Sunday Sermon Matthew 6:14-18
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Today is Potluck Sunday and Communion.
Saturday is our annual Christmas Eve service at 6:30pm. A time of song and fellowship.
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome to FCC.
We are so glad that you joined us today for a time of worship and word!
Today, we have potluck immediately following church, so let’s dive right in to the Word.
We have come as far as Matthew 6:14, so let us open our Bibles there:
Read Matthew 6:14-15
Read Matthew 6:14-15
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Prayer
Prayer
Lord Heavenly Father, we praise and adore Thee, and we hallow your name Lord. We come before you asking that you would do a work in our hearts and fellowship today. We desire to hear from you Father because you said, My sheep hear my voice and follow Me. So Father, please remove all distractions and give us ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to us your people and sheep. Please lead us beside still waters and restore our soul and teach us the depths of sin and forgiveness. Not by strength, nor by power, but by your Spirit saith the Lord. We surrender all to you right now, casting all our cares upon You, for your yoke is easy and your burden is light. Come Holy Spirit, come. Speak to our hearts for we need you!!!
In Jesus Name, Amen!!!
Review
Review
Last week, we finished up the disciples prayer, not the Lord’s prayer and again, I say this because Jesus did not sin and we see a portion that deals with sin in this amazing template.
Jesus laid out a template for us to follow, not to sight from memory with meaningless words, but with filling in the petitions that he laid out for us with heart felt words that come from deep within us.
There was 6 petitions in all.
3 to God and 3 to man, but all for His glory church
And now we arrive at a place in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus brings up the very thing he said in verse 12 again in verse 14-15. WHY?
Why is Jesus bringing forgiveness back up again church???
Look here:
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
And then here:
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
In my studies of these two texts I have come to the conclusion that Jesus brought it up again for two reasons:
Forgiving others is no easy task.
And we struggle to remember what matters most to the Lord.
When someone offends us, or sins against us, or does something we do not like church, our flesh begins to cringe and if we are not careful, that cringe will turn into a resentment, unless we turn to the Lord and seek to forgive them.
I say turn to the Lord, because it takes the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives to forgive the offender.
If we are not quick to forgive, the offense will turn to resentment and resentment not dealt with will turn into anger, anger hate, and hate into bitterness church.
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
Bitterness in the heart not only caused Esau trouble, but will cause us trouble and this trouble will not only impact us spiritually, but mentally, emotionally, physically, relationally, and socially.
Basically unforgiveness will destroy us and those in our path if not dealt with!
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Here we see Jesus expanding on verse 12 as we forgive our debtors.
And he repeats this lesson over and over throughout the Word of God church, because the Lord knows that we will struggle with forgiveness...
Forgive-aphiēmi-(af-ee'-ay-mee)- v. -to forgive a debt, to send away, keep no longer, to let go, to yield up, to acquit, to dismiss, to set free. — to stop blaming or taking an offense into account.
How does this apply to us? Do we have any unforgiveness in our hearts?
Do we have offenses that we need to send away?
Did you know when you harbor a grudges of unforgiveness in your heart that the person you a resentful toward is taking up space in your head and that they are not even paying you rent?
It sounds funny, but it is true because people who are resentful towards others tend to be remunerators. That means that they are on a hamster wheel that spins around and around about what happened to them or even someone else and it controls their life.
Sadly, it will effect their health in all areas:
Look at what this study from John Hopkins says:
Whether it’s a simple spat with your spouse or long-held resentment toward a family member or friend, unresolved conflict can go deeper than you may realize—it may be affecting your physical health.
The good news: Studies have found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression and stress.
And research points to an increase in the forgiveness-health connection as you age.
“There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,” saysKaren Swartz, M.D., director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Chronic anger puts you into a fight-or-flight mode, which results in numerous changes in heart rate, blood pressure and immune response. Those changes, then, increase the risk of depression, heart disease and diabetes, among other conditions. Forgiveness, however, calms stress levels, leading to improved health.
So church, Jesus is serious when he teaches on forgiveness.
His desire for us is to walk in forgiveness, to live and abide in forgiveness everyday and we cannot do this apart from walking with Him.
The voice of sin may be loud, but the voice of forgiveness is louder.
Dwight L. Moody
Forgiveness is not an occasional art, it is a permanent attitude.
Martin Luther
But guess what?
We will not live here, unless we abide in Him..
There are tow types of forgiveness here in this text and throughout the Word.
Vertical forgiveness from God. This is the forgiveness that Jesus died for on the cross church. This is the gospel message. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, repent of our sin, and are converted, or regenerated, then we are justified church by grace through faith.
Justified= just as if you never sinned church.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
So we are justified when we surrender and stay there.
But then, we fall short on a daily basis and need to;
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So there is 2 parts of our vertical forgiveness with God:
Surrender or being born again
Daily cleansing from our filth
2. Horizontal forgiveness toward others
And we see both here in our text at hand church:
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Jesus is not teaching that believers earned God’s forgiveness by forgiving others; for this would be contrary to God’s free grace and mercy.
However, if we have truly experienced God’s forgiveness, then we will have a readiness to forgive others.
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
Our Lord illustrated this principle in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matt. 18:21–35).
The forgiveness of God will compel us to forgive those who have trespassed against us church.
When come to understand the depths of our sin, we will welcome God’s forgiveness and give it away freely to those who offend us.
And if we struggles with forgiving others, then maybe we have yet to understand our sin and receive the forgiveness of God.
Our forgiveness from God is not conditional, because then we would be saved by our works, rather than by grace through faith.
But if we His, then we are commanded to forgive as he hath forgiven us.
Should we not, then we are living in sin.
An attorney, after meditating on several Scriptures, decided to cancel the debts of all his clients that had owed him money for more than 6 months. He drafted a letter explaining his decision and its Biblical basis and sent 17 debt canceling letters via certified mail. One by one, the letters were returned by the Postal Service, unsigned and undelivered. Perhaps a couple people had moved away though not likely. Sixteen of the seventeen letters came back to him because the clients refused to sign for and open the envelopes fearing that this attorney was suing them for their debts. How profound! We owe a debt for our sin and God is willing to cancel it but too many people will not even open the letter that explains how.
Until we understood micro-organisms (germs), the unwashed hands of a surgeon guaranteed death for half of his patients. Unforgiveness on our part is like having unwashed hands in our ministry to others. WE ONLY SPREAD THE DISEASE!!!
The bottom line is this church and DL Moody said it well:
The voice of sin may be loud, but the voice of forgiveness is louder.
Dwight L. Moody
If you look into the history of revival within the church, you will discover that anyone who was involved in these revivals had a recognition of sin and this repented church.
Do you know the depths of your sin?
Have you accepted what Jesus did upon the Cross?
When we recognize the depths of our sin, cry out to God for His forgiveness, repent, and stay in right standing with God, we will desire to forgive others church who trespass against us. Why? Because he has forgiven us!!!
We are never more like God than when we forgive because every relationship depends on it.
I close with a statement from a little boy:
A little boy, being asked what forgiveness is, gave the beautiful answer: “It is the odor that flowers breathe when they are trampled upon.
Who has trampled upon you heart or hurt you?
Have you forgiven them?
Prayer
Prayer
Lord Jesus, we struggle at times to forgive and if we look deeply at the unforgiveness in our hearts, we will find that our relationship with you is lacking. So Father, please bring greater conviction in our lives where we have not forgiven for it is the truth that sets us free. Lord help us to grasp the depths of our sinfulness and of your forgiveness, so that we can freely give to others what you hath freely given to us. Lord be with us now as we fellowship together remembering your sacrifice for us and you coming as a babe. Lord may our fellowship be sweet and may relationships be forged for eternity.
In Jesus Names! We love you! Amen!!
Please join us for a time of reflection, food, fun, and fellowship in the fellowship hall now.
The sooner we gather, the sooner we eat:)
The Lord Bless you!
Your Mission starts now!