Now last time when we were in
Matthew 6, we looked at this pattern of prayer that the Lord
Jesus Christ gave. And in the midst of it, in verse
12, He said, "...and forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors." He taught us to pray this, "...forgive us our debts
as we forgive our debtors." And then in verse 14 and 15, says something else concerning
this. And he says in verse 14, 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. Now, we're going to get into
this in just a moment, but let me ask you a couple of questions
here before we get into it. What is a debtor? What is it
to be a debtor? To be a debtor is to be unable
to pay your debts, is to be unable to make payment that's owed.
What is it to trespass? What is it to trespass? You see
a sign that says, no trespassing. And the moment you step beyond
that no trespassing sign, you've trespassed against the owner
of that property. Well, every person born of Adam
is a trespasser and a debtor to God. God told Adam not to
eat of one tree in the garden. And that was God's no trespassing
sign, that one tree. And when Adam took of that fruit,
he trespassed against God. And he became a debtor. He owed
God payment for sin. And that payment's death. He
owed God righteous obedience. He couldn't pay it. He owed God
holiness of character. He lost it. He couldn't pay that. and none of which Adam could
pay. None of those things could he
pay and be restored to God. Adam needed a Redeemer. When we see Redeemer in Scripture,
it has to do with being a debtor. It's somebody that pays the ransom.
Somebody that pays the price that we can't pay to purchase
us out from under our debt, put us in good standing with God.
Every person that was born of Adam then, were born dead in
trespasses and sins because we trespassed against God in Adam. Sinned against God in Adam. Died
in Adam. Came forth sons of Adam. Spiritually
dead trespassers. Sinners against God. And we needed
a redeemer to pay our debts and make it so that God would no
longer remember our trespasses against us. Now, when God brings
a sinner to behold that he has trespassed against God, that
he is a debtor with no way of making payment, that's a very
dire strait to be in. That's a very painful place to
be. But that's where we have to be
brought to see how badly we need the Redeemer to see how badly
we need a Savior, to see how badly we need someone to pay
all the debt we owe. And when He brings a person to
faith in Christ, to cast all their care on Christ, God says
some sweet, sweet words in our hearts. Forgiven. You're forgiven. You have forgiveness
with God. Now, when our Lord says here
that if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father
will also forgive you, He's not saying that our forgiveness of
others earns our forgiveness with God. The free grace of God,
free unmerited grace of God is the cause of God's forgiveness
towards those that He has everlastingly loved. He forgave the debts of
His elect when they were put into Christ in eternity. That is, He forgave the debts
before they were ever incurred by His people in His purpose
of grace. That's what Ephesians 1 teaches
us, brethren, according as He has chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. And He predestinated us to the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ according to the good
pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace
wherein He hath made us accepted in Christ the Beloved. Then He
forgave the debts of all whom Christ represented when Christ,
with His own blood, washed them away at Calvary. In Hebrews 9.12
it says, Not by the blood of bulls and goats. That's what
those bulls and goats typified, foreshadowed, but by His own
blood He entered in once into the holy place, into God's presence. having obtained eternal redemption
for us. And then he brings each of his
redeemed into the realization of this forgiveness through the
work of the Holy Spirit, through the gift of faith. And he speaks
that promise into our hearts. And he says, your sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now that's how our sins are forgiven. And we come to God's throne of
grace daily, confessing that we're sinners, confessing that
we've trespassed against God, and He's faithful and just to
forgive us our debts continually because of the blood of Christ.
So what does the Lord mean here when He says, 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. Well, the Lord has been talking
all along here in this text about the inner workings of the Spirit
of grace. That's what we've been looking
into. And what our Lord is teaching us here is that communion with
God, communion with God is enjoyed by those who have been given
a new nature, a new heart. A sinner that has been forgiven
by the grace of God is continually kept by God to Remember what
great mercy God has shown us. And that's the way that God makes
a merciful believer. It's by the great mercy He's
shown to us. The new man within is merciful. Happy is the merciful, for he
shall find mercy. It's what a believer is inside,
where the spirit of grace is at work, in the heart, in the
new man, in the new creation. There's going to be a spirit
of forgiveness there, because it's the fruit of the Spirit.
Long-suffering, kindness, gentleness, meekness, forbearance. There's
going to be brotherly love there. And our Lord's been teaching
that God's grace is free, that it's without respect of persons. Look back there at Matthew 5,
verse 44. He said, I say unto you, love
your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do
good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his son to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and on the unjust. His grace is particular, saving,
effectual grace. But it's not based on a person's
merit, on the respect of a person, on a person's stature, on anything
about the person. It's free grace. And He shows
us here by this example of Him making the sun to rise on the
evil and the good, that this particular saving grace of His
is free. It's not based on persons. So
he tells us here the same thing that James said, when James said,
if you have respect to persons, you commit sin and are convinced
of the law as transgressors. And every believer knows that
we trespass against holy God continually, and yet He forgives
us for Christ's sake. And His love for us constrains
us to forgive those who trespass against us. His love, His mercy
constrains us to forgive those who trespass against us. Because
we sin daily, because we trespass against God daily, and He delivers
us daily, He teaches us to speak and to do as they that should
be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without
mercy that hath shewed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth against judgment."
If I go through my life and I'm just a strict judge and I don't
overlook the fact, if somebody sins against me and I want an
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, God says, you don't
have a heart that knows anything about mercy. You haven't had
a heart made new to know the mercy and grace of God. Mercy
rejoices, rejoices to be merciful, rejoices against that strict
judgment of taking someone to the law. Let's look at an example
that Peter gave. Look at Matthew 18. The Lord gave to Peter. Matthew 18,
verse 21. Then came Peter to the Lord Jesus
Christ and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against
me and I forgive him? Are you there? It's Matthew 18,
verse 21. How often shall my brother sin
against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith
unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until 70
times 7 that means all the time continual forgiveness Therefore
listen to this now therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened
unto a certain king which would take account of his servants
and when he had begun to reckon one was brought to him and One was brought to him which
owed him 10,000 talents. But for as much as he had not
to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and
children and all that he had in payment to be made. The servant
therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience
with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant
was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the
debt. But the same servant went out,
and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence.
And he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying,
Pay me that thou owest." You get the picture here? This servant
fell on his knees and asked to be forgiven and his Lord forgave
him. Then that servant goes out and
finds somebody that owes him and takes him by the throat and
says, pay me what you owe me. And his fellow servant fell down
on his feet and besought him saying, have patience with me
and I'll pay thee all. But he wouldn't. He would not.
But he went and cast him into prison till he should pay the
debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done They were very
sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done
Then his Lord after that he had called him said unto him. Oh
thou wicked servant. I Forgave thee all that debt
because thou desiredest me Shouldest not thou also have compassion
on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee. I And his
Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he
should pay all that was due unto him. Now the Lord Jesus says,
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. A quick word on that. It's not
that our Father, God the Father, will ever cast out any of those
for whom Christ died. Christ washed them. They're purged. There He is eternally. But our
God, our Father, will chasten His people. He will correct His
people. He will bring us to behold what
great mercy He's had on us. But be sure to remember that
the Lord Jesus is teaching us here that this is a heart matter. That's what He's talking about.
He started out talking about how sin is a matter of the heart.
And then He comes through and He's telling us how grace is
a matter of the heart. And He's telling us that in our
service to God, He said our God is secret. He's secret. He's spirit. He seeth in secret. He sees the heart. He sees the
hidden man of the heart. Did you catch that phrase at
the end of the Lord's words there? He said, any man that doesn't
forgive from the heart, from the heart. Anger's in the heart. Grace works in the heart. The
Lord's teaching us about communion with God from the hidden man
of the heart, from the new creation. Forgiveness is not in words only. It's not in words only. It is
in words, but it's not in words only. It's forgiveness from the
hidden man of the heart because that's where the work of grace
is, in the heart. So I want to end now with Colossians
3. And you can hold your places
in Colossians because we'll be back there for our message this
morning. But Colossians chapter 3, verse
12. Paul speaks of this heart as
well. Watch this. Colossians 3.12. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, as those that have been chosen by God, holy, made holy
in Christ Jesus, beloved of the Lord, put on bowels of mercies,
working of mercy inside, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all
these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness, and
let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also
ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. That's what our
Lord's teaching us. This thing is a heart matter. Somebody said, you can't come
to the Lord expecting to gather pleasant fruits from the Lord
when we're dealing in thorns and thistles with our brethren.
Be pure heart. A pure heart. Approach unto God
with a pure heart. He said, if you come to the altar,
you realize that your adversary has all against you, go be reconciled
to him. Then come to the altar. Then
come to the altar. All right, let's close in.