The Pardon of Prayer- Part 2
Notes
Transcript
The Pardon of Prayer Part 2
Text: Matthew 6:5–15 (KJV 1900)
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are:
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
( For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.)
Introduction:
* Last Sunday morning we delt with the first half of Matthew chapter 6 and verse 12, “forgive us our debts.”
* Now this morning we will be dealing with the second half of the Petition in in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 12 “as we forgive our debtors” and with the footnote that Jesus gave us to understand this phrase “As we forgive our debtors” found in verses 14 and 15 which reads:
( For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.)
* Last Sunday we saw that there were several things that can be learned from the petition “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors..”
* We saw last Sunday that out most important need that we pray for as human beings, was not for our daily bread, the things which we need to continue our physical life, but our most important need is a spiritual need- the need for forgiveness of our sins!
* Jesus said in Matthew 16:26:
Matthew 16:26 (KJV 1900)
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
* If we were to have the best food, live in the best house that money could buy, have all the clothes that we would ever needed, and live in perfect health until we were 90 years old…
* It would all be a waste and in vain, if we do not have forgiveness of sin!
* Forgiveness of sin is the deepest need of every man, woman, boy or Girl this morning!
* Last week we saw some things that the petition “forgive us our debts” teach us”
I. We saw in the petition “forgive us your debts” the need to have our sins removed from us.
* Because God is holy, the greatest need of mankind is to have his sin’s removed from Him.
* All throughout the study of the Beatitudes, and this study of the Lord’s Prayer, we have referred back to the key verse of the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 and verse 20:
Matthew 5:20 (KJV 1900)
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
* And then Jesus also said in chapter 5 and verse 48:
Matthew 5:48 (KJV 1900)
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
* How can we be perfect as God in Heaven is perfect?
* The answer to this dilemma is found in our very text this morning in the phrase “Forgive us our debts.”
* Sin is the problem. And the only way to be perfect is to have our sins removed from us!
II. The the second thing we learned from the phrase “forgive us our debts” is that Sin is a debt we owe to a Holy God.
* The idea is that sin is a debt. When you sin you owe to God a consequence for your sin. You owe that debt, you have violated His holiness and you owe Him a punishment for that violation of His holiness.
* We have incurred a debt of punishment, and it is for this debit of sin, that we pray for a divine pardon.”
* In other words, we owe such a massive debt to God because of our unrelenting sin that we could never pay that debt.
* You could never pay that debt.
* When you violate God’s holiness a record is kept of that debt.
* The Bible tells us in the book of Revelation, at the great White Throne Judgment, God will judge the ungodly out of the books that are opened before the throne of God on judgment day.
* What books? These books are the books that contain the all the records of the debts these people owe to God for sin, debts that are unpaid, and they are judged out of these books and sentenced to an eternal hell to continuously pay the debt that they can never repay.
* Like the unfaithful servant in one of Jesus stories, who owed so much it never could be paid in his whole lifetime, we can’t pay the debt we owe God over our Sin!
* We can’t pay it. And that is precisely our problem. We are sinners who owe a debt that is so monstrous, it’s inconceivable that we could ever pay it!
* And Jesus, when He taught His disciples to pray “forgive us our debts,” was teaching us when we pray to God on the terms of the recognition of that debt.
* Jesus was teaching us to pray with the attitude that we are eternal debtors to God because of our sin!
III. Then the third thing that we learned from the phrase “forgive us our debt: was that forgiveness for sin was not possible until the debt for our sin was paid.
* Because of the sentence of God’s judgment upon sin, it was not possible for God to forgive our sins until Jesus made the full payment for our sins.
* God had already said in Ezekeil 18:20 “the soul that sinneth, it shall die!”
* Jesus made that full payment on the cross, when he died in our place, and paid the payment owed for your sins.
* And when He was done paying for our sins he said “it is finished!” The debt for sin has been paid in full!
* The forgiveness of sin is not possible while the debt for sin is still owed.
* This is why Jesus had to come from Heaven, and be born as a man, so that he would be able, as a man, to pay the debt of sin.
IV. The forth thing that we learned rrom the phrase “forgive us our debts” is that we learn that confession of sin to God is necessary to receive forgiveness from God.
* The forgiveness of sin is available. The penalty has been paid for. The propitiation or the covering for sin has been made by the precious blood of Jesus. The payment for sin’s debt has been satisfied! The wages of sin have been paid in full!
* Forgiveness of sin now is only a matter of receiving the gift.
* This morning, sin is mankind’s worst problem, and when Jesus taught us to pray “forgive us our debts,” He was teaching us that repentance was necessary for forgiveness of sin.
* In Luke 18 the Bible tells us that a Pharisee went into the temple and said I thank thee that I am not as other men, even as this publican over here, tax collector, but that I fast twice a week and give tithes of all that I possess, etc. etc. and over in the corner was the tax collector and he wouldn’t so much as lift up his eyes to heaven but he smote upon his breast, and he cried out … God, be merciful to me a sinner.
* And Jesus said, “That man went home justified rather than the other.”
* Why did the Pharisee not receive pardon, or justification for his sin? Why did the Publican receive forgiveness and salvation and not the Pharisee?
* Because the Pharisee refused to acknowledge his sinfulness, and the Publican acknowledged his sinfulness!
* To receive the available forgiveness of sin, the confession of sin is required!
* And now, this morning we will look at a fifth thing that we learn for the petition “forgive us or debts as we forgive our debtors.”
V. From the phrase “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” we learn that that are aspects, or facets, or kinds of God’s forgiveness.
* We come now to the second half of our phrase “as we forgive our debtors.”
* Now here is where many people get confused.
* The full phrase says, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” and then in verse 14 Jesus gives us a little footnote on this phrase:
* Jesus says,
“And if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you and if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses,”
* Now all of a sudden we say, wait a minute! Let’s back the truck up a minute here!
* If all my sins are already all forgiven in Christ, if all my sins were paid for by Jesus already, why do I need to ask forgiveness again?
* And what’s more, when I ask for forgiveness, why won’t I get forgiveness from God, it unless I give forgiveness to somebody else?
* What’s up with that! I’m all confused now!
* These are the questions that have confused a lot of people.
* If I’m already a Christian, and all my sins are forgiven, past, present and future, then what am I doing saying “Forgive us our debts” and what is God doing saying, “And if you don’t forgive somebody else I’m not going to forgive you?”
* Now, when we left off last Sunday this is the point where we had to stop because we were all out of time.
* I told you then, If you want to know the answer to these questions, be here next week at 11:00!
* So here we are now this morning, lets dig a little deeper into the first question:
* If all my sins are already all forgiven in Christ, if all my sins were paid for by Jesus already, why do I need to ask forgiveness again?
and then we will deal with the second question Next Sunday:
When I ask for forgiveness, why won’t I get forgiveness from God, it unless I give forgiveness to somebody else?
* I gave you a little hint last Sunday before we quit- I told you this- In order to sort out these questions, you need understand the difference between God’s “judicial forgiveness” and His “relational forgiveness.”
1). God’s Judicial forgiveness.
* Judicial forgiveness deals with your position before God forever, relational forgiveness deals with the fellowship you have with the father, day by day.
* Let’s first of all look at God’s judicial forgiveness for our sin.
* What do I mean by judicial forgiveness?
* This is the full, complete positional forgiveness granted by God as the moral judge of the universe.
* And by “judicial forgiveness,” I mean that our sins, past, present, and future are totally, completely forever forgiven, we are justified, declared righteous eternally.
* That happens when you are saved. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, at that very moment, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you.
* You who have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, are instantly made righteous in Christ, this is what Romans chapter 3 is all about.
* The righteousness of Christ is imputed to you, God drops the gavel of His sovereignty. He hits the table with it and says, “Declared righteous in Christ.”
* That is an absolute; that is a positional truth; and that truth is as eternal as God is eternal. That is irrevocable, unchangeable, and forever!
* The moment I put my faith in Christ, God’s righteousness is imputed to me!
* The moment you were saved God’s righteousness was granted to you. It was placed upon you.
* The moment you believed on the name of Jesus Christ God righteousness was was is put into your account to pay of your sin debt! The debt for your sin is settled forever. It is eternal. God is satisfied. That is settled, and your name was written down in the book of life in heaven.
* And that’s why Romans 8 says:
“No one will ever separate us from the love of Christ.” That’s why Romans 8 says “No one can ever lay any charge to God’s elect.”
Romans 8:1 (KJV 1900)
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…
* And, because all of our sins, past, present, and future, have been forgiven and paid for, the apostle Paul says that, because of this unchangeable fact, we can now never be separated from the love of God!
Romans 8:38–39 (KJV 1900)
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
* The “judicial forgiveness” of our sins is what Romans chapter 8 is all about!
* So that is it, the forgiveness of our sin is once and for all settled!
* Last week we said that forgiving our sin involves God taking away our sin, God covering our sin, God blotting out our sin, and God forgetting our sin.
* It is done with. If you have been saved, the forgiveness of all your sins has “judicially” been settled for good. Case closed!
2). “Relational forgiveness.”
* Now, let’s look at why then, if all of our sins have been Judicially forgiven, they why does Jesus teach us to pray confessing our sins and asking forgiveness if we have already been Judicially forgiven and our sins have already been paid for.
* Now, if we have Christians then praying this prayer, “Our Father” and all of their sins forever are forgiven and God has dropped the gavel and declared us righteous, then why is Jesus in our text teaching us to pray “Forgive us our debts?”
* Why are we asking God for forgiveness again? If all of that is a settled matter, what is the point of praying that prayer?
* The point is answered in a second kind of forgiveness. God’s relational forgiveness.
* Now, with God’s “relational forgiveness,” we are not dealing with God as a righteous judge, but we are dealing here with God as a loving father.
* Now listen, even though we have been judicially forgiven, and that is settled eternally, and never changes,
we commit still sin don’t we?
* Because we still live in a fallen, corrupted, body and mind, that are infected with sinful lusts, we still commit sin, even though we have been judicially forgiven.
* Those daily sins that we commit after that we have been saved, will not, and can not, take away our forgiveness of sin, but they cause our relationship with our heavenly father to be hindered, and we lose the intimacy and joy of your relationship with our heavenly father.
* The only way to restore the joy and intimacy of our relationship with our heaven father is to pray as Jesus said “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
* And because we sin over and over, even after that we have been saved, the must also ask for forgiveness for damaging our relationship with the father, over and over in order to keep in fellowship with Him.
* As a father who loves us, our heavenly father must then also discipline us when we sin and do not confess our sin.
* The Bible teaches that If we judge our own sin, God will not have to discipline us:
1 Corinthians 11:27–32 (KJV 1900)
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
* There were people in the Church that was in Corinth that were partaking of the Lord ’s Supper, who were living in sin, without confessing that sin to God.
28 But let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
* Because these believers refused to confess their sin to God, God had brought judgment and chastisement into their lives.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
* Now here we find a spiritual principle that, if we will obey it, this principle will save us a lot of problems and heartaches because of the chastisement of God on our lives.
* The principle is this- If we examine ourselves regularly, and go ahead and confess our sins on our own, we will be spared God’s chastisement in our lives.
* Listen to the rest of this passage…
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
* Now Hebrews chapter 12 tells us of the chastening that we would be avoiding if we would examine our own selves and confess our sin, before God has to chastise us…
Hebrews 12:6–13 (KJV 1900)
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13 And make straight paths for your feet,
lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
* When we sin something happens in our relationship to God. The relationship doesn’t end, but something is lost in the intimacy of it.
* If my children, sin against me by disobeying me, my relationship to them as a father doesn’t end, they’re still my children.
* I’m still their father. And there is a certain forgiveness in my heart that is automatic because they are in my family. This is “judicial forgiveness.”
* But when my children disrespect me, or disobey me, something happens to the relationship that causes a loss of intimacy until they come to me and say, “Dad, I’m sorry- I have disobeyed you.” And then the intimacy is restored.
* I’m married to my wife, And if I should sin against my wife by a thoughtless deed or word or something that was unkind, it doesn’t change our relationship, we are still married.
* There is a sense in which I am forgiven just because I’m under the umbrella of her constant love. But there is something lost in the intimacy until I ask her forgiveness that is found again as soon as I do.
* That’s what Jesus is talking about here in Matthew chapter 6 and verses 12, 14, and 15.
* This is not some unbeliever praying for salvation.
* We’re not talking about that; we’re talking here about the forgiveness that gives us the fullness of joy in intimacy with God.
* When I talk about “relational forgiveness,” and not “judicial forgiveness” this is what I am talking about, and this is exactly the kind of forgiveness Jesus is telling that we should pray for when he said to pray “forgive is our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
* In the opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus started out with the words “Our Father, which art in heaven.”
* Jesus is teaching us that daily confession of sin is necessary to keep is in a right relationship with our father in prayer.
* Let me illustrate this principle of “relational forgiveness” to you from Psalm 51, turn with me to Psalm 51.
* Lets look at “relational forgiveness” as illustrated in the life of David.
* Now David was redeemed. Mark it, David was saved. David had received salvation.
* Righteousness was imputed to David’s account. He believed God. He loved God. He trusted in God. His faith was in God. He had received redemption.
* The righteousness of Christ, even though it was yet future, had already been imputed to David’s account by his faith.
* He was a regenerated, redeemed man. And he fell into sin. Terrible sin.
* And had this had been anybody else but the king, David would have probably lost his life.
* And even though David’s sins were heinous, he was spared because of his position as king.
* But I want you to notice the nature of David’s prayer in Psalm 51 because this is the prayer that comes out of his guilt-ridden blood-stained heart as he reflects on his sin.
* And I want you to notice, first of all, verse 14. David cries out in prayer to God “Deliver me from blood guiltiness,” now watch, “O God, thou God of my salvation.” Listen, David here affirms his salvation.
* David affirms that God is still the God of his salvation. He cries to a God whose presence is there, whose Spirit is there, whose salvation is His.
* David was truly redeemed. And God was still there in His presence, in His Spirit. And He was still the God of David’s salvation.
* But even in affirming that the “judicial forgiveness” was there David can’t help but feel the loss of something intimate in the relationship with God his heavenly father.
* And that’s what he means when he cries out in verse 2, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me.”
* David is saying, I can’t forget my sin, it is keeping me from having fellowship with you God.
* David goes on to pray “Against Thee, and Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight.”
* Look at Verse 7, David prays “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”
* You see in this passage how that judicial forgiveness and relational forgiveness are so different.
* David was saved but there was something between David and God that made him lose the joy of that salvation.
* That’s why he says in verse 8, “Make me hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.”
* He wanted the joy back, didn’t he?
* David cries out in verse 10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God,!” “Renew a right spirit within me!”
* Watch this closely now, in verse 12 David cries out to God “Restore unto me the,” what? “the joy of thy salvation.”
* He doesn’t say—Restore unto me thy salvation. He says restore unto me the what? The joy of it.
* Now here it is, folks. “Judicial forgiveness” takes care of the fact of David’s salvation and forgiveness of sin.
* “Relational forgiveness” takes care of the ability to experience his relationship with God, and the joy of salvation to its fullest extent.
* You see? I can be forgiven, but if I’m sinful, and unconfessing, and unrepentant, in that sinfulness, I forfeit the joy and the fullness of my relationship to my heavenly father.
* This is why Jesus said here in our text to pray “forgive us our debts,” even though our sins have already been judicially pardoned.
* I think about David in another example of our need for “relational forgiveness.”
* The prophet Nathan told David, he says, “David, the Lord has put away your sin.”
* Oh what relief. David had committed the terrible sin of Bathsheba and Uriah and the Lord had put it away and said—You’ve got judicial forgiveness, this sin has been pardoned and forgiven!
* It wasn’t long after Nathan had said to him “the Lord has put away your sin,” that David wrote Psalm 32, and this is what he said:
“I acknowledge my sin unto Thee, my iniquity have I not hidden, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord.”
* Do you catch that? Listen, close, don’t miss this great truth! When he already knew that the judicial element was cared for David still cried out in confession to restore the parental relationship of a son with his Heavenly father!
* So what is the message of part one of this petition? “Forgive us our debts?”
- It is simply a plea that we experience the moment by moment cleansing that comes when we acknowledge our sin to the Lord!
* Now let’s look at what I think is the best example of God’s “Relational Forgiveness.” Look a John 13.
* Turn with me now to John chapter 13 and lets read the story together this morning:
John 13:3–11 (KJV 1900)
3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
* Now notice that Jesus is telling Peter that if he does not allow Jesus to wash his feet, then Peter will not have a relationship with Jesus…
9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. 11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
* In John 13, Jesus is speaking of His love for the disciples here in this chapter.
* In spite of their waywardness and sinfulness, in spite of the fact that they were sitting around arguing who’d be the greatest in the kingdom, Jesus is expressing His desire to be in a loving relationship with them.
* They were self-centered, selfish, possessive, indifferent to Christ, unconcerned about His pending death, arguing, proud, egotistical, they were all very ugly at this time. They all had un-confessed sin in their lives.
* In the midst of all this, Jesus takes His outer garment off and puts a towel around His waist, and starts to wash their feet.
* This was humiliating, to Jesus, and to his disciples, for they should have done it for Him. He should not have needed to do it for them.
* Jesus then comes to Peter in verse 8 and Peter says, “You’ll never wash my feet.” This is not going to happen, I won’t allow this.
* I believe Peter is convicted of his sin, I believe he wouldn’t let the Lord stoop to do that. I believe in his mind, he’s facing his own sin.
* He is realizing the fact that he’s been arguing about who is the greatest in the kingdom, that he’s been selfish, self-centered, and insensitive to Christ.
* And Peter refuses to let Jesus wash his feet because he knows that he is not worthy of this.
* Jesus answered Peter and said, “If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me.” And Jesus takes that whole physical scene and turns it into tremendous spiritual truth.
* Jesus says—Peter, if you want to really know what it is to have fellowship with me, if you want to know the fullness of a relationship with me, you better let me wash your feet.
* Now once again, Peter comes back with another dumb statement!
* Peter says,—Lord, don’t wash my feet only; wash my hands and my head. Do the whole deal.
* Jesus says to Peter, “He that’s washed (He used the word bathed) needs not except to wash his feet.”
* Jesus told Peter that He has already been entirely cleaned- that’s “Judicial Forgiveness!” Jesus says—Peter, I only want to wash your feet- That’s “relational forgiveness!”
* In this story, first Peter is telling Jesus what not to do and then Peter is telling Jesus what to do.
* Jesus is saying, Peter, just be quiet! I’m only interested in your feet because there is a tremendous spiritual truth here.
* Jesus indicated here to Peter- Peter you’re sitting around this table sinning.
* Jesus told Peter you are already clean and verse 10 says that all the disciples at the table were already clean, they were saved, they had the judicial forgiveness of sin, all except for Judas.
* Jesus told them “not all of you are clean, one of you is not.” One of you is not redeemed. But the rest of you are already clean. You’ve already been redeemed. You’ve already been made righteous by faith.”
* I’m not talking about bathing you all over again. You only get made righteous how many times? One, you don’t need that again. What I’m interested in is keeping the dirt off your feet.
* Now in those days, of course, you took a bath in the morning as you got up and bathed your entire body and then you started out for the day and wearing sandals in that part of the world the roads would either be muddy or dusty.
* Muddy when it rained and you can imagine the muck. And when it was dry, dust everywhere, and you’re feet would be dirty and every time you would go into a home or into a place of business or commune with people, or eat a meal, it would be necessary for you to wash your feet just as a matter of courtesy to those around you.
* And the Lord is giving them an incredibly great spiritual truth here.
* Jesus is saying to them, simply this—
You’ve already had judicial forgiveness, you’ve had your spritual bath when you believed. All that’s necessary for Me to do to keep the fullness of our relationship open is to wash your feet.
* That’s God’s “relational forgiveness.” Do you see it now?
* Daily, as we walk through the world we collect the dust and muck of the world on us, and those are the sins we commit.
* And as we confess those things they’re washed.
* And as we are confessing, 1 John 1:9 tells us, He’s faithful and still righteous to keep on forgiving and keep on cleansing.
* In I John, the apostle John is writing to a group of saved people who had already received the “Judicial forgiveness” for their sin, but John tells them that God also is able to provide “relational forgiveness” as we daily confess our sin’s in order to know the fullness of our relationship with the father.
* In I John chapter 1 and verse 3 the apostle John opens up his epistle with the words:
1 John 1:3–4 (KJV 1900)
…and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
* Then John goes on to say in verse 9:
1 John 1:8–9 (KJV 1900)
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
* What a glorious truth this morning!
* Jesus in John chapter 13, when He washed the disciple’s feet, was simply saying—Once you’ve been cleaned, bathed in the saving blood of Jesus Christ, you’ve received “judicial forgiveness” that doesn’t have to be done again every time that when we commit sin!
* But “relational forgiveness” is something that continues on every day, and is necessary to keep the fullness of the communion with our Heavenly Father open.
* Positional washing (salvation), or forgiveness of sin, needs no repetition. But practical washing (sanctification) or forgiveness needs to be repeated every day.
* In our text Jesus taught us that after you have asked that God’s name be Hallowed in your life, and His kingdom come and rule in your life, and His will be done in your life, and after you have acknowledged that God is the source of your physical and daily sustenance, you need to face the fact that your feet are dirty.
* And you need to acknowledge the fact that as long as they’re dirty and you’re unconfessing and unrepenting of that sin, there is a loss in the fullness of joy in the intimacy and communion that you can have with your heavenly Father.
* Believers need to open their heart daily and ask for that forgiveness that keeps their their feet clean, and for forgiveness for the sin that hinders our fellowship with our heavenly father, and takes away the fullness of Joy in our salvation.
Conclusion:
When Adam and Eve sinned for the very first time in the Garden of Eden, the next thing they did was what? Hide.
* This is always our first reaction when we sin against God as Christians.
* This is exactly what David did, when he had the husband of Bathsheba killed in battle to hide his sin.
* According to the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve were used to walking and talking with God and having sweet fellowship with Him in the cool of the day.
* They had joy and fellowship with their Heavenly Father, but the minute they sinned, the next thing they did was what? Hide.
* It’s a hard thing for us to confess our sin to God, but as l long as you continue to pretend that you can just forget about your sin and not get that sin cleansed, you will continue to forfeit the joy of your salvation like David did.
Proverbs 28:13 says:
13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
* As I have been expounding the Word of God to you this morning, the Holy Spirit has been pointing out sins in your life that are hindering your fellowship with God.
* Will you obey the Holy Spirit and come, confessing those things to your Heavenly father this morning, and get your feet cleaned, and have full fellowship restored with your heavenly father.
* Come as we the pianist and song leader come.