Preached by Gregory W. Lee
4 September 2005
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 6
9. "This, then, is how you should pray: "`Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
10. your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11. Give us today our daily bread.
12. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. '
14. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
-- people in Russia celebrate the first day of school in a unique way -- on September 1st of each year, parents and their children dress in their finest clothes and head off to school for what is called, the "Day of Knowledge" -- when they get to school, the parents and children listen to talks from teachers and from other students, and finally, the oldest students in the school -- the "last graders" -- take the first year students -- "first graders" -- to their class
-- on September 1, 2004, terrorists took advantage of this school tradition and stormed Beslan Middle School in Russia, taking more than 1300 people hostage -- they moved everyone into the gym, and set up explosives on trip wires surrounding the compound and constantly harassed and terrorized the students, parents and teachers as they walked through them carrying machine guns and with explosives strapped to their chest
-- Irina Gigouev was one of the parents in the gym that day -- and as she huddled with her two sons, Mark, aged 9, and Arthur, aged 8, she led several in the group in singing hymns and worshiping God
-- as they were singing, a terrorist moved behind her holding an AK-47 -- and Irina prayed out loud for God to touch this man and to change his heart
-- after three frightening days and after the death of numerous hostages, Russian troops stormed the compound -- as soon as the Army begin their raid on the compound, the terrorists starting setting off explosives and shooting hostages -- Irina's sons were both hit by shrapnel, and died in her arms as the battle in the gym raged
-- despite the loss of her sons -- despite the fact that she was facing death herself at the hand of the terrorists -- Irina continued to pray out loud for God to touch the terrorist and to pray for God to forgive him for his role in the death of her sons
-- by the end of the siege, 338 people died, including many children and 31 of the 32 terrorists who were in the gym -- leaving behind a world shocked at the horror of terrorism and a story of Christ-like forgiveness by a mother grieving the loss of her sons
-- to this day, Irina still harbors no resentment or unforgiveness towards her captors -- towards those who killed her sons -- but continues to pray for terrorists to come to know the power of Christ in their lives
-- this morning, we are going to be continuing our series on the Lord's Prayer and will be looking at the petition that Christ told us to pray, "forgive us our trespasses -- or debts, depending on your translation -- as we forgive those who trespass against us" -- as William Temple has pointed out, this is the only petition n the Lord's Prayer that has any condition attached to it
-- out of any sermons that I have preached over the past six years, none have elicited the response that sermons on forgiveness have -- no one seems to mind if we talk about sin -- and repentance -- and moral woes -- no seems to mind if we talk about church responsibility -- or church discipline -- or proper stewardship of God's resources -- no one seems to mind when we talk about hell and about the paths leading to hell -- but, when we get to the topic of forgiveness, a lot of people get very upset
-- if there is one area -- one spiritual stronghold in the church today that is keeping us from seeing God's power move through our midst -- that is keeping us from seeing renewal and revival in our hearts and our homes and our congregations -- it is a lack of forgiveness by those who claim the name of Christ
II. Christ's Call for Forgiveness
-- in this petition, Christ issues forth a call for forgiveness in two ways -- first, He says that we should go to God daily and ask forgiveness for our debts and trespasses -- our sins -- that we have committed against Him
-- the Bible makes it clear that we are all sinners -- we have all committed wrong against God -- Romans 3:23 says, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" -- and Psalm 51:4 says "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge."
-- every time we sin -- every time we commit a trespass or owe a debt -- even if it's to another person -- is ultimately a sin against God -- it is an example of how we failed to follow His commands and His standards and have missed the mark that He set before us
-- so, Jesus calls for us to go before God daily and to ask for the forgiveness of all the sins and debts and trespasses that we have committed -- because they were all committed against the holiness of God
-- we do this first when we come to Christ and accept forgiveness of our sins by believing in our hearts that Jesus was God -- that He died on the cross for our sins -- and that He rose on the third day in proof of victory over sin and death
-- but, even if you have become a Christian, every single one of you in here continues to sin every single day -- it's a part of life -- it's a part of being a human -- but, as you seek forgiveness and as the Holy Spirit works within you to sanctify you and make you more like Jesus, the fewer and fewer sins you are going to commit -- however, we're still going to sin as long as we live here on earth
-- therefore, since we continue to sin against God every single day, Christ calls us for us in this passage to continually come before God, seeking His forgiveness for our daily sins and trespasses so that we might walk in His light and in His life daily
-- but, there's a second aspect to forgiveness that Jesus gives us in this passage -- a second call for forgiveness -- Jesus tells us that God forgives us "as we forgive those who trespass against us" -- and then, in verses 14-15 He amplifies that thought by saying, " if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
-- this is one of the scariest passages in the Bible, because the implications are profound -- Christ is literally telling us here that if we do not forgive others -- if we do not forgive those who trespass against us -- those who have wronged us -- then we will not be forgiven by God
-- Is this what Jesus is actually telling us here? -- is He actually telling us that we will not receive forgiveness from God if we harbor unforgiveness in our heart? -- the answer, as best I can tell from my study of scripture, is "yes"
-- let's think about that for a minute and let's consider the context of this passage -- Matthew tells us that Jesus gave the Lord's prayer and this amplification of His thoughts during the sermon on the mount -- while He was speaking to first century Jews -- a people chosen by God to be His voice and His light and His deliverance to the world
-- the Jewish people had been severely wronged and harassed and persecuted over the ages -- during this time, their country was in bondage to the Romans -- and they suffered resentment and hatred and unforgiveness to those who had done them wrong -- according to one scholar that I read, the Jews were a people who sought revenge for trespasses and rarely showed forgiveness to others
-- but, in this petition, Jesus was calling them to a higher state -- He was calling them to put aside their hatred and their resentment and calling them to forgive those who had wronged them -- He is calling us to the same -- Why?
-- I think He gives us the answer in the way He links our forgiveness of others to the forgiveness from God
-- our ability to forgive others is a sign of God's love and forgiveness in our life -- it is a proof of our salvation -- a proof of our sanctification -- a proof that God has worked in our lives and changed us from who we used to be into people who live with the knowledge and power of God's grace and forgiveness in our lives
-- the Jewish people claimed to be the Chosen of God -- they were proud of the fact that God had established a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- they knew they were the keepers of His word and that the promise of eternal life rested with them -- but, instead of showing God's love and grace and mercy to the world, they showed resentment and hatred and unforgiveness
-- in the same way, a lot of us Christians claim to be filled with God Himself -- we claim to possess within us His truth and His light and His love, but then, rather than showing that love and mercy to others, we turn right around and show resentment and hatred and unforgiveness to others
-- I think that what Christ is trying to get us to see in this prayer is that if we are truly God's people -- if we have truly been touched by God's mercy and grace and forgiveness -- then we will live out the commandment to "love our neighbor as ourself" by pouring out God's mercy and grace onto others -- by forgiving others for the trespasses that they have committed against us
-- if we find that we cannot forgive others, then it may be that we have never actually accepted forgiveness ourself -- we may be like the Jewish people in Jesus' day -- claiming to represent God while not truly loving and serving Him with our whole hearts
-- as one scholar has said, "no one can reasonably imagine himself to be the object of divine forgiveness if he is deliberately and habitually unforgiving towards his fellow men"
-- Colossians 3:12-15 seem to sum up what Christ is saying in this passage -- listen as I read these words to you
12. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
13. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
14. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
-- God's people are called to demonstrate compassion and kindness and humility and patience with others -- God's people are called to demonstrate God's mery to others -- God tells us that we are to forgive whatever grievances -- whatever trespasses -- whatever wrongs that others have done to us, simply because we have experienced the loving grace and forgiveness of God
-- we are to forgive as the Lord forgave us -- as it says in Luke 6:36, "be merciful, just as your Father is merciful"
-- I want to close with a familiar parable this morning that Jesus told to graphically illustrate the point that He was making in this passage that we looked at this morning
-- if you would, please turn over to Matthew 18 and follow along as I read verses 21-35
21. Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22. Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23. "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
25. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26. "The servant fell on his knees before him. `Be patient with me,' he begged, `and I will pay back everything.'
27. The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28. "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. `Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29. "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, `Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
30. "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
31. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32. "Then the master called the servant in. `You wicked servant,' he said, `I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'
34. In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
III. Closing
-- In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus told us to pray, "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" -- in this petition, Jesus not only calls on us to go to God and seek forgiveness for our own sins and trespasses against Him, but He calls us on us to offer forgiveness for those who have sinned against us
-- He goes on to tell us that forgiveness is a matter of the heart -- it is only a heart that has been changed -- a heart that has been forgiven by God -- that has been filled with God's love and mercy and grace -- that is capable of forgiving others for wrongs done against it
-- Jesus tells us that our ability to forgive, then, is indicative of our state of grace -- it is a visible sign of whether we have been truly saved and are on the path to sanctification or not
-- we should not take this call for forgiveness lightly -- but we should pray over it and seek in our own hearts the truth of our forgiveness -- if we have received forgiveness from God, then we should be offering forgiveness in the same way
-- because this topic of forgiveness is so vital and so necessary to our growth as Christians, I am planning on continuing to talk about forgiveness next week as well, focusing on what forgiveness means and what it looks like in a Christian's life
-- as I close, I want to invite you this morning -- if you haven't already done so -- to experience the life-changing power of God's forgiveness -- we know that we have all sinned against God and that we all are in need of a Savior -- Jesus offers to you forgiveness of your sins and new life in Him -- eternal life in Him -- if you will simply acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior, believe in your heart that He is God and that He died on the cross for your sins and that He rose from the dead on the third day -- and confess with your mouth that He is God
-- God's forgiveness and His power can be yours today -- by simply asking Jesus to forgive you for your sins -- as I close in prayer and as we sing the final hymn, I am inviting you to make this decision in your heart -- if you would like me to pray with you, the altar is always open for any who wish to come
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