Matthew 6:12: And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Forgive means to release.
1. Confess your debts.
3783 opheilema {of-i’-lay-mah} ; something owed, i.e.(figuratively) a due; morally, a fault:–debt.
The word used here for debts is only used here and in Matthew 18. The other word for debt is used many times in the New Testament and it means a loan that you can repay or a debt that is manageable. This word means a loan that is justly and legally due but you can never repay it because it is far more than your income. This is like our chapter 11 bankruptcy debt.
Confess the debt you could never repay. If you have a problem forgiving others, it is probably because you have a problem receiving forgiveness, or forgiving yourself. If you have a problem forgiving yourself you also have a problem believing God has forgiven you. We cannot earn God’s forgiveness.
Tresspass =paraptóma a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness; a sin, misdeed
Matthew 10:8: Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
The reason people cannot give freely is because they have not received. If you feel you need to earn forgiveness, than you will not give forgiveness without them earning it.
Luke 11:4: And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
Luke 6:46: And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Lu:13:27: But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
If you really believe something you will do it. If you believe in Jesus you will live for Jesus.
God’s wrath has been satisfied for the whole world. Jesus has taken the sin of the whole world into his account. God charged Jesus with our sins. People do not go to hell for sin. Jesus has already paid for everyone’s sin. People go to hell for unbelief. The Bible does not say he that does not sin has life, and he that does sin does not have life. It says that he that does not believe does not have life, and he that believes has life.
God has taken sin out of our account. There is no file cabinet of our sins in heaven. Our account is empty of sin, but there is one thing in our account, righteousness.
Why then do we need to confess our debts or sins? Since we have no sin in our account?
There is a difference between shedding and sprinkling. Jesus shed his blood once and for all. He is never going to shed his blood again. But we can sprinkle the blood when we need it.
Heb:9:14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb:10:22: Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
When we sin as a believer our conscience convicts us. Satan condemns us. What happens as we listen to his condemnation, and if we do not get that thing cleared by applying the blood, we have a seared or evil conscience. Then we will begin to serve God out of dead works. We will try to earn God’s forgiveness. Yes, God I did this so I will read an extra chapter in the Bible. Dead works is any work that God did not initiate. Dead works is a work that tries to appease God.
We confess our sins to cleanse our conscience. The blood of Jesus is sprinkled on our conscience to cleanse it.
1Jo:1:7-10: 7But 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.8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.10: If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
God chooses to remember our sin no more. He makes a decision not to recall our sin. It is not that he has forgotten it. We need to be like God, and not bring our sin or others sins up again.
2. Release your debts.
M’t:5:23-26: Therefore if you bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against you;24: Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.25: Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles you art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.26: Verily I say unto you, you shalt by no means come out thence, till you hast paid the uttermost farthing.
M’t:18:21-22 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto you, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
The Bible was written in Greek but Jesus spoke Hebrew and in the Hebrew seventy times seven, is seventy seven fold. This term was used one time in the Old Testament. It was a saying in Israel and everyone knew what it was.
Genesis 4:23-24 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. 24: If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
Israel used this term seventy sevenfold on someone that has gone over the top with their revenge. If you say this, If you do that, look out because you will get a whole lot more back from me. This is revenge. Jesus is saying here that the way you used to give revenge to people, I now want you to give forgiveness to people. You should be saying this, If you do that to me, what you will get back is grace. You are going to get much grace and forgiveness from me.
Matthew18:24: And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Ten thousand talents = $52,800,000.00 in today’s standard. The average salary of that day was $4.00 per day.
Matthew 18:25-28: 25 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, and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that you owest.
This first word debt is the one used in the Lord’s prayer…a loan that is impossible to repay.
Hundred pence = $44.00 or about one ten times one day’s wage.
Matthew18:29-30 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay you all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
This word for debt is a loan that can be repaid.
M’t:18:31: So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
Matthew18:32 -34 32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt, because you desiredst me: 33:Shouldest not you also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on you? 34: And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
This word for debt again was a loan that cannot be repaid. What Jesus says next is very sobering.
M’t:18:35: So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
The Father will not only not forgive you but will turn you over to the tormentors, demonic spirits. If you keep a grudge against someone it opens the doors up to demons.
Hebrews 12:15-16 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 16: Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Many will be defiled…that has a sexual connotation to it. Most people who get into sexual sins have a root of bitterness. The next verse says fornicator…that is sexual sins.
Unforgiveness and bitterness is the number one reason that Christians fall.
M’r:11:25-26 25: And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 26: But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
We need to pray this prayer of forgiveness every day because you need to be reminded that you have a debt that you could never repay. Your heavenly Father has pardoned you from that debt, therefore you have the grace to pardon others.
Lu:6:35-38 35: But love you your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.36: Be you therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.37: Judge not, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not be condemned: forgive, and you shall be forgiven:38: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Barabbas not only was a thief and was supposed to be crucified with the other two, but he also was a murderer. He is sitting in his cell waiting to be crucified, and the guard opens the door, and says to him the same thing God says to us…You are free. Jesus is dying in your place.
We need to receive God’s grace every day so we can extend God’s grace to others. We need to forgive others as God has forgiven us. If we are saying I cannot forgive that person because they have not changed, you are saying that person has done nothing to earn my forgiveness. You are just like the man in the story Jesus gave.
Eph:4:32: And be you kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
You may say but I changed when God forgave me of my sin. No you changed after you received his forgiveness. You did not change to earn his forgiveness. His forgiveness and mercy was what enabled you to change.
If you are in unforgiveness, you have opened yourself up to the devil, the tormentors.
(Colossians 3:12-15)Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Goode Christian: learning how to be a good Christian in today's world. 