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Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 
6, studying the gospel according to Matthew. Specifically, we 
are in the Sermon on the Mount. Specifically, Jesus' treatment 
or dealing with religious observance. He highlights charitable deeds 
or almsgiving, prayer and fasting. The people of God are not to 
engage in these things simply to be seen by men, but rather 
we are to do them for the glory of God and for the good of others. As well, later on, I think we'll 
see this in Matthew 25. It's an intriguing thing. When 
Jesus is judging the sheep and the goats there, and he says, 
when I was in prison, you visited me. When I was hungry, you fed 
me. When I was thirsty, you gave me to drink. Remember the response 
of the disciples? They were surprised about that, 
weren't they? They weren't using sinners to 
please Jesus. They were actually lovers of 
sinners. They actually cared for people. 
Certainly, Jesus is pleased in that, but there is an approach 
to Christianity which looks at people or looks at sinners or 
looks at the downcast and the downtrodden as a means whereby 
we can honor Christ. It's interesting. Those disciples, 
the sheep in Matthew 25, are legitimately surprised. When 
did we do this, Lord? It's just part of our life as 
disciples to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, 
to visit those who are in need. We weren't necessarily doing 
it just so we could please you. That's a blessed thing to be 
sure we want to please Jesus. But our religious observances 
must be done the way God specifies it. And we see here specifically 
in the section concerning prayer. We're not to be like the hypocrite 
who simply prays to be seen by men. But as well, we're not to 
be like the heathen who just multiplies words in order to 
be heard by God. It is in this context that Jesus 
gives this model prayer, what we call the Lord's Prayer. And 
in verse nine, he says, 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. Well, let us pray. God, thank 
you for your word and thank you that it does not leave us to 
ourselves to figure out things like prayer. to figure out things 
like almsgiving and fasting to specify the manner you specify, 
even down to the to the model of prayer that we ought to employ. 
And we thank you, God, and how we pray now for the aid in the 
ministry of your Holy Spirit. He would guide us and lead us 
and help us to be a prayerful people, both as individuals and 
as a church. Grant us grace, Lord God, to 
be frequent at the throne of grace, to pray always and to 
glorify you in this manner. We ask through Jesus Christ the 
Lord. Amen. Well, we're up or we're 
at the fifth petition this morning, the petition for forgiveness. 
This is the only petition that Jesus gives expansion on or further 
comment. He does that in verses 14 and 
15. So we're going to take up this morning, verse 12 and verses 
14 and 15. The fifth petition, the forgiveness 
of sin. Remember, there is a conspicuous 
order in this Lord's Prayer, in this model prayer. We're not 
just supposed to recite it or memorize it and commit it or 
engage in sort of a rote parent form, but rather it is to inform 
us those categories and those things that we ought to spend 
time praying about. But the conspicuous order is 
God comes first. God's name, God's kingdom, and 
God's will precedes Our need for food, our need for forgiveness, 
and our need for protection. We ought to remember that. We 
very frequently will come into the presence of God when we need 
something. Lord, give me. Lord, help me. 
Lord, bless me. We need to take time to reflect 
on who God is. He is our Father. We need to 
take time to formulate our minds around his word and to see what 
really matters in this world is the exaltation, not of us, 
but of his name. We ought to pray that through 
the preaching of the gospel and the power of his spirit, God's 
kingdom would come. We ought to pray as well for 
that coming of the kingdom of glory when Jesus shall come and 
the glory of his father with all of his holy angels, taking 
vengeance on them who know not God and on those who do not obey 
the gospel. And we ought to pray that the 
fathers will be done on earth as it is in heaven. See, we don't 
want to change God's will to conform to ours, but rather we 
want us to conform to him. We saw last week the petition 
for bread. the petition for provision. Give 
us this day our daily bread. And as I said, we are now with 
forgiveness. And I want to consider this petition 
under three main thoughts. First, the meaning of the petition. Secondly, the explanation of 
it. And then thirdly, the expansion 
or the amplification, specifically verses 14 and 15. Let's look 
at the meaning. First of all, Jesus uses the 
word death. Does that mean he has in mind 
credit card companies and those who are enslaved to them? Is 
Jesus speaking of monetary debt in this particular instance? 
God, forgive us our monetary debts toward you so that we can 
forgive the monetary debts toward others. I think as we look at 
verses 14 and 15 and as we compare some other scripture, we'll know 
that what verse 12 means is forgive us of our sins. Forgive us and 
pardon us for our sins. Turn over to Matthew 18 for just 
a moment. Matthew chapter 18, beginning 
in verse 21. Then Peter came to him and said, 
Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive 
him up to seven times. And then Jesus says, I do not 
say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times, seventy 
or seven. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven 
is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 
He uses debt and the payment of debt as an illustration of 
this whole idea of forgiving one another of their sins. Of 
course, the parallel passage in Luke's gospel with the Lord's 
Lord's Prayer. It says, Forgive us of our sins 
as we forgive those who are indebted to us. Just important that we 
get this. This is a petition that we as 
God's people are to pray to our Heavenly Father that he would 
forgive us of our sins. that he would cleanse us from 
our sins, that he would wash us afresh from our sins. Some have said that as justified 
by faith alone believers, we don't really need to pray this 
petition. It was confined to the old dispensation. It will 
come back in the millennial kingdom, but it's not really for us today. 
We have seen in our studies in the Sermon on the Mount, this 
sermon is for us. Jesus' instruction is for us. 
I think the idea here is simply this, when we come by God's grace 
to the Lord Jesus Christ, we are justified. God, the judge, 
declares us not guilty, not because we're good, not because we merit, 
not because we're wonderful. But based on the finished work 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we look, we live. God pardons 
our iniquities and he imputes the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 
And that comes by faith alone. So we're good in terms of the 
judge over all mankind. What Jesus is highlighting in 
this petition to pray for forgiveness is the child addressing the father. We want to maintain happiness 
in this relationship. We want to maintain intimacy 
in this relationship. We want to maintain short accounts 
with God with reference to our sin. That's the direction that 
our Lord Jesus Christ is going toward. The one praying already 
has been identified as praying our father. He is our father 
by adoption. He is our father by the blood. 
He is our Father by gracious provision. We have entered into 
this newness of life where we get the grand benefit of addressing 
God as Abba. The one praying is already forgiven 
by God the Judge. The one praying seeks forgiveness 
from God the Father. This is the light in which we 
ought to understand 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sins, He is 
faithful and just to forgive us. and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness. Remember, John is writing to 
believers there. John is writing to Christians. 
And John even writes those words so that we may not sin. But if 
we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ 
the righteous. So this daily petition, this 
daily going before God and seeking or fetching forgiveness from 
him, is not because we're not justified. We're justified. But in the life of sanctification, 
we still sin. If you debate that, we can talk 
afterwards. You may not. Actually, you do. 
Oh, how dare you telling us. You sin. I guarantee it. The 
authority of this book. You sin. You said a lot. I said to why I need to come 
to the father and say, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me my 
death. Spurgeon, I think, captured the 
sentiment well when he says 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. You see, we need this 
petition because in the life of Christianity, as believers, 
we still sin. And in order to have that blessed 
intimacy, that communion with the Father, where He's not hiding 
His smiling face, we maintain short accounts. When we sin, 
we come to the Lord. We ask Him to forgive us. We 
saw that in the song that we sang. If you, Lord, should mark 
iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness 
with you that you may be feared. We need to fear God. We need 
to serve God. We need to glorify God. And Jesus 
has given us this petition so that we may indeed pray, forgive 
us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Now, let's look secondly 
at a bit of explanation. and a bit of explanation why 
we pray this, or its necessity. I've already dealt with the first 
one, because we still sin. We still sin. 1 John 1.9 wouldn't 
be in the Bible if Jesus, the apostles, and the prophets taught 
Wesleyan perfectionism. It wouldn't be in the Bible. 
Why would we be given that mandate or that encouragement or that 
direction that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and 
just to forgive us? Interesting, a man who predated 
John Leslie, who predated a perfectionist sort of a viewpoint. Now, it's 
unfortunately been in the church throughout the ages, but this 
is what Calvin had to say about those who dream of attaining 
such perfection in this world. He says, those who dream of attaining 
such perfection in this world as to be free from every spot 
and blemish, not only renounce their sins, not saying they don't 
have them, they're just renouncing that they're not owning that 
they're not saying, yes, I still sin. But here's what Calvin goes 
on to say. They not only renounce their 
sins, but renounce Christ himself. See, there's more at stake in 
this doctrine than, hey, I can be perfect. And then he has this 
to say, they renounce Christ himself from whose church they 
banish themselves. What's the implication of Calvin's 
statement? And I think legitimately the 
Bible, you cannot be a perfectionist. I'm not saying when you build 
a piano, you can have, you know, rough edges. That's not the perfectionism 
I'm dealing with. By all means, be perfectionists 
in your jobs, do good employment, do good service, be a perfectionist 
in the home, be a perfectionist in those areas, because whatever 
your hand finds to do, do it with your mind. I'm referring 
to the doctrine of perfectionism, which teaches that sinners redeemed 
by grace can get to a place of sinlessness on this side of glory. That's simply not biblical. What's 
John say? Everyone who has this hope in 
him purifies himself, even as he is pure. What's the hope? 
We shall see him as he is. The reality that we will meet 
Christ serves as an argument for our constant pursuit of holiness, 
but it's not something that we will achieve without spot or 
blemish. So this petition is absolutely 
crucial one because we have remaining corruption. Galatians 517, the 
flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit lusts against the 
flesh. The two are contrary to one another so that you don't 
do the things that you want. In other words, what's Paul saying? 
That as new men in Christ Jesus, the spirit is there. When that 
desire for sin comes, the spirit convicts, the spirit moves, the 
spirit works to try and eliminate that particular potential. But 
on the same token, those lusts, what do they do? They attack 
the spirit. We need to be mindful of this 
reality. Paul outlines it in further detail in Romans 7, 14 
to 25. Secondly, we pray this because 
we desire the smile of God. We pray this because we desire 
the smile of God. Maybe this is unique to the Butler 
home, but have your kids ever said, is everything OK, Dad? 
Are you all right? You look kind of grumpy. Are 
you OK? I'm good with you, son. I'm good with you, daughter. 
Everything's cool. We're fine. OK, Dad. What's that mean? The child wants 
this with the father. The child wants the smile of 
the father. The child wants happiness in 
their relationship with the father. First John one nine. If we confess 
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse 
us from all unrighteousness. Believer, as a Christian, when 
you sin, go to God. When you sin, confess it, forsake 
it. When you sin, ask the Lord to 
have mercy upon you. This petition gives us warrant 
to do this. God, forgive me for my sin. And what happens? He's faithful 
and just to forgive us. Isn't that beautiful? This is 
a great petition. It's a happiness petition. If 
there's a problem between us and heaven, we go to God and 
we ask Him for forgiveness. Thirdly, why we pray this? Because we are conscious of the 
evil of sin. We are conscious of the evil 
of sin. Your kid comes home, he thinks 
he's going to please you, he gives you something that you 
hate. What does he do? Well, just enjoy it anyway. No, 
he gets rid of it. God hates sin. God abominates 
sin. God is the sworn enemy of sin. 
God opposes our pride. He gives grace to the humble. 
God abominates six things, yet seven are an abomination to him. So what happens as believers? 
Do we just let those things fester? Do we let those things come between 
us and our God? Or do we cast them off? Do we 
confess it and forsake it? Do we say, God, be merciful to 
me, the sinner? God, cleanse me, wash me, purify 
me. If you hate this God, I don't 
want it in my heart. Don't make any mistakes about 
it. Sin is not some little thing that we once in a while do. It 
is something that God loathes. He despises and he abhors. When we know it's in our heart, 
we ought to throw it right up. We ought to throw it right up, 
just like vomiting. Your body rejects that which 
hurts it. As the soul, we ought to vomit 
it up. This is the petition wherein 
we have the warrant to come to God and say, forgive me. Don't 
play games with sin, brethren. I saw a good thing someone wrote, 
I think it was Tim Challies, something about don't play games. 
Pornography isn't just something that you play around with once 
in a while. It is a sworn enemy of God, the abominance. Why would 
you take fire into your bosom and not think you'll get burned? 
What about gossip? Pick on the men. They're more 
prone to pornography. The women aren't immune. Men 
are prone to gossip, they're not immune to that, but the women 
are addressed to this particular sin. It's the sworn enemy of 
God. Don't use your tongue to gossip. Don't use your ears to receive 
it. Confess it when you do and pray, 
God, shut my mouth so I don't sin against you. So we just don't 
look at sin that way. We think we can take fire into 
our bosom and not get burned. Solomon says that's crazy thinking. 
That's, that's, that's math. That's insanity. That's lunacy. When you think you can take fire 
and put it in your pocket and not get burned, you are just 
as foolish in the context of Solomon's words as the man who 
thinks he can go into his neighbor's wife. That's how wicked it is. 
It's God's sworn enemy. Of course we want to pray, forgive 
me. Of course we want to say, Lord, cleanse me. There is forgiveness 
with you that you may be feared God. Fourthly, why do we pray 
this? Because we trust in the mercy 
of God. You see what happens if we don't 
come on a daily basis, on an hourly basis, on a minutely basis, 
on a secondly basis and say, Lord, forgive me. This is one 
of the complaints about Martin Luther when he was a monk. He spent three hours with the 
priest. And then I did this, and then 
I did this, and I didn't do this, and I didn't do this, and I didn't 
do that, and I didn't do that. Three hours of confession. Sproul has 
said, and I think rightly, what trouble can you get into in a 
monastery? What was he in there for three hours? Like coveted 
Brother Phillips' role? I wanted his extra portion of 
water or gruel or whatever. Luther understood sin, you see. 
It's not just about coveting a role, but the essence of it 
being in the heart itself. But this blessed reality, we 
trust in the mercy of God. Doesn't this petition cast us 
into the lap of mercy? Came across another quote. This 
is the Puritan Richard Sibbes. He says there is more mercy in 
Christ than sin in us. Let that sink down. There is 
more mercy in Christ than sin in us. Now, don't go and say, well, 
I'm going to sin now. No, that's not gospel logic. 
That's Satan's logic. Gospel logic says there's more 
mercy in Christ than sin in me. I want to be holy. I want to 
glorify the Father. I want to serve him. I want to 
love him. Even though I've considered myself 
to be dead to sin and alive in Christ, I want to present my 
members as instruments of righteousness before my God. There is more 
mercy in Christ than sin in us. You get rid of this fifth petition, 
you don't think about these kinds of things, do you? The prophet said it this way. 
He said, who is a God like you? Pardoning iniquity and passing 
over the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage. He's 
not doing theology here. He is. He's not teaching a Bible 
study here. He's not saying, let's do a word 
study on my name. My name is Micah, the prophet. 
What does Micah mean? Micah means from the Hebrew, 
who is a God like you. That's not what he's doing. He's 
praising, he's adoring, he's reveling in, he's rejoicing upon. He is contemplating the mercies 
of God most high. He said, who is it God like you 
pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the 
remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger 
forever because he what he delights in mercy. This fifth petition 
ought to conjure that up in your mind. Why would I pray forgive 
me? Because he delights in mercy. The Prophet goes on to say, He 
will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins in 
to the depths of the sea. That fifth petition teaches us 
that. That fifth petition casts us 
into Micah, chapter seven, where we can take that verse and pray 
it back to God and rejoice in Him and delight in Him and worship 
Him because He delights in mercy. Fifthly, we pray this because 
we renounce self-righteousness and self-justification. That's 
an enemy that dies hard. When you pray that fifth petition 
each and every day, what should it mean to you? I don't have 
a righteousness of my own. I don't justify myself. I cannot 
commend myself to God. Whether it be daily, whether 
it be hourly, whether it be secondly, whether it be minutely, whatever 
it may be, I am mindful of this reality. When I say, God forgive 
me for my sins, I understand all too well that Reformation 
doctrine that we are justified solely by grace. through faith 
in Christ Jesus, that it's not something we worked up. It's 
not something we have accomplished. It's not something that we have 
done. Ryle says this is a part of the 
Lord's Prayer, which deserves especially to be remembered. 
It condemns all self-righteousness and self-justifying. You don't 
pray, God, forgive me for my sins, when you think you can 
clean up. You don't pray, God, forgive 
me for my sins, when you think you can commend yourself to God. 
You see, this petition sets us right where we belong, before 
the cross, casting ourselves upon sovereign grace. And the 
final observation with reference to this prayer is because we 
acknowledge the sufficiency of Christ. When we pray, Father, 
forgive me for my sins, there's a lot of theology behind that 
statement, isn't there? And that theology takes shape 
in the cross, that theology takes shape at Calvary. When we say, 
Lord, forgive me for my debts, Lord, forgive me for my transgressions, 
Lord, wash me from my sin, we come to that based on the finished 
work of our Redeemer. The only way Jesus could say 
that you are to pray this with the confidence that God will 
hear and actually forgive is because of what he would ultimately 
do at Calvary. Because of Matthew 26, that he 
can tell us to pray this. This is my blood, the blood of 
the new covenant, which is shed for the remission of sins. It 
is based on that work, that reality, that redemptive fact that we 
come with this petition. You see, don't shortchange yourself. 
Don't just pray for bread and call it a day. Notice that Jesus is telling 
us your daily bread is important, you have to pray for it. But 
so is your daily place before your father. Pray this. So, as 
we explain this petition, we've seen the necessity. We pray this 
because of these six things. But as well, it's presupposition. 
What's assumed here? Verse 12. And forgive us our 
debts as we forgive our debtors. What's the assumption? We forgive 
others, Lord. We might actually think this. 
We forgive people, and we're wretched. In light of that fact, 
God, how about you forgiving us? Because you're not wretched. 
We are forgiving others who sin against us as we pray this particular 
petition. What do we call it when we do 
something or when we want something that we don't really do ourselves? 
We call that hypocrisy. You see the larger context? Don't 
give alms just to be seen by men. Don't pray just to be seen 
by men. Don't fast just to be seen by 
men. And don't you dare be the hypocrite 
who enters into the presence of God, asking him to relieve 
you of the debt of your sin when you are harboring in your own 
heart unforgiveness toward a brother or sister. It's terrible. You know, just working in this 
in my own head, you know, sometimes the people we don't forgive are 
the people that are closest to us. Husbands and wives don't 
forgive each other. Parents don't forgive children. 
Children don't forgive parents. Brothers and sisters in the church 
don't forgive each other. I was just thinking this morning, 
if we have a tough time forgiving our wives, or forgiving our husbands, 
or forgiving our children, or forgiving our parents, or forgiving 
a brother or sister for whom Christ died in the church, what's 
it going to be when we face some real persecution? when we actually 
have to bless those who persecute us, when we actually have to, 
with Stephen, say, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. May God help us. An unforgiving 
spirit that would enter into the presence of God and say, 
please forgive me, is an affront to the high king of heaven itself. We ought to have a willingness 
and an ability to forgive sinners. The connection here, and in verses 
14 and 15, God does not forgive us because we forgive others. I know 14 and 15 read that way, 
but we don't read it in isolation from the rest of the Bible. What 
is the ground of our forgiveness with God? Jesus. What's Jesus' point? As forgiven 
sinners, as those who have been forgiven much, you will extend 
that sort of mercy to brothers and sisters. In other words, 
if you have received forgiveness, you will extend forgiveness. 
To say it another way, if you're not extending forgiveness, What 
could be the problem? You've never received forgiveness. 
That's the connection. Jesus is not a moralist saying, 
I want you to go stop doing this and forgive that person who did 
a horrible thing. When you forgive that person 
who did a horrible thing, God will justify you freely. That's 
not the connection. The connection is, again, condemning 
hypocrisy. We are seeking to deal biblically 
with our brothers and sisters who sin against us. We are seeking 
to deal consistently as those who have received mercy. We are 
seeking to honor the Lord and not being hypocrites when we're 
saying, Lord, forgive me. Everybody with me. Everybody 
tracking. You see, prayer and practice 
go like that. As we'll see, you don't go pray, 
God, lead me not into temptation and then go to a place of temptation. It's just like a soldier saying, 
you know, I don't want to, I don't want to get blown up by a landmine. 
Well, we know this is a minefield. Well, I'm going to go run through 
there. You don't want to get blown up by a landmine. Don't 
run through the land, the minefield, right? How many Christians, how 
many of us pray, lead me not into temptation, and knowingly 
and willingly and deliberately put ourselves in that place of 
temptation? It's crazy. Fools. But how many say, God, forgive 
me for my debts? When you got a fist clenched 
around something that a brother or sister, a wife or a mother, 
a son or a daughter or whoever did to you, and you're not willing 
to let it go. Hypocrisy, that's what Jesus is speaking to. Let's 
move on to the expansion of the petition, verses 14 and 15. 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. This is the 
only petition that Jesus expands on. Why? Because our relationship 
with God matters, but so does our relationship with one another. 
That's why Jesus in Matthew 5 says, when you go to the altar and 
there you lay down your gift and there you remember that you 
have aught with your brother, go to him, be reconciled and 
then come back. Remember when we looked at that 
passage? Where do you lay your gift in this context? In Jerusalem. Did everybody in 
Israel live in Jerusalem? No. What's Jesus saying? If you 
come in Chilliwack to lay your gift down, and you remember that 
you've got a problem with somebody in Vancouver, put the gift on 
the front bench. Go ahead, put your gift there. 
Go to Vancouver, not in your SUV, not with your air conditioning, 
but, you know, walk, because that's what they did back then. 
I know that's going to shock a lot of us, but walk to Vancouver. Find that brother and say, I 
sinned against you, would you please forgive me? First be reconciled, 
then come back and present your gift. You mean I've got to walk 
back to Chilliwack? Yes, you've got to walk back 
to Chilliwack. What's he say in Matthew 18? If your brother 
sins against you, talk about it to everybody else. If your 
brother sins against you, pray about him publicly. If your brother 
sins against you, write him off. If your brother sins against 
you, have nothing to do with him anymore. If your brother 
sins against you, put his face on your dartboard and throw your 
darts at him. No, if your brother sins against 
you, man up. Be an adult. Be mature and go to that brother, 
and if he hears you and he repents, you've won your brother. You 
see, reconciliation in the community matters. Jesus doesn't want us 
as big hypocrites coming and saying, Lord, forgive me for 
my debts, and yet holding on to something else. Isn't that 
the point in Matthew 18? After 21 to 22, and Peter says, 
shall I forgive seven times in a day? Peter probably thought 
he was very liberal. No, 70 times seven. And then 
he tells the story. The master forgives the man of 
a great big debt. What's the servant then do? He 
doesn't forgive his equal. In fact, just look there for 
a moment. Matthew 18. This sheds light on what Jesus 
is talking about. He's not talking about go out 
and make peace and you'll be saved. No. You're saved. Make peace. You're saved. You're justified. Don't ask for 
fresh doses of God's holy grace when you sin against him if you're 
holding on to bitterness or envy or jealousy or strife and you're 
not willing to deal with a brother or sister. Matthew 18, just picking 
up at verse 32. Then his master, after he had 
called and 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? You 
see the connection? Those who know mercy extend mercy. Those who know grace extend grace. 
Those who pray for forgiveness are forgiving of others. It ought 
not to be the case that in our families, in our homes, in our 
relationships, or in our church, we're like this with each other. 
Because when we go and say, God, please forgive me for my sin, 
you hypocrite. That's what you're supposed to 
get from Jesus' words in Matthew 6, 14 and 15. This is not conditional 
or causal. I forgave God. Now you must forgive 
me. Watson says 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. This is beautiful. How do I know 
I'm saved? I take a jet fighter and fly 
up into heaven and find my name written in the Lamb's Book of 
Life. Watson says 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. How do I know I'm forgiven? Well, 
as a general rule, if you don't forgive anyone else, repent and 
believe the gospel. You can forgive others. Praise 
God. His grace is in your heart. Manson 
puts it this way. It is an evidence, a sign. I'm 
sorry. It is an evidence, a sign. It 
is a necessary effect of God's pardoning mercy shed abroad in 
our hearts. He says, for mercy begets mercy, 
as he doth he. 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. You've been forgiven much. What do you do? Get mad 
at everybody because they dare cross you? No. Something that happened unique 
in the presidential campaign. I know it's just big in the minds 
of at least three of us in this room, or five of us. One man 
that was running for office is no longer, Herman Cain, not plugging, 
endorsing, or not getting who he's in political waters. He 
just said something that I thought was perceptive. He had made a 
statement about something, and he was basically raked over the 
coals about it. It was a joke. In the debate, 
he said, I just think America needs to lighten up a little 
bit. It was a joke, I didn't mean 
anything evil or malicious or horrific by. I extrapolate from 
that within the life of the church, I think we need to lighten up 
sometimes. I really don't think everybody's 
out to get us all the time. I really don't think the guy 
who says this or the guy who think we can't live that way. 
Let's lighten up. We are not the center of the 
universe. This idea of forgiveness ought 
to temper one's heart in such a way so that we'll be able to 
do that with one another. The ground of the believers forgiveness 
is in the death of Christ. I have several passages. Perhaps 
we'll just look at those tonight. Isaiah 53, Matthew 26, the Book 
of Acts, the Book of Romans, Second Corinthians, the Book 
of Hebrews, First Peter, First John, the Book of Revelation. 
Where does a sinner find forgiveness? Not because they forgive it, 
but in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The connection 
that Jesus is speaking to is one of reciprocity, being reciprocal. In other words, we pray we're 
not harboring these things. Ryle says it. Ryle says that 
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. I think he's saying a 
lot better than I'm trying to here. So let's just stick with 
Ryle on 14 and 15 here. This is the plain object, 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. To pray in such a frame of mind 
is mere formality and hypocrisy. Again, larger context. Don't 
give your alms, don't fast, don't pray with formality and hypocrisy. It is even worse than hypocrisy. 
He says it is as much as saying, don't forgive me at all. Our 
prayer is nothing without charity. We must not expect to be forgiven 
if we cannot forgive. That's the point. It's not teaching 
an alternate way to heaven, you just forgive people and God will 
forgive you. No, you're forgiven because of the blood. It's all 
about Jesus. It's all about Christ. It's all about being washed in 
his precious blood. The point is, when you come daily 
to God and you say, Lord, forgive me for my debts, be one who's 
forgiving others of their debts, too. Mercy received will be mercy 
extended. No mercy extended, it's likely 
there's been no mercy received. So having qualified it, let's 
not minimize it. It doesn't mean we're forgiven 
because We forget doesn't mean, but let's not minimize the statement 
either. Here, Jesus words. If you do 
not forgive men, their trespasses, neither will your father forgive 
your trespasses. You got a hard heart of granite. You're not willing to forgive. 
Let's not minimize Jesus words. You're not going to be forgiven. 
Again, Calvin, those who refuse to forget the injuries which 
have been done to them. Is that part of us? Refuse to 
forget the injuries that have been done to us. I'm not trying 
to minimize calamities in your life. I'm not. It might have 
been some horrific thing as a child that you're working through, 
you're trying to deal with, you're trying to part with. But for probably 
the vast majority, someone said something 18 years ago, and it 
really affected me. Listen to Calvin, 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. That's powerful. You ought to 
be afraid if you're here this morning and you've got a problem 
with somebody in your life that you're not willing to forgive. 
Watson 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. He says 
this passage is a bill of indictment against such as study. revenge. Don't be those people. Don't 
be those people. Pray, Lord, forgive me as I forgive 
others. Well, in conclusion, we take 
that petition, we pray it for ourselves to be sure. We got 
enough sin at this point in the day to keep us in hell forever 
and ever. We pray for ourselves. Lord, 
forgive me for my debts. But notice the corporate character, 
Lord, forgive us of our debts. It doesn't mean you go to the 
throne of grace, forgive brother so-and-so of his dirty, rotten 
soul before you, because he's just such a horrible guy. Lord, 
I'm not like other men. I'm not like brother so-and-so. 
Really forgive him because he's just a, he's beyond bad. Sometimes 
in the church, this takes place in a preaching prayer, right? Aren't you always a bit concerned 
when people repent for you? Lord, forgive us, because we 
don't care about you, and we despise you, and we loathe you. 
Wait a minute. You're making sure I'm part of 
this as well? There's a sense for a generic, 
general, overarching thing we find in the Scripture, to be 
sure. But this idea of pray for us, pray for a brother that is 
struggling, pray for a sister who is struggling, pray for a 
son or a daughter who needs forgiveness, pray for a parent who needs forgiveness, 
pray for or pray forgive us of our debts. The manner of forgiveness. I love Watson. He highlights 
three things. How do we forgive? Cordially. Cordially, not grudgingly. We do it happily. When you go 
to God and you say, forgive me for my debts, does he say, OK, 
here's your forgiveness? And yet we'll do that, OK, I'll 
forgive you. Really, that's what forgiveness 
looks like. We need to be like the father 
of the prodigal, what does he do? He runs, he falls on the 
sun, he puts a ring on his finger, he orders the slaying of the 
fatted cow. He didn't say, OK, I forgive you. Sometimes when we forgive people, 
we want them to know just how bad they hurt us. Forgive them, 
cordially. Watson says, forgive them fully. I'll forgive 90% of you, but 
I'm going to avoid 10% of you. I'll forgive this much, but not 
the rest. I'll forgive enough so that we 
can be in the same room together, but I'm not going to forgive 
enough so we can sit at the same table together. Forgive fully. 
Isn't that how God forgives? And then he says, forgive this 
one. Often. Often. How many times, Jesus, should 
I forgive my brother? Seven? No. I wonder for that 
split second, they thought I knew it. I knew it. Seventy times seven. You mean you want me to forgive 
my sinning brother, that one, 7 times 70? Yeah. It's interesting in the parallel 
passage. You got it in Matthew 18. Look at it later in Luke 
17. Luke 17, 3 and 4. Forgive this 
many times. You know what the disciples' 
response is? Anybody know what 17.5 in the 
book of Luke says? Lord, increase our faith. Right? What did they admit? That does not come naturally. We don't want to forgive somebody 
that many times. We want to be done with them. 
We want to write them off. We want to delete them. We want 
to defriend them from the Facebook account of life. We want to unfollow 
them on Twitter. We want to remove them from our 
contact list. What do you mean forgive them 
that many times? Increase our faith. That's a legit response. We should 
be praying the same thing. How do we bear and forbear with 
one another when we keep bumping into each other? Increase our 
faith. You have a difficult marriage, you have a difficult family, 
you have a difficult... Increase my faith. That's legit, brethren, 
pray that. The standard of forgiveness is 
not to be the latest bestseller in the New York Times. The standard 
of forgiveness is Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3. It says, Be kind 
to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as 
God in Christ forgave you. bearing with one another, this 
is the Colossians passage, and forgiving one another, if anyone 
has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you. Chrysostom said, nothing makes 
us so like God as our readiness to forgive the wicked and wrongdoer. How would you complete that sentence? 
Nothing makes us so like God as our righteous indignation 
at the wickedness in this world. Nothing makes us so like God 
in whatever it might be. Is it in this aspect of forgiveness? That's what Chris Austin said. Readiness to forgive the wicked 
and the wrongdoer, the doxological result of forgiveness, we're 
about done. Revelation one. Revelation chapter one, John, 
the apostle writing to the seven churches, which are in Asia minor, 
greets them in the name of the triune God. He considers the 
Lord Jesus Christ. He considers the Lord Jesus Christ 
under that threefold office of prophet, priest and king. And 
here's what he says in Revelation one, five and from Jesus Christ, 
the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over 
the kings of the earth. To him who loved us and washed 
us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and priests, 
to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever 
and ever. Amen. In other words, when you go to 
prayer and you say, Lord, forgive me for my debts and you open 
an eye to make sure you're not in hell or you make sure you're 
not in some horrible place, you say, thank you, God. Thank you 
for the blood. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you 
for the power. Thank you for the washing. Thank 
you for the cleansing. Thank you for justification. 
Thank you for the doctrine of the imputation of righteousness 
and the pardon of sins. And then finally, apart from 
the gospel of Jesus Christ, you don't have forgiveness. That's 
a terrifying thing. The believers are given a great 
promise. If we go to the Father, we say, Lord, please forgive 
me. He is faithful and just to forgive us. What a beautiful 
promise. He is faithful and just to forgive us. And the blood 
of Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all unrighteousness. 
As an unbeliever, if you don't come to Christ, you don't have 
forgiveness. Again, just thinking in terms 
of the larger scale with reference to the world around us. There's 
some really weird, strange, horrible things going on. There's even an Occupy Chilliwack 
movement. I don't know if you've seen it. 
There's a handful of guys downtown that are Occupy guys. It's bizarre. Occupy Chilliwack? You see what's going on in Greece. 
You hear about the economy, potential collapse. You know, these trillions 
of dollars of debt, that's on the macro level. Most American 
and Canadian households are punctuated by a bunch of micro-level debt. It's terrifying if you think 
that way. You're not supposed to, as we'll 
see when we get to Matthew 6. But you know what's far more disconcerting 
than the collapse of civilization as we know it? What's far more 
disconcerting than even wars in the Middle East, is you dying 
today in your sin. That should terrify you and scare 
you more than any headline you see in the last several weeks. Revelation 21 verse 8 is a scary 
passage. John again says the cowardly, 
unbelieving, abominable, murderous, sexually immoral, sorcerers, 
idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which 
burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death. That's 
the lot of everyone in here. I mean, you might not find yourself 
in every description there. You might actually be able to 
say, you know, I'm not sexually immoral. I'm never engaged in 
sorcery. I try to tell the truth all the 
time. You're in this list. The lot for you is the lake of 
fire. You trying to scare us? Yes. 
I'll be frank and honest with you. I'm trying to scare you. 
Economic collapse is a walk in the park to the lake of fire. 
Right? You see, you might emerge like 
a phoenix from the ashes on the other side of an economic collapse. 
You will never, ever emerge from the lake of fire. It is eternal. It is conscious. It is ongoing. Paul makes a similar statement 
in the epistle of the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 6, 9 to 11. He 
says, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit 
the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. If you are 
here this morning and you have not come to Jesus Christ, don't 
be deceived. Don't think I was going to say, 
well, it's you. I could never send someone as wonderful as 
you to hell. Do not be deceived. Paul then says, neither fornicators 
nor idolaters, which, incidentally, everybody's an idolater. nor 
adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor... Here's that tenth word, covetous. Right? Let's just say you've 
got all the externals down, you're like that rich young ruler, all 
these things I've got from my youth, go sell everything, give 
it to the poor, and follow me. Don't want to do that, because 
I'm a covetous man. He goes on to say, nor drunkards, 
nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 
That's powerful. You don't inherit the kingdom 
of God and you get sent to the lake of fire. But what Paul continues 
with is absolutely amazing. This is why we call it gospel. 
This is why we call it good news. This is why we ought to want 
to do backflips at this part of sermons. This is why we want 
to rejoice and praise our God, so that when we come on a Sunday 
morning, we might be tired and we might be weighed down with 
cares when we open up our hymn books and we start singing these 
hymns of praise to our God. We take Psalm 130 and we realize 
that in In the depths of sin and in the depths of depravity, 
we cried out to God and he hears our voice. We acknowledge the 
fact that there is if strict justice is in place, if you Lord 
should mark iniquities, O Lord, who can stand? But we comfort 
ourselves and we worship our God because there is forgiveness 
with you that you may be feared. This is gospel. This is good 
news, and this is what Paul goes on to say. Don't be deceived. 
None of these people will enter into the kingdom of God. And 
then he makes this statement. Such were some of you. Oh, praise Jesus! Oh, praise 
Jesus! You know what you learn here? 
Jesus saves real sinners. Jesus saves the muck, the grime, 
the filth, the wicked, the vile, the wretched. All those good 
Calvinistic adjectives that we like to pin on people. Jesus 
saves them. I mean, look at that list. Why 
would Jesus say that? Why would Jesus save a covetous 
man or a violent or a sodomite or homosexual or sexually immoral 
or a sorcerer? Why would Jesus do that? Because 
God gets the glory and salvation. Paul says, and such were some 
of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but 
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the 
spirit of our God. If you are in your sin today, 
look to Christ. and live. Look to Jesus. Believe on the gospel and you 
will be forgiven. There is nothing. Nothing but 
being able to lay your head down tonight on your pillow, knowing 
that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are 
in Christ Jesus. Believe on him and you will be 
saved. That is the promise of Holy Scripture. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for your word. We thank you for this petition 
and for what it instructs us. We thank you, God in heaven, 
that you speak to every need in our lives, every area of our 
lives. And just three brief petitions 
for bread, for forgiveness and for protection. Help us, God, 
to take this Lord's prayer seriously. Help us to implement it in our 
own lives. Help us to pray to you, Father, 
and to maintain short accounts with you. And God, give us grace 
not to be wretched hypocrites, but help us to be a forgiving 
people toward others, to extend mercy because we have received 
mercy, to extend forgiveness because we have received forgiveness. 
Grant us help in these things. Forgive us that we fall so short 
and grant us grace, God in heaven. For those who do not know the 
Lord Jesus, we pray they'd look and laugh. We pray that your 
mighty spirit would be at work. We pray that you would exercise 
that sovereign power and grace. and call them out of darkness 
into marvelous light, that they may believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ and be saved. And we ask in his most blessed 
name. Amen.