Lord, Teach Us To Pray (Luke 11:1-4)
Notes
Transcript
“Forgive us of our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us”
“Forgive us of our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us”
This next portion of the Lord’s Prayer, or the disciple’s prayer, our model prayer deals with the second aspect of prayer that relates to our needs. Remember that we’ve already discussed that the first 3 features of true Christian prayer deal with how we approach God, and they are:
Relationship: That God is our Father and we can approach Him as His children.
Reverence: That God, though our Father, is nonetheless the eternal and holy Creator of heaven and earth.
Realignment: That God’s will is supreme and is of the foremost importance in all things.
Last week, we began with the first of the final 3 aspects of true Christian prayer that relates to our needs. Remember that we discussed:
Provision: That God is faithful to care for the physical needs of His children and Scripture has demonstrated His faithfulness
This week we move to the next personal petition:
Pardon: “Forgive us of our sins, as we forgive everyone who is indebted to us”
As we saw last week that the petition for “provision” deals exclusively with our physical needs, this next petition for forgiveness deals with our emotional needs; namely to be forgiven. Though emotionally beneficial, this nonetheless has major implications in our spiritual lives as well. True Christian prayer will consist of the petition that ask God to forgive us of our sins because quite simply, we are all sinners:
Romans 3:23 (NKJV)
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
So, what is sin? In it’s most simplest definition: sin is any action, thought, attitude, or intent of the heart that is contrary to God’s nature of operating in pure and perfect morality.The word “sin” comes from a Greek word harmatia which means “missing the mark.”
This is the universal condition of all of mankind. Every single person. That’s each of you and that’s me too. The Bible says that we are all born in sin, and by nature are slaves to sin.
John 8:34 (NKJV)
Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
This is the primary reason why Jesus came to earth: to destroy Satan, to defeat death, to defeat sin—to destroy the works of the devil. He left the glory of heaven and in the fullness of time: born of a virgin who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He came as fully man and fully God, lived a perfect life without sin, and then went to the cross to die in our place to pay for our sins, and in 3 days rose from the dead to validate that God the Father found His offering pleasing and through the Resurrection from the dead, Jesus confirmed to the entire world that He is who He said He was: God Almighty who has come to earth to save His people completely. This is the Gospel—the “euangelion” which is Greek for “Good News,” that’s what the word “gospel” means! It’s the “good news” of what God has done to redeem sinners through our Lord Jesus Christ!
And as we discussed week’s ago, involving our relationship to God as our Father, we learned that we become children of God by believing in the gospel and receiving Jesus for who He claimed to be: the Savior of the world.
John 1:12 (NKJV)
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
To receive + believe = become, right?
And when we believe, we have demonstrated faith and it is by faith alone that we are justified before God. Justify is a legal term: It means to declare innocent one who was previously guilty. We can’t be justified by being good, because no one is good, we are all sinners. We can only be justified, declared innocent, by faith in Christ who took our punishment on Himself in our place.
Galatians 3:11 (NKJV)
But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”
Because of Christ, who paid for our sins, we can now be declared as innocent. Or “we broke the law and Jesus paid the fine,” as one of my favorite evangelist likes to say.
So with that being said, God promised that our sins are forgiven and that He will remember them no more, and remember we, as partakers of the New Covenant at the moment of true conversion—true belief—true faith, we receive the Holy Spirit of God that dwells internally within us from that moment on and forever. And some exciting things take place in what many great theologians have called this “Great Transaction.”
1 - We receive the imputed righteousness of Christ in exchange for our sin 2 Corinthians 5:21
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 - We are born again into God’s family through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit Romans 8:15
Romans 8:15 (NKJV)
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
3 - We will never be abandoned or rejected by God Hebrews 13:5
Hebrews 13:5 (NKJV)
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
4 - We will never, ever be separated from God’s love Romans 8:38-39
Romans 8:38–39 (NKJV)
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
5 - We become a new creation in Christ 2 Corinthians 5:17
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
6 - We receive a new heart that has the capacity to love, desire, and obey God Ezekiel 36:26
Ezekiel 36:26 (KJV 1900)
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
7 - We no longer have to struggle to obey God’s law because He writes them into our hearts Hebrews 10:16
Hebrews 10:16 (NKJV)
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”
8 - We are freed from the fear of death and the dominion of sin over our lives Romans 8:2
Romans 8:2 (NKJV)
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
9 - We are being sanctified by God to be more like Jesus Romans 8:29
Romans 8:29 (NKJV)
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
10 - We can be assured that God forgives us of our sins when we stumble 1 John 1:9
1 John 1:9 (KJV 1900)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You see the reality is, though we are born again through faith in Jesus, and receive God’s Spirit, and receive a new heart and a new mind, and become the new creation that is free from sin as God sanctifies us more and more into the likeness of Jesus - We still are at war with the sin nature and we still live within unredeemed flesh. This means we will not always get it right, we will stumble, we will make mistakes, we will sin from time to time. But God promises us as our Father, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us of our sins.
So do not hide when you sin—confess it immediately. Name your sins specifically. Keep short accounts with your heavenly Father.
If you lie, say “Lord, forgive me for lying and strengthen me to obey you and love the truth like you.”
If you gossip, say “Lord, forgive me for gossiping and teach me to bless others with my mouth and only build them up.”
If you steal, say “Lord, forgive me for stealing and teach me to trust you to meet my needs as my Father.”
If you dishonor your parents, say “Lord, forgive me for disrespecting my parents and teach me to love them as the authority that you have placed over me.”
So true Christian prayer consist of a petition to God our Father asking that He forgive us of our sins which He promises to do but it doesn’t stop there. See, if we are forgiven and then we are filled with God’s Spirit and God is transforming us more and more into being like Jesus, who is the fullness of God’s grace and mercy, and paid the price for us to be forgiven—then what should we do when other people do wrong to us?
“For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us”
We forgive others because God has forgiven us. Even if others have done very hurtful things to us, we forgive them and commit their judgement into God’s hands to deal with them. Forgiving others doesn’t set them free from what they’ve done, it sets you free from the bitterness that wells up when you hold onto anger and resentment. It will cultivate negativity in you, then cynicism, then anger, then sin—do as God commands—forgive them and leave it in His hands. The Lord says that “vengeance belongs to Him, He will repay” evildoers, but as for us, His children He says:
“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
True Christian prayer consist of the petition to God to “forgive us for our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”
Closing prayer - John 14:2
John 14:2 (KJV 1900)
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.