Being Forgiven and Being Forgiving
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Good Morning would you turn to , this morning as we get into the word this morning. We are doing a sermon series about traps, hurdles, and pitfalls that stun your spiritual growth and this morning we are going to talk about something that traps many people who claim to know Christ, and many who struggle with it even if they know who Christ is.
records the Lords prayer, the model prayer for every Christian and were gonna read it all and then go back and grab one verse.
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:9
Verse 12 is where we will focus this morning: Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors”
This morning I wanna speak with you on this subject: BEING FORGIVEN AND BEING FORGIVING
How can you determine a true church from a false one?
The Belgium confession of 1605 clearly outlines three distinguishing marks
The Faithful Proclamation of the Word of God
The Faithful exercise of Baptism and the Lords Supper
The Faithful Exercise of church discipline
People tend to judge churches on the basis of size, popularity, and resources. But god does not judge churches by how much money they have beautiful their facilities are or how many people come.
God is looking at and for people who love sound teaching, Holiness, and unity of fellowship. God is looking for marks of the true church.
This morning I wanna talk to you about something that can be called the missing mark of the church. Church Discipline
Church Discipline is the big process of confrontation rebuke confession, forgiveness and correction.
But I wanna talk to you about church discipline in simple terms church discipline is about being forgiven and being forgiving.
It is what Jesus teaches us to pray here in verse 12
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Notice the first word here is the word and which connects verse 12 to verse 11 where Jesus teaches us to pray give us this day our daily bread.
How do those go together?
These go together bc they are both basic needs for all people.
In other words forgiveness is to the soul what food is to the stomach.
Our bodies starve when we do not eat, our souls starve when we do not forgive.
I believe that whatever spiritual problem a person has can actually be rooted in one of two issues: guilt or bitterness. Whatever the issue is, when you get to the core of it, it is either guilt or bitterness. Guilt is the need to receive forgiveness, bitterness is the need to extend forgiveness.
The heart of the Christian life is the matter of forgiveness.
The Greek word for forgiven here means to send away, it was used for cancelling a debt or an arrow shot from a bow, the ending or dismissing of court proceedings it was used in for divorce, it was used for the ending of a meeting, or loosing a ship so that it can set sail.
FORGIVENESS IS ALL OF THIS
IT SENDS AWAY GUILT AND BITTERNESS
Christianity is not just about what comes into your life when you follow Jesus, its also about what comes out of your life when you follow Jesus.
Following Jesus is about the constant process of sending away guilt and bitterness.
Listen carefully
“We are most like beasts when we kill, We are most like men when we judge, we are most like God when we forgive.” C.S. Lewis
Forgiveness has to be a part of the Christian life, this is why so many are stunted in their growth and walk with the Lord bc they refuse to forgive and love someone who has wounded them. They refuse to extend grace to the person they are angry with.
So many are trapped by un-forgiveness
EVERYBODY SAY LET IT GO
Jesus says we ought to pray daily for forgiveness just as we pray daily for bread.
Christians come to God wanting to be reconciled to God and others this truth is seen in what is called the parable of the unmerciful servant in Jesus tells about a servant who wasted His masters money and racked up a major debt when he begged for mercy the king forgave him freely and fully.
But that forgiven servant refused to forgive a fellow servant who owed him a small bag of chump change.
So the king found out about this, and called for the unmerciful servant to come and be bound until every dime of his enormous debt was paid in full. Jesus ends that parable
So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
There are 3 big points in that parable:
The servant owed a debt he could not repay
The king freely and fully repaid the debt
***The servant had to learn the hard way, that the grace you receive is tied to the grace you give.***
Jesus says we are supposed to pray forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
THE NEED FOR FORGIVENESS
THE NEED FOR FORGIVENESS
This all starts off with the confession of a need....
One man bragged to John Wesley “I NEVER FORGIVE”
“Well then, Wesley replied “I HOPE YOU NEVER SIN”
The first reason why Christians are forgiving people is bc Christians recognize that we are people who are in constant need of forgiveness.
Proverbs
Who can say, “I have made my heart pure;
I am clean from my sin”?
ANSWER NO ONE
We are sinners we mess up we step over the line
We pray this to remember our own NEED for forgiveness
How big is this NEED FOR FORGIVENESS?
Notice the word that the text uses..
DEBT
In our culture debt is a way of life, but in scripture debt is never a good thing, it always involves condemnation and consequences. This is the problem with sin, sinners are debtors to God. Bc God created us we are accountable to God for how we live our lives and bc God is holy God demands perfect obedience to His commands.Its a fair deal, after all,He is the one who made us, rules over us, and sustains us.
So when we sin against God we put ourselves in debt to God
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin is a costly debt that keeps gathering up painful interest.
Where can you hide when you owe Heavens bank?
What kind of an acceptable payment plan can you come up with, when you owe Heavens bank what court can protect you through bankruptcy when you owe Heavens bank.
WE ARE DEBT RIDDEN SINNERS
SIN WILL TAKE YOU FATHER THAN YOU EVEER WANTED TO GO,, KEEP YOU LONGER THAN YOU WANTED TO STAY, AND COST YOU MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO PAY.
WE ARE DEBT RIDDEN SINNERS WHO MUST COME TO GOD WITH THE DESPERATION OF A BEGGAR NOT THE CONFIDENCE OF A BANKER
“This reminds us that the Lords prayer is not a casual prayer for the generically religious, this is a gospel prayer, we can only ask these things of God when we stand on the finished atoning work of Jesus Christ.”— Al Mohler
This is a part of the sermon on the mount this prayer is, there is a large crowd there but Jesus is talking directly to His disciples.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS lost people cannot pray this prayer, this is a prayer for the baptized, only those who can pray OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN CAN PRAY FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS
But think about how big this is…
Even though God is our Father in Heaven we STILL NEED FORGIVENESS.
Even though we are saved and born again and justified by faith alone WE STILL NEED FORGIVENESS!!
This is an important lesson about prayer there was a period of my life where my prayer life was a roller coaster up and down, sometimes on sometimes off, but actually Cory helped me get that back on track, bc there may be alot of things that Cory can be accused of but one thing is for certain the man prays.
My prayer life was a roller coaster was up and down bc if I had a good day I felt confident about praying, I was glad to tell God about what was going on in my life bc I was doing pretty good. But when I sinned I was reluctant to pray I felt so unworthy, and I would avoid prayer when I knew I had done something wrong.
But this helps free me bc it reminds us that NONE OF US EVER GET TO APPROACH GOD IN PRAYER ON THE BASIS OF OUR WORTHINESS.
We ARE NEVER WORTHY TO APPROACH GOD IN PRAYER
BEFORE I WAS SAVED I WAS A SINNER IN NEED OF FORGIVENESS AND NOW THAT I AM SAVED I AM A SINNER IN NEED OF FORGIVENESS
How is that?
Christians are saved by Grace Christians have the hope of glory, Christians have eternal security, why do we need to pray forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors bc there are two types of forgiveness God gives.
JUDICIAL
PARENTAL
JUDICIAL FORGIVENESS IS THE ONCE GIVEN FOR ALL FORGIVENESS GOD GIVE ON ALL THOSE WHO ARE REPENANT AND TRUST IN THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS CHRIST.
BUT PARENTAL FORGIVENESS IS THE ONGOING REGULAR FORGIVENESS GOD LAVISHES UPON THOSE WHO ALREADY TRUSTED CHRIST FOR SALVATION
JUDICIAL FORGIVENESS establishes a personal relationship with God
PARENTAL FORGIVENESS MAINTAINS MY INTIMATE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD
Before we are saved God is our judge, but when we trust the finsihed work of Christ the judge declares us righteous AND ADOPTS US INTO HIS FAMILY.
WHEN HE ADOPTS US INTO HIS FAMILY, THERE ARE TIMES WE STILL DISOBEY HIM....
I adopted a dog his name is chief, he is part timber wolf, part husky.
Prior to my getting the dog I had no connection with the dog at all, now he lives at my house eats food from my table, eats food that I buy him and lays on the bed I made him. When we moved in my wife said honey we need to get that fence up to keep the dogs safe.
So Brent Josh and myself worked diligently getting that fence put up, and it was one day later when I got home that I found trash strung out of the can all over the yard, see regardless of how big the yard was, regardless of how good I had been to the dog regardless of how we feed it and love it, its still a dog, sometimes a dog does dog things, and he aint thinking about how its gonna make me feel or how mad I am gonna be at him when I get to the house.
LISTEN WE WERE ADOPTED INTO GODS FAMILY TOTALLY FORGIVEN OF OUR SIN BUT SOMETIMES WE STILL DO SINNER THINGS....
(Gage)
BUT THANKS BE TO GOD HE DOESN’T KICK US OUT OF THE HOUSE HE JUST PUTS US ON PUNISHMENT HE SENDS US TO OUR ROOM, SO EVEN AS A CHRISTIAN WE MUST CONTINUALLY PRAY FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS NOT AS CRIMINALS WEHO NEED TO GET RIGHT WITH GOD BUT AS CHILDREN WHO WANNA STAY ON SPEAKING TERMS WITH THEIR DADDY!!!
John illustrates this well
its the upper room Jesus has just begun the last supper and he has told the boys he is going away but hes not gone yet before they start jockeying for who is gonna be the greatest once he leaves.
So JEsus teaches an object lesson
He gets a towel and a basin of water and takes off His outer garment, and goes disciple by disciple and starts washing feet the task of the lowliest servant in the house. WHen he got to Peter, Peter said Lord what are you doing Jesus says you dont understand what I am doing now Peter but one day you’ll understand it.
Peter said Lord you’ll never wash my feet.
Jesus said “If I dont wahs your feet you dont belong to me”
Peter did not understand but he wasnt crazy either He says if thats the way this goes not just my feet but my whole body, wash all of me.
Jesus sasy something interesting He says the one who has bathed does not need to be bathed again, He just needs to wash His feet and yall are already clean except not all of you. The not all of you is Judas.
In thier world they didn’t have closed toes or paved streets to walk on in sandals they walked the dirty dusty roads and when you arrived at the destination you didn’t need to take another bath but basic hospitality was to provide a water and towel so that you could wash your feet!
JEUSS WAS SAYING TO PETER WHEN I SAVE YOU I BATHE YOU CLEAN WITH MY BLOOD BUT ON THIS JOURNEY THERE ARE STILL TIMES WHEN YOUR FEET GET DIRTY BUT WHEN YOUR FEET GET DIRTY ON THE JOURNEY THANK GOD YOU DONT GOTTA GET SAVED ALL OVER AGAIN YOU JUST JUST GOTTA GO TO THE FATHER AND SAY FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE ALSO HAVE FORGIVEN OUR DEBTORS
To pray this is to understand your need for forgiveness I AM A DEBTOR WHO NEEDS TO BE FORGIVEN.
But to pray this is to
GIVE THE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS
GIVE THE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS
There is a confession I HAVE DEBTS but then THERE IS A PETITION, FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS
Notice he doesnt say teach us to forgive other people so that you might forgive us.
It doesnt start with us forgiving others, that would leave us in control and from ourstorehouse of righteousness we could reach out in love to those who have hurt wronged and offended us.
But it dont work that way, we are taught to be forgiven first, that means we are not in control we are at the mery of someone else for our lives not our own.
OUR FORGIVENESS OF OTHERS BEGINS AS A RESPONSE TO OUR BEING FORGIVEN ITS NOT AN ACT OF GENEROSITY TO OTHERS ITS AN ACT OF GRATITUDE TO GOD
(repeat)
There was a young pastor who went through a difficult season in his first church, he had a friend named Joe who would call him every week to pray for him. After every week he would say JUNIOR YOU GOTTA GET OUT OF THERE.
This friend would tell this young pastor this every week, you cant stay there bc this is so bad, he would say I dont wan this situation to make you a bitter young preacher. Joe would say this so many times it would make this young pastor regularly pray against bitterness.
The young preacher learned one thing IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE GRATEFUL AND BITTER AT THE SAME TIME
If your not careful you can focus on what didn’t go right and forget all about the MANY MANY WAYS THE LORD HAS STILL BEEN GOOD TO YOU IN THE MIDST OF YOUR TROUBLES
So we oughtta forgive NOT AS GENEROSITY TO OTHERS BUT AS GRATITUDE TO GOD
If we control the forgiveness we recieve then we have control over the forgiveness we give out.
IF we are to forgive the way JEsus commands we must first have experienced grace we must first understand the gift of forgiveness I want you toget this:
FORGIVENESS IS A GIFT
WE ARE DEBTORS WHO CANT BUY OUR WAY OUTTA TROUBLE WITH GOD
FORGIVNESS IS A GIFT
The passage doesnt say anything about forgiving ourselves.... this is a popular idea in the church today.
There are professing Christians even preachers who talk about forgiving yourself you hear people say it God may have forgiven me but I am struggling to forgive myself. But the Bible doesn’t tell us how to forgive ourself, the Bible doesn’t tell us that we need to forgive ourselves really thats popular psycology seasoned with religious words.
The Bible doesnt talk about forgiving ourselves, there are more than 125 direct references to forgiveness in the Bible we are never told to forgive ourselves its a dangerous idea.
Think about it this way, to forgive yourself means you are the God you offended.
Thats blasphemy, its not a Christian way of thinking at all.
Its just another way for the enemy to get us to depend on ourselves and our own righteousness rather than the GRACE OF GOD
Church do you know who God is?
GOD IS SO HOLY ANGELS CANT CALL HIM HOLY THEY GOTTA CALL HIM HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
AND IF YOU DONE WENT TO GOD AND GOD GAVE YOU ANOTHER CHANCE WHY YOU BEATING YOURSELF UP IT MEANS YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THE GIFT YOU HAVE FROM AMAZING GRACE SALVAITON FORGIVENESS PARDON IS NOTHING WE DO ITS ALL OF GRACE
ITS ROOTED IN GOD
We pray forgive us Lord
Says there are two ways you can handle your sin,
you can lie about your sin
You can lie to God, you can lie to yourself, you can lie to others
2. you can be honest with God about your sin
Heres the good news about being honest about your sin
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He is faithful and just to forgive us bc
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
It is through Christ we are forgiven its through CHrist we are reconciled it is through Christ we are adopted into Gods family, it is through Christ we are bron again, it is through Christ we are declared righteous THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I GOTTA NEED I AM A DEBTOR GOD MEETS THE NEEDY NOT WITH A PAYMENT PLAN BUT WITH A GIFT
He forgives our debts.
Think about it, people may reluctantly forgive but
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Psalm 86:
People may forgive but not forget
But in
“I, I am he
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
So he poured on him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;
it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.
Isaiah
GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING KNOWN, UNKOWN AND KNOWABLE
But he says if you bring your sin to me ILL FORGET WHAT YOU DID!
People forgive minor offenses but wont forgive major hurts, listen to God in
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
People may forgive but they’ll put stipulations on their forgivness
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
People will say they forgive you and still stay mad at you
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
We gotta need were debtors but if you call on God He will meet the need with a gift.
ANYBODY GLAD ABOUT THE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS
A family visited Washington DC on vacation as they were touring their young son got facinated with the Washington monument he slipped away from his parents and went up to a guard and told the guard confidently I wanna buy it.
The guard played along and said son how much you got he reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter and handed it to the guard the guard, smiled and said i am sorry son thats not enough.
the young man said I thought you might say that, reached into his pocket and got 9 more cents and handed it to the guard
Seeing the boy is serious he kneels down to the boy and the guard says son let me explain a few things to you, 34 cents is not enough buy the washington monument, 34 million is not enough to buy the Washington monument.
Secondly no amount is enough bc the monument is not for sale
thirdly son if you are an American citizen the Washington monument already belongs to you.
Thats how the forgiveness of God works church hear me you aoint got enough to pay off your debt with God forgiveness is not for sale anyway, but if you run to the cross and throw yourself ON THE MERCY AND GRACE OF GOD FORGIVNESS IS ALREADY YOURS!
WE GOTTA GIVE FORGIVENESS
WHY?
BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN
Jesus says when you pray you can boldly ask God to wipe out your debts bvut whernyou ask him to do that you gotta put this condtion onhim, AS WE FORGIVE US OUR DEBTORS
ONe commentator said I suppose this has made more liars outta people than any other document in history
I dont think we lie on pupose here I judt dont think we understand what this is saying.
I DONT THINK WE GET WHAT WE SAY WHEN WE PRAY THE LORDS PRAYER
YOU DO REALIZE THAT WHEN YOU SAY HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME
YOUR SAYING LORD LET MY NAME BE FORGOTTEN LET YOURS BE HONORED
WHEN WE SAY YOUR KINGDOM COME WE SAYING LORD LET MY AGENDA FALL AS LONG AS YOUR KINGDOM REIGNS WERE SAYING LORD I GOT PLANS AND DREAMS AND GOALS BUT MY GOALS ARE NOT AS IMPORTANT AS YOUR WILL BEING DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
We might be tempted to pray for mortgage and debt and funding for a big goal, Jesus said no dont pray for that big stuff pray for bread .
Pray for bread every day.
PRAY FOR A PIECE FO BREAD EVERYDAY SO THAT YOULL REMEMBER THAT THE LITTLE THINGS YOU PUT IN YOUR MOUTH YOU DIDNT GET IT CUZ YOU WORKED HARD YOU DID IT BC I PROVIDED FOR IT
Now He’s embarrasing us again by making us pray
FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE
This is what He is telling us to pray FATHER I HAVE DONE WRONG, I NEED YOUR FORGIVENESS BUT I REQUEST THAT YOU TREAT ME THE WAY I TREAT THOSE WHO HAVE WRONGED ME
GIVE ME WHAT I GIVE THEM
Let me have whatever grace I have offered
Theres a underlying truth here, God treats us the way we treat others
Its as if God says I want you to go to the market and buy your enemies groceries for next month and remember whatever you get your neighbor thats what Im getting you. Whatever you give is what you will recieve
This is huge bc all of us if youve been living awhile
All of us have debtors
Your parents should have been more loving , your children should have been more appreciative your spouse should have been more faithful, your friends should have been more supportive, your church should have been more caring we all have debtors
WE ARE GUILTY OF DEBTS PLURAL
WE HAVE DEBTORS
Not just one he says if you live long enough you gone have a bunch of people do you wrong and offend you.
He says your gonna come to me, with a list of things you need me to forgive, He says when you do that God is willing to tear up the list heres the condition, GOD SAYS I GOTTA LIST AND YOUGOTTA LIST YOU TEAR UP YOURS ILL TEAR UP MINE
This is so big it is the only one enforced witha condition
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
He is saying that forgiveness is like a coin this is not like a tit for tat legalistic strategy to get forgiveness or earn it.
FORGIVENESS IS A GIFT
But he does say its like a coin it has two sides
If we are unable to forgive others our hardness will prevent us from excepting Gods forgiveness
OUR ABILITY TO FORGIVE IS THE SUREST SIGSN OF HAVING BEEN FORGIVEN
2 Questions this morning as I close
HAVE YOU BEEN FORGIVEN?
DO YOU HAVE SOMEONE YOU NEED TO BE FORGIVING THIS MORNING.
PLEASE DON’T LEAVE WITHOUT GETTING IT RIGHT AND LAYING IT DOWN
(Let’s Pray)