995. And Forgive Us Our Debts As We Forgive Our Debtors

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. We're continuing our study series on the Lord's Prayer, and today we'll hear from Bible faculty member, Dr. Kevin Oberlin. If you'll take your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 6, we'll be looking at this passage again, together. And Scripture says in verse 9, Matthew chapter 6, After this manner, therefore, pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

We'll end our reading there. The passage we have here is, of course, found, as Dr. Hankins said in verse 12, forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. The word, the phrase here, forgive us our debts, represents, well, the Greek, although this commercial term has a secondary metaphorical meaning, of sin as debt to God. In fact, Luke, the parallel passage, Luke 11, verse 4, refers to sins.

And, of course, in Matthew chapter 6, 14 and 15, the word trespass is used. Just really on a practical note for us this morning, what are key categories, if you will, of relationships where you need to practice forgiveness? What are key categories of relationships where you need to practice forgiveness? Perhaps you have a spouse, maybe some of you are married, I think several of us are married in this room today, or you have a roommate, or a coworker, or maybe for you it's a classmate or a friend. Another category could be parents, or siblings, or extended family, relatives that you have, church family, or even authority, both past and present.

These are categories, and maybe you can think of something else, maybe, you know, some of us who are parents, maybe we can think of our own children. But as you look down through this list today, and you think back in the years that the Lord's given to you, can you think of times where you've had to either forgive or ask for forgiveness in any one of these categories? If we had a moment to actually testify to that, it could be quite daunting, just even bringing up some of the hurts, some of the trials, some of the difficulties we've had, even as we've had to do that. So our question this morning is what relationships right now in your life need biblical forgiveness? What relationships in your life right now need biblical forgiveness? Can forgiveness be difficult and even confusing? Is that a fair assessment that forgiveness can be that way? Sarah wanted to forgive her husband John for his wrongdoing, but she wasn't really ever sure if he actually repented. I mean, he had said sorry, but it didn't seem like he had actually repented of his sin. Must she or can she even grant forgiveness to John who has not repented of his sin?

And what if she doesn't forgive her husband? According to the passage that we read, Matthew 6, and looking at others, it might seem like her not forgiving another person means that God might take back his forgiveness of Sarah. I mean, how can God refuse forgiveness to a believer who refuses to forgive others? So how does God forgive sinners?

Some of you might have had New Testament theology with Dr. Remers or Dr. Talbert and maybe even did a study on forgiveness, and I did as well when I took that. It was helpful for me as I thought about this whole idea, but how does God actually forgive sinners? Well, God forgives sinners, or he forgives sins that of course committed prior to salvation, right? God forgives sins judicially, we say, when we get saved. There's this judicial forgiveness, and God deals with the penalty of sin and releases the offender from that penalty based upon the righteousness of Christ. Christ having already paid for that sin, and this is forgiveness that is conditional, I mean, you must repent and you must believe. Ephesians 1, verse 7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, or Romans 4, verse 5. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Or later on, chapter 5, it says, but God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from his wrath through him. And because God judicially forgives us, God's salvation then actually makes possible for you to have what? For you to have fellowship. And a fellowship that has a strong intimacy. A fellowship that provides an intimacy somewhat like maybe perhaps prior to the fall that Adam and Eve would have. Although not in the sense that God walked with them in that sense, but in the sense that we can go to God and there's nothing between us prior to the fall. And so this fellowship forgiveness allows us to have, releases us from the offense of God because of the judicial forgiveness that God gives to us, and it establishes this fellowship with the believer in God.

And of course this is conditional as well, we must repent. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 12 through 9 talks about this, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of the commandments contained in the ordinances. For to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. Verse 16, and that he might reconcile both unto God into one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were far off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints in the household of God. And Paul later in Colossians 1, 20-21 says this, having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself.

By him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated to enemies in your mind by wicked works, he hath now reconciled. So God has forgiven us judicially at the cross that provides for us fellowship with him, but what about the sin after you are a believer now? On what basis can God forgive sin after salvation?

Well it's because of the cross as well, right? I think we know that, we're in seminary, we're thinking through these things, we're thinking through them so theologically how does God forgive sins? 1 John 2, 1, my little children these things write unto you that ye sin not, and if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And so scripture indicates that there is this repetitive, ongoing, judicial forgiveness. And we have passages like Hebrews, Hebrews 7 verse 25 where it says, wherefore he is able also to say them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing that he what?

That he ever liveth to make what for us? Intercession. Christ liveth on the right hand of God, he's there on the right hand of God, ever making intercession on your behalf.

That's a precious truth. There's an ongoing process in the lives of God's people that Christ responds even without being asked. We are forgiven in the eyes of God forever. But just like there's this repetitive, judicial, ongoing forgiveness for God, so there is a need for repetitive fellowship forgiveness, ongoing fellowship with God that needs to be there and when it's not there it needs to be restored. Ongoing fellowship with God requires that we continue to confess our sin before the Lord and continue to ask for forgiveness.

Even though our judicial forgiveness is automatic. We have the righteousness of Christ. So we must acknowledge our sin before the Lord and restore fellowship in our relationship with God. I mean Christianity is not a membership.

Right? It's not you got into the membership and now you're in, but there needs to be ongoing relationship there as well. And of course a passage that is profound for believers, although we often use it for unbelievers, is 1 John 1-9. That if we confess our sins, he is faithful and he is just, he's completely righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So what then, what does God require of you in your relationships? Based on scriptural teaching of God's forgiveness, what does God require of you in your relationships, if I could put it this way, horizontally? Well there's a passage in Luke chapter 17 verse 3 that says, Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again to thee, saying, I repent, you shall forgive him. We're commanded to forgive and there's this release of alienation from this person and a horizontal forgiveness that someone in relationships, one of these relationships even I put up categorically, that we need to actually forgive that person.

And so Luke 17 is concerned actually about our relationships with one another and according to Luke 17, if your family member or your coworker asks for forgiveness, you must forgive. But there's also beyond even this horizontal aspect of forgiveness, there is a vertical aspect of forgiveness. Mark chapter 11 teaches us, and when ye stand, praying, forgive.

If you have anything against anyone so that your father also is in heaven, may also forgive your trespasses. So there's this picture of this man who's praying to God and as he's praying right in the moment of that prayer, something comes to mind. If you stand praying and that comes to mind, you need to forgive right then. Okay, is that person there?

Well, most likely not. You're praying to God and you're standing there and he says, okay, you forgive. One translation says, forgive if you have anything against anyone so that your father who also is in heaven may forgive your trespasses. So what does Mark 11 teach us about our relationships to various people in our lives?

Our classmates, our parents, our church members. This is it, that you cannot have fellowship with God if in your heart you do not forgive others who have sinned against you. If you harbor bitterness or unforgiveness, the Lord will not restore fellowship forgiveness in your relationship with him. That's a very powerful thought. Is there someone here today or in your life that you are actually not forgiving?

Our horizontal relationships actually do affect our vertical relationships. And so what is the theological motivation for this? Well, our text, Matthew chapter 6 verse 12 says, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And it goes on to say, for if we forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you.

But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses in verses 14 and 15. Is Matthew 6 horizontal or is it vertical forgiveness? Is Matthew 6 horizontal or vertical forgiveness?

It's horizontal, right? It's regarding your relationship with another person. Craig Blomberg notes, quote, our plea for continued forgiveness as believers, requesting the restoration of fellowship with God, following the alienation that sin produces, is predicated on our having forgiven those who have sinned against us. As verse 15 stresses, without this interpersonal reconciliation on the human level, neither can we be reconciled to God. So failure to forgive horizontally removes the possibility of fellowship forgiveness. Refusal to forgive when someone is repenting constitutes sin which impedes our own fellowship with God.

And we're already suspect to that. I mean, don't we already kind of see this in the Bible, that your horizontal does indeed affect the vertical relationship? I think even as we read other passages, we would think that that would be true. I mean, you have passages throughout the Proverbs where it says, my son, give me your heart.

And of course we know one of the greatest things, one of the greatest achievements of your youth, is that because of your relationship with godly parents, that you would learn how to actually give your heart to your parents, so that you could do what Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says, to trust in the Lord with all your heart. And so if that's the case, if Solomon wants his child to give him his heart, but he wants it so that ultimately his son will give his heart to the Lord, there is a horizontal relationship that definitely affects the vertical relationship, right? But also there are other passages like this that are found even in a marriage relationship. 1 Peter 3, 7, likewise ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge. And the end of the verse says, that your prayers be not hindered.

Now that is a very convicting verse, that you would dwell with understanding that there is this horizontal relationship actually does affect the vertical relationship. So how do you know whether you are forgiving? How do you know today that you are actually a person who is forgiving? That you have forgiven someone. I mean beyond the fact that someone says, hey will you forgive me? And you say yes, I'll forgive you. How do you actually know in reality that that's happened?

Well there's a few different things that actually happen, right? You don't replay little YouTube video clips, if you will, in your mind over and over again. You don't have a feeling in your heart or in your stomach when you see that person where you're just kind of like, you know.

And you can make eye contact and you actually want what's best for that person. Can you do that for people who have asked you to forgive them? Are you expecting that from others who you've asked? Forgiveness isn't always easy, is it? Forgiveness is not always easy, but it is necessary. So how do we learn to forgive like God forgives? How do we learn to forgive like God forgives? Well, first of all, God forgives, forgiveness releases us from the penalty of our sin.

God doesn't continue to dwell on our sin or use it against us. We also need to forgive others by not dwelling on how we have been wronged. I mean, this is perhaps the most important and initial barrier you have to remove in the process of forgiveness.

The barrier within yourself. You have to decide to see another person instead of the offense. And often the decision to let go has to be renewed daily, hourly, or even more often than that, if need be. The bigger the offense, the more challenging it can be to let go.

But the less you ruminate on the offense and feed your anger, the easier it actually becomes. I mean, forgiveness means letting go of your right to punish another and choosing through the power of God by God's love to hold onto the other person rather than his or her offense. Now, does forgiveness require forgetting?

Of course, people want to know this. You know, how do I forget that? I mean, doesn't God forget that? Well, Jeremiah 31, 34 does talk about the fact that God will forgive their iniquity, he will remember their sin no more. But of course, what God's not talking about is his cognitive knowledge of that sin. Remember does not equal recollection but a determination to act.

In other words, failure to remember equals choosing not to act upon. And God's forgiveness took great sacrifice. I mean, God actually took upon himself harm so that we could draw near to him.

People who are rebels. So how can we also sacrificially draw near to others when there is threat of imperfection or repeated offense? And of course, I'm not talking about abuse. I'm talking about forgiveness in a way that demonstrates sacrifice. Does forgiveness remove the consequence of sin?

Well no, the damage is there, trust must be rebuilt. God forgave David but there was consequences still that resulted from his sin with Bathsheba. And God though can actually take our worst life failures.

And he can accomplish good in our lives and our relationship with him. God gives us room to grow. God's forgiveness is not simply an eternal probation period.

It's a period of time to see if we'll do it again. God's forgiveness is actually true forgiveness. He knows that we will continue to battle with the sin even as he helps us grow. I mean, you've confessed your sin, right?

I mean, we all have. We've confessed our sin and then we sin again. But God allows us, he restores that fellowship, he allows us to grow.

And he's totally for us. And God's forgiving is an act of love and obedience. I mean, you might be here today and you say, well, what if I don't feel like forgiving? Can I still forgive if I don't feel like it?

I mean, would that be hypocritical even? Well, forgiveness as love is an act of both the heart and the will. Scripture commands that you choose to forgive whether you feel like it or not. And back in Luke chapter 17 verses 3 through 5, when Jesus orders them that you must forgive, even seven times in a day they turn to you again saying, I repent, you must forgive him.

And the very next verse is what? It's an explanation by the apostles themselves and they said, Lord, increase our faith. We need greater faith to be able to do this. And so the disciples understood their lack of faith, their lack of being able to love like that and to obey like that.

And that really is the issue. So how do we apply the gospel to our relationships? How is it that we can apply the gospel to our relationship so that we can actually do this? Because I think that is where the answer is, right? The answer is not in somehow we can drum up enough strength so that, okay, I can forgive in this moment.

Okay, I'll have to drum that up again. But actually the gospel itself applied to our relationships helps us, actually provides for us a perspective that lets us get past the offense itself into love, even the love that God could give to us ourselves. There's a book that I've read time again by Milton Vincent. It's actually Robert Vincent's brother called The Gospel Primer. How many of you have ever read this book?

Oh wow, a lot of hands. I first read this book in September of 2010 and I have tried to read this basically every year since. And I haven't just read it, I've actually really meditated through the paragraphs of this book and it has been very helpful for me and maybe for you as well. And what Vincent does is I really allowed him to pastor me in different areas regarding how the gospel affects our relationships and affects various parts of our life. He has a few key parts in here that I think are applicable for what we're talking about here today. One of those is the idea of freedom from sin's power.

And I'll read this quote that Vincent gives. He says, as long as I am stricken with the guilt of my sins, I will be captive to them and will keep recommitting the very sins about which I feel most guilty. The devil is aware of this fact. He knows that if he can keep me tormented by sin's guilt, he can dominate me with sin's power. The gospel, however, slays sin at this root point and thereby nullifies sin's power over me. The forgiveness of God made known to me through the gospel liberates me from sin's power because it liberates me first from its guilt. And preaching such forgiveness to myself is a practical way of putting the gospel into operation as a nullifier of sin's power in my life.

So we have a freedom from sin's power that is very strong. And the gospel points us to that. The gospel also points us to rest in Christ's righteousness. Vincent writes, the gospel also reminds me that my righteous standing with God always holds firm regardless of my performance because my standing is based solely on the work of Jesus and not mine.

And then he states this. On my worst days of sin and failure, the gospel encourages me with God's unrelenting grace toward me. On my best days of victory and usefulness, the gospel keeps me relating to God solely on the basis of Jesus' righteousness and not mine. And the third point I'd like to give to you from the gospel primer, just kind of really practically putting into our own lives, into our own thinking, meditating through the gospel and how it relates to forgiveness is this whole idea of stimulated to love others. Vincent has a section on this where he reads, when my mind is fixed on the gospel, let me just say this, is there anybody here today you're having difficulty with forgiveness?

I mean, you feel I have really been wronged. Okay, if your mind is fixed on the gospel, when it's done that, when that's done, I have ample stimulation to show God's love to other people. For I am always willing to show love to others when I am freshly mindful of the love that God has shown me. Also, the gospel gives me the wherewithal to give forgiving grace to those who have wronged me. For it reminds me daily of the forgiving grace that God is showing me. Doing good and showing love to those who have wronged me is always the opposite of what my sinful flesh wants me to do. Nonetheless, when I remind myself of my sins against God and of his forgiving and generous grace towards me, I give the gospel an opportunity to reshape my perspective and to put me in a frame of mind wherein I actually desire to give this same grace to those who have wronged me. Have you gotten there in your own relationships?

Have you been able to actually have your thinking reshaped, recalibrated, so that you actually want to, I mean, you're almost excited. It's almost like, go ahead, do me something wrong, because I just want to give this gospel to you. I just want to give it to you. Because you want to shower upon people what you've been given. It's like no offense can stand in the way, just like no offense has stood in the way that for God's forgiving of you. And you are just joyous, waiting for a moment. Not that you want sin to abound, but that you're waiting for a moment that you could actually give this to somebody what you have been given. It's an awesome thought to have.

It's a totally reshaping of your very thinking. Now, of course, the problem is what that is in the moment, it's very difficult, right? So what I have thought through in this regard, I've actually outlined it maybe five years ago in this book, is three steps that I would go through regarding resolving conflict in my heart. And of course, I need to keep reading this to keep putting it before me so that I can do this. But the step number one really, and just really practical, if you wanted to write down these three steps, I believe that they'll be helpful to you. Step number one is you just need to pray to God for grace and mercy to even want to do this. What I have found is sometimes in my own heart, in the own rebellion and the fleshliness of my own heart, I just have to say, God, I don't want this, but help me want this. And you have to pray to God for grace and mercy to do steps two and three, you see. Step number one is to pray that you can get through steps two and three. So you pray to God for grace and mercy. Step number two is you resolve conflict in your heart and you reshape your perspective. Just like this, you allow the gospel an opportunity to reshape your perspective and to put you in this frame of mind where you actually desire to give the same grace to those who have wronged you.

And you get excited about that. And then you go do it. You go actually, and in your horizontal relationship, you go to those that may have wronged you or you need to even ask for forgiveness, and you go and you give them, you go and actually give them this same grace.

You resolve that conflict and with this shaped perspective. And so maybe we could just bow our heads at this point and I could just have a word of prayer with you. And as I do, I would ask that maybe you would just pray right now in your own hearts for God's grace and mercy. And maybe you need to take step one and take a moment to do that. Just ask God to give you the grace and mercy to handle any difficult or secret thing that's going on right now in your own life.

I mean, maybe you have been playing and replaying that incident in your mind like a little YouTube video clip over and over again and it plays throughout the week and you find yourself feeding your thoughts on the offense or multiple offenses. And if the truth were told, you really don't have a good feeling about being around that person who's offended you. And it's difficult for you to make eye contact or even have good will toward him or her. So just pray right now in your own heart.

Just practice this. Lord, give me grace and mercy to want to do the right thing. And step number two, are you willing to allow the gospel to reshape your perspective and give you the frame of mind where you actually desire to give the same grace to those who have wronged you? You know that you're allowing the gospel to reshape your perspective because you are actually wanting to give the same grace that you have received to those who have wronged you. And step number three, if there's a breach in any relationship, are you willing to restore fellowship? True fellowship with nothing between you and the other person who's made in God's image. Only if you do this do you have God's assurance that you can have fellowship forgiveness with him. Father, we pray that our lives would be characterized by this, that we would be people who would continually be reshaped by what you have actually done for us. We pray in the name of Jesus, our precious Savior. Amen. You've been listening to Bible faculty member Dr. Kevin Oberlin, which is part of the series on the Lord's Prayer. We hope you'll join us next time as we study God's Word together on The Daily Platform.