And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12

There are three very important debts we must identify which we owe unto God. When we come before the Lord to ask for forgiveness, we must identify each individual debt. Let's look at these three debts.

We have a debt of duty to worship and render perfect obedience under the covenant of works which God made with Adam. We are indebted to the Lord to render perfect obedience unto the law, and we are not able to do this. So, when we come before the Lord asking for forgiveness of our debts, we must ask Him to forgive the debt we have for perfect obedience that we are not able to perform. All true worship must begin with a holy reverence for God and His Holy Will.

We have a debt for the penalty of transgressing the law. You and I are not capable of paying that debt. I want to explain now why hell fire is eternal. It is because we are not able to pay it in full because every hour of every day we are still transgressing against Him. We are incapable of rendering perfect obedience.

We keep compounding the problem. Therefore, we have a debt we cannot pay. We could suffer in hell for all eternity and still never pay that debt. Why was Christ able to pay the debt for His church? He was without sin, and He rendered perfect obedience to the Father's Will. He was capable of first rendering perfect satisfaction to the law by obedience which is imputed to His bride.

It was through Christ's obedience unto death, "...even the death of the cross," PHI 2:8, that He paid the debt of His bride. He did not compound the problem with sin of His own; so when He paid the debt for His bride, it was fully satisfied.

The third debt we are incapable of paying is a debt of gratitude. When you and I see how Christ sweat His own blood to pay the penalty of our sins, we are not capable of paying the debt of gratitude we owe. Our hearts by nature do not carry the quality of gratitude the Lord deserves.