The Lord's Prayer: "Forgive Us Our Debts, As We Forgive Our Debtors”. Series

Little Johnny was so excited to try out his new slingshot. He and his sister Sally were visiting grandma on the farm for a couple of weeks and there was no better a time to work on his sling shot skills. First he’d aim at a row of tin cans he put on the fence, but after about 50 shots and 20 minutes, he’d only hit one. Johnny decided to shot at a bird in the tree, but he missed that too. He shot at grandma’s dog, but missed her too. Johnny was getting more frustrated by the minute.

It was getting close to dinner time when grandma called them in to was their hands. But on the way in to the house, Johnny decided to try one more time with grandma’s favorite duck. The problem was that this time, he hit his mark. The missile hit the duck in the head and killed it instantly. Johnny panicked! Grabbing the duck’s limb body he ran behind the barn and hid it behind a wood pile, before going into the house.

After dinner, grandma asked Sally to wash the dishes, but Sally turned to her brother and whispered, “Remember the duck!”

Apparently, Sally had seen what happened and was blackmailing Johnny into washing the dishes.

The next morning, the children were doing their chores when Sally handed her brother the broom she used to sweep the back porch and again whispered in his ear, “Remember the duck.”

All week Sally blackmailed her brother into doing her chores. Every time she wanted him to do something, all she would have to do is whisper, “Remember the duck!”

Finally, Johnny couldn’t take the guilt anymore and so he confessed everything to his grandma. His grandma held him close as he wept and said; “Johnny, I know you killed the duck. I was standing at the kitchen window when you did it and I saw it all. I could see the fear on your face and I forgave you the moment you did it, I was just wondering how long you were going to live with the guilt before you told me.

Many Christians are like Johnny, they have done something wrong and the evil one comes along and whispers in their ear to blackmail them. You’re guilty, God won’t understand, now do what I tell you.

Prayer is in many ways a process. It’s a continuum that moves us into the presence of God. What we have seen thus far is that

1. God is our loving Heavenly Father and that He desires for us to come to Him.

2. God is likewise a benevolent King and he desires for us to worship and come before His holy presence.

3. God wants us to humble ourselves and to live by His kingdom’s principles.

4. God wants us to know that He will provide for our needs, but that it’s important that we desire what He has for us.

Now these 4 prayer requests, acknowledgements and understandings thus far in the Lord’s Prayer are so significant because they prepare you for the 5th request in this prayer of prayers. “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”.

When you have spent time in God’s presence as a loving Father, a benevolent King, a Sovereign Lord and Great Provider, then your heart, your mind and your soul is ready to confront the sin in your life and come before your Redeemer.

Let’s face it, sin is ugly and it’s a terrible task master. It holds us in the bondage of guilt and the Evil one whispers in our ear and reminds us continually and the results are typically devastating.

When sin remains unconfessed we normally experience multiple symptoms:

1. We feel guilty and ashamed.

2. We avoid the topic or people and places that remind us of the sin.

3. We shut God out; sever our fellowship with Him and our fellowship with His people.

4. We often continue in the path of destruction because the evil one is whispering in our ear and were too afraid to go to the Lord.

This morning, I want to keep this simple because it can be so devastating. So I want us to look at a few essential facts about sin.

1. God’s Children Sin

Now if you think that you are above sinning, you already have. 1 John 1:8 says, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So know it up front, you are going to sin, that’s not a question. 1 John 1:10 says, If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Rom. 3:23 says that all have sinned