Would you pray with me as we go to God's word? O Lord, we pray that you would help us as your word is read. I preach it as we hear it. May it speak to us, give to us what we need in each one of our situations. long that you would use your word powerfully amongst us. And so we cry out to you in Christ's name, amen. Well, please turn with me to Matthew chapter 6. We're continuing our study in the Lord's Prayer and particularly giving our attention to verse 12. Then I'll read the whole of the prayer. Matthew chapter 6, and beginning in verse 9. 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. As we begin to consider this subject of prayers about our sins and the debt that we owe to God, just draw your attention again to verse 12, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Most of us are in debt in some way in our life, if only with a mortgage or a car payment or something. But there is a much greater, more weighty debt in our lives, and that is the debt that we owe to God. And this prayer or this portion of the Lord's Prayer is teaching us how to pray in relation to that. When we come to prayer, part of it ought to be praying about the ways in which we have sinned that day, that week, or perhaps ongoing sins that are difficult for us to shake, and this portion of the Lord's Prayer is teaching us how to engage with these things. And so first tonight I want to consider the idea of debt. That's how the scripture puts it. And actually I'm glad that we have used the New King James Version in our Psalters. You'll doubtless know that the traditional form of the Lord's Prayer talks about, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. That's what's up on the wall. I can see some of you looking at it now. But while trespass is a perfectly good way of talking about sin, and the Bible does talk about sin that way, this portion of the Lord's Prayer here in Matthew highlights not so much trespass but debt as the idea here. Now, Dead has at its root idea, owing something. And there are various ways that we may owe something to others. We're probably most familiar with the sense in which we acquire something with someone else's help. and therefore we owe them something back. So I've just recently bought a house that's absolutely nowhere. I could have bought that house if it wasn't for the bank lending me quite a bit of money. And that's true for many of you probably. And so I owe them because I've acquired this house with their help. But there's also, a sense in which we might owe another sort of debt. That's the sort of debt that we might owe to someone who is greater in position to us. So we all, like it or not, owe a certain debt of respect to the king. because he is set over us in God's way of ordering certain things. We owe respect to him. It's required because of his station. Same thing with you children. You owe unto your parents a debt of respect because of the way God has set them over you. And then there is also the sense in which we can owe a debt because of a wrong committed. So perhaps if someone commits fraud, then they owe it to others to settle the wrong with the people that they have wronged, plus they might owe to the state whatever penalties attached to that, whether it's prison time or whatever it might be. but there's certain things that are required of them because of what they've done, because of the wrong that they have committed. So we have these three types of owing, owing because we have something with someone's help, owing because of a certain position or difference, and then owing because of a wrong committed. And our situation with God encompasses all three of these things, actually. So we have what we have. We are what we are because of what God has given us. In the first instance, we have our very life because God has given it to us. We are here. We exist because God has created us. And we are here now. You're sitting in these chairs or pews. You're breathing because God is sustaining you, right? You're not just here of your own self. You're here because God's sustaining work. He is sustaining this whole world by the word of his power. More than that, Every good thing that you have ever received in your life has come to you from God. James reminds us that every good gift is from our Heavenly Father. And so everything good that you've received, you have received from God, and you owe Him, therefore, a debt. A debt by the life that you live, a debt because of everything that you have received. Of course, he is also in a position far higher than you, so much higher that it makes the distance between us and the king look minuscule or microscopic. So much of a difference is there between God And he is the absolute sovereign. He is not our equal. And we owe him what he requires because of his position. And he requires perfect love. He requires worship. He requires obedience. And we owe this to him. Who can say amongst us that we have done that as fully as we ought, that we have perfectly given unto God, even this day, the worship that He deserves, that we have obeyed Him in His law as fully as we ought to have done? And then, of course, We also owe God a debt because we have wronged Him. We have withheld from Him what was rightfully His, and more than that, we've not only wronged Him by withholding from Him our love or the fullness of our love, but we have actively gone against His commands. And therefore, because the distance between us and him is an infinite distance, we owe him an infinite debt. That is why hell, that is why everlasting torture in hell is just because we owe an infinite debt unto God. As weighty, as challenging that is to our sensibilities, as horrific that is to really think about when we fix our minds on it, it is true that is just because we owe this infinite debt unto Him. This is our problem. And when we think about these three ways of debt, the first two, of course, don't involve anything necessarily wrong. We receive all these good things from God, we owe Him a debt, but that's okay. He is greater than us, we owe Him a debt of worship, that kind of debt is okay. But the debt that we owe Him because we have wronged Him, that is because we have done things which are not right. And that affects the other two as well, because wronging someone that is in a much higher position than you is so much the worse. because wronging someone who has given you so much is all the worse. So it's not that those first two things are in themselves wrong, but when it's combined with that third type, it magnifies, it multiplies the debt that we owe. We are those who have revolted against God and We owe him this enormous crushing debt. We must be clear in our minds about that. There is a debt we owe to him that is just. It's enormous and it's impossible for us to pay. It's not an academic subject. It is us. If we are human beings, then we have fallen short of the glory of God. The scriptures tell us all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And if we aren't grasping that tonight, if, in fact, we're going along in our Christian life and we're not really grappling with the weight of that. and while we would ascend to it logically, we're not really feeling the weight of that, then we're like children playing hide and seek. You know, what they do, they put their hands over their faces and they think they've gone away, but they haven't. And if we're not really grappling with the weight of this, then we're like that. We may not be looking at this enormous debt, but it's still there. The beginning of our motivation to pray for forgiveness must be a true sense of the weight of our sins. So often we can pray for forgiveness blithely. It can just roll off our tongue. We know that we need to do it, but we are doing it so flippantly. It must begin our prayers for forgiveness with a true sense of just how much of a weight we owe unto God in this debt. But of course, that's not where this verse ends. There is also forgiveness, and that's what we're praying for. What is forgiveness? Well, at root, it is release, release from legal punishment, but also release from the relational displeasure that comes with it and all the other consequences. And here, we are specifically thinking about the debt that we owe because we have wronged God, the debt of our sins. It's impossible that we should be released from the debt to love and worship and obey God, and we wouldn't want to be. We wouldn't want to be released from that debt. But it is possible to be released from the debt of our sins and the way in which that mars those other types of debt. there are legal and relational consequences for our sin. We've already thought about the legal consequences of eternal punishment, but then there's also the relational consequences of God's displeasure over our sins. And Release, forgiveness, release for our sins is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that, I'm not telling you anything new, but I'd want you to think about this again. We're told in Scripture that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sin, and Jesus Christ has shed his blood for you, that this enormous weight should be lifted off of you if you are in him. This is why Jesus Christ is so precious to us. Because in Him, God has made a way that He might both uphold His justice and release us from this enormous debt. When you look at Christ, when you look at Christ, you see the only way for us to be forgiven. that applies legally. While nailed to that Roman cross, he took upon himself the penalty of infinite torment for us, his sinful people. While nailed to that Roman cross, he took upon himself the debt of that eternal torment or never-ending torment for us if we're in Christ. And he did that so that legally our debt might be paid. And he could do that. because he was both truly man and yet infinite God, able to stand in our place as a real man and able to drink up the ocean of our debt because he was infinite God. He did it once for all time. Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And he fully satisfied God's justice. It is finished, he cried. And this is why God can release you and I from the legal consequences of our sin. When you go to God asking for forgiveness, this is the basis for Him releasing you from the legal consequences of your sin. I think particularly sometimes as we go on in the Christian life, we can know this, but But the sweetness, the reality that it's based on Christ that our sins are released from us sort of fades sometimes to the background and we can almost start to think that we're accepted for ourselves. We wouldn't say that, of course, but I think in practice that's sometimes how we think. That's why we so flippantly ask God for forgiveness for our sins. That's why we're not exercised about the weight of our sin as much as we ought to be. That's why the forgiveness that we receive and have received in Christ doesn't thrill our hearts as much as it ought to. What pride, what arrogance, what folly. The only reason why we are able to be released from those terrible, terrible legal consequences of the debt we owe is because of Christ. If you don't know Christ, particularly if you're a covenant child and you've come along to church all your life and you go along and you think you're a good Christian, this is a warning to you because there's nothing in you, there's no goodness, there's no amount of conforming to you. reformed Christian ways that can release you from the debt you owe to God. It is Christ and Christ alone, no other basis. But it's not only the legal consequences that are in view here, it's also the relational. In Christ we also have release, forgiveness from the relational consequences of our sin. The consequences that we experience throughout our lives. When we sin, when you and I sin, God is still displeased with us. And the fact that Christ has died for us doesn't remove that fact from reality. It's just like in a family, a father and his son, if that son disobeys, He's still the son of his father. His father still loves him, but yet there is consequences to his disobedience. There's going to be a breakage in the relationship there. There's going to be a displeasure that the father has. And there's still that debt of respect that the son owes to his father that has been gone against and therefore the debt of making that right that the Son has. And with us in God, when we sin, there is still this relational aspect to it. There are still relational consequences to our sin. And so when we ask God to forgive our sins, It's not as if we're sort of, Christ hasn't already forgiven our sins, but what we're doing is first we're expressing our sorrow for our sins, we're reminding God that the debt for that particular sin that we're talking about has already been paid by Christ in a legal sense, And then we're pleading with Him to restore us to relational fellowship. We're pleading with Him to release us from those relational consequences of our sin and to restore the assurance of His forgiveness and the warmth of His smile upon us. Of course, that too is based on Christ's work. It can only happen because of what Christ has done. Relationally, we are delivered from God's displeasure for our sin only as we experience it and cry out to Him for relief. And therefore, we ought to ask. We must be asking our God. This is what this petition is all about. In some ways, we might think, well, what's the point? Christ has died for our sins. They're taken care of. Why do we even need to pray this? Well, as I said, it's because we're expressing sorrow for that particular sin. We're reminding God of what Christ has done in relation to that particular sin. And we're pleading that he would release us from those relational consequences of that particular sin. And we need to take this seriously. Sin has real consequences for our enjoyment of our relationship with God. We can't just blithely sin and expect our spiritual life to be strong. And so we ought to be regularly asking God for his forgiveness. consistently, conscientiously, corporately, as couples, as families, and in corporate worship. But then there's another aspect to this petition, and that is the second half of it. If you remember, it says, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. In some ways, what a strange thing to say. Have you ever thought about that? What a strange thing to say to God, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. It almost seems as if we're saying to God, we've done this good thing, therefore, Forgive us, as if we're saying that we've earned God's forgiveness. What is being said here? Well, this is an argument that we put forth to God that he might hear us and forgive us. There are various ways that men have thought about how to understand this. One way is that if we who are evil by nature and still imperfect and small-hearted, if we forgive those who wrong us, and if you, God, present yourself in Scripture as a forgiving God, then how much more are you to forgive us? If we, who are small-hearted, forgive our brothers and sisters, how much more are you, God, who present yourself in Scripture as forgiving one who ought to forgive us? Or, and this is what I slightly prefer, if we forgive others, then it can only be because you have worked this in us. So forgive us for Christ's sake. We are joined to Christ, and we know that because we see it in our lives as we forgive others. And we're pleading that before you, God. See this evidence of the fact that you have joined us to your Son. And therefore, forgive us on the basis of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But in either case, this is a bold prayer to pray to God and to tell him that we, in our, Pitiful acts of incomplete, half-hearted, flawed forgiveness have forgiven others and therefore he ought to forgive us. He's bold and yet he tells us to do that in his abundant condescension and grace and mercy. He tells us to do it because it is evidence that we are joined to Christ, if we are free in our forgiveness of others, if we are willing to not hold that bitterness as we sung before, but to forgive others, to let go of the debts that they have incurred with us. And of course, then this is a great motivation for us to do that. This is why Christ can say the sobering words at the end of the prayer. 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 Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses. If the issue is evidence of whether we really are connected to Christ, then He can say that. But it's a sobering thing, and it ought to motivate us to seek God for forgiving hearts, to not neglect the forgiveness of our brothers and sisters, to always be ready to forgive. Sometimes this takes time. Sometimes when there's been a significant wrong, trust has to be rebuilt. I know all that, but we should always be willing. We should always be ready as much as is in us to let go of that debt with others. Because this shows that we truly understand the forgiveness that we have received from our Heavenly Father. So when we think about prayers like this, we need to remember just how great our debt is. We need to remember it so that we would not pray these prayers flippantly, but that we would do so seriously and conscientiously. We need to be thinking clearly about the fact that God truly does release us of that terrible debt, that He has done so in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we need to be remembering that lest we be crushed by it, because if we were really to see the enormity of our debt, then we would be crushed by it apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. We would, rather than go to God for forgiveness, we would run from Him. We need to be seeing that He does truly offer us forgiveness, and that He has paid for our sins in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He offers to us the restoration of that sweet fellowship as we come to Him, day in and day out, seeking forgiveness. And then we are even enjoined here to plead God's work in us of forgiving others as a reason for him to forgive us. And we are encouraged, we are exhorted to be ready to forgive, to not hold bitterness. And that's hard to do. But it is possible, brothers and sisters, it is possible by the grace of God. So may He do that in us, that we would not only be those regularly going to God, seeking His forgiveness, but that we would be those who, because of His work in us, readily forgive those around us. Let's pray. Lord God, we ask that you would take these truths simple and ordinary and that you would apply them again to our hearts. We pray that we would not quickly skip over prayers of confession, prayers for your forgiveness, but that rather we would look our sin full in the face that we might also be driven to look full in the face the forgiveness that we have in your son. And Lord, we pray that we would not be those who are miserly with forgiving others. Lest we show by our lives that we have not been truly forgiven by you, that we don't know what it means to be forgiven by you. O Lord, preserve us from that, we ask. In Christ's name, amen.