Go ahead now and turn in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, to Matthew chapter 6, and I will read verses 1 through 15, however, our scripture text this morning is in verse 12. But before I do read the Word of God, let us pray for the Lord to help us understand it first. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word and we ask that by Your Spirit You would help us to understand it this morning. Help us, Lord, to set aside the cares and worries of this world so that we might receive with true faith the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ from Your Word this morning. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Loved ones, hear now the Word of God. Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you have need before you ask Him. This, then, is how you should 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 today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. So far the reading of God's holy word this morning. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, in verses 9-13, our Lord gives us some very important instructions for prayer. And if you think about it, prayer is really one of the greatest privileges that we have as Christians. Prayer is our communication to and with the living God through the mediation of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not God communicating to us in prayer. It's us communicating to Him and it's a privilege for us as His people to do so. And in this prayer that our Lord has given us, we're taught to pray basically for two things. God's glory and for man's good, for our good. And we chiefly pray for God's glory in this prayer. The hallowing of the Father's name, praying for the coming of His kingdom, knowing that it has come, but that we are awaiting for the fullness of it to come and for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then secondly, we're also instructed to pray by our Lord to pray for man's good as well, to pray for our physical needs, to pray for our daily bread and to pray for our spiritual needs, the forgiveness of our debts and the deliverance from temptation and from the evil one. And this morning, we want to consider the fifth request here in our Lord's Prayer. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And by including this prayer or this petition in this prayer, our Lord teaches us that the confession of our sin to God and the seeking of His forgiveness is to be really a constant part of our prayer lives. And it also teaches us that since we are forgiven in Christ, we are then to forgive the sins of others. Forgiving others really is a natural outflow of the forgiveness that we ourselves have received from God through Jesus Christ. And so churches and the Christians within them then should be known both as a forgiven and a forgiving people. And so to help us to understand this particular request in this prayer, let's ask and answer these questions. And this will be our outline for this morning. First, what are debts? Second, what is forgiveness? Third, why should we pray for forgiveness? And fourthly, why should we forgive? And for those who may be taking notes, I'll repeat those for you. what are debts, what is forgiveness, why should we pray for forgiveness, and why should we forgive. And so let's make a beginning this morning. In the first place, what are debts? What does our Lord mean by that word debts there in our Bibles? Well, simply stated, debts are our sins. And in one of the parallel accounts of Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray, in Luke 11, verse 4, Jesus said, And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. So the terms debt and sin really can be interchangeable. And there are several different kinds, loved ones, of sins that are important for us to understand and to ask the Lord for forgiveness of. And for a few moments, let's consider some of the ways in which we sin and are in need of forgiveness for. First, there is original sin and there are actual sins. And our original sins, as you know and have been taught in this church, is that fall of our first parents in the garden where they rebelled against the Lord. The guilt of that sin is upon us as well. Adam was our representative in the garden. And the pollution of that sin is passed down to us, and so we're guilty before God of that original sin from the moment of our conception. But then there are also our actual sins. The sins that we actually commit every day of our lives that render us guilty before God and in debt to Him. And then there are also what we call vertical sins and horizontal sins and another category there. Vertical sins are the sins that you commit directly against God Himself. For instance, we sin against God when we break the commandments in the first table of the law. Commandments 1-4, worshiping someone other than the true and living God, creating images, using the Lord's name in vain, not honoring the Sabbath day. These are what we would call vertical sins. And then there are also those horizontal sins that you commit against your neighbor, which in reality are also vertical sins because you're still sinning against the Lord. And so we sin against our neighbor by breaking the second table of God's law. Commandments 5-10, not honoring our parents. Murdering, committing adultery, stealing, lying, and coveting. When we commit these sins, we're committing what we would call horizontal sins. But then there are also outward sins and inward sins. And so we get a little bit even more mischievous in the way that we sin against our God. We commit outward sins by our words and by our deeds we sin against our God. And inwardly we commit sins in our hearts, in our thoughts, in our minds. When we consider even what our Lord says concerning adultery. If you even look upon a woman in your heart with lust, you've committed the sin of adultery. It's an example of an inward sin. And then there are actual sins of commission and actual sins of omission. And those sins of commission are ones where we willfully commit against the Lord. We know it's wrong. We still do it. And then there are those sins of omission where our obedience was omitted or absent. And so, when you consider all the commandments that are in the Bible and all the ways that we are so mischievously creative in breaking them, it's really dizzying when you stop to think about it. There are so many ways in which we sin against our Creator and our Redeemer. And yet, we must acknowledge this truth and own this truth. Swallow it down and digest this truth. Because it's important for us to understand our need for the forgiveness of our sins, the forgiveness of our debts. And then also in order to understand the great grace of God in Jesus Christ. And so, it's important for us to understand our sins as debts. Because when we commit them, they make us debtors to God. So when we think of the word debt, we normally think about money, right? And there's lots of talk about debt these days on the news. But in the Bible, when we read about our sin incurring a debt, we're not talking about a monetary debt. When we sin against God, it's not as if we suddenly owe God money. No, when we talk about our sin in terms of it creating a debt that we owe to God, we're talking about a moral debt. When we sin, we prove that we're guilty before our holy God and we're guilty before His high majesty. And as a result, we owe a debt of obedience to God and we must pay the penalty that He demands for our sin. And so since we've been created by God, He has the right to command us to obey Him and to obey Him perfectly and perpetually, continually. So we were created bearing our Maker's image to glorify Him by reflecting His holiness and perfection in every way conceivable in our lives, both in body and soul. And so we owe God perfect obedience. And when we lapse in the performance of that perfect obedience, even over just one point, or even having just broke one commandment in God's law, Really, we're guilty in God's sight as if we had broken every commandment of God's law. That's what James 2 teaches us. And God's holy justice demands that the penalty for our sin be paid to Him, either by us or by someone else. God requires that the claims of His justice be satisfied and paid in full. And He has the right to do that. As Romans 3.23 says, For we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In fact, even from the moment of our conception, as I mentioned earlier, in our mother's womb, we're already in debt to God. And so, we're helplessly lost sinners, congregation. We're hopelessly lost sinners apart from Christ. And the debt that we owe to God is so large and so deep that we could not possibly pay it off on our own. We can't pay the penalty for our sins. We can't render the obedience perpetually and perfectly that He requires of us. And so when we consider all of this, I hope that it is clear to us, it should be clear to us as we consider our sinfulness that if God doesn't have mercy on us, None of us could or ever would be saved from our sins. We would be cast into hell forever. So what we need in light of this terrible debt that we have before our holy God is forgiveness. It's forgiveness. And that takes us into our second point this morning. What is forgiveness? Well, forgiveness is the cancellation of our debt that we owe to God. When God grants us the forgiveness of our sins, this means that we're relieved from the punishment of hell before Him. The debt penalty of our sin, it's taken away. As we heard in the call to worship from Psalm 103, verse 12, As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. You see, that's language of forgiveness. And this is what God has done in Christ for sinners who repent and believe in the Gospel, who believe in the good news. He has taken away. He's forgiven their sin by the blood of Christ. And this blood of Christ is what turns away the wrath of God, the penalty that we deserve for our dead. As Romans 3.25 says, God put Christ forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This is why God sent His Son to us. To satisfy His wrath, which was against us. So when we trusted in Christ, God's wrath, which was upon our heads before, is no longer upon us now. Christ propitiated it for us. He turned it away. That's what propitiation means. He's satisfied the wrath of God. And when you think about that and doing that in your place, that is good news for us this morning. That's good news for you this morning. But loved ones, the good news is it doesn't just stop there. Not only have you been relieved from the punishment that your debt has incurred by Christ's blood, Christ has also rendered the perfect obedience that God demands. In Matthew 5.17, Jesus said that He came to fulfill the law. And when you trust in Christ's work, the good news is that not only are you forgiven of your sins, and this is so important for us as Christians, even in our daily lives to understand, not only are you forgiven of your sins, but you also receive the righteousness of Christ. You receive the obedience that He performed all His life in your place to God's command. I mean, that is good news for us. The obedience that we are deficient in Christ has obeyed for us. And we receive His righteousness and obedience simply through faith alone, apart from any of our good works. This is really what 2 Corinthians 5.21 teaches us. For God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. So God has been so good to you. He has been so good to us, loved ones. He has fully taken care of every aspect of our debt to Him. He's removed the penalty. And He's also supplied the obedience that we owe to Him. So Christian, this morning I stand here before you as a minister of God's Word that if you've trusted in Jesus Christ, Your debt has been fully paid. Fully paid now. You've been freely and fully forgiven through Jesus Christ. And so when we pray to our Father in Heaven and ask Him to forgive us of our debts, not only are we confessing to Him that we're sinners in debt to Him, deserving of punishment and deficient in obedience, we're also asking that He would remember the work of Christ on our behalf and never turn us away or hold against us the sin that still clings against us for Christ's sake. And that's really what our catechism teaches us in question and answer 126. So Christians, consider the joy that the good news of the forgiveness of your sins brings to you this morning. The wonderful glad tidings to your soul today. Your debt has been fully paid by God. your deepest, your most pressing need that you have as a fallen human being in this world has been met by the Savior. All of your heinous sins. Think of all of them. Think of even all the worst ones. They are under the blood, loved ones. Washed away. Cleansed from you. And through faith alone, you now stand righteous before your Holy Creator and Redeemer. I mean, that really is reason for great joy for us as Christians this morning, to be reminded of that. And it's this gospel joy of forgiveness that really is our strength to get through, to persevere through this present evil age that is filled with so much suffering, so much sorrow and hardship. And you might be struggling with some really awful hardships and difficulties this morning in your body with surgeries and cancer and plagued by diseases or financial reversals and struggles. Confusing circumstances where you don't know what decision you should make or what direction you should go in or unimaginable circumstances this morning. You might be vexed by uncertainty and confusion. And you might be tempted in the midst of all of that. You might be tempted to let those things steal away the joy of your forgiveness in Christ. And we can easily forget because of all these things that are before us in our life, the good news of Jesus for us. And so whatever form of suffering that you are undergoing this morning, look away from yourself. Don't get caught up looking at your belly button and pulling out the lint of all of your miserable experiences. Not to minimize them, but don't get caught only focusing and fixating on those things. Look away to Jesus Christ and remember that your greatest need, the debt that you owe to God, has been canceled. And so may the Lord grant you the strength to rejoice with a deep-seated joy that's not affected by your circumstances and to persevere even in the midst of all your difficulties because all your sins in Christ have been forgiven. And may you always remember that nothing in heaven or on earth can separate you from His love. Nothing. as Romans 8 teaches us. But most likely, though, you have a question brewing in your mind as we contemplate these things, and that question is our third point. Why should we pray for forgiveness? If through faith in Christ's work, our debt to God is fully forgiven and we stand legally righteous in His sight right now, why should we continue to ask for forgiveness from God? Well, let's consider that here. You see, we've been legally declared righteous for all time. When we trusted in Christ, we were justified for all time. But this side of heaven, though, we're still sinners and we always will be until God fully glorifies us on the day of resurrection. And if this morning you don't believe that statement, that you're a sinner until the day that you die and are glorified in heaven, please speak with me after the service. And perhaps we can talk to your wife or your husband and they can maybe help you understand as well that yes, we are sinners even after we have come to faith in Christ. And so we live in the already not yet, you see. We already have the forgiveness of our sins legally in God's sight. But the fullness, the fullness of that merciful forgiveness has not yet been entirely bestowed upon us. We still wait for the fullness of that forgiveness. We still wait for that great day of glory when we'll receive what remains of our inheritance. The glorious perfection of our body and soul in the promised land of heaven on that great day. See, we have these things by promise right now. And we have the down payment guarantee of the fullness of that promise of forgiveness. the Holy Spirit who indwells us and who is sanctifying us more and more by His means of grace. But in this in-between, this already not yet age, we still have the evil pollution of our sin that clings to us. And when we sin, we continue to prove that we're sinners. And we continue to prove that we are undeserving of God's grace. And we know and we even at times feel that we're guilty. So we as Christians, we confess our sin to God. Acknowledging our guilt. Acknowledging our misery before Him. And we ask Him to forgive us of our debts. To forgive us of our sins. And then we remember. We remember the good news that God's Gospel grace goes all the way. It doesn't stop short on the one-yard line. It goes all the way, reaching down to us in our deepest pit of sin. It reminds us, that good news, that we're forgiven by the blood and righteousness of Christ. So when we pray this prayer for God to forgive us our debts, we can be confident in His unwavering, His unswerving, His steadfast promise to us that He is faithful on account of Christ to forgive us. As we heard 1 John 1.9 recited to us as we read the form for preparation of the Lord's table, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we pray, forgive us our debts because we're called to remind ourselves that we're still sinners and have offended God every time we sin. We're called to trust in the good news of Jesus Christ and God's forgiveness extended to us in Him. And then we're called to long for. to long for heaven all the more and to hope for it all the more, knowing that there is a great day, loved ones, that awaits us when we'll no longer need to ask for forgiveness because we'll be glorified. We won't even have the ability to sin anymore. And so when we pray that God would forgive us, let's remember that there is that great and wonderful day that awaits us. And what a day that will be. No more sin. No more need to ask for forgiveness. But in the meantime, though, there are times when we sin and we feel the weight, we feel the shame of our guilt, and we don't want to run to the Lord and to ask Him for His forgiveness. So we run away from Him instead. Now, it's right and it's proper that we should feel the shame of our sin. It's right and proper that we should recognize the ugly offense that our sin is in God's sight. And that we offend His High Majesty. But there's nothing that the enemy of our souls, there's nothing that the enemy of our souls delights in more than heaping condemnation on our heads and attempting to drive us away from our Savior after we've sinned. And so, loved ones, don't let the guilt of your sin, don't let the fear of condemnation from God seduce you into running from repentance and trusting in Jesus Christ and confessing your sins to Him. Don't run from Him when you sin. Run to Him. Run to Him. Confessing your sin to Him. Repenting of it. Trusting in the good news that there is forgiveness with the Lord as we sung from Psalm 130 through Jesus Christ. So when you run to Jesus in repentance and in faith, you will never be rejected. You will never be cast away because He is full of wonderful patience. He is full of compassion. And He is full of love for His people, for His sheep. So Jesus says to you this morning, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And so, dear ones, don't run from God when you're under the conviction of your sins. run to Him because there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Well, our last point this morning is why should we forgive the debts of others when they sin against us? Well, the purpose of the phrase forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors, it's not meant to teach us that our forgiveness of others merits our forgiveness from God. This would mean that we could save ourselves and that Christ died in vain. You see, God forgives us on account of Christ through faith alone, not by any of our works. It's a clear teaching of Scripture. And so as we forgive our debtors, or as we have also forgiven our debtors, it's meant to teach us that forgiving others is that defining characteristic of one who has been forgiven himself by God in Christ. In other words, the forgiveness that we seek from God really should be mirrored toward others in our prayers and in our lives. And when it's not mirrored in our prayers, when it's not mirrored in our lives towards others, we're really being hypocritical, aren't we? If we don't forgive others of their sins against us, this means that there is something wrong with us. We've been so freely forgiven of so much, and yet who are we to withhold forgiveness from someone else? if we withhold that forgiveness we're spiritually unhealthy so why should we forgive the debt of others because we've been forgiven by God and God commands us to forgive Ephesians 4.31-32 says let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind to one another Tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. The same words are echoed in Colossians 3. If anyone has a complaint against another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. And so, loved ones, think about all your sin before Almighty Holy God. How has God dealt with you? Has He dealt with you according to your sins? Has He dealt with you according to your sins? Or has He dealt with you on the basis of His grace and His love in Christ? See, think about that. You see, He has dealt with us not according to our sins. And so who are we? Who are we to deal with others according to their sins? Let us be free to forgive as God has forgiven us in Christ. And we should also forgive the debts of others because forgiveness restores unity in the body of Christ. Unforgiveness divides the body of Christ. Unforgiveness, it blunts and it retards the fellowship between you and the One that's asking for your forgiveness. You're called to let all the bitterness go. You're called to let all the anger go. You're called to put it off and to put on tender mercies and kindness and to forgive the other person. And when you don't forgive, reconciliation and restored friendship and fellowship, it can't take place. You've erected a dividing wall in the body of Christ. In unforgiveness, it also brings division in another way that we might not immediately recognize. because we're caught up in our own emotions and in our selfishness. When you refuse to forgive someone, let's say someone here even in the church, you refuse to forgive someone, there are people around you who are friends with both you and the person who's coming to you to ask for forgiveness, who you are refusing to forgive. And this kind of situation, it causes tension, it causes awkwardness, and it even places temptation before those who are around you to feel like they need to choose sides. And this can really begin to foster a divided atmosphere in the very assembly where God calls us to love one another and be completely united without any divisions. So forgive the sins of others, loved ones, because it restores the unity and harmony in the body of Christ. but also we should forgive the debts of others because it glorifies God. It chiefly glorifies God, which is the chief purpose for which we are created. In John 15, verse 8, Jesus said, By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. When you forgive someone who sinned against you, you are bearing beautiful fruit to your Father in heaven. In the act of forgiving others, you are pointing people to Christ and to God's wonderful disposition of forgiveness toward penitent sinners. So when you forgive others, you're reflecting the light and love of Christ. You get to be like Christ in that moment. You get to be like your Savior when you forgive someone who has sinned against you. And that brings great praise. It brings great glory to your Father in Heaven. Well, there's so much still to say, but in conclusion, loved ones, let me ask you a couple of questions in light of what we've heard here. Are you known as a forgiving person when someone sins against you? When people come to you to ask for forgiveness, do they come confident that you will forgive them? Or are they fearful of you? does anybody ever come to you to ask for your forgiveness well if not now this doesn't necessarily mean this is so but if it's possible here if not it's possible that you aren't known as a forgiving person or you may be known as someone who makes people feel more guilty when they come to you for forgiveness and if this is you this morning then the Lord calls you The Lord calls you to consider your own deep debt before God. And to consider how freely and how graciously He has dealt with you. So that you might learn more fully to freely forgive others. And lastly, loved ones, is there someone in your life whom you've not forgiven after they've asked you for it? Is there someone who you need to forgive? And if so, our Lord, He calls you now, even straight away now in your heart, to forgive. And then go to that person and forgive them, saying, Christ has so freely forgiven me. I forgive you. And there's a wonderful joy and relief that will take place between both of you. And the Lord will be glorified. And all these questions, sometimes they're scary for us to ask because we know invariably in one way or another we're guilty and we've failed in these things. But let's remember the Lord's great mercy and patience and kindness to us and how He has so freely forgiven us in His Son. So let's go to the Lord and ask Him to forgive us and ask Him to give us a genuine desire to not only ask for forgiveness, but also to have a genuine desire to freely grant forgiveness to others and remember how He has so freely forgiven us. And see, this is the type of prayer that our God loves to answer. And so let's keep praying. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word this morning. We pray that You would apply it to our hearts, O God. Make us a people who are forgiving. And may we always remember how much You have so freely forgiven us. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.