Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 6:14–15 KJV 1900

14 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

Of all the meaningful statements in the prayer that Jesus has just shared, only one gets an addendum at the end.

It is this lesson on forgiveness.

This sure sounds like legal justification.

A legal transaction can go like this.

If you do this; you’ll receive this.

If you don’t do this; you won’t get this.

It would be harmfully negligent for us to take a statement like this and interpret it without comparing it to everything else that has been written in the Bible.

If you were to look at this passage alone, then you would have to make some conclusions about forgiveness that don’t fit with the foundational principles of Christianity.

Without context, this passage seems to put performance requirements on the forgiveness of God.

This is a dangerous assertion to make if we are talking about the forgiveness that comes at the moment of salvation.

Someone might say, “well that’s what it’s saying and it makes sense, if you don’t forgive, you won’t be forgiven.”

What happens though, when we insert any other requirement?

Does it sound as reasonable?

What if it said “if ye give not 90% of your income, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”?

No person has ever been redeemed through works.

It is impossible for us to merit forgiveness by our actions.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Many people ascribe to the idea that their moral and immoral actions will be weighed out against each other.

If the moral outweighs the immoral, then you have merited God’s favor and forgiveness.

This isn’t remotely close to reality.

Even the moral things that you do are insufficient to merit God’s favor.

There isn’t anything on the moral end of your proverbial scales.

Every age of man has had to reconcile with this.

In the Old Testament, we see that Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.

Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23 all share this same truth.

In the Old Testament, righteousness was applied in response to faith.

Hebrews 11 gives us a list of examples from the Old Testament of people who had saving faith.

Salvation can never be earned through our own goodness or morality.

Forgiveness of sins is granted to us based on the work of Jesus on the cross.

We either believe that this is the case or we don’t.

If we believe, we will seek inclusion in His work.

So what is this statement promoting?

If He is not referring to the forgiveness of sins at salvation, what is Jesus talking about?

I think we can narrow this matter down by understanding some things.

Jesus, throughout the Sermon on the Mount, is talking about marks of His disciples.

The assumption is that the people to whom Jesus is talking are either already His disciples or they are looking at what it is like to be His disciple.

So, He is not detailing a method of conversion.

Instead He is describing a life after conversion.

…the life of a disciple.

How do verses 14-15 hit for a person who presents themselves as a disciple of Jesus?

Well, it shows us that if the mark of discipleship is not apparent in our life, it is possible we are not a disciple.

We don’t forgive others so that we will be saved, we forgive others because we are saved.

The relationship of the prayer to God is that of Father and child.

As with any father-child relationship there are certain resemblances that indicate the relationship.

Even in a spiritual parent relationship.

For the disciple, a spiritual genetic marker must be forgiveness.

True disciples of Jesus will forgive.

They will not withhold forgiveness.

A person who refuses to forgive, may need to examine whether or not they’ve really been forgiven.

Our list of offenses before God is expansive.

Forgiveness on such a large scale impacts the recipient.

It puts things into perspective.

My offense to God vs. the offense of others to me.

As a disciple, an imitator of my Master, I find the strength to forgive.

He forgave me of much, I can forgive you of little.

A disciple who refuses to forgive may not actually be a disciple at all.

Jesus’ words also describe a guiding principle that ought to inform the actions of His disciples.

Jesus delivered a parable on forgiveness in Matthew 18 about the servant who had a great debt.

He has just told Peter that he must forgive his 490 times a day.

He illustrates the importance of forgiveness by telling the story of the debt.

It was really an un-payable debt.

And yet, the master of the servant forgave the man’s debt and sent him off free.

The man was overcome by the greatness of the burden that was lifted off of him that he fell at his master’s feet and worshipped him.

The forgiven servant went out from his master’s presence and found another man who owed him a very small debt.

The forgiven man took the other man by the throat demanding repayment.

When the man could not repay his small debt, the forgiven man took him a threw him into prison.

When the master heard about this, he was livid.

He had forgiven this man’s great, un-payable debt.

And yet, he had not found it in his heart to forgive the miniscule debt of his peer.

The master then takes the man, whom he still considers his servant, and delivers him to face the tormenters until his debt is paid.

Now let’s see how this applies to our passage.

Was this man forgiven?

Did he forgive the one who owed him a debt?

Were the debts comparable?

Were there consequences for his sin of un-forgiveness?

Was there hope that he would escape the consequences of this offense after refusing to forgive?

A disciple’s refusal to forgive could mean he’s not a disciple, but it certainly means that he will face consequences for his lack of forgiveness.

Those consequences will be felt in the relationship of the disciple with his Master.

God knows the damage that un-forgiveness causes to the soul of His disciples.

He loves us too much to let that go on unaddressed.

As long as we refuse to extend forgiveness to another, there will be a rift in the disciple’s relationship with his Master.

What should we do with this passage this morning.

Take the matter of forgiveness seriously.

Forgive the people that you feel have sinned against you.

Pray that God will help you to forgive those that have hurt you.