Riverside, Calif. (April 4, 2016) – "We need forgiveness and we need to give it too," Dr. Jeff Iorg told California Baptist University students at chapel on April 4.

Iorg is a pastor, author and president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. Prior to his service at the seminary, he was executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention for nearly 10 years.  

Iorg taught from Matthew 18:21-35, where Jesus presents the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.

"There are two principles that Jesus teaches out of this passage," Iorg said. "First that we need forgiveness and the other that we must forgive others."

Iorg said that just as the king forgave the servant of a debt he could never pay back, so God offers the opportunity for forgiveness for all those who ask for it.

"This is the good news, we can be forgiven," he said. "You can go to God and ask God to forgive you and He will."

The second part of the principle of forgiveness might be more difficult to do, Iorg said.

"We have to learn to forgive those who have hurt you deeply," he explained. "We must learn to forgive those who wounded you in a way you didn't deserve."

Iorg gave a personal example from his past.

"My dad was a violent alcoholic man that beat my mom," he expressed. "I despised him and carried along bitterness and anger into adulthood. I tried to mask these feelings by becoming a perfectionist."

"I had a friend who saw through the mask of perfectionism and confronted me on the issue of forgiveness," Iorg recalled. "He then helped me work through forgiveness for several years."

"Failing to forgive the other person doesn't do any harm to the other person, just yourself," Iorg said. "Forgiveness sets you free."

Iorg said forgiveness does not mean the absence of consequences. Rather, it is coming to the belief that God will deal with the people that harmed you.