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The Topic: "TWO ASPECTS OF FORGIVENESS"
Text: Matthew 6:9-15
What a beautiful day we are blessed with. The sky is clear and the sun is shining brightly – certainly, the Glory of the Lord is on display for all of us.
This week we are going to wrestle a topic that impacts all of us in our lives, and that is the topic of forgiveness. In fact, this topic is so important that Jesus repeats it again 2 & 3 verses later. Today we are going to cover verses 11b, 14 & 15. Listen to these powerful words as you read the following text:
"and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."
"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."
We really can't just deal with verse 11b, and then two weeks later pick up the topic again, for the passage will lose its power, for it all goes together.
Forgiveness, what a powerful subject! Before we can deal with "others," we must deal with forgiveness in our own lives – which is exactly what the Apostle Paul stated in Ephesians 4:32. Please pay attention to what the Apostle said through the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit:
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted (what a concept!), forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
If we are truly a "born again" Christian, then each of us has experienced "forgiveness." According to this verse, God forgave us because we were placed "in Christ" when we came to the cross and asked for forgiveness. The basis for the forgiveness we received was Christ taking our sin, guilt, and shame to Calvary, "nailing it to His cross" (Colossians 2:14). This same concept that we read about in Ephesians 4:32 is repeated again in Colossians 3:13, which says:
Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."
These verses on our forgiveness, and the forgiveness we have for others, presents a challenge for me to not write a short book. I'll do my best to attack this subject with just the right amount of words needed to deal with the topic.
Jesus begins with the fact that we all have Opheilema (debts) that needed to be forgiven. The New Testament Greek uses several words for sin, which means to "miss the mark." We were all in open rebellion against God, and this Paraptoma (trespass) was, as the Greek language presents it, intentional on our part. We loved our sin, mainly because we were of our father, the Devil, caught in his trap called "sin." The word for trespasses, often translated as "transgressions," refers to our moral and spiritual debts – a stain on our lives which we alone couldn't remove.
God is Holy and cannot tolerate sin, and our sin separated us from the Holy God. This was a huge problem that man on his own couldn't solve – and really, left on his own, man didn't even want to solve it, for we were held captive by the Enemy. But his is where the Good News of the Gospel stepped in:
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved!"
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a results of works, so that no man may boast."
God stepped in and dealt with our "sin" problem, by sending His only Son, Jesus Christ the Messiah, to die for MY SINS, and thus, I RECEIVED FORGIVENESS!! And now, MY sin, guilt, and shame are all removed, "as far as the east is from the west."
The purpose of the Law was only to reveal our load of sin that we really could not deal with as a human – because of this great load of debt. Oh, the O.T. sacrifices were a temporary covering, that only pointed to someone greater who was to come who would remove our sin forever.
"For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come" (Heb. 8:1a)
"But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God" (Heb. 8:12)
I encourage each of you today to read Hebrews chapters 8-10, and Ephesians 2, which all speak of our pre-Christ condition, and then what our Savior did for us – He forgave us our sin, ALL OF IT, past, present, and future sins.
As a Pastor, I get frustrated at those who call themselves believers, who do not really understand what God through Christ did for them, and what it means.
Folks, we all were lost and buried by a load of trespasses - sins with which there was no help without intervention from God. Too many Christians today live as though they were not that bad, and their pride tells them that God really hit the jack-pot when they joined His team. Oh yes, God was lucky to get them, and they have so much to offer God, and it's so easy for them to judge others of their trespasses. God may forgive them, but others have to prove to them that they can live according to their expectations, and then they will be excepted into the holy huddle of so-called Christian fellowship!
This all brings me to part 2 of what Jesus had to say about forgiveness.
"as we also have forgiven our debtors."
"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."
Too many Christians (or so-called Christians) live in verse 12a of Matthew chapter 6, but do not read the rest of the verses – namely 12b, and verses 14-15.
Please allow me to spell this out for all of us (including myself). Jesus is giving a sobering principle here, and that is: if we have forgiven others, then we will be forgiven. If we have not forgiven others, then we will not be forgiven! It's simple as that! And why are we to forgive others? I can think of a few great reasons.
We have been forgiven a great load of sin. Why then would we not forgive others?!
*Read Ephesians 4:32 & Colossians 3:13 for the principle.
I am not the Judge, and should never strive to stand in Christ's role.
*Read Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that you be not judged."
How Arrogant and Prideful it would be for me to judge others!
*No further comment needed.
Forgiveness reveals our true nature.
*If we are truly a Born Again forgiven Christian. If we strive to live by the Word of God. If we strive to live in obedience, I will be the most loving, forgiving man in my town.
I love what other men of God have said about attitudes:
"The damned think they are good, the saved know they are wicked."
John MacArthur
"While others are congratulating themselves, I have to lie humbly at the foot of Christ's cross & marvel that I am saved at all."
Charles Spurgeon
"Oh Lord, everything good in me is due to You. The rest is my fault."
Augustine
"When you feel yourself to be utterly unworthy, you have hit the truth."
Charles Spurgeon
Persecution doesn't hurt the Church. It purges the Church."
John MacArthur
"There was a day when I died; died to self, my opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren or friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God."
George Muller
"When I look at myself, I don't see how I can be saved. But when I look at Christ, I don't see how I can be lost."
Martin Luther
"I have more trouble with D.L. Moody than with any other man I've ever met."
Dwight L. Moody
"It's absolutely absurd to say you are a disciple of Jesus Christ yet not bear the fruit of the Spirit."
Paul Washer
Cornerstone Bible Church, Let's be known by our love and forgiveness. If it's important to Jesus, then it ought to be important to us as a Church and to us as individuals.
Loving & Forgiving!
(It's my new nature)
Pastor Doc
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