Biblical Prayer: Forgive Us Our Debts

All right, we're actually up to part 11, okay, and the title tonight is

Forgive Us Our Debts. Just again a brief review, we've examined the purpose of prayer, we've looked at false teaching on prayer.

Currently we're looking at what I like to call the model prayer of Matthew 6, the Sermon on the

Mount, and remember this is an inspired pattern for how we pray, and there's a priority given to us in the order of the petitions, we should always keep that in mind, and the preface of the prayer reminds us who we are praying to, our

Father who art in heaven. And so we've examined the first four petitions so far, hallowed be thy name, second petition was thy kingdom come, the third petition, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and then the last one we were looking at last week was give us this day our daily bread.

So now we come to the fifth petition of the model prayer, forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, all right, this is the fifth petition of the prayer.

Notice how Jesus connects the two petitions, there's the word and here, and it's there in the original language as well, this is not just an add -in.

He uses the word and, and I like the way Thomas Watson explains it, look at what he says.

As soon as Christ had said give us daily bread, he adds and forgive us.

He joins the petition of forgiveness of sin immediately to the other of daily bread to show us that though we have daily bread, yet all is nothing without forgiveness.

If our sins be not pardoned, we can take but a little comfort in our food.

So sometimes even those little words are important and we should take note of those things.

First question that we come up is that sin is a debt and notice the petition is, it doesn't say forgive us our sins, it says forgive us our debts.

So the first question that comes up is why is sin called a debt?

Well a debt arises out of non -payment of something that is due. So we owe

God complete obedience, all right, and this is something that we have to remember. We see it in 1

Peter 1 where Peter is actually quoting the Old Testament.

He says in verse 15 of his first epistle, but like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior because it is written you shall be holy for I am holy.

Now holy, remember that's a very wide range of meaning of the word holy, basically to be set apart for holy use or sacred use, but it also means to be righteous and to be righteous we need to be obedient.

So just any debt, when a debt isn't paid, the debtor is liable before the court.

If you owe money, your creditor can actually take you to court. And then payment is demanded in God's court because we are debtors to him.

We owe him the debt of obedience. But sin is the worst debt.

I mean we can owe a lot of things, but sin is the worst debt. Sin is the worst debt, well, because we can't pay the debt.

Just as it is written, Romans 3 .10, there is none righteous, not even one. No one has innate righteousness that is unable to pay

God the debt of obedience because there's not one of us that can keep the law perfectly, so we all stand guilty before his court.

Sin is the worst debt because we have no hope of paying it. It's not just that we can't pay it at the moment.

When we look ahead, is there any way that we can come up with it in and of ourselves, and the answer is no.

So not only are we penniless in using that as a euphemism, we have no hope of paying it.

Sin is the worst debt because it's against a holy God. Just think about that.

It's one thing to owe somebody, to owe a creditor money. It's something else to be in debt to a holy

God. Sin is the worst debt because it is a compound debt.

Everybody here I'm sure is familiar with compound interest. You know, compound interest means that if you don't pay, now you're paying interest on top of the interest.

John Paul Getty, one of the richest men in the world, going back a decade or two, called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world, because it's great if you're a financial wizard making money, but if you're a debtor, it's a terrible thing.

So sin is the worst debt because it is compound, and you think, well, how is that so? Because if you can't, if you're not in obedience, that means you're going to continue to be in disobedience, and the debt is just going to grow.

The longer you live, the debt is going to grow. Sin is the worst debt because there's no denying it.

There's no appeal of the debt. God's court is perfect in justice, and he knows the heart, so you can't stand before God and say, but I didn't do that.

Sin is the worst debt because of the penalty that it carries. Just think of the penalty.

The wages of sin is death, and what makes it bad, too, is we're all bad debtors.

There's not one of us that can pay the debt that we owe to God. We're bad debtors because we do not want to be called into account for our debt.

We will do anything to avoid standing accountable before God. We put off thinking about it.

You ever try to share the gospel with somebody and tell them about the fact that they're sinners and they need salvation, and went,

I don't want to think about that. Don't talk to me about that. Makes me uncomfortable. Or we just deny it.

No, I'm a good person, right? How many times have you heard that out on the streets in Port Jeff, I'll bet, huh?

No, I'm a good person. We're bad debtors because we're unwilling to admit it.

We make excuses for our sin. Well, no, I only did that, there's a reason for that. And, you know, God will understand.

And we rationalize our sin. We're amazing at our ability to rationalize our poor behavior.

Now, here's an interesting little fact. Bad debtors tend to hate their creditors. You ever hear somebody who owes the bank a lot of money, what are they doing?

They're cursing the bank. You know, oh, they just won't leave me alone.

Well, pay the bill, all right? The same thing with God.

When you, how many, what do they do with God? What do they say about God? Mankind is a debtors to God and what is the reaction?

His motives are questioned. His character is impugned.

He's blasphemed against. And he is the one who is hold the debt for us and yet mankind blasphemes him.

And his name is used as a curse. Confession, then, is a must.

Confession of sin is an acknowledgment of your debt. It is by confession of sin that God is glorified.

In Joshua 7, you all know this story of Achan. Joshua said to Achan, my son,

I implore you. Give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give him praise. And tell me now what you have done.

Do not hide it from me. Remember, Achan was the one who took the material from the camp of Jericho that was under the band that was supposed, it was left for God and God only.

And he stole it. And he caused all kinds of problems to come down on the nation of Israel.

And so Joshua says, give glory to God, tell me, confess, is what he's saying there.

But not only is a confession, biblical confession is more than just an acknowledgment of sin, it's more than that.

Confession is made with a repentant heart. And you're going to hear a lot about repentance, because that's at the heart of what forgiveness is.

Joshua 7 .20, so Achan answered Joshua and said, truly I have sinned against the

Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did. And then he goes on, and he does confess and acknowledge his part in it.

Confession of this sort is what brings the forgiveness the debtor needs. And it's the only way that we can get rid of our debt.

And of course, 1 John 1 .9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just.

We're righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It's such a great verse, we need to keep reminding ourselves of that fact. So now we come to the main part of the petition, forgive us our sins.

So what is forgiveness of sins? Well, Job 7, we get an idea, bless you.

Why then dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? Forgiveness of sins is the taking away of iniquity.

And the Hebrew word take away there means to lift a heavy burden, one that is ready to sink a man.

I mean, that's the essence of what it is in the Hebrew. It means you're carrying a burden that's so heavy that you're ready to sink.

And you have no relief from it. When God forgives, he lifts that heavy burden and takes it from you.

Isaiah 53, 6, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

And here comes the good news. The burden of sin is lifted off us and placed upon Christ.

Psalm 85, 2, thou didst forgive the iniquity of thy people, thou didst cover all their sin.

Covering the sin has reference to the mercy seat. Remember, the mercy seat of the old covenant, the tabernacle and the temple.

The sacrifice for the people on the day of atonement was to atone for the sin and it was sacrificed then.

In Hebrews, we get the heavenly picture of it. For Christ is both the sacrificer and the sacrifice.

And he enters into the heavenly tabernacle and sits on the mercy seat and he's that awesome sacrifice.

So the covering of sin is a judicial covering, that means it's legal.

The sin is forgiven, the debt is declared paid. Notice how many different analogies that we have.

We have a legal analogy, we have an accounting analogy. We have a physical analogy of a burden being placed on somebody.

There's just so many different analogies that were given in the scripture so that we don't miss the fact of what it means to be forgiven of sin.

Isaiah 43, 25, I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake.

Here we have another one, wiping out, erasing. This has reference to a creditor wiping the slate clean.

Isaiah 44, 22, I have wiped out your transgression like a thick cloud, and your sins like a heavy mist, return to me, for I have redeemed you.

I love this analogy, it's like you're walking in a fog and you can't see anything, your burden, and that's what sin is.

Sin is like this cloud, this burden, and he just wipes it away, just wipes it away.

Micah 7, who is a God like thee who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession?

He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in unchanging love. Micah 7, 19, he will again have compassion on us, he will tread our iniquities underfoot.

Here's another analogy that's given. Yes, thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

I love that analogy, just taking all of the sin, the burden, just taking that burden off us, lifts it off of us, and puts it into the depths of the sea, never to be raised again.

And in Psalm 103, verse 12, as far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us.

East and west, do you know why he chose east and west, not north and south? Any idea?

Yeah, you can keep going east and west, and you'll continue to go east.

If you start going north, pretty soon you go out over the North Pole, you start going south. But the east and the west, you can just keep going forever and ever.

So let's talk a little bit about the nature of forgiveness. What is forgiveness? Well, firstly, every sin is worthy of death and needs forgiveness.

And it is only God who forgives sin. And we get this, even his enemies knew this,

Mark 2, 7, responding to Jesus. He says, what does this man speak this way, talking after he said, which is easier, to say rise and walk or take away sins?

He says, he is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Only God can forgive sins.

So when we, and notice I put it in quotations, when we forgive one who has sinned against us, we are not forgiving the sin, we are forgiving the wrong done to us, because only

God can forgive sin. And we get an essence of that from David's prayer, Psalm 51, when he's confessing his sin with Bathsheba.

He says, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, the only,

I have sinned. That troubled me when I first started reading that, before I really understood forgiveness.

I said, wait a minute, what about, what about Uriah? I mean, certainly he sinned against Uriah, right?

I mean, he took his wife, then he had him killed. But notice the sin, the sin is against God.

Even though it affected Uriah, it affected Bathsheba, it affected their family, but the sin was against God.

Forgiveness then is an act of God's grace, because God is under no obligation to forgive anyone.

He's not obligated whatsoever in any way. Forgiveness of sin is also only through the blood of Christ.

Notice this is all under what is the nature of forgiveness, that's why we're going through this. Forgiveness of sin is only through the blood of Christ.

Hebrews 9 .22, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

Ephesians 1 .7, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace.

Ephesians 1 .7 brings all of those concepts into one verse. So forgiveness then removes the penalty of sin.

Now, still under the nature of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a promise by God, and this is where a lot of people misunderstand what forgiveness really is.

Forgiveness is not merely saying, oh, I forgive you. It's a promise. Hebrews 8 .12,

for I will be merciful to the iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

When you forgive someone, when God forgives us, he is promising us never to bring those up against us again.

That remembering no more is a legal situation. You will never be brought before God's court and accused of the sins that you've committed because Christ has taken them upon you.

So it's a promise. So when we forgive, we are making a promise that we will never bring that offense up again, and it's a threefold promise.

You won't bring it up to the person again. You won't bring it up to anyone else again.

And then the third one part of the promise is even the hardest part, and that is you won't bring it up to yourself again.

That's what it means when you say, I will remember your sins no more. And Isaiah 43 .25

gives the same essence. I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

That's got to be a whole lot of comfort built into that. God does not remember our sins.

Now, of course, that doesn't mean he's forgotten them. It means that he will not bring them up again.

That's a legal sense. However, forgiveness is conditional upon repentance.

Luke 24 .47, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Forgiveness is conditional upon repentance, means that when somebody comes to you and asks for forgiveness, that they're coming with a repentant heart.

If they're not coming in an attitude of repentance, then you're under no obligation to forgive them.

There's a lot of bad teaching on that as well, of unconditional forgiveness. That's not biblical, because God doesn't forgive us unconditionally.

God only forgives you if you are repentant. And God's forgiveness is complete.

All sin is forgiven. When God forgives sin, all sin is forgiven, no matter how great.

And faith is also necessary for forgiveness. Acts 10 .43, of him all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sin.

You can see why we need to, if you're going to do a study on what forgiveness is, you need to bring all these verses, all these concepts together.

If you only look at one verse, it can give you a skewed view of what forgiveness is. And that's unfortunately we have too many teachers out there, biblical teachers out there, who are only teaching one aspect of it and forgetting the other verses.

And also, when God forgives, he doesn't leave you just empty. He imputes his righteousness.

2 Corinthians 5 .21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

So when he wipes away your sin, he imputes the righteousness of Christ. That's all part of forgiveness. Now we come to the troubling one.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. This is a very important phrase.

And it's so important that of all the petitions, this is the one Jesus gives the commentary on.

Look at Matthew 6, this is in the prayer. For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly

Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your

Father will not forgive your transgressions. Boo. There's a stipulation here.

There's a connection between your forgiveness and you forgiving others.

And it's clearly spelled right out. You can't dance around it. First, let's look at some false teaching.

These are notes from the Schofield Reference Bible. This is what

C .I. Schofield said. This is legal ground. Compare Ephesians 4 .32,

which is grace. Under the law, forgiveness was conditioned upon a like spirit because we have been forgiven.

If you go on and read in his notes, what he's basically saying was we're forgiven by grace in the

New Testament, but the Old Testament you actually had to obey the law and forgive, and if you had that forgiving spirit, then your sin would be forgiven.

Does that offend anybody? All right. Well, it offends. Firstly, it pits the

Old and New Testaments against each other. And it also offended Dr. Martin Lloyd -Jones.

Here's what the good doctor says. The only way of forgiveness before Christ, after Christ, and always is through Christ and Him crucified.

There's the teaching. And Arthur Pink couldn't keep quiet either.

Under no dispensation has God bestowed mercy upon any who maintained a vindictive spirit, nor does

He now. Were He to do so, it would not be grace, but a disgrace to His holiness.

These old guys had a way with words. So what is then the connection between being forgiven by God and forgiving the people who offend us?

Well, remember, forgiveness is conditional upon repentance, and the nature of a repentant heart is to turn from sin.

And one of the tests of the genuineness of your forgiveness is that you forgive others.

So if you don't forgive others, you must question, have you really been forgiven if you don't have a repentant heart to forgive others?

That's the way it works. That's perfectly consistent. So a forgiving heart is the product of the sanctifying work of the

Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is working, sanctifying your heart, you will want to, you will desire to forgive others because you have been forgiven.

Thomas Manton said, There is none so tender to others as they which have received mercy themselves, that know how gently

God hath dealt with them. So the conclusion, so then we pray.

And what do we pray? And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Questions? Yes. So like how you were describing repentance, like that isn't like an act of the will that we can do ourselves, that is like, you know, like the working of the

Spirit of Christ, you know. Yep, you're absolutely right.

It's the work of the Holy Spirit sanctifying your heart. And would you say like having a forgiving heart is like, would be considered like the fruit that is born from like, you know, sanctification through the

Spirit? Excellent way of putting it. Yep. Yes. No, it is. You said it extremely well.

Repentance is an inward grace. Repentance is not outward. It takes place inward.

What we look for are the fruits of repentance, which would be an attitude of the heart, forgiving others, reading the scriptures, you know, all these things that a

Christian does through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. That's the fruit of the heart of repentance.

But repentance is an inward grace. Wouldn't it also go hand in hand with loving your neighbor as you love yourself?

Sure. Sure. Anyone else?

Yes, John. You know, sometimes things in your life can help illustrate a point.

When you were talking about cleaning the slate, you know, I had owed my uncle some money that he had loaned me.

And one day we go to lunch, and after lunch, he takes out where he used to keep track of what

I paid him, and he rips it, and he says, you don't owe me a dime. And it was like, whoa!

You know, I mean, that was something physically you felt. But imagine, apply that to the fact that God has forgiven our sins.

That's a beautiful example of exactly what forgiveness is. When you forgive the debt, the debt is gone.

I once read Matthew Henry's commentary about the parable of the unforgiving servant, and he made a really good point.

He was like, if as a Christian you're choosing not to forgive your brother, and to make him pay back the debt, you're basically asking

God to treat you under the law. You're forcing that person to live under the law, to live up to perfect obedience.

And when you're refusing to forgive them, you're basically almost like telling God, that's how you want to be treated.

And so that's exactly what the king in that parable did. He's like, okay, that's how you want to treat others? Then you're going to go to jail and pay the debt.

So it was like, whoa! Amazing how all these different commentators, they all agree.