt, even if your heart resists.

Challenge: Write the name of someone who hurt you on paper. Below it, write: “I choose to forgive as Jesus forgave.”

Day 2: Seventy Times Seven

Peter thought seven forgivenesses proved spiritual maturity. Jesus multiplied it: “Not seven, but seventy-seven.” The disciples’ jaws dropped. Rabbis taught forgiving three times was sufficient. Jesus demanded limitless grace. [39:51]

God measures our forgiveness by His own. He doesn’t count how many times He’s pardoned your repeated failures. When we ration mercy, we mock the cross where Christ paid an infinite debt.

That coworker keeps gossiping. Your spouse repeats the same hurtful habit. Jesus says: Track their repentance no more than God tracks yours. What relationship have you been auditing with a ledger?

“Then Peter came up and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.’”
(Matthew 18:21-22, ESV)

Prayer: Confess areas where you’ve kept forgiveness score. Ask for grace to erase the tally.

Challenge: Destroy one physical reminder of a past offense (a screenshot, letter, or object).

Day 3: The Unforgiving Servant’s Ledger

A servant begged mercy for a debt equal to 160,000 years’ wages. The king erased it all. Minutes later, this same servant throttled a man who owed him three months’ pay. When the king heard, he reinstated the original debt. [52:54]

We act like that servant when we withhold forgiveness. Our sins required Christ’s blood. Others’ sins against us required only His grace. To demand repayment is to insult the cross.

You’ve rehearsed that person’s offenses like a debt collector. But your own forgiven sins would fill libraries. Whose “account” do you need to close today?

“And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him.”
(Matthew 18:27-28, ESV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for canceling your unpayable debt. Ask Him to expose any choking grip you still have.

Challenge: Text/Call someone you’ve struggled to forgive. Say: “I’m working through forgiveness. Please pray for me.”

Day 4: Praying Poison Back

Jesus taught: “If you do not forgive others, your Father won’t forgive you.” He attached this harsh warning to the Lord’s Prayer. Unforgiveness poisons both our prayers and our souls. [39:22]

God cannot pour fresh grace into clenched fists. When we withhold mercy, we block the pipeline of His forgiveness. The cross’s blood flows both ways – cleansing us and flowing through us.

What prayers feel unanswered? Could unforgiveness be clogging the channel? Is there someone whose face makes your stomach knot during worship?

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
(Matthew 6:14-15, ESV)

Prayer: Confess any bitterness as spiritual blockage. Ask God to flush your heart with His cleansing blood.

Challenge: Fast one meal. Use that time to pray blessings over someone who harmed you.

Day 5: Confession’s Cleansing Current

John writes: “If we confess, He forgives.” The Greek word for “confess” means to say the same thing – agreeing with God about our sin. Like a surgeon’s light, confession exposes infection so Christ’s blood can sterilize it. [38:49]

Unconfessed sin hardens hearts. But vulnerability before God softens them. We cannot forgive others while hiding our own failures. Transparency with Jesus prepares us to release others’ debts.

What sin have you been minimizing as “not that bad”? What forgiveness have you withheld that God wants to unlock through your own confession?

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(1 John 1:9, ESV)

Prayer: Name one specific sin aloud. Thank Jesus that His blood covers it completely.

Challenge: Write a sin you’ve hidden on paper. Burn it while declaring: “Christ’s fire purifies me.”

Sermon Summary

Forgiveness stands as a miracle made possible by the blood of Jesus and a command that is as clear as black and white. First John promises a faithful and just God who forgives confessed sin and cleanses all unrighteousness, but Matthew 6 binds that grace to a costly obedience: if a disciple forgives others, the Father forgives; if not, the Father does not. The call to forgive does not float in the air as theory. Jesus hangs it on a cross and prays, Father, forgive them. That prayer shows where real forgiveness starts and where it ends. It starts with God’s mercy, and it ends with a person’s heart laid open before that mercy.

The doctrine of forgiveness refuses shortcuts. It never denies the pain, makes excuses for evil, or forces broken relationships back into unsafe patterns. Forgiveness does not rewrite the past or remove all consequences, but it breaks the cycle of bitterness so the future can open up. The parable of the unforgiving servant makes the stakes plain. A servant forgiven an impossible debt chokes a neighbor over pocket change, and the king calls it wicked. Jesus closes the story with this razor edge: forgiveness must be from the heart. That is where the weight lives and where the shackles are unlocked.

The way forward sounds simple and feels hard. First, forgiveness remembers that the offender is human, a sinner in need of mercy just like the forgiven. This begins by asking God to soften a hardened heart that has learned to protect itself so well it can no longer hear the Spirit’s gentle voice. Second, forgiveness surrenders the right to get even. Keeping score only keeps a soul stuck, plotting payback rather than listening for God’s assignments. Third, forgiveness changes the inner posture toward the offender by obeying Jesus’s command: love enemies, bless those who curse, do good to those who hate, and pray for those who persecute. A prayer of blessing is not capitulation. It is spiritual courage that refuses to let evil write the last line.

The blood of Christ stands as the ground of pardon and the pattern for practice. Forgiveness is free to receive and costly to extend, but it is the way freedom comes. Release them and a person is released. Put the offense under the blood and the heart finds its voice again. The call is urgent and not optional. If a disciple is going to follow Jesus, then forgiveness must be free, complete, gracious, total, with no strings attached.

Key Takeaways

1. Forgiveness starts as heart work Forgiveness does not live on the lips. It lives in the place where pain has hardened into self-protection. God must soften that place so the Spirit can get through and real release can begin. Jesus ties the whole matter to forgiving from the heart, not from habit or pressure. [56:24]
2. Surrender the right to get even Vengeance feels like control, but it quietly controls the avenger. Laying down the scorecard creates space for the Spirit to lead into new assignments and a different future. Justice belongs to God, and freedom belongs to the one who lets Him handle it. [61:35]
3. Pray blessing, not payback A blessing prayer is not naïve; it is strategic obedience to Jesus that unhooks the heart from bitterness. Asking God to do good to an enemy detoxes the soul and exposes how deep the gospel has sunk in. Over time, the sting fades, and prayer becomes genuine care. [64:48]
4. Release them, and be free Releasing the offender does not erase wounds or cancel boundaries, but it breaks the inner chain that keeps replaying the harm. Freedom arrives as the heart stops carrying what Christ already carried. The past stays in the past, and the future opens up. [50:49]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[35:48] - Open your heart to receive
[37:08] - Testimony of undeserved forgiveness
[38:49] - 1 John 1:8-9 promise
[39:06] - Forgive to be forgiven
[39:51] - Seventy times seven
[43:54] - Father, forgive them
[44:57] - Once-for-all blood atonement
[46:36] - Plan of salvation laid out
[52:23] - Parable of the unforgiving servant
[54:34] - What forgiveness is not
[58:34] - Three steps to forgive
[64:19] - Pray blessing for enemies
[67:44] - Forgiveness is not optional
[71:09] - Invitation and prayer

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Matthew 18:21-35 (ESV)
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Observation Questions

In the parable, how does the king respond when the servant pleads for mercy, and how does this contrast with the servant’s later actions toward his fellow debtor?
According to the sermon, what are three things forgiveness does not do (e.g., deny pain, excuse evil, etc.)? [54:34]
What specific command does Jesus give in Matthew 5:44 about how to treat those who harm us, and how does the sermon connect this to forgiveness? [43:02]

Interpretation Questions

Why does Jesus use the hyperbole of “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22) to answer Peter’s question about forgiveness? What does this reveal about the nature of forgiveness in God’s kingdom?
The parable ends with a warning that God will withhold forgiveness from those who refuse to forgive others. How does this align with the sermon’s emphasis on forgiveness as both a “miracle” and a “command”? [37:59]
The sermon states, “Forgiveness does not rewrite the past or remove all consequences, but it breaks the cycle of bitterness.” How does the parable illustrate this tension between releasing debt (forgiveness) and accountability (consequences)?

Application Questions

The sermon urges believers to “surrender the right to get even” as a step toward forgiveness. What practical action could you take this week to release a specific offense or person from your “scorecard”? [01:01:35]
Praying blessings for those who hurt us is called “strategic obedience” in the sermon. Is there someone in your life you need to pray for in this way? What would a genuine prayer of blessing for them sound like? [01:04:48]
The parable emphasizes forgiving “from the heart.” What inward attitude or habit (e.g., resentment, replaying past hurts) do you need to bring to God for softening so forgiveness can take root? [56:24]
The sermon warns that unforgiveness “changes your personality” and blocks the Holy Spirit’s voice. How might releasing a long-held grudge free you to hear God’s guidance in a new area of your life? [59:13]
Jesus’ prayer on the cross—“Father, forgive them”—modeled releasing offenders even amid ongoing harm. Is there a situation where you need to forgive someone before they apologize or change? What makes this difficult?

Sermon Clips

33s

“``You know, forgiveness is not an optional part of the Christian life. It's very hard. I get it. It's black and white. If you don't forgive, he's not gonna forgive you. I I I get that. That's hard. But I said before, this is a principle in the scripture that we have to follow, and we have to learn how to do that. It's not optional. It's a necessary part of what it means to be a Christian. If we're gonna follow Jesus, we must forgive.”

42s

“Forgiveness is a wonderful gift. It's nothing short of a miracle. Yeah. Because we've been forgiven god's word and Jesus teaching instructs us that we need to learn to forgive others. Forgiveness is probably one of the most challenging but freeing principles that's in the word of god. If you've ever struggled to forgive someone or to forgive yourself, you're not alone. It's hard. Thus, the title of the sermon today, we're going to talk a little bit about the art of forgiveness. Forgiveness is about healing a hurt that you never deserved.”

31s

“Carry those chains of bitterness around. You can carry those around if you want to. Those are heavy, and you can continue to carry that around as long as you want to. Is it is it waiting that other person down? Is it waiting that other situation down? No. Who's it waiting down? You. Me. It's waiting waiting me down. I have to let go of it. I'm not getting even. I give it up. God forgive them. Begin to pray prayers of blessings for them. If you'll do those three steps, I promise you, you'll begin to feel a release.”

27s

“Gotta give it up. You'll spend your whole life plotting, looking, and searching for a way to get even. Yeah. All that time you wasted, you could have been listening to what? The holy spirit guiding you, leading you about helping this person or helping that person or ministering to that person or doing this or that. You spend your time plotting. How am I going to get even? Yeah. You're never going to get that forgiveness and that release until you stop. Okay, I give it up.”

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The Art Of Forgiveness | Exec. Pastor Tim Crossno | 05.17.2026