Forgiven People Forgive People Series

Forgiven People Forgive People

Matthew 6:12

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

First Baptist Church of Chenoa

3-24-19

Drama: Hey, I’m praying here!

Review

Each week, I’ve been reviewing all that we have studied in these last few weeks. This morning, I’m going to just encourage you to go to Chenoa Baptist Church’s Facebook page and watch the sermons in this series. These verses are so important that I want to have as much time as possible to walk through it with you.

The first three petitions focus on God. We pray that His name be hallowed, that His kingdom come in us, through us, and through our churches. We pray that His will be done as it is already done in heaven.

The second three petitions focus on our needs as children of God. Last week, Jesus directed us to pray for our daily bread. We are to look to God as the sustainer and provider of everything we need for life. We confess that we sometimes forget that and live like we can handle things on our own. We can have confidence that God will provide for us and we can be content in what He does choose to provide. All of this should lead to compassion and generosity on our part as we seek to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a lost and dying world.

This morning, we come to the fifth petition – forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. This is the only petition with a human response and the only one that Jesus actually elaborates on. The first part of this verse is incredible news. The second part is terrifying.

What’s in a word?

Before we begin, let me point out something that you will notice immediately. Some of your translations use the word “debt” and some of them use the word “trespasses.” Which word is correct?

In verse 12, Matthew uses the Greek word for debt. In verse 14-15, he uses the Greek word for trespasses.

They both are conveying the same idea but “debts” is more true to the Greek.

A couple of years ago, I walked up a driveway to visit a person in our church. A man met me halfway and demanded loudly for me to get off his property. It turns out I was at the wrong house. I was trespassing. I didn’t do it on purpose. You can trespass on accident.

That’s why I think debt is a better word. In the U.S. we understand the concept of debt. The average American has $38,000 of debt and that doesn’t include a mortgage. The average student graduates college with a student debt of over $35,000. And the national debt stands at 22 trillion dollars.

We are national acquainted with debt but there is a much more important debt to consider.

When we ask for forgiveness, we are acknowledging that we owe a debt to God. It’s not accidental. Our sin is active rebellion again a holy and righteous God. God’s standard is perfection and we cannot hop high enough for His holiness. We fall short. We miss the mark. We need forgiveness. We need to seek it daily.

Forgiven?

But, wait, aren’t we forgiven of our sin when we become a Christian? Yes. When you place your full faith and trust in Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross in your place to pay the sin debt you owe, you are justified. That means you are declared “not guilty” but, even more than that, Jesus trades His righteousness for your sin.

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor 5:21)

In Romans, Paul sums up the effect of our justification:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:8-10)

Jesus paid it all/ all to Him I owe / sin had left a crimson stain / He washed it white as snow

But, even after we have become Christians, we still sin. We still fall short. We still miss the mark.

There are some churches that teach that after your conversion you don’t sin anymore.

I got a call from a student named Ray when I was Mississippi. He had received a wrong number but the guy on the other end of the phone said, “Hey wait, can I ask you a question? Do you know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord?” Ray was a little startled but answered that he was a Christian and was involved in our youth group. The guy then said, “Do you still sin?” Ray answered, “Yes sir. Every day but Jesus forgives me.” At this point, the man raised his voice and said, “Ray, you are going to hell. You are not a Christian. Christians don’t sin anymore.” Ray said, “Um…you need to talk to Jeff!”