as we read the first part of
this prayer, I wanted to spend some time, especially on verses
12 through 15. So I made it a separate lesson.
So this is part two. And as he prays, let's just read
the prayer again, where he says in verse nine, after this manner,
therefore pray ye. Remember that prayer is such
an awesome privilege that And maybe I'm just telling on myself,
but I think I'm speaking for you all too. Prayer is such an
awesome privilege for a child of God that we all too often
take for granted. Sometimes we even neglect. And we shouldn't, and I shouldn't. But sometimes we do. And prayer,
understand, you know, he tells us in the first verses here,
dealing with prayer, that we're not to make a spectacle of ourselves
in this thing of prayer. Prayer is between a child of
God and the Father. And it's personal. And he says,
go into your closet and pray to your Father. and let your
petitions and your desires be known. He knows them before you
have. And we've talked about the keys to prayer. The keys
to prayer is to glorify God. This is worship. That's what
prayer is. It's an act of worship. It's
not just, it's not rubbing a bottle and seeing a genie come out and
telling him what you want, granting you three wishes. It's worship. And it's praying through the
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The ground of prayer is the ground
of all salvation. We come to God through Christ,
our righteousness, on the merits of his righteousness. And we
have no right, no title, no qualification for prayer other than Christ.
Hebrews 4 speaks of that, that seeing them, we have a great
high priest who's passed through into the heavens. Christ did
the work. He died, he was buried, he arose
again the third day. And he went unto the Father.
And he now intercedes for us. And that intercession, we need
to think about that quite often. We need to glory in it. When we sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And then prayer
is an act of faith. We do so because the Father commanded
us to do so, and we believe him. Does that mean we're gonna get
everything that we want or ask for if we believe it hard enough?
No, no. It just simply means that we
believe what God says, and if he's pleased to bless us by means
of that prayer or whatever, that's up to him. And then lastly, it's
an admission of our sinfulness, our total dependence upon the
Father through the Son. And that's what prayer is. And
so he says, after this manner pray ye our Father which art
in heaven, hallowed, holy, be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. Now verse 12, that's where we
got to last week. Forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors. This has been a source of, I've
gotten your lesson, this has been a source of a lot of misunderstanding
because people will look at that and they'll say, well, is he
saying that he's only gonna forgive us as we forgive others? In other words, is God forgiving
me of my debt? And debt is a good word because
that's one of the words in the Bible for sin. I've often told
you over in Hebrews 2, 17, You can mark this down or look at
where it says that it behooved Christ to be made alike unto
his brethren. That word behoove is the Greek
word for debt because sin runs up a debt. We often talk about
somebody who's a criminal who gets convicted and goes to prison
and we'll say they gotta pay their debt to society because
they broke the law. Well, our debt was imputed to
Christ before the world began. before we ever committed the
first, before the world was created, before Adam fell, and before
we were ever born. That's the covenant of grace,
isn't it? Christ was made our surety. So we'll talk about that
in just a little bit more. But when he says, and forgive
us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and then look down at
verse 14 and 15. We're gonna look at those in
light of this. It says in verse 14, for if you 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. Now is that talking about conditional
forgiveness? Because here's what I want us
to know. We all know this, if we're honest.
If that's what saying that, if that's saying that God only forgives
me of my sins, my trespasses, my debt, as I forgive others,
I'm in trouble. Now you'd say, well, Brother
Parker, aren't you a forgiving person? I like to think of myself
as a forgiving person, but I got to tell you something, it's not
easy. It's a struggle. And sometimes I find all too
often myself being vengeful. You know, wanting to get back
at people. Now think about if the Lord looked
at us that way, where would we be? I think about the Lord on
the cross when he said, Father forgive them, they know not what
they do. Now think about what he was going through. when he
said that. You and I have not gone through
anything even close to that, and we have problems. But now
we know from the fact that we are forgiven freely, the forgiveness
of sin. Over in Ephesians chapter one,
when he talks about all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
in Christ Jesus, doesn't that include the blessing of forgiveness,
or is that exempted? Well, salvation includes the
forgiveness of sins. And it says in Ephesians 1, if
I can find it here, I didn't mark this. In Ephesians 1, when it's talking
about the covenant of grace, it says, according as He had
chosen us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself. Now, none of that's conditioned
on us. Because that's not an afterthought. This is the sovereign,
predestinated purpose of God. And he says, according to the
good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. That's
accepted in Christ. It's not accepted because you
do anything. And then he says, in whom we
have redemption through his blood. That's the satisfaction to God's
justice. accomplished by Christ as our
surety, our substitute, our redeemer. And he says, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. So think about
it. So what I did here in your lesson,
I put down seven truths that put these scriptures in perspective. If you just read those two scriptures
in verse 14 and 15 of Matthew 6, and just went away knowing
nothing else, then you would assume, well, if I don't forgive
you, God won't forgive me. And let me tell you something.
If you're not forgiven, what does that mean? That means you're
condemned. That's right. You're condemned
if you're not forgiven. Justification has two aspects
legally. the forgiveness of our sins as
they were imputed to Christ and he satisfied justice, and the
declaration of righteousness which he accomplished in his
obedience unto death imputed to us. That's justification. You can't have one without the
other. You can't be declared righteous in God's sight and
not forgiven of sin. Even one sin Think about that. If I appeared before God in judgment,
and even one sin was left uncovered by the blood of Christ, unforgiven,
I'd be condemned forever. Now that's what the Bible teaches.
Well, look again. Verse 12, forgive us our debts
as we forgive our debtors. And then verse 14, for if you
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. Point one. Two different
words for sin here, basically, debts and trespasses. Sin, as
I said, it's a debt. Brings us under the obligation
of debt to God's law and justice. Our debt was imputed to Christ.
The wages of sin is death, that's why he had to die. He wasn't
a sinner, he wasn't made to be a sinner, he wasn't contaminated
or corrupted, but our sins were imputed, charged to him. Trespass
describes how sin involves stepping over the line. That's what that
really means. You step, you cross that line.
You remember on the playground when a bully would come up and
draw the line in the sand and say, I dare you to step across
that line? Well, that's what trespass is. God's drawn the
line. And we've all stepped across
the line. And God's no bully, but he's just, and he's righteous. And so the Bible, when we all
fell in Adam, the Bible says in Ephesians 2.1, we were made
dead in trespasses and sins. So we've all sinned, we've all
come short of the glory of God. Now, can anything, ask yourself
this question, can anything we do pay our debt to God's justice? Not even our death, the wages
of sin is death. But that's eternal death. Not
even our physical death will pay for our sins. That's why people perish everlastingly. So what does it take to pay the
debt? Here he says, forgive us our
debts as we forgive others. If you forgive men their trespasses. What does the Bible teach from
Genesis to Revelation that it takes to pay our debt? The blood
of Jesus Christ. That was set early on back in
Genesis chapter three. You remember when Adam and Eve
tried to cover their sin, their nakedness, with fig leaf aprons? And what did God do? He took
the fig leaf aprons and throw them away. That's not good enough,
he says. And he slew animals. and made coats of skin. And in
type there, in picture, he was showing that it takes the blood,
the death, the blood of a substitute to pay that debt. And that cloak
that he made coats of skin, that's an emblem of the imputed righteousness
of Christ. The death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ. So that's number one. What does
it take? All right, number two. The Bible
is clear. that because of our sins, because
of our debts, there's no part of salvation, including the forgiveness
of our sins, that can be earned by us, by our attempts. Now,
if you do me wrong or I do you wrong, should we forgive each
other? Yes. And it's awful if we don't. I'm
telling you, it puts you in a state of mind that's terrible, especially
brethren in Christ. And really, if I fail to forgive
you, it really affects me more than it does you. Because it
makes me a bitter person. That's right. And so the forgiveness
that we are to show and display is good for us. It really is. It really frees us up mentally,
emotionally, a lot of that way. It takes a burden off of us.
And it glorifies God, because we're not doing it to earn his
forgiveness, see? So nothing we do could earn our
forgiveness from God. Why? Because we're sinners. The
law commands us to love others as we love ourselves, and certainly
that would include forgiving each other, wouldn't it? But
if it commands us to do that in order to be saved, we're all
in trouble. All right, third. Salvation,
including the forgiveness of sins, is a matter of God's grace.
Period. It's always been that way and
it always will be that way. And again, go back to Genesis
chapter three. That's what the Lord was showing
there. And it was based upon the blood
of Christ. It's grace. Everything in this Bible that
pertains to a child of God, A sinner saved by grace is upon the foundation
and under the umbrella of grace that reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. If you found a verse
that told you to hop down the aisle 50 times, which we don't
find a verse like that. Randy, you and I would be in
trouble if we had to do that. But if it said that, I can tell
you right now, it's not to earn or gain salvation. It's not to
earn or gain righteousness. It's grace. And it's to be motivated
by grace. My forgiving you and you forgiving
me is to be motivated not by law, but by grace and love and
gratitude as I have been forgiven. by the God of all grace who sees
my thoughts. Those bad thoughts that I have
toward people, he sees them. I can hide them from you, but
you can't hide them from God. Those bad thoughts that you may
have toward somebody, God sees them. He knows your frame. They're not hidden from him.
All right, here's the fourth. We must keep in mind that the
Lord is teaching of obedience, that God requires all of true
citizens of the kingdom. Isn't that how the Sermon on
the Mount started out? Blessed are, blessed are. And who's he
describing there? Not people who earn their place
in the kingdom by their character and conduct, but those who have
been placed into the kingdom by the grace of God that's evidenced and identified
by their character and conduct. So as we know that our salvation
is based upon Christ's righteousness alone, we understand that, that
any obedience he requires of us, whatever we read here, as
I said before, Whether it's our attitude, our character, our
conduct, must be kept in the context of righteousness, that
the only righteousness we have is Christ. Let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. So understand that. And then
fifthly, and I know some of these may sound repetitive, but it's
okay, we need the emphasis. It's kind of like our children,
you know, sometimes you have to tell them things over and
over again and that's okay. You say you want to just open
up their skull and pour it in, you know, and all that. That's
the way God has to do us sometimes. But fifthly, this shows us that
whatever act of obedience is described in this sermon, is
required by God as identifying true children of the king. This
is what identifies us. Now when I say that, and I probably
should have put this in the lesson to be more explanatory here,
it doesn't mean that the world of unbelievers are going to recognize
us as Christians because of what we do or our attitude. Because
the world of unbelievers, they don't know what a Christian is,
okay? An unbeliever, you know what? And this is something, you think
about it. Sometimes an unbeliever will
display a better character towards men and women than even believers.
Now that ought to make us ashamed, all right? But it's true. I know
unbelievers who are just such fine people, loving towards others,
forgiving, towards others, sometimes even better than me. So when
I say it identifies us, what I'm saying is this is a character
of a true child of God struggling with sin, not as a witness to
the world as to our salvation, but as a witness to the world
of the gospel. We want our character and conduct
to reflect the gospel, don't we? What does the gospel say? Well, have you been forgiven?
Are you a forgiven sinner? Think about it. Do you claim
that? Well, how does the gospel say you were forgiven? By grace,
unconditionally, through the blood of Christ. So that's how
we should forgive, unconditionally. And that's what I'm saying there
about the identification. It's kind of like I've got in
your lesson, John 15 1 through 5 where Christ says I am the
vine you are the branches and You bear fruit now some people
say the only fruit these talking about is faith in repentance.
Well, that's certainly included but there's also the fruit of
the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5 and So we need to be understand
that but we understand this too as I put here no act we can do
to can earn forgiveness from or make us righteous before God.
Sixthly, just as faith is the gift of God to his chosen, justified,
and redeemed children, the forgiveness of sins is the gift of God to
all his children. It's a gift. First John 1 7, but if we walk
in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another. and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth
us from all sin. Now the if there is not a conditional
if, it's an evidential if. Since I'm walking in the light
of God's grace, that identifies me as one whom God has forgiven
by the blood of Jesus. And then 1 John 1, 9, if we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all righteousness. Well, this confession is not
a condition I must meet in order to gain or earn forgiveness.
It's an evidence that I have been forgiven. And how do you
know that? Well, because he's faithful and
just to forgive me of my sins. Now, how can God be both faithful,
that is to his promise, and just to forgive me, based upon my
forgiving others. He can't be just to do it that
way. The only justice that God can
show is through the death of his son. And that's where forgiveness
is. So sin, which must be punished
by death, and this means it cannot be forgiveness based upon forgiving
others. And then lastly, seven, it's
true, however, that when God the Holy Spirit in the new birth
gives us life and knowledge of how God forgives us freely and
unconditionally based on the blood of his son, he brings us
to faith in Christ and true repentance of our sins. And as I put in
here, he implants the spirit of forgiveness within us to motivate
us. to cause us to be forgiving towards
others, especially our brethren in Christ. And let me say again,
I'm not making excuses. I know it's not easy. You know
why it's not easy? Think about that. Why isn't it
easy for us to, you know why? Because we're so daggone selfish. That's right. We want our way,
we want things that we like, all of that. And that's the problem. See, it's a struggle. The warfare
of the flesh and the spirit. But being assured of the forgiveness
of our debts and our trespasses that God has bestowed upon us
by his grace in Christ is the strongest motivation for me to
forgive you or to forgive anybody who's done me wrong or whatever.
I hope that's clear. Now let's go to verse 13. He says, and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever. Amen. James wrote in James 1.13 that
God doesn't tempt any of us with evil. But while we're in this world,
we're still plagued with the flesh, aren't we? Evil urges,
evil desires, evil motives even. Evil goes. What Paul say? Who shall deliver me from this
body of the old wretched man that I am? You understand now
the wretched man is a believer there. A sinner saved by grace. And we have that. And then we
do have testings from God. He tests faith. He brings us
into situations where our faith is tested in one way or another,
but He always keeps us and brings us through. He won't let us go.
He won't let us fall away from Him. He'll humble us. He'll correct us. He'll teach
us, just like we need to be. We're His children. But those
testings are called the chastisements of the Lord, and they're evidences
Not that he hates us or that he's mad at us or anything like
that. There are evidences that he loves us. Hebrews chapter
12. There are evidences that we're
his children. Because all of his children are
chastised. We're not always chastised specifically
for something we've done wrong. Sometimes we are. Sometimes it's
just the wisdom of God that brings it into our lives. because he
has something to teach us, like Job. Remember Job? He wasn't
tested for any specific wrong that he did, but he was tested
hard, wasn't he? I've been tested, you've been
tested, nothing like Job. Somebody told me one time, said,
I feel like Job. I said, son, you haven't even
begun to go through what Job went through. Job lost his family. Job lost his income. He lost his health. You know,
the Jews used to say, well, at least you have your health. Job
didn't have his health. So these are things that show
us in our prayers when we say, deliver us from evil. We're showing
that, Lord, my whole Eternal well-being, my whole physical
well-being is dependent upon you. It's not dependent on me. How many of y'all take vitamins? You know what? You still may
get sick. And I'm not saying don't take
vitamins, because I take them too. We do everything we can. For
the most part, we try to do things to help us feel better, to, you
know, what we say, extend life. We know we're not gonna add one
day, because the day of our death is appointed, and we may die
healthy. That sounds weird. May get hit
by a car, may get run over by a train, who knows, I don't know.
But God knows. But here's what we pray in this
life, Lord, deliver us, deliver us, lead us not into temptation. He leads us now. Understand that. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Some say that means literally
deliver us from the evil one, which is Satan. And so we do
pray that over in 1 John 5, when he says in verse 19, we know
that we are of the world and the whole world lieth in wickedness,
that's the wicked one. Later on in the book of Revelation,
you'll see that Satan is allowed to plague the church from without
and from within. But we know that he cannot be
successful because the gates of hell cannot prevail against
the true church. And so we pray in total dependence,
Lord delivers from evil, And he ends it with, thine is the
power, the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Okay.