Matthew 6:12

The petition in prayer to God last time we were together (in v11) has to do with our physical needs.

This petition (in v12) asks for our chief spiritual need, forgiveness of sin.

We need to really break this down a bit.

Some think that "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” ()

means that God will forgive us if and only if we forgive others.

They appeal to vv14-15. "“For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. "But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.”

So the best way to understand these verses is to take the three together.

First, the gospel itself forbids that we say God grants us mercy if and only if we grant mercy to others.

That would make God’s mercy—and salvation itself—a reward for our prior act (our “work”) of showing mercy to others.

That cannot be right, since God’s mercy is never a reward for our good deeds.

If we call forgiveness a reward, we contradict the gospel, which says that God’s mercy is a gift.

Forgiveness is essential to our salvation, and the entire Bible teaches that we do nothing to merit our salvation.

Indeed, if forgiveness from God turned on our forgiveness of others, we should despair,

for even the most tender and understanding Christians occasionally find it hard to forgive.

Jesus’ point is that God forgives the penitent.

That is, if we understand how precious it is to be forgiven,

if we know how much it cost God to forgive,

then we will forgive others.

The forgiven have motives to forgive.

We thank God for his gift, we admire the beauty of His way, and we hope to do the same for others.

Once our eyes have been opened to see the enormity of our offense against God,

the injuries which others have done to us appear by comparison extremely trifling.

Sadly, we even let trivial offenses bother us.

If someone neglects to thank us for a favor done, or

makes a mess we have to clean up, or

takes credit for work we performed,

we can become agitated.

Yet we commit the very sins we resent in others "Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. "We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. "Do you really think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God’s judgment?” ()

We sin and excuse ourselves, then hold a grudge against someone else who does the same thing.

But when we forgive someone else, it shows that we understand what it cost God to forgive us.

It shows that we savor God’s mercy.

The BIG IDEA

We’ll see, by God’s grace, is that even those that call God, “Our Father”, ought to beg, daily and humbly, pardon for their sins.

This is proper, for we know that we sin every day.

It’s only those that can say, “Our Father” truly, in faith; that ask “forgive us” as a pattern for their daily prayer.

But repentance is not as easy as it sounds.

We have just two points this morning.

When we sin, we can respond in several ways, and not all of them involve repentance:

A. Chief CONCERN & CONFESSION “And forgive us our debts...”

Chief CONCERN & CONFESSION “And forgive us our debts...”

First. I begin with the first, our chief Concern, “Forgive us our sins;” a blessed petition!

First. I begin with the first, our chief Concern, “Forgive us our sins;” a blessed petition!

the ignorant world say, “Who will show us any good?” ., meaning a good deal, a good purchase;

but our Savior teaches us to pray for that which is more noble, the pardon of sin, “Forgive us our sins.”

Forgiveness of sins is a primary blessing,—

it is one of the first mercies God bestows, ., “I will sprinkle clean water upon you;” that is, forgiveness.

The prayer for forgiveness implies that the beggar recognizes that there is

no other method by which his debt can be wiped out.

It is, therefore, a plea for grace.

The word “forgive”

When we pray and use the word “forgive” we’re recognizing that our sinning

puts us in the wrong with God and that only He can cancel out the offense and pardon it.

It’s described here as a “debt”.

Here is where we recognize that we owe to God our full duty, worship, and obedience.

This is the sense of the words in where Paul says, "So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated (debtors) to the flesh to live according to the flesh,” ()

And the implication there is that we are obligated to God!

To live unto Him, obligated to the Spirit, to live after the Spirit.

By the law of creation, we were not appointed to serve and please the flesh, but to serve God:

"In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are worthless servants; we’ve only done our duty.’ ”” ()

We are in a debt of duty, worship and obedience.

We’re also in a debt of punishment, which we fall into when we neglect our duty.

Punishment is owed to us as wages: “The wages of sin is death.”

God hath, as it were, made a contract with us, that if we will sin we must take our wages; we must take what it comes to.

God has, as it were, made a contract with us, that if we will sin we must take our wages;

we must take what it totals up to.

Let me show you how our sin was a debt.

Remember Our Crisis By Sin.

[1.] There is a creditor to Whom the debt is due, and that is God.

"“A creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.” ()

Here God is set forth as a Creditor.

As the Creator, Law-giver, and Judge all humanity owes full allegiance to Him.

As our Creator and benefactor, from whom we have received all that we have:

it was the Lord that gave to every man his talents to trade and barter with; to some more, to some less: .

So God has trusted us with life, and all other blessings.

As our Law-giver: If God has given us life, strength, bodies, a certain amount of wealth not to use any ol way we desire.

He’s graciously given us His law as a guide and that through His commands we serve the

One that’s blessed us so much and who has given all that we have to us.

The blessings and gifts that He gives are as such that He takes great interest in those gifts.

He didn’t set it up for us to be the owners of what He’s given but they’re all given as a stewardship.

One day we’ll all give an account of our life. Which leads us to the reality that:

He is also our Judge. He will call us to Himself to reckon and settle accounts with us.

"why, then, didn’t you put my money in the bank? And when I returned, I would have collected it with interest.’” ()

Here’s how it all connected.

The one that abuses God’s mercy as a Creator offends Him as the Law-giver, and is justly punished by Him as a Judge.

Are you prepared right now to answer for how you used your life, strength, and time for God?

This is why we pray, “forgive us for the debt we owe!”

[2.] A debtor is bound to payback the creditor.

If we don’t pay back, we become liable to the process of the law, which, in time,

is commenced against us.

And so we are to God, both body and soul.

"Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment.” ()

Before Christ, we are under the sentence of the Law, liable to His revenging justice and one day,

God will pursue His righteous law against everyone that’s not in Christ!

Every fall creature is bankrupt and cannot pay the price and so everyone is laying under the debt of punishment.

[3.] God has a book of records, a book of remembrance.

The banks keep records of all who are in debt to them so that they don’t forget who owes them money.

So too with God and those that owe Him.

All our words, speeches, actions, they are all upon record;

what means we have enjoyed,

what mercies,

what opportunities,

what calls, and

what messages of his love and grace:

Job describes is as having his “rebellion… sealed up in a bag...” (14:7).

So too our rebellion is represented as being sealed up upon record and cannot be forgotten.

You may have forgotten the iniquity of your childhood and infancy,

but it’s all in God’s record and

your sin will one day find you out,

though you have forgotten and think you’ll never hear about what you did, think again!

[4.] A Day of Reckoning will come.

God will put your obligation into prosecution and what you’re obliged to pay will be called to an account.

Death is but the summons to come to reckon with God. "... Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.’” ()

"I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.” ()

Imagine the book that you are making. The book of your conscience, where all your actions are stamped into their.

You cannot blot out what’s written in the book of your conscience.

That book will be opened by God’s power and shell extend to a full recognition of all our ways and words and heart motives.

Your conscience is writing even when it’s not speaking.

The defiling of the world system and

dulling of our hearts through legalism and false teaching cause our conscience to become numb.

When it’s numb it doesn’t smite you for sins we are guilty of but

none the less there is still an accruing of debt upon which the sinner is responsible for.

[5.]. After reckoning there is Execution.

A bankrupt person that owes his creditors still has to pay!

So God has a prison for the impenitent, disobedient, and obstinate sinners.

It’s dismal prison where its prisoner’s are help captive in chains of darkness.

If thrown into this prison there’s no getting out again.

The sinner in hell, as it were, always satisfying, and can never be said to have satisfied, the justice of God.

In all these ways you see how our sin corresponds with debt and how God is obligated to exact that debt through punishment that arises because of sin.

Your debt to God is different than any other kind of debt.

(1.) No greater Debt.

Flip over to . Compare verses 24 & 28.

Notice the difference in the number.

In v24, here’s the Lord forgiving ten thousand talents.

"When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him.” ()

And then the servant goes and takes a fellow servant by the throat for the debt of a hundred denarii.

"“That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’” ()

There’s a vast different between 10,000 and 100.

The debt of the fellow servant was pennies compared to the debt due to the Lord.

Then there’s the difference in the debt.

"When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him.” ()

"“That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’” ()

One talent is approximately 100lbs. And a denarii is a silver coin.

So our sins against God are more and they are more heavy than any which we could commit against each other.

It’s such a vast disproportion.

If we could only understand how grave our sinning against God really is!

What it is to sin against infinite majesty!

(2.) Unknown Day of Reckoning.

I know my mortgage payment gets paid the first week of every month. It’s a set day.

But with debt humanity owes to God we don’t know when that Day will be.

Most are surprised and unaware when He comes through death.

In beginning in v16 we read these words...

"Then he told them a parable: “A rich man’s land was very productive. "He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops? "I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there. "Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.” ’ "“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’ "“That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”” ()

God came at an unknown time when the man wasn’t ready.

He dreamed of many years!

Those spirits now in prison did think as little of that awful place and those that are still alive on earth do.

It may be today, tomorrow, the way out to the parking lot, sin is described as, “crouching at the door.” ().

A curse hovers over the head of every obstinate and unrepentant sinner.

(3.) The Whole person is a debtor.

In other debts, if you don’t pay for your car they come and repo your car but you, yourself remain free.

God’s aim is at the whole person. "Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” ()

(4.) There’s no escaping God.

To be in debt to God is to be in unavoidable trouble.

If you seek to run from God you really are just running to God!

Running from God, as willing to be call Friend and running to God, who is sure to avenge His Name.

"Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” ()

God is here, there, and everywhere.

(5.) At death, execution begins.

On earth, when a man dies his debts are left to be paid by others or they are cancelled out.

But with God, the execution of justice begins in its full unrestrained sense.

It’s everlasting punishment.

Death is God’s arrest.

As soon as the soul steps out of the world, in that exact moment, it is seized, and forfeited into the hands of God’s justice.

How many are there that lie under this danger and never think of it!

Spiritual debts they are not so sensible of as literal.

A man (in this world) that is deeply in debt, and in danger of an arrest,

cannot sleep, eat, walk around, because his fears are upon him.

But poor senseless sinners never thing of the spiritual danger that they’re in until they are plunged into it, and then there is no escape.

Manton, T. (1870). The Complete Works of Thomas Manton (Vol. 1, p. 172). London: James Nisbet & Co.

Remember Our Crisis By Sin.

Remember Our Cure From Sin.

When God pardons, there is nothing He will hold back for the soul; He will adopt, sanctify, crown.

The Cure is forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ.

What is forgiveness of sin?

Ans. It is God’s passing by sin, ., his wiping off the score, and giving us a discharge.

"Who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not hold on to his anger forever because he delights in faithful love.” ()

The nature of forgiveness will more clearly appear: 1st. By opening some scripture-phrases. 2d, By laying down some divine aphorisms and positions.

1. To forgive sin, is to take away iniquity, lift off.

Job asks God in , “Why not forgive my sin and pardon my iniquity?”

The word “forgive”, “Why not forgive my sin...” means to lift off and carry away in the Hebrew.

"Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. "But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. "We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.” ()

lift off. It is a metaphor taken from a man that carries an heavy burden ready to sink him, and another comes, and lifts off this burden; so when the heavy burden of sin is on us, God in pardoning, lifts off this burden from the conscience, and lays it upon Christ, ., “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.”

It is a metaphor taken from a man that carries an heavy burden ready to sink him,

and another comes, and

lifts off this burden; so when the heavy burden of sin is on us,

God in pardoning, lifts off this burden from the conscience, and lays it upon Christ.

2. To forgive sin, is to cover sin,

"How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” ()

This was typified by the mercy-seat covering the ark, to show God’s covering of sin through Christ.

God covers our sin in such a way, as He will not impute it to our account.

3. To forgive sin, is to wipe it away, wipe it out,

"“I—I sweep away your transgressions for my own sake and remember your sins no more.” ()

The Hebrew word, to ‘sweep away’, alludes to a creditor, who,

when his debtor has paid him, wipes out the debt, and gives him an receipt;

so God, when he forgives sin, sweeps away the debt,

He draws the red lines of Christ’s blood over our sins, and so crosses out the debt-book.

4. To forgive sin, is for God to scatter our sins as a cloud,

"I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, ...” ()

Sin is the cloud between us and God,

So He dispels the cloud, and breaks forth with the light of His appearance.

5. To forgive sin, is for God to cast our sins into the depths of the sea...

"He will again have compassion on us; he will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” ()

which implies God’s burying them out of sight,

that they shall not rise up in judgment against us.

God will throw them in, not as fish bobber that rises again, but as lead that sinks to the bottom.

Watson, T. (1855). The Select Works of the Rev. Thomas Watson, Comprising His Celebrated Body of Divinity, in a Series of Lectures on the Shorter Catechism, and Various Sermons and Treatises (pp. 524–525). New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.

“our debts”

CONSTRAINING COMPULSION “as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Jesus commands us to pray for forgiveness every day.

This is proper, for we know that we sin every day.

But repentance is not as easy as it sounds.

When we sin, we can respond in several ways, and not all of them involve repentance:

z

We can excuse our sin, especially by blaming others.

If we get angry, someone provoked us.

If we fail, someone tempted us.

We even blame God for our sins:"No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. "But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.” ()

We can deny our sin.

We redefine our actions, so they sound better.

The impenitent never argue, they have animated discussions.

They never shout, they make their points emphatically.

They don’t steal, they borrow indefinitely without telling the owner.

If anyone points out the error, that person is judgmental.

We can succumb to shame and run away.

We can collapse in guilt and self-recrimination.

We can give up because we decide that we are unable to change.

• We can resolve to try harder.

We can stir ourselves to redouble our efforts until we collapse in failure and shame again.

Or we can ask the Lord for mercy.

Some wonder if God will forgive us when we commit the same sins over and over. He will.

Remember, “Forgive us” is part of Jesus’ model prayer.

We pray this way daily.

If we can ask for bread daily, we can ask for forgiveness daily.

The question “Will God forgive again?” is sensible, but it underestimates the gospel.

God’s grace is greater than our sin.

The gospel goes to sinners, to the poor in spirit.

We rest in God’s love, not our performance.

The Lord is pleased when we obey, yet he loves and forgives, whether we obey or not.