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We must always remember that God created the human body the way it is. Many people don't understand that, and so they tend to categorize emotions as being either "bad or good" emotions rather than realize God created them to be able to feel and experience the range of emotions, from happiness to sadness, from anger to laughter, from uncertainty to confidence. God created each emotion for a reason and sin and hurt only result when we use the emotions out of their proper place. {adlib on perfect hatred}

Many people do not understand that God ordained the human body to be the way it is. I remember the stories of how the doctors in olden times believed that people got sick because of "bad blood" and so when a person was sick, they practiced the art of "blood letting, cutting a vein and draining out large quantities of blood to "let out some of the bad blood." In practicing their misunderstanding, they killed a lot of people that would have recovered had the white blood cells in the blood been given a chance to fight the infection. Our first president, George Washington died because of a great loss of blood, due to his doctors deciding to cure a cold with blood letting. If the doctors would only have trusted in the Bible more than their ideologies. In Leviticus it states:

The life of flesh is in the blood. That's true in the physical sense. If a person loses their blood, they die. It is the blood that God ordained to disperse minerals from the food that we eat to where they are needed. It is the blood that distributes oxygen to the muscles of the body. It is the blood that carries white blood cells to attack and surround infection and viruses before they can do great harm to the body. When you cut yourself, what happens? The blood also cleanses the wound. God created it to be that way.

There of course is a spiritual parallel. In the rest of this verse, we find that God required a blood sacrifice and the application of that blood to cover sin, because God considers sin a horrible wound between him and us. {adlib: the importance of the blood, and the importance of water baptism}

God created the physical world first, and in it He set forth His laws and principles. God then formed the spiritual law second. That's why the psalmist repeat over and over that creation declares the handiwork and existence of God. An athiest or agnostic wants signs that there is a God, to which we realize there is Not a sign that exists that there is NOT a God! Creation itself declares the glory of God, and nature teaches us many lessons. Physical blood ran in the veins of Adam and Eve before they ever sinned and required a blood sacrifice. God thus based the spiritual on the physical and not the other way around. In similar fashion, Adam and Eve were husband and wife before the church ever came along. The church is based upon the family unit and is therefore only as strong as the family unit in the church. Before the church ever came along, God instituted friendships between men. Therefore our church is only as strong as the friendships that are in our church. That's why the devil attacks our relationships with each other, and that's why it's so easy to tear down a brother or a sister, rather than do the right think, Satan knows that if he can destroy the relationships within a church, then pretty soon there will be no church at all, or at least not a very effective one. The Devil managed to tear down some relationships in this church in the past and thought he had won, but guess what? {adlib}

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The book of proverbs has an interesting scripture that I have never preached from and have never heard preached but would like to do so tonight. We have been talking how that the spiritual principle comes from the physical laws put in place in the human body by God.

What this means is that when a wound bruises and scabs and, to us, looks horrendous, that is actually a sign of a healing process that has begun! The blueness of a bruise is the sign that damaged capillaries have released extra blood into the area to begin healing. There is two types of wounds: one that is still open, festered and sore, and one that has healed. A serious wound that has healed usually leaves some type of scar. I have bunches of scars and scars diminish over time but never truly go away.

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In our text, we read perhaps some of my favorite chapters from which to preach and teach. Let me remind you that Jesus has scars. The Jewish people were the chosen people whom God revealed His mighty plan for mankind. I could list 100,000s of names of Jewish men in the Bible whom God walked with and walked with closely! When God came in flesh, and the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she conceived, God chose a Jewish couple to raise himself up in Galilee. It was to the Jewish people that Jesus at first came to save. It was over the capital city of the Jewish people, Jerusalem, that Jesus wept because He knew that it would be destroyed if they rejected Him. Jesus was hurt by the people that He loved the most, and the only time we see Jesus weeping in scriptures is over Jews that had no faith! Twice Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth wanting to do great miracles there, and twice was rejected to the point of almost being stoned by His own family and friends. None of Jesus' brothers and sisters believed He was for real, until He appeared to them AFTER the resurrection. You see it took Jesus going through persecution and dying to win His own family, and we wonder why people in our families aren't any different to us!?! Jesus' own disciples ALL forsook Him and fled at the time that He needed them most, and when the beloved Jewish people were given the choice between releasing Jesus to them or releasing a mass murderer Barabas, they lustily cheered "give us Barrabas, crucify Him!" Jesus was tortured and killed by the people that He loved the most, and Jesus has scars. Jesus was wounded, by those whom He wanted to trust with the good news of His coming.

Jesus had wounds upon His head from where the soldiers mockingly thrust down the crown made of 2 inch thorns into His scalp. Jesus had severe wounds across His back and legs and neck where the cat of nine tails whip literally tore the flesh down to the bone. Jesus' hands were completely punctured with nails and the small bones of His hands and feet were completely crushed. In addition the wrists and ankles of His body bore the sores and wounds from where the weight of His body trying to breathe drove the rough ropes into His skin. After Jesus died, the soldier thrust his spear into His side causing a massive wound that opened up the chest cavity and allowed blood and water to flow from His side, proof that Jesus Christ literally died of a broken heart, and remember the blood symbolized that healing was about to take place! Is it no coincidence that the blood of Jesus is applied through the washing of water at water baptism?! No doubt that Jesus had bruises and scratches and wounds covering His hands, arms, and legs from falling while trying to carry that heavy cross through the streets.

When Jesus was resurrected, He returned to the very disciples that had forsaken Him. When He ascended, He did so only after promising to come again. We study with interest how Jesus acted and conducted Himself while in His glorified body, because one day we will have a glorified body and be like Him! {adlib on the characteristics of the body}

God has turned from the Jewish people for now. Because they rejected Him, the Jews have been heavily persecuted throughout history. They were driven from their homeland. And God has turned the center of spiritual activity from Israel to the church of Christ. To those who have been born of the water and of the Spirit.

But God has given Israel back their land, and pretty soon a new temple will be built, and a great time of trouble will begin and God will come back for His church body. And then God will cast the Jewish people into the vials of His wrath. The scriptures state that they will be cast into the "winepress of the wrath of God." And immediately after the Rapture of the church, the jewish people will be bombarded with plagues, and hail, and earthquakes and boils. Then Russia will lead the one world armies against Israel, and in the battle that we call Armageddon, the Jews will go out 160 miles from Jerusalem to meet that army in the valley of Meggidon. The Bible records that they will be slaughtered and will retreat, and that the blood will run for the 160 miles back to Jerusalem. Nuclear warfare will be used because the prophets prophesied about men's skin literally melting away from their bones before they hit the ground dead. During this battle Zechariah records in the chapter in which we read tonight that 2/3s of the Jewish people will be killed. The remains of the Jewish army will retreat until they are just outside the eastern gate of Jerusalem and the city people will rush out to help them and cry out to God, and when they do, Jesus will return again to the same mount outside the eastern gate from which He ascended. The armies of heaven will be with Him, and will fight for Israel that day, and Jesus will give Israel the victory! I'm glad I know I'm on the winning side.

The texts that we read detail some of the events of the Jews rushing out to meet Jesus when He suddenly descends to save them. What I want you to notice is the dialouge between the Jews and Jesus:

Jesus is in His glorified body, and yet when they rush out to Him they still see the SCARS of the wounds that He received. The SCARS of the Wounds were still visible in His hands!!!! Then I want you to notice Jesus' words: He called them friends!

There is a powerful message in all of this on forgiveness. The scripture teaches us that to inherit eternal life, we must become like Jesus is. We are going to be wounded by those whom we love the most. For a person to hurt you, you have to love them and trust them somewhat, or it wouldn't hurt to be separated from them! God allows the devil to attack our relationships on purpose, because it gives us wounds which if allowed to heal properly will leave scars! That supposed to be a good thing! You will never forget that someone has hurt you. Even when you truly forgive, you will never forget what has happened to you, and neither will they! Even after Jesus received His glorified body, He still bore the scars of the wounds that He received from those whom He loved the most! Jesus will never be able to forget the wrong that was done to Him, all He has to do is look down at His hands and feet and side to remind Himself! The scars are still there!

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In case you have not realized, my message tonight is on forgiveness. The majority of us have a warped view on forgiveness and what forgiveness really is. We have been taught that if we truly forgive someone, then the scars go away, but that's not true, even when you get to heaven, you will still remember the time so and so hurt you, and will bear the scars even in your glorified body! I know I'm shocking some of you, but I have felt the liberty in the spirit this week to deal with some misconceptions tonight.

Get this:

Forgiveness is releasing someone from debt, not causing that person to owe you anything. There is a difference between saying the words "I forgive you" and really forgiving the person until you feel that they do not owe you anything. You will always remember your sins, and being washed in His name doesn't erase them from your memory, but you need to know that when Jesus forgave you of your sins, then He blotted them out with His blood. What does that really mean? That means that He died innocently and so He transfers the price He paid when He had no debt to cover your debt, When Jesus forgives, He actually releases us from the sinful debt that we owed, we should have to die because of our sins, but when Jesus forgives, He completely forgives, and that's why the scripture says that they are not remembered anymore, the word there in the greek means to bring to the forefront of the mind, or to make a decision influenced by. Jesus will always have a memory of what you have done because your scars remind Him of them. But Jesus does not deal with us according to our sins, He has truly forgiven, because he has removed the debt that we should have paid! {Adlib the rich man forgiving 1,000,0000 and then 20$}

Christians get hurt by the people that they love the most. That is the will of God, but we must learn to allow the wounds that our brother and sister have inflicted upon us, to heal! There are two common errors that Christians make when they are hurt:

1. Don't forgive refuse to release the person from the debt that they feel they owe.

2. Say the words "I forgive" but don't really forgive. Forgiveness is a choice, not an emotion. You can choose to forgive someone. Christians have been taught to say the words "I forgive," because it's what we are supposed to do, but if the situation still hinders you spiritually, if you still do not have trust in a person, and if you still bring the past up to the forefront of your mind when a person does something, then you have not truly forgiven that person! You have become bitter. You can always tell a person that has bitterness and unforgivness in their heart by whether or not they look for the good things in a person or the bad things in a person. {adlib: Bitter people always look for faults to blame and not love to nurture}

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You will always remember the incident, and will bear the scars, but I want you to notice the difference between the wound and the scar. A scar is a wound that has been allowed to heal by now poking and continually reopening the wound. You can't constantly reopen the wound, for it will never heal. Remember the words of our other text:

Stop talking about something that happened. If you constantly bring up and talk about stuff that happened in the past, then you are not allowing the wound to heal, and have not really forgiven! Because if you have truly forgiven, then you do not hold that person indebted to you for the incident, and if you do not hold them responsible for the incident anymore, then why are you bringing it up? {adlib: like when so and so's name comes up, you mention well, I'll tell you what happened last time, just to warn you. That's proof that you haven't forgiven them!}

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Notice the following about the scars that Jesus still has because of the Jews and notice the lessons learned from them:

1. Jesus' scars were produced by the very people whom He loved the most and his family and relatives and church members.

2. Jesus has allowed the process of time that has taken place since the crucifixion to bring Him closer to the Jews and will give them a second chance of salvation!

3. Jesus will use the scars on His hands to prove His love for the Jewish people! To cause them to believe in Him.

And that is why God causes wounds, because through the healing process, scars are produced and when we have the same attitude Jesus has about His scars, we are able to better show the love of God through our life!

Notice that the Jewish people did not accept salvation the first time, but after they see the man with the scars come back to save them, they will be saved! What is the difference between Jesus coming the first time and the second coming? The scars!!!!!

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Thomas story how his unbelief was cured by Jesus allowing him to see the scars...

Scars with love and forgiveness cure unbelief!

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We should not talk about the wounds that we have received from others to other people, but we should tell them to God and then truly forgive: relieve people of the debt of having hurt us!

David tells us what it was like to not confess his sins to God and then what happened when he was willing to repent:

Someone said that I just need to tell someone! Yes but not another brother and sister about the hurt, tell God, and truly forgive them! Let the wound heal and reach out again to your brother and sister with the scars. If they mention the scars, then say "yes these were wounds that I received in the house of my friends" but I choose to forgive you and I choose to love you. That is when true salvation can take place!!!!!