Forgive us our debts

Introduction

In the last message, the topic was concerning the daily bread, that we need for physical survival.

In today’s message, we will be discussing a spiritual need and that is the forgiveness of our debts

You may be thinking to yourself, I don’t even have any debts, what is going on here?

I don’t have a credit card, I don’t have a car loan

Some of us could even say I don’t even have a job and have never borrowed money before in my life

So what in the world could this passage mean?

Does it involve all of us?

Do we all have debt?

A survey taken in 2021 by debt.org shows us that America is 14.6 trillion dollars in debt at the time of the survey

The average American being $90,460 dollars in debt

Whether or not this massive American debt of 14.6 trillion dollars includes you, I am here to tell you that you are in debt to the God of the Bible

Otherwise, why would Jesus have told us to pray for forgiveness of this debt?

As we look at this passage, we will see exactly what Jesus was talking about when he mentioned our debt and what he wasn’t talking about

Forgive us our debts

Growing up when I memorized this prayer, I had memorized it as “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”

I have also noticed that some translations will even say “forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”

I think the word debt works better but the other translations were not far off because this debt is a sin debt from the many times we have trespassed Gods law

Now comes a part where it is easy to get confused on

When we truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, all of our sins are forgiven: past, present, and future

Our debt is payed for by Jesus

We now stand on judgement day blameless because we are covered in the perfect righteousness of Jesus

If Jesus paid for our debt and forgave us of all sins past, present, and future, what is the need to continually ask for forgiveness?

When we were forgiven for all of our sins past present and future, we were forgiven in the sense of God being the judge

The judge no longer can condemn us for our sins because they have been paid for

When we believe in Jesus, we are also adopted into the family of God which is why we can pray this prayer to “our father in heaven”

There is nothing that we can do or anyone could do that would ever change that relationship we have with God

Once we are adopted into the family, there will never be condemnation for us and he will always be our father

The thing is, when we are adopted into this family, we do not become sinless

All of us Christians and non-Christians alike, sin against God every day

We being in that special relationship with God are not condemned for these sins but we can be disciplined for these sins

English Standard Version Chapter 3

11  My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline

or be weary of his reproof,

12  for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,

as a father the son in whom he delights.

When we sin against God after becoming a Christian, it hurts the fellowship that we have God which is why he disciplines us as result that we might strive not to do these things

J.I. Packer in his book on the Lords Prayer helps us to understand what is going on here by saying, “The Lords prayer is the family prayer, in which Gods adopted children address their father, and though their daily failures do not overthrow their justification, things will not be right between them and their father until they have said, “Sorry,” and asked him to overlook the ways they have let him down.”

Our sins should not cause us to run from God but run to God.

Our Father in heaven is not some mean God just waiting for us to come to him so he can punish us but rather listen to what the apostle John says in 1 John 1:9

English Standard Version Chapter 1

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

The apostle John says if we confess these daily sins, God will forgive us.

There is no unless clause in the verse

If you confess your sins, God will forgive you unless...

We don’t see that

God knows we are going to continually fail but he wants us to repent when we do and coming to him and confessing our wrong is a genuine step of repentance

This may be hard to understand for you

I can remember growing up, if I were to confess something I had done wrong I could expect a whoopin

Listen here to the parable of the prodigal son

The prodigal son took his share of the inheritance and left his fathers house and blew all of his money in reckless living to the point where he desired to eat what was fed to the pigs.

He knew he had wronged his father but decided to repent and go back because being a hired servant in his fathers house would even be better than the way he had it now

Listen to how the father receives him

English Standard Version Chapter 15

20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Consider that even though he sinned, his father remained his father.

Look at how when the son repented, the father gladly forgave him, embraced him, and felt compassion for him.

This is the same with our father in heaven

Though we sin and run off time and time again, the Father promises to forgive us these debts when we repent and confess our sins to him

Since we will be forgiven no matter what, this is not a green light to just do whatever we want

Although we are forgiven for these sins, these sins still have consequences

Consider David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had Uriah her husband killed

When confronted by the prophet Nathan,

English Standard Version Chapter 12

13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.”

David confessed his sin and the Lord forgave him but there would still be consequences and punishment for that sin

It is the same with us

If we learn anything from this lesson today, I pray that it is that we would despise the sin in our lives and when we do sin, we should repent and confess these sins to God immediately who is faithful and just to forgive us

As We Also Have Forgiven Our Debtors

As we move to the second part of the verse, we have just seen how God is quick to forgive us when we fail and we see here that we should be quick to forgive others based on this

Consider with me another parable

English Standard Version Chapter 18

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

This is a powerful parable

Consider the great debt that we have been forgiven of and the debt we continue to be forgiven of as we continually sin against God

How hypocritical would we be having been forgiven a debt that we could never repay, to not forgive these little baby debts that people have with us

I say baby debt because they are tiny compared to the debts that God has forgiven us from

There can also be misunderstanding in this part of the prayer too

The end of our parable says so also my heavenly father will do every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart

Consider again your salvation and where you stand with God as your father... as one of my friends likes to say, build a wall after that.

There is no going back across that wall

Once you are saved you will always be saved

This passage is telling us we are sin by not forgiving our brothers and sisters after we have been forgiven such a debt

We have also learned that sin has consequences

If we want to walk in close fellowship with God, we cannot live in unrepentant sin

Just as we confess and are forgiven to God, so should we be with our neighbor

Summary & Application

We have seen how God has forgiven our great sin debt once and for all for our justification and nothing can change that

We have also seen that we continue to sin and this sin creates a debt towards our fellowship with God that must be confessed and repented of

If we confess this sin, God will forgive us although sin does not come without its consequences

Since God has forgiven us of a debt that was impossible for us to pay, we are called to forgive those who sin against us

Their sin against us is nothing compared to the debt we have accumulated towards God

As Gods children we need forgiveness for these sins, not to be saved because once we are saved, we are saved forever

Jesus mentioning this in the Lords prayer should be humbling to us

Every time we pray this prayer we are confessing we are sinners in need of forgiveness and that forgiveness should extend to others in your life

Application

Do you daily confess the sins in your life to God?

Now that we understand the importance of confessing and being forgiven of these sins, its only right that we would make a habit of doing this in our daily prayers

When we go to God in our prayers, we should be asking that the Holy Spirit would reveal this sin in our lives so we can confess and ask forgiveness

If you are clueless to what these sins might be in your life, my challenge for you is to read the sermon on the mount this week contained in Matthew 5-8

After reading this I am certain that you will be aware of a lot more sin in your life than you may have imagined

Don’t let this sin debt throw you in despair but remember to confess to our Father in heaven who loves us and he will forgive us every time

What about people that have sinned against you?

Have you forgiven these people or held a grudge against them since they have wronged you?

We have seen how this is important for our fellowship with God so we must forgive otherwise we are living in daily sin that we must confess

I know it can be hard but it must be done

Your forgiving people could be a good opportunity to share the gospel if the person is not a believer

They might ask why you are forgiving them and you could mention how you have been forgiven a debt that you could never repay

If you can think of anybody that has wronged you that you have never forgiven, I challenge you to reach out and make sure that they know you have forgiven them

When you forgive them, really mean it from your heart

I think when we understand the nature of our debt and Gods forgiveness for us, our forgiveness flows a lot more naturally towards others

Lets pray!