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| SERMON # 120 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. MAT 6:12 Jesus gave the Lord's Prayer as a pattern for prayer in answer to the request of His disciples as we find in LUK 11:1, "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." We must take notice that the disciples heard the Lord Jesus offer a prayer; then they asked the Lord to teach them how to pray so they might receive what they were praying for by using the right prayer. In LUK 11 the Lord Jesus told them how to pray, giving them the Lord's Prayer; then He follows with LUK 11:5, "And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves." Jesus went on to explain the importunity (persistence in demanding) of prayer. Then He pointed out the pattern of prayer must not only be that of the Lord's Prayer, but it must be a prayer of importunity. We must come as a woman in travail; we must be delivered. It is not a matter of a flippant request before going on to something else. Our prayers must come with urgency and importunity. This pattern must be followed; Jesus set out the order of the priorities of what we need in our prayers if they are to reach His ear and be heard. MAT 6:9 says, "After this manner therefore pray ye." That does not necessarily mean we must recite the Lord's Prayer as a form prayer; that was not the Lord Jesus' intent. He was teaching a pattern of prayer, and the pattern must be followed if we are to come to Him with an acceptable prayer. The Lord's Prayer begins with "Our Father," and it teaches us the right posture of the heart toward our neighbour as the first priority for success in prayer. It isn't "My Father," but "Our Father;" we are asking for the needs of His people, our needs, not my needs. We must put our neighbour's needs on equal ground with our own. When we see in our text, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," we see the tie of the unity and harmony of purpose and mind. A well-known hymn says, "Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me; There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calvary." When we speak of the petition, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," we are really asking for a pardon. We need to know that a pardon has been applied to our soul. That pardon must become personal, and we need to ask on a daily basis to be forgiven the sins of the day. It is most important that we see the Lord's prayer in its full context, and that we do not isolate a portion of it for a selfish reason. We can be in error if we isolate a verse from the balance of the Scripture; we may not take it out of context. Therefore, let's go back to the previous verse and consider the connecting word and at the beginning of our text. "Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." This is teaching us how we need pardon on a daily basis. We must understand that pardon has been purchased from eternity in the covenant of grace. REV 13:8 speaks of "...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." It is not only asking for my sins to be forgiven, but by my action, I demonstrate that I have forgiven my neighbour with that Christlike spirit. Now I can ask God to forgive me. Jesus qualifies this in MAT 6:14, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." We must see that the Lord is teaching us that the posture of our heart must be a forgiving spirit if we are to ask for forgiveness. We cannot come to the Lord with a hateful heart toward our neighbour and ask for forgiveness. It says, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." When we come before the Lord, we must realize we are asking for the same quality of forgiveness as we are giving. So, if I come before the Lord in prayer with my needs, but still have some reservation in my heart toward my fellow man, the quality of forgiveness that I have in my heart is the same quality of forgiveness for which I am asking. Do I really want half-hearted forgiveness? "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." See that if? We must give a whole-hearted forgiveness towards every person, even if they seek to crucify us. As Jesus hung on the cross, He said, "... Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," LUK 23:34a. His heart was forgiving toward the very act of crucifying Him, even when He was hanging on the cross. That is the quality of forgiveness you and I must give our fellow man if we want that quality of forgiveness for our soul. The right posture of heart to our neighbour is the first step toward a true desire to hallow God's name, which must be the central theme of every petition. If we are truly using the Lord's Prayer as our pattern, the posture of our heart will be right. Our text says, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Therefore, to gain complete forgiveness, we must whole-heartedly forgive all who have come against us. If this is not the posture of our hearts, we ask and receive not because we have asked amiss. JAM 4:1-3 teaches us, "From whence come wars and fightings among you? [Do they come from a forgiving spirit?] come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? [Isn't it the war within our own hearts which exalt self that brings the fighting among His people? There are so many divisions of spirit and harmony of purpose. Isn't it because that ugly monster, "self," is being exalted?] Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." When we come before the Lord saying, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," can we say we have a spirit of forgiveness in our hearts? Is that spirit of forgiveness in the right posture or are there fightings and wars within our hearts? Even though it may not come out openly between us and our fellow man, even though we may be able to restrain it, we may have bitterness and malice in our hearts. Are we having a dialogue with the devil? Are we sympathizing with lustful thoughts and fightings in our heart? Do we have peace and the assurance of salvation and the assurance of forgiveness in our hearts? If we do not, we may be asking amiss; we may be asking without a forgiving spirit. We must examine our hearts. How often do we stop to realize when we ask and receive not, that it is because there is sin in our hearts? "If I regard iniquity [if I hold onto sin] in my heart, the Lord will not hear me," PSA 66:18. We may come before the Lord with our petitions, praying daily, crying unto the Lord, begging, and we don't receive. Why? We have sin in our heart. We ask and receive not because our heart is not in the right posture before the Lord. ISA 59:1-2 says, "Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." That is what we must understand. If our prayers stop at the ceiling, going no further, if we are begging, and He doesn't answer, it may be that our hearts are filled with sin. Perhaps we are clinging to something which becomes an idol in our hearts, or we are asking for something when we are not completely surrendered to His will, then our heart is not in that prostrate position the Lord wants; He wants us to ask, "What is Thy will?" We must come before the Lord seeking His will; we ask that He do this or that if it is His will. We may not come before the Lord as if we have a handle on Him where we can command Him. We must come as beggars before the Lord. If we have a sin in our heart that has become an idol, that idol may be what is coming between us. "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." We must not overlook the connecting word with which our text begins. "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." This is again to teach us proper priorities in prayer that we may ask and receive. The Lord Jesus Christ does not speak vainly. Every word of the Lord Jesus is well spoken. He did not accidentally say and. The Lord is not pleased with a shotgun approach in confessing our debts before Him. Do you know what a shotgun approach is? I could fire a shotgun at the bunch of brush from a distance. The BB's will splatter out to hit everything in the brush, but I might not hit my target. I need to use a rifle approach. I put the cross hairs on the target, and when I pull the trigger, I am shooting at a specific target. Therefore, when we come before the Lord to beg, we may not use a shotgun approach saying, "Lord, forgive my sins; forgive my debts." We must isolate each sin and take a dead shot at it. We need to identify the sin we are asking to have forgiven, i.e., ask Him to purge out the pride in our heart, to bridle our loose tongue, etc. We must isolate each debt; then we must ask Him to not only forgive that debt, but to also deliver us from the sin which made the debt so we no longer live under the power of that sin. We may not use a shotgun approach when asking the Lord to forgive our sins; we must identify each sin that holds us captive. We must also ask that our eyes be opened to see our sins as sin. 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. We must come before the Lord with our debt to pay a penalty that we cannot pay. We must ask for our penalty to be paid in the precious atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, with the debt paid, we plead for the sanctification of the Spirit; that Christ may be formed in us; that we may be spared from sin; that we may stop compounding that debt. 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, then the connecting word and shows us how the Lord provides all our daily needs and wants. 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. We are not capable; the love of Christ constrains us to love Him and return with gratitude, but we are not capable of the kind of gratitude we owe. Therefore, we have a debt we cannot pay. When we come before the Lord for a pardon for our sin, we must understand we are asking to be justified in a legal sense before a court of law. Let's look at an illustration. A person is cited for a violation of the law. Then that person must come before the court where he must plead either innocent or guilty. A person can be justified before a court of law by proving he is not guilty of the wrong for which he was cited. He is justified by acquittal. However, he can also be justified by the law being satisfied by the full payment of the penalty; he can leave there justified because he is no longer under the condemnation of the law; it was satisfied by payment of the debt. There are two ways the debt can be paid, but we are not capable of either one, and the Lord Jesus Christ did both. He satisfied the law in that He was justified by perfect obedience, but He also paid the penalty in behalf of His people. So now, His perfect righteousness and His atonement can be imputed to you and me so we can stand before the bar of God's justice without being under the condemnation of the law. Both principles have been satisfied. To be justified is to either be acquitted, i.e., found innocent, or for the law to be satisfied by payment of its penalty in full. Let's take notice of 2CO 5:21 which says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." The real, full meaning of the word righteousness in the original Greek is to be found not guilty, fully acquitted, to be found innocent. God the Father in the courts of justice cannot demand payment twice. Justice cannot allow payment for something twice. Christ has made the payment in full. Justice demands our acquittal; we are to be found innocent because our substitute was found guilty. He was made sin (though He "knew not sin") and paid the penalty in full. When we pray, "...forgive us our debts," we are asking to be found righteous before the courts of heaven because the debt is forgiven by the full payment of the debt by a substitute. Now we can come to plead that precious righteousness, i.e., Christ's obedience and His blessed blood as the basis for the forgiveness of our debts and transgressions. We must understand justification, the pardon of our sin, in a fivefold sense; there are five different aspects of justification that apply to God's people. Justification means to be justified by acquittal or being found innocent, to be justified by satisfying the law through payment of the penalty. First, justification is from eternity in the election of grace. 1PE 1:18-20 tells us, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." Our justification was foreordained, but you and I cannot govern our lives by the secret will of God. DEU 29:29 says, "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." We are to live by the revealed will of God. We may not continue in sin on the basis of God's foreordaining our pardon and our justification before the foundation of the world. EPH 1:3-5 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world [There is where our pardon lays; we were chosen in Christ before the world was formed.], that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." Second, justification was accomplished upon the resurection of Christ from the grave. When the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the grave, He sealed our pardon because now the covenant of grace has been fulfilled. Our justification is sealed by His death, burial and resurrection. We read in ROM 4:25, "Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification." The Scriptures tell us that our justification is sealed unto us by the resurrection of Christ. Third, justification by faith takes place through the work of regeneration in the soul by the work of the Holy Spirit. We must understand that from God's side, He looks upon His people whom He has chosen from eternity, and not one of His will be lost; but from our side, we see that justification is by faith. The exercise of saving faith comes through the work of regeneration of the Holy Spirit revealing itself through the fruits of the Spirit. The exercise of saving faith is revealed by the fruits of the Spirit, i.e., the obedience of faith. Those fruits are the evidence of this justification as we learn in MAT 7:20, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." The fruits of that justification are the fruits of the Spirit. We find the fruits of the Spirit in GAL 5:22-26, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. [These fruits are the result of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit; by nature we don't have them.] And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." By nature, before the work of regeneration has been wrought in the heart, we do the works of the flesh. GAL 5:19 says, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." There is the evidence of whether or not we live in the Spirit. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit whereby we acquire the characteristics listed above in GAL 5:22-26. The Scriptures are teaching us what is the fruit of justification, the fruit of a pardon of our sin. The evidence is the fact we have been delivered from sin, we no longer walk in sin. ROM 8:6-8 says, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." So we have evidence if our heart has been renewed by the Holy Spirit; those fruits of the Spirit are our evidence that our pardon has been sealed. Fourth, justification in the court of conscience takes place when the Holy Spirit seals it in our own soul as the earnest of our inheritance. Let me explain the term the earnest of our inheritance. When a person makes a land transaction, earnest money is paid. It is the seal that the purchase has been made and accepted. The transaction has been sealed. It is not completed yet, but the evidence, the earnest, is there as an absolute, undeniable seal of the transaction. Now we receive the seal of the Spirit as the earnest of our inheritance. In EPH 1:12-14 we read, "That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. [Faith, trust in Christ, is the first step.] In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth [when the Holy Spirit spoke the Word of Truth to your soul], the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." There is much confusion in the world today about what constitutes being saved. It is a very important question. When we step off the threshold of this life and enter into eternity, we have to know if we are saved. It isn't a matter of what this church or that church teaches. What does the Word of God teach? What is the evidence that we are truly saved? As an illustration, let's look at a court of law. If you purchase a piece of land from a person you know very, very well, he could tell you the title to the land is clear; there is no question about it. You are to give him the money, and he'll give you a clear title to the land. However, when you record the deed, you find that the land is mortgaged. If it is, you might be very angry that he lied to you, but that is not a solution to your problem. That is not a concern before the court. The court will say you had "constructive notice," i.e., that the mortgage was on the record! If you had checked the record you would have known, therefore you are held responsible for the mortgage payment. So it will be in the day of judgment! You have constructive notice! That notice is the Word of God! If you take the time to prayerfully search the Scriptures, you would know. It is not a matter of what this man teaches, or that man teaches, that we can use as our credentials for eternity. No! a thousand times No! We have constructive notice; we have the Word of God, and the Word of God clearly tells us what constitutes salvation. The Word of God tells us the witness of the Holy "Spirit of promise" is "the earnest"of our salvation. We may not claim we are saved, and we may not claim a pardon contrary to or short of that which is set forth in Scripture. God's Word says in EPH 1:12, "That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." As we grow in grace we trust and believe, and then we are sealed. If we have come short of that seal (the witness of the Holy Spirit applying the Word of promise in our soul) we may not claim full assurance of salvation. That is according to the Scriptures. Fifth, justification shall become public on the final judgment where the "...fruit of the Spirit [which] is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," shall be revealed for what it is. That is the day when the Lord will reveal the thoughts and intents of the heart. There are people who have a secret desire for unclean pleasures in their heart, but since it is secret, no one knows about it. On that day, every secret thought and secret desire of the heart will be made manifest; then we will see if the fruit of the Spirit is truly there. The Lord Jesus teaches us in MAT 25:34-40, "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world [Now see how He will unveil every thought of our heart which becomes apparent from our actions.]: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in [This is where we must examine our own hearts! How often have we also ministered to the needs of those who were spiritually hungry?]: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Do you see that in the day of judgment our attitude and the posture of our heart towards our fellow man will be the basis on which we are judged? "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." The Lord will not forgive if we do not forgive. It is the posture of our heart toward our fellow man which becomes the basis upon which He will judge us on the day of judgment. That is the fifth justification. Won't that be something to hear the Lord Jesus Christ say before all kindreds and tongues and nations? "...Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," MAT 25:34b. Our justification will be made public before all people. The petition in our text points to justification in the court of conscience. I have given you five different forms of justification, but the one in our text is the one that points to justification in the court of conscience. It asks for the seal of the Holy Spirit in our own soul as the earnest of our inheritance. When we come to the Lord in the Lord's Prayer, and we properly understand this prayer, we are asking for the Holy Spirit to come and give His witness and seal in our soul as the assurance of salvation for our own soul. ROM 8:15 says, "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." We are talking about a spirit of assurance. We must have an assurance in our heart; it is the witness of the Holy Spirit in our soul. It is not that I did this or I did that. I must be able to say with the Psalmist in PSA 66:16, "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul." It is not what I have done; it is what the Lord has done. Then we understand what the apostle said in ROM 8:16, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Then we can cry, "Abba, Father," i.e., Father, Father, when we have the witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Then we know we are the children of God; that is the essential point. It isn't a matter of just being able to say I was saved or I did this or I did that. I want to be able to say with the Psalmist in PSA 66:16, "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul." Then faith has a solid foundation that is building upon the rock which is the Lord Jesus Christ and the holy Word of promise. "Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." That connecting word And teaches us that we need this assurance renewed daily. Take notice of these verses where and means they are both needed on a daily basis. Christ's bride, as the wife needs to be reassured daily of the bridegroom's love. If any person rightly understands a marriage union, then he will understand the need for the wife to have a daily reassurance of love; daily we must be assured of our portion in Christ. We must have the assurance on a daily basis that our sins are forgiven, that our debts are blotted out, and that we have received the grace to forgive our neighbour. David felt the need for reassurance when the Lord had withdrawn because he had sinned with Bathsheba. David was a dear child of God, but sin had come into his life, and he needed to be reassured. PSA 51:9-13 says, "Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee." David had the Lord's assurance; he was the sweet Psalmist of Israel. Now David pleaded for reassurance. David had an assurance in his heart that he had salvation, but then the Lord had withdrawn His dear presence. Can any person claim to be a Christian saying he loves the Lord, but he does not know His presence, that he does not have His presence in his soul? We need the daily visits and the day to day assurance in our hearts. Without it we are in a cold state, as David was. He didn't question going to heaven, but what is heaven if the Lord is withdrawn? David was crying to the Lord to restore His presence. He said, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." He had had a right spirit, but he had fallen in sin; he was taken in a fault. You and I must also be reassured daily. The connecting word And, "Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," teaches us how the love of Christ constrains us to return with a loving spirit to Him and our fellow man. Think of how the Lord has provided our daily benefits: our daily bread, our needs and wants, the Bread of Life for our soul, and He shed His blood to pay for our sins. In 2CO 5:14-15 we read, "For the love of Christ constraineth us...that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." We are asking God to forgive our debt of ingratitude so we will have that compelling love of Christ in our hearts; we do not want to live unto ourselves but unto Him who died for us and rose again. When we learn to understand our dependence upon the Lord for our daily bread, we will see how the goodness of God leads us to repentance. All is a free gift of God; we have earned nothing but damnation for our soul. We have earned nothing! We are worthy of eternal judgment, but now we see that God sent His own Son to pay the penalty of our sins. He bestows blessings on us and steeps us with His goodness all of the time, day by day. Such love constrains us to follow Him "...that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." We don't want a legal repentance; we don't want the lightning and thunder of the law to intimidate us into following the Lord. That is not the religion we want. We want our eyes opened to see God's blessings; the love of Christ, and what He has done for our souls. Then the goodness of God leads us to repentance. If all of God's goodness does not draw us to Him, all of the thunder and lightning of Mount Sinai will not change us one bit. It will only drive us away from God, cf., EXO 20:18. We need to understand that debt of gratitude so henceforth we will not live unto ourselves, but unto God. Amen. |
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