Forgive as the Lord forgave you

Matthew 6:14-15

a. Unconditional forgiveness as evidence of God forgiveness (6:14)

b. Conditional forgiveness as evidence of the lack of God’s forgiveness (6:15)

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. Unconditional forgiveness as evidence of God forgiveness (6:14)

i. We know forgiveness is an important topic. The Gospel of Jesus Christ speaks of forgiveness in that, we are forgiven of our sins because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. We are wretched sinners and in our nature, we still are wretched sinners. But Christ’s work on the cross clears our name. It changes our position and declares us as innocent and clean.

ii. But forgiveness is so important, that as Jesus taught us to pray in verse 12, that we should ask God the Father to forgive us of our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

iii. Matthew 18:23-35 is a good example of what Jesus is speaking of about this idea of forgiveness. When we think about forgiveness, we have to be clear on what we are forgiving.

iv. Jesus makes this point clear here in verse 14. Jesus tells us that if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. What is happening? Jesus is telling us that someone sinned against us or did something wrong against us.

v. We can be upset about how the person transgressed, or sinned against us. We will be hurt by it and it’s never easy to forgive someone. But the principle that Jesus is teaching us here is that we should never focus on the transgression. We should rather focus on the person.

vi. Notice Jesus’s statement here. He is speaking of forgiving others not forgiving the transgression. What does this mean? It’s this idea of forgiving someone for the thing they’ve done to us, but still being upset at them even after forgiving someone. In effect, what we are saying is, I forgive you for what you’ve done to me but I am still holding anger towards you or I am still upset with you because I haven’t completely forgiven you. I am withholding from you because I am still upset with you even though I have forgiven you.

vii. What we are communicating to others is basically that when we don’t forgive, I am aware of your sins towards me but I am unaware of my own sins. While I am asking the Lord to forgive me for my sins and I am asking the Lord for His deliverance and His attention, when I refuse to forgive someone, I am unwilling to do the very thing in which I have asked God to bless me with.

viii. This is why Jesus here emphasizes our prayer life should be reflective of the way we forgive others. There is a huge significance in verse 12. When we ask God for forgiveness here in verse 12, it ought to be us asking God in a sincere attitude for forgiveness. I am sure all of us pray like this when we pray.

ix. But what is the significance here of verse 12? Why does Jesus only speak of forgiveness out of all the other petitions? Because forgiveness is reciprocal. What do I mean by that? It means that if I am asking for forgiveness in verse 12, then I ought to forgive others in verse 14. To ask to be forgiven and then in turn to refuse to forgive is hypothetical. Those who ask for forgiveness must be forgiving people.

x. So Jesus is telling His audience that all those who have been forgiven, this is proof of the fact that you’ve been forgiven by God.

b. Conditional forgiveness as evidence of the lack of God’s forgiveness(6:15)

i. If the comparison is between those who are forgiving are the ones who have been forgiven, then they are forgiving because they are trusting in God. But if we look at the opposite, those who don’t forgive are not forgiving because they are trusting in themselves. They are living their lives to please themselves.

ii. What do I mean by this? When we get into a fight with someone, or if someone sins against us, what is our natural response? What do we want to do? We want to get mad at them and be angry with them until they apologize to us and sometimes, even when they apologize to us, we want to continue to be mad with them and sometimes, when we are really angry, we want them to feel how angry we are so we make them pay for it. We say things to hurt them and we do things to hurt them. This is the desires of the flesh. This is our sinful nature. That is to please oneself.

iii. But Jesus is teaching us as we’ve seen, our righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees. When we think of our own righteousness, we notice very quickly that we are not righteous. We fall short of the glory of God. Therefore, the only righteousness that is able to allow us to stand in the presence of God is through His Son’s righteousness. It is only through the perfect obedience of Christ that is imputed on our behalf that can allow us to stand with boldness before God.

iv. This is why Jesus teaches us in verse 15, that if we don’t forgive others, then our Father will not forgive us. It’s not to say that if we forgive we receive salvation and if we don’t forgive we don’t receive forgiveness. No, the truth is, a person who forgives is evidence that He has been forgiven and a person who doesn’t forgive, is evidence that He hasn’t been forgiven.

v. What Jesus tells us then is that if we don’t forgive others, then our Father will not forgive us. What does this mean? The importance of this phrase again is stressed in the sense that this is within the context of the prayer. In verse 12, Jesus teaches His disciples that they are to pray and ask for their sins to be forgiven just as they have forgiven their debtors.

vi. Jesus is helping us understand that we should forgive others. Looking to God as the one who forgives us shows us that we are trusting in Him. Otherwise, we are trusting ourselves. This is the theme that is running through Chapter 6. Are you trusting in yourself or are you trusting in God?

vii. The opening in Chapter 6 starts with practicing your righteousness and then giving. Are you giving because you want to be recognized by others, or are you giving because you want to want to love God and live in obedience to Him?

viii. Then the topic of praying to God, are you praying to God trusting in Him or praying to please others? This goes back to 6:5-7. This is why Jesus teaches us how to pray. This is how you pray trusting in God.

ix. Then the next section will be when you fast, are you fasting to be noticed by men or are you fasting to please God?

x. Then the end of the chapter ends with are you trusting your life with the things that you need of this world, What will you eat or drink or wear? (6:31) Or are you first primarily focused on His righteousness and His kingdom?

xi. This idea of are you trusting in yourself or trusting in God is pervasive throughout Chapter 6. It is no different on this topic of forgiveness. Are you forgiving looking to Christ as the one who has forgiven you or are you not forgiving others because you want to satisfy yourself?

xii. But the big question is why do we not forgive or it’s hard to forgive? Because we have not experienced God’s forgiveness. Because you don’t know what it is, you can’t exercise the same method. Ex. Marriage. Similarly, what Jesus is saying is, if you’ve experienced God’s grace of forgiveness, then you can forgive in that manner. If you haven’t, what Jesus is expressing here, this is evidence or fruit of your lack of salvation.

3. CONCLUSION