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We're in Matthew chapter 6 on 
the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer. God willing, we'll finish 
this section up next week, and then the following week we'll 
start in the book of Ruth. Ruth probably won't take a long, 
long time, and then we'll get into 1 and 2 Samuel, which should 
probably take us until the Lord Jesus returns. If you wondered 
what you were doing on a Wednesday night, if Jesus returns, it may 
be studying 1 or 2 Samuel. So I suspect those will be a 
longer go. Anyways, Matthew 6, I'll just 
begin reading in verse 8, and we'll read to verse 15. Therefore, do not be like them, 
for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask 
Him. In this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed 
be your name. Your kingdom come, your will 
be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our 
daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, 
but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom 
and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men 
their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. 
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will 
your Father forgive your trespasses. Amen. So as we have seen over 
the last several weeks, Jesus is dealing with acts of piety 
or acts of righteousness. He takes up almsgiving, prayer, 
and fasting in this particular section. He gives a prohibition 
against doing it in a particular way. When we do a charitable 
deed, we're not to be doing it simply to be seen by men, but 
rather we are doing it for the glory of God and to alleviate 
the suffering of other people. When it comes to fasting, we're 
not supposed to walk around and tell people, I'm fasting today. 
and seek to gain glory or recognition for engaging in a particular 
act of piety. When it comes to prayer, he says, 
do not be like the hypocrites, those men that like to stand 
out on the street corner and pray so that people will see 
them praying. He says, if that's your desire, 
you have your reward. If men see you, that's what you've 
got. But for the Christian, for the 
believer, go into your secret place, go into your inner room, 
and your father who sees in secret will give to you openly. As well, 
he forbids or prohibits us to pray like the heathen. Verse 
7, when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen 
do, for they think that they will be heard for their many 
words. Verse 8, therefore, do not be like them. Do not be like 
the heathen. Do not simply recite the prayer 
thinking you will be heard because you say it many times. When we 
get to the Lord's Prayer, it is not given to us so that we 
can just run through it by road or that we can just say it 10, 
15, 20, 30 times and think that somehow we're going to get credit 
from God. Each of these particular petitions, and there are six 
of them, ought to be things that we consider, that we roll around 
in our heads and we see how they apply to us as individuals, to 
our families, to our churches, and to society at large. We can take these things to our 
prayer closet. Ideally, we pray these things 
corporately because the corporate focus is evidenced in verse Nine, 
Jesus teaches us to pray our Father in heaven. This is the 
prayer of the church. This is what the people of God 
ought to be expressing together. But we take these things and 
we seek the glory of God's name. We seek the progress of God's 
kingdom. We seek obedience to the will 
of God. We seek provision, or our daily 
bread, as we saw last week. And tonight we consider the fifth 
petition, forgiveness. He says, and forgive us our debts 
as we forgive our debtors. Interestingly enough, this is 
the only petition in the prayer that is amplified or expounded 
on in verses 14 and 15. visits this theme, for if you 
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also 
forgive you. But if you do not forgive men 
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." 
It underscores how important this whole idea of forgiveness 
is with reference to the Christian, and as well, this is one that 
certainly has a horizontal effect. When we pray, give us our daily 
bread. When we pray, do not lead us 
into temptation. Generally speaking, we're not 
at odds with others with those sorts of things. But if we come 
to God and we ask for forgiveness, when we know all too well that 
we're not forgiving others, then we're showing ourselves to be 
hypocrites. And the Lord God says, that is 
absolutely unacceptable. So we'll see that as we move 
through our study tonight. I do want to remind us of the 
Westminster Larger Catechism. Again, a very excellent explanation 
of both the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments, other things 
as well, but in those two cases particularly. It says, what do 
we pray for in the fifth petition? In the fifth petition, which 
is, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, acknowledging 
that we and all others are guilty both of original and actual sin, 
and thereby become debtors to the justice of God, and that 
neither we nor any other creature can make the least satisfaction 
for that debt. We pray for ourselves and others 
that God of His free grace would, through the obedience and satisfaction 
of Christ, apprehended and applied by faith, acquit us both from 
the guilt and punishment of sin, accept us in his beloved, continue 
his favor and grace to us, pardon our daily failings, and fill 
us with peace and joy in giving us daily more and more assurance 
of forgiveness. which we are the rather emboldened 
to ask and encouraged to expect when we have this testimony in 
ourselves, that we from the heart forgive others their offenses." 
Again, I think that just encapsulates so well a great deal of Puritan 
theology. in terms of expounding these 
particular petitions. What we're going to do tonight 
is look at three things. The meaning of the petition, 
the explanation of the petition, and the expansion on the petition 
in verses 14 and 15. But notice first, with reference 
to the situation, forgive us our debts. When we consider debt 
here, we ought not to think of a monetary thing. I know it probably 
suggests as much to us in our mindset. We think of debt, we 
think of money that is owed. But when we compare this with 
what follows in verses 14 and 15, When we compare this with 
what is likewise written in Luke's Gospel, specifically in Luke 
11, the parallel to the Lord's Prayer, what is in view is sin. 
Forgive us our sin. Debt, in this instance, is what 
is owed, one's due, a moral debt. The word stresses a moral obligation. When you drop down in verses 
14 and 15, you see the word trespasses. In fact, if you were brought 
up Roman Catholic, you probably learned the Lord's Prayer that 
way. Forgive us our trespasses. The word trespass means a false 
step, failure, or transgression. So in this particular petition, 
we are coming to the Lord God Most High, and we are asking 
Him to forgive us of our sins. We are asking Him to wash away 
that particular sin. Jesus Christ throughout the scriptures 
is very adamant that it's God alone, or the scriptures are 
clear that it's God alone that forgives sin. And so we ought 
to and naturally do come to the Lord Most High to seek forgiveness 
for our daily transgressions. Now the petition is a request 
made by the child of God for forgiveness for his transgression 
of the law of God and his lack of conformity unto it. The Westminster 
Shorter Catechism says, what is sin? Sin is any lack of conformity 
unto or transgression of the law of God. When we don't do 
what God says and when we do what God forbids, we have sinned 
against Him. And so at that time we need forgiveness 
from the living and true God. Now, when we consider this particular 
prayer, and in the context and with the reality of verse 9, 
Jesus is teaching this to believers. Believers are supposed to ask 
for daily forgiveness for their sins. You say, but wait a minute, 
doesn't justification secure for us the forgiveness of sins? Probably you've heard me preach 
it over and over again, that there's two elements to justification. It is the pardon of sin, and 
it is the imputation of righteousness. Well, certainly, we have been 
forgiven by God. We might look at it this way. 
God, in justification, forgives us as a judge would. He declares 
us not guilty. He declares us innocent, not 
based on anything we've done, but because of the righteousness 
of Jesus Christ. What is in view in this fifth 
petition is to seek God's fatherly care, God's fatherly presence 
in our lives. The judge has forgiven us in 
terms of the whole situation. When it comes to these daily 
transgressions, however, we want our Father's smile upon us. And 
this is precisely what this petition is. The one praying addresses 
our Father in heaven. This bespeaks adoption. Remember 
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that 
we should be holy and blameless. In love He has predestined us 
unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ our Lord. The one 
praying is forgiven by God in terms of justification. The one 
praying seeks forgiveness from God the Father. Now, when your 
child sins against you, you don't cut him off. You don't send him 
to the moon. I mean, we might feel like it. 
In fact, if we could, we probably would. But typically, we don't 
disown that. But there is a breach in the 
relationship until things are made right. And it's difficult 
to try and picture this analogously because there are some differences. 
But in terms of justification, God has forgiven us. In terms 
of our daily walk with the Lord, 1 John 1.9 is a reality. This is a passage that we ought 
to hold near and dear to our hearts, and again, I think it 
is in the context of this whole idea of our daily walk with God, 
or of having the Father's smile on our face. First John 1, 9, 
if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive 
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You see, he's writing to believers. He's writing to those who are 
justified. He's writing to those who, by 
God's grace, have come to the judge of all the earth. He has 
pronounced no condemnation because of their place in Christ, but 
is this daily ongoing life of faith, we confess those transgressions 
to the Lord so that we indeed have the smile of God most high. Spurgeon put it this way, this 
is the prayer of men whom the judge has absolved because of 
their faith in the great sacrifice. For now to their father they 
come for free forgiveness as children." Now some have messed 
up in this very thing. They understand the doctrine 
of justification and this past, present, and future. Forgiveness. I mean, face it. The moment you 
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you've been forgiven of your 
sins. You've been forgiven of sins that you're going to commit 
next year. That's the beauty of justification. It's squarely grounded upon the 
doing and the dying and the rising of the Lord Jesus Christ. So 
some have taken that fault in a faulty way and said, well, 
as a result, therefore, we no longer need to pray to God for 
forgiveness of sin. There's a guy named Bob George 
who has a book called Classic Christianity. That's not Classic 
Christianity. Classic Christianity is when 
the child of God comes daily to his father and says, Lord, 
please forgive me for the transgressions I committed on this particular 
day. It is a filial relationship. 
It is a son to the father thing. The father doesn't disown us. 
He doesn't throw us into Satan's camp. But when we sin and transgress, 
it is by the grace of God we renew repentance, we come to 
Him, we seek forgiveness so that we know something of His fatherly 
smile and we don't live at a distance from Him. We're not content with 
this separation between God the Father and ourselves. This petition 
is most important with reference to the Christian life. Secondly, 
the explanation of the petition. We pray this for several reasons. We pray this because we have 
remaining corruption. This is another passage that 
puts the nail in the coffin of what's called Christian perfection. 
John Wesley taught a version of Christian perfection. There 
have been others that have followed in his train, others that preceded 
him, that taught that Christians can achieve perfection on this 
side of heaven. The Bible doesn't tell us that. 
If you think for a moment that you're going to see something 
of perfection before the Lord Jesus Christ returns, may I direct 
you to Romans 7, Galatians 5 and to Matthew chapter 6 verse 12. Jesus is instructing the church 
to pray this way. Forgive us our debts as we forgive 
our debtors. We have remaining corruption. 
Already mentioned Romans 7. Paul says the good I wish I don't 
do. The evil I don't want to do I 
find myself doing. I find that a law in my members. The one that wills to do good, 
doesn't do it. He then in Galatians 5 says in 
verse 17, the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit lusts 
against the flesh. These two are contrary to one 
another so that you do not do what you want. There is this 
ongoing battle in the Christian heart. And so what we are taught 
in this petition is that we do come to God for forgiveness because 
we have remaining corruption. Here's what Calvin said concerning 
those who dream of attaining such perfection in this world 
as to be free from every spot and blemish, not only renounce 
their sins, but renounce Christ himself, from whose church they 
banish themselves. Calvin didn't play games with 
people who would claim perfection is up. Matthew 6, 12, there is 
an assumption or a presupposition spoken by our Lord in the petition 
itself that we will have remaining corruption. We need to come to 
the Lord and confess those things. So we pray this because we have 
remaining corruption. We pray this, secondly, because 
we desire the smile of God, 1 John 1, 9. That quote from Spurgeon. It ought not to be the case that 
we are content living with a known breach between us and habit. 
If that happens to us, we need to cry out to God to break our 
hearts so that we do not get comfortable living afar from 
the living and true God. Sometimes people get into patterns. Sometimes people get into habits. 
Sometimes people adjust to and adapt with what they have. They'd rather have a particular 
sin or they'd rather indulge a particular lust for a time 
then enjoy the smile of God." And this petition teaches us 
that we ought not to engage in such a thing. We ought to pray 
to the Father, forgive us our debts so that we know your smile, 
we know your goodness, and we know your nearness. We pray this 
petition thirdly because we are conscious of the evil of sin. God abominates it, so we ought 
to confess it. Right? If the Lord hates it, 
if He despises the way that we treated someone else earlier 
in the day, or He despises the way that we've conducted ourselves 
in secret or in public, knowing that, we ought to confess it 
to the Lord. If I upset my wife, I try to 
make things right with her. If she upsets me, she just pretends 
that she didn't do it. I'm kidding. Please take that 
back. Just kidding. We try to repair 
things, or we try not to do something that we know somebody we love 
despises. I know my wife hates something. 
I don't bring it to her. If she knows I despise something, 
she doesn't bring it to me. And yet we oftentimes hold in 
our hearts that which God abominates. This petition says, throw it 
out. Get rid of it. Confess it to 
the Lord. So we pray this, fourthly, because we trust in the mercy 
of God. This is a great petition to cause 
us to constantly remember our dependence upon the Lord. Listen 
to what Sibbes said concerning this. He says, there is more 
mercy in Christ than sin in us. Isn't that beautiful? There is 
more mercy in Christ than sin in us. The Puritans are full 
of that sort of thing. Never the thought being, well, 
if somebody understands that, then they'll go out and sin all 
that they can. That's the devil's logic. But 
the child of God, the believer walking by faith, rejoices in 
that reality that there's more mercy in Jesus Christ then there 
is sin in me. So I can confess this, I can 
vomit it out at the throne of grace, and I can trust in my 
Father to forgive me. Micah 7, 18 and 19, who is a 
God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgressions 
of the remnant of his heritage. He does not retain his anger 
forever. Because He delights in mercy. 
This is the God of the Bible. He delights in mercy. He says, He will again have compassion 
on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into 
the depths of the sea. With that sort of a God, why 
wouldn't we daily come to Him and say, Father, forgive me for 
having transgressed Your law. Father, forgive me for having 
lacked conformity unto Your law. There's more mercy in Christ 
than there is sin in me. We pray this fifthly because 
we renounce self-righteousness and self-justification. You see, 
the self-righteous man and the self-justified man doesn't need 
to pray to the Father to forgive him his debts. Why? Because he's 
self-righteous. He's self-justified. When you 
hear a believer praying to the Father, forgive me my sins, he 
is not trusting in his merit. He is not trusting in his good 
works. He is not resting upon the satisfaction 
of the law of God that he has accomplished. He is resting rather 
on the free promise of God Most High given to us in and through 
the Lord Jesus Christ, secured by His precious blood. Ryle said 
it this way, this is a part of the Lord's Prayer which deserves 
especially to be remembered. It condemns all self-righteousness 
and self-justifying. This fifth petition brings us 
right back to the foot of the cross. We can pray that God's 
name be glorified. We can pray that God's kingdom 
come. We can pray that God's will be 
done. And we can pray for our daily 
food and perhaps not consciously do so in the orbit of the cross. You can't ask God for forgiveness 
without a consciousness of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the reality. This petition 
condemns self or it is a renouncement of self-righteousness and self-justification. And we pray this sixly because 
we acknowledge the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. His cross, His 
blood, His redemptive work is the basis upon which 612 is in 
the Bible. We couldn't pray and forgive 
us our debts apart from the doing and the dying and the rising. 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the necessity with 
reference to the explanation, but then something is assumed 
in this. Notice in verse 12, and forgive 
us our debts as we forgive our debtors. There is an assumption 
that those who have been forgiven by God are those who are exercising 
forgiveness to others. Now, this isn't a causal situation, 
or this isn't a conditional situation. It is not the case, even though 
it may sound like that if we just glance at verses 14 and 
15, that as long as I forgive Jonathan, then God will forgive 
me. No, the actual teaching of the 
passage is that because God has forgiven me, I will forgive Jonathan. Not that Jonathan's done anything 
to me. he just happens to be in my periphery 
and he can play the big bad sinner that fouled or did wrong against 
me. But you see, the Bible elsewhere, 
in this context even, demands that we understand it this way. 
Those who have been forgiven forgive others. And if I am not 
forgiving others, I have no evidence I have no manifest proof that 
I've been forgiven by God. So specifically, this passage 
assumes that we are forgiving others who sin against us. This passage assumes that the 
willingness and ability to forgive others flows from God's having 
forgiven us. In other words, we do not typically 
and naturally forgive other people. That's not our nature. It's not 
our disposition. What does Paul say in Ephesians 
and Colossians? We are to forgive one another 
even as you knew from your youth, even as it comes naturally in 
your Adamic heart. No, forgive one another even 
as God in Christ has forgiven you. Now, if we set this aside 
for the moment, there's a big question. Are we supposed to 
forgive people who do not repent? Somebody kicks me in the head. 
Do I just forgive them? I don't personally believe so. 
I believe that people need to repent. If your brother comes 
to you and he calls, or you go to your brother and you tell 
him his sin, if he repents, you have won your brother. Repentance 
is absolutely crucial in this whole transaction of forgiveness. 
That's perhaps another study on a different occasion. Perhaps 
we'll end a little bit early. We can discuss that. But when 
it is the case that we have people that repent, we forgive them. 
We ought not to be those who hold on to sin. I'm sure some 
of you have heard my story from way back. When I first got converted, 
we were in this little Bible study at another church, and 
we got together and we're studying something, and this one lady 
who professed to be a believer just had this attitude that there 
was just something she wasn't going to forgive. Now, maybe 
the guy hadn't repented, maybe the situation hadn't been clean, 
but her attitude about it just seemed bizarre. I mean, if somebody 
hasn't repented, I'm sure there'd be some pain, I want them to 
repent, I'd like to exercise forgiveness over them, but there 
wasn't any of that. I'm thinking, man, this doesn't 
seem right. You've been forgiven by God of 
these mountainous sins. We ought to be able to forgive 
others of these molehill of sins that they've done against us, 
you see? That there's a willingness and 
ability to forgive others that flows from God's having forgiven 
us. And it's interesting, it's a 
corporate prayer. What is Jesus assuming? He's assuming that 
in the corporate context we're going to sit against each other. 
And I can't stand this mentality where people are looking for 
the perfect church. Oh, that church, they offended 
me. That church, they hurt me. Guess what? You're going to get 
offended and hurt any time you ever go to a church. But are 
the people dealing with it? I like to think that if I hurt 
you or offend you and I find out about it, I'm going to repent. 
Right? I mean, most Christians, not 
like I'm some bulwark of Christianity. I think that's in the heart of 
every blood-bought child of God. That when your sin, if you find 
out you've sinned against somebody, you try to make it right. I have 
yet to meet the... No, I just don't try to make 
anything right. I like to, you know, offend people 
and hurt people. What is Jesus assuming in verse 12? He's assuming 
that in the context of the local church, we're going to bump into 
each other. In the context of the local church, we're going 
to say things that aren't kind about each other. In the context 
of the local church, we're going to do things that aren't righteous 
toward one another. So what's the supposition that 
if I sin against a brother, or he sins against me, and then 
he asks me to forgive him, I forgive him. I don't hold grudges. I don't say, you know, I'm going 
to go to my grave hating that guy because back in, you know, 
48, he sinned against me. No, that's not Christian, man. 
You've got to be able to relinquish these things. There ought not 
to be a grudge-holding mentality or this mindset that this person 
is dead to me because they dared to sin against me 48 years ago. But they did repent, but I'm 
just going to be mean in my heart to them. That happens all the 
time in the church. We have these little axes to 
grind. Jesus assumes that we're going to sin against each other 
in the context of the local church. Those who have been forgiven 
by the Father are those who are exercising forgiveness toward 
others as well. And this petition assumes that 
we're dealing biblically with brothers and sisters who sin 
against us. There are several options when 
a brother or sister sins against you. You know what those options 
are? The first, you can let love cover 
a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4, verse 8. Let love cover a multitude of 
sins. If Jonathan keeps doing that 
over and over again, and it's not that big of a deal, I'm just 
going to let love cover it. I mean, you know, it's just the 
way he is. And he's really not. Anybody who's listening to this 
outside, just use an example. But there is that option. Husbands 
and wives have to use 1 Peter 4.8 a lot. Fathers and mothers 
with their kids. 1 Peter 4.8. Kids toward their 
parents. 1 Peter 4.8. We let love cover 
a multitude of sins. Not everything needs to have 
payment back. You sinned against me. You didn't 
do this. Look, man, sometimes we can just let love cover it. 
That's an option. But if you invoke this option, 
you have to let love cover it. See, here's what I fear happens, 
you know, we're too afraid to go to somebody and say, look, 
you sinned against me, let's fix it. We say, well, I'm going 
to let love cover it. But we really don't let love 
cover it because we still treat them as a vile sinner who offended 
us. If you let love cover it, note 
the language, cover is the idea of atonement, it's the language 
of the cross, if you are going to let love cover that sin, then 
it's done. Don't hold an axe to grind against 
them. Don't hold a grudge against them. 
If you invoke that 1 Peter 4.8 principle, that if you let love 
cover it, let love cover it. Secondly, we are supposed to 
go to brothers who sin against us. Matthew 18. If your brother 
sins against you, go to him. Not go to everybody else who 
knows him. not bring it up in the prayer 
meeting. Oh, can we pray for Brother so-and-so? He is such 
a wretch. He said this to me on Saturday, 
and I just want him to know the mercy of God. There's something 
very, very wrong in that approach, isn't there? Isn't there? If your brother sins against 
you, don't blog about him, don't Facebook status it, don't tweet 
it. I shuddered the other day to 
think that we live in a world where Twitterverse is an actual 
word. But if we do those things instead 
of going to him, we're not doing what God says. Go to the brother 
who sins against us. The third thing, with reference 
to sins that go on horizontally or between us, and by this I 
don't mean we're hitting each other, I mean there's a clash, 
there's a friction, there's a tension. We are to seek reconciliation 
with the brother that we have sinned against. And Jesus teaches 
that when you go to lay your gift at the altar and there you 
remember that you have a problem with your brother, go to him 
and be reconciled and then put your gift on the altar. Now that's 
an interesting passage because Jesus is using the language of 
temple. Not everybody lived in Jerusalem. 
There were seasons and times for feasts. You would come to 
Jerusalem. Imagine living in Galilee. Imagine 
living in Dan. And you go all the way to Jerusalem 
and there you present or you want to present your gift. And 
you remember, man, I stole from that guy in Dan when I didn't 
pay him his due. Well, first, go and be reconciled 
to him, not call a bus, take me to Dan, or a taxi, or a little 
jumper, you know, a little plane. You know, walk back to Dan, confess 
it, and then go back and leave your gift. You see, God takes 
these horizontal things seriously. Very often our worship of the 
living and true God, the vertical element, is so often affected 
negatively and adversely by this horizontal element. Instead of 
saying, you know, we don't really recognize the presence of God 
in our midst, maybe we need more songs, or maybe we need more 
drama, or maybe we need more repentance. Maybe we need more 
reconciliation. Look at Ephesians chapter 4, 
a passage that I'm sure we're all aware of. Do not grieve the 
Holy Spirit of God. What grieves the Holy Spirit 
of God? Certainly adultery would grieve the Holy Spirit of God. 
Certainly murder would grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Certainly 
stealing someone's ox would grieve the Holy Spirit of God. But look 
at what Paul actually says grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Verse 
30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed 
for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, 
clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. If we bring a few hearts into 
the house of God that are harboring those sorts of things, and then 
we don't sense the felt presence of God, maybe the problem isn't 
that God is angry or grieved with the congregation. We need to deal with these things. 
We need to maintain short accounts with brethren, and we need to 
maintain short accounts with God. This petition teaches us 
that very thing. Now notice, thirdly, the expansion 
on the petition in verses 14 and 15. He says, four, if you 
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also 
forgive you. But if you do not forgive men 
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Again, this is the only petition 
that Jesus expands on, the only one. We've got to get this. I think of the other passage 
or another passage that speaks of what happens this way affecting 
what happens this way. What happens horizontally affects 
what happens vertically. What happens, according to Peter, 
when a man doesn't treat his wife properly and then he goes 
to the throne of grace? Tells us his prayers will be 
hindered. The man says, man, my prayer life is just terrible. 
I can't make it out of the ceiling. I might ask him, how are you 
treating your wife? What do you mean? You're not 
going to give me a book on how to pray? No, maybe you need a 
book on how not to be a jerk to your wife. Because that's 
what Peter says. If you are not being righteous 
this way, horizontally, then your prayers are going to be 
hindered. This is just the reality in Psalm 
66. If I regard iniquity in my heart, 
the Lord will not hear. I mean, is it any wonder if we 
say, boy, the Lord, I'm not sensing nearness and communion with Him. 
Well, what's going on in your life? I'm harboring sin. I'm 
looking at this. I'm doing this. Well, there's 
the problem. Cough it up. Confess it to the 
Lord. And see if heaven doesn't open 
up. Again, the whole father-son relationship. I may not want 
to take Junior out in the field and play ball with him if he 
keeps throwing eggs at my car. When he stops throwing eggs at 
my car and he cleans my car, I want to go out and throw the 
ball with him. There is that filial connection when things 
are going properly. But when there is this breach, 
I don't want to hang out with him. He's going to throw eggs 
at my car. I don't want anything to do with him. We need to understand 
this horizontal element affecting the vertical element of worship. So the basis, or back to the 
expansion of the petition, the basis for forgiveness, we need 
to understand 14 and 15, as I said, is not conditional, not causal. That means it's not a condition 
that insofar as I forgive this person, then I'm going to be 
forgiven by God and have salvation. That would be a works righteousness. 
If the way I gain acceptance with heaven itself is by forgiving 
somebody that did me a misdeed in the past, and God then forgives 
me, the whole basis is not the doing and dying of Jesus Christ, 
it's my activity in forgiving that person. That's not what's 
going on here. Remember, this isn't an acceptance 
with God justification sort of forgiveness. It is a forgiveness 
that is seeking the favor and the smile of God that is reflected 
in the way that we are dealing with others in our personal lives. The idea is forgiveness received 
by God in our justification ought to lead to forgiveness extended 
by us to others. The absence of that sort of a 
spirit indicates the absence of the sort of forgiveness that 
comes through justifying grace. Watson said it this way with 
reference to 14 and 15. It, this idea of us extending 
forgiveness to others, it is a sign of God's forgiving us. It is not a cause of God's forgiving 
us, but a sign. We need not climb up into heaven 
to see whether our sins are forgiven. Let us look into our hearts and 
see if we can forgive others. You see, if we have been forgiven 
by the Father, then we will forgive others. Manton makes this statement. He says, it is an evidence, a 
sign of not a pardoned sinner. I'm sorry, it is an evidence, 
a sign. It is a necessary effect of God's 
pardoning mercy shed abroad in our hearts. For mercy begets 
mercy, as he does he. There is none so tender to others 
as they which have received mercy themselves, right? I mean, we 
see parables like Matthew 18. We see various expressions of 
this very theme throughout Scripture. He goes on to say that there 
is none so tender to others as they which have received mercy 
themselves, that know how gently God has dealt with them and did 
not take the advantage of their iniquity. So it's a sign, it's 
an evidence, it's a manifestation. The idea is not, I'm going to 
go out and forgive a sinner, and therefore God's going to 
forgive me. No, God has forgiven me based on the doing and the 
dying of Christ, therefore I exercise forgiveness to others. So that 
if I come to God to confess my daily transgression and I want 
his fatherly countenance upon my face, if I have not been that 
way to others, it is hypocrisy and a sham for me to be seeking 
that with the Father. That's the flow of thought. The 
ground of the believer's forgiveness and justifying faith is Christ. You see, you simply cannot take 
14 and 15 out of the Bible and say, as long as I forgive so-and-so, 
God will forgive me. No. We are forgiven because of 
what Christ has accomplished. Isaiah 53, Matthew 26, Acts 10, 
Acts 13, Romans 4, 2 Corinthians 5, Hebrews 7, 9, 1 Peter 3, 1 
John 1, 9, Revelation 1. The bottom line is that Christ secures forgiveness. Because 
he has secured forgiveness, we will in turn manifest a forgiving 
spirit to others, such that if we come to the Father, we ask 
him to forgive us. If we are not living a life of 
forgiveness, what we are doing is hypocrisy and it is a sham. Jesus is telling us that when 
we pray this petition, it is to be without hypocrisy. We cannot 
duly pray, God forgive us our debts, if we're not forgiving 
others. If we are holding on and we're 
not letting things go, then we don't have any business or right 
seeking this from the Father. Ryle says the plain object of 
it is to remind us that we must not expect our prayers for forgiveness 
to be heard if we pray with malice and spite in our hearts towards 
others. It's unfortunate we even need 
to be told this, isn't it? I mean, if your son had done 
something horrible to your other son, and then your son comes 
and you say, well, have you dealt with? No, but you need to deal 
with me this way. No, you've got to deal with your 
brother. You've got to go get things right. Ryle goes on to 
say, to pray in such a frame of mind as mere formality and 
hypocrisy. It is even worse than hypocrisy. 
It is as much as saying, do not forgive me at all. Our prayer 
is nothing without charity. We must not expect to be forgiven 
if we cannot forgive. Turn over to Matthew 18 for just 
a moment. This is all fleshed out very 
clearly in this parable of the unforgiving servant. Notice beginning 
in 1821. Then Peter came to Jesus and 
said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I 
forgive him? Up to seven times? Isn't that 
the way we are? Tell me what I need to do. Seven 
times I can get my mind around that, I can enter in and I can 
realize, okay? So let me buckle up, let this 
guy sit against me, I know what I gotta do. Peter's probably 
thinking he's being very benevolent, very charitable, giving this 
man seven times. Jesus said to him, I do not say 
to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven. Now, I don't think Jesus says, 
I want you to count. What is that, 70 times seven? 
One of you. How much? 490 yeah, I thought it was I knew 
there was a four and a nine in there I just didn't know where 
it all I knew didn't all know where it all fell out I don't 
think Jesus actually wants you to be tech taking okay 398 399 
you know 488 495 No, no, he's not saying that he's saying don't 
count Peter don't count Notice what he says. Therefore, 
the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to 
settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle 
accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. 
But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he 
be sold with his wife and children and all that he had, and that 
payment be made. The servant therefore fell down 
before him, saying, Master, have patience with me, and I will 
pay you all. And the master of that servant was moved with compassion, 
released him, and forgave him the debt. But that servant went 
out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred 
denarii, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, 
saying, Pay me what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down 
at his feet and begged him, saying, Have patience with me, and I 
will pay you all. And he would not, but went and threw him into 
prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants 
saw what had been done, they were very grieved and came and 
told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after 
he had called him, said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave 
you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also 
have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on 
you? And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers 
until he should pay all. that was due to him. You see 
the point? If the master forgives the servant, 
the servant should forgive the other servant. The servant doesn't 
forgive the other servant. He is a hypocrite. The master 
doesn't keep extending forgiveness to him in this particular situation. This is the point. It is not 
a call to go out and forgive somebody in order to earn your 
forgiveness with God. The idea is that you've been 
justified freely by his grace. You have been forgiven by God 
as a result of what Christ has done. You are to be forgiving 
of others such that when you come to the throne and you say, 
Father, forgive me for my daily sins so that I may know your 
smile, It's not the case that he says to us, look, there's 
people all around you that you're not forgiving. And should I forgive 
you? Go fix these things. Go deal 
with these things. Go tend to the reality of it. So that's the exposition. Watson 
makes this statement just in closing. He says, here is a bill 
of indictment against such as study revenge. and cannot put 
up with the least discourtesy. They would have God forgive them, 
but they will not forgive others." Calvin says, those who refuse 
to forget the injuries which have been done to them devote 
themselves willingly and deliberately to destruction and knowingly 
prevent God from forgiving them. Calvin certainly doesn't play, 
does he? He doesn't make you feel good. He just says, look, 
if this is what you're doing, you're devoting yourself to destruction. 
Don't do that. Forgive others. Have a benevolent 
spirit. You have been forgiven much. 
Therefore, you ought to be very forgiving to others who sin against 
or who wrong you. Well, let us close in prayer, 
and if there's any questions, we can take those. Father, thank 
you for your Word. Thank you for this Lord's Prayer 
and for the good things it teaches us concerning those things. We ought to petition you at the 
throne of grace. Help us, Father, to maintain 
short accounts with you and to maintain short accounts with 
one another. Grant us charitable hearts, charitable 
spirits. Give us a willingness to forgive 
others even as God in Christ has forgiven us. And we pray 
these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.