I want to ask you a very important and penetrating question this morning to set the stage for our sermon today. Please answer it in the quietness of your own heart but with utter honesty. Do you have a forgiving spirit? Do you have a forgiving spirit?

You could probably answer this question with both a yes and no. When it comes to the difficult subject of forgiveness, there are always limitations, conditions, circumstances, and varying qualifications to the answer we give.

However, as we gather this morning, we know that forgiveness is central to the living out of the Christian faith. We pray every week in our Lord's Prayer the following petition: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." We further recite week after week in the Apostles' Creed, "I believe…