[0:00] Let's turn to read in God's Word. First of all, reading in Isaiah, Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Of course, later on, reading then in Matthew, carrying on our series.
[0:14] But first of all, Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Let's hear the Word of God.
[0:24] Who hath believed a report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.
[0:40] He hath no form nor comeliness when we shall see him. There is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him.
[0:57] He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
[1:12] But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. A chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed.
[1:25] All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted.
[1:39] Yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. So he openeth not his mouth.
[1:50] He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For to inscretion of my people was he stricken.
[2:03] And he made his grave of the wicked. With the rich in his death. Because he had done no violence. Neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
[2:16] He hath put him to grief. And there shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
[2:30] He shall see the travail of his soul. And shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. For he shall bear their iniquities.
[2:42] Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great. He shall divide with the spoil of the strong. Because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors.
[2:55] They bear the sin of many. And made intercession for the transgressors. He was reading again this time in Matthew. Matthew.
[3:07] In chapter 6. Reading again together about the Lord's Prayer. Matthew 6. And then verse 9. Matthew 6 and verse 9.
[3:21] Matthew 6 and we are Jesus.
[3:44] deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Give praise to God for his holy and his perfect word. Let's again sing to his praise, this time singing from Psalm 51. Psalm 51. You see our singings are reflecting this theme of repentance and of God's salvation towards his people.
[4:16] Psalm 51 verses 1 down to verse 6. After the loving kindness Lord have mercy upon me for thy compassion's great blot out all mine iniquity. Me cleanse from sin and freely wash from mine iniquity. For my transgressions I confess my sin I ever see. Psalm 51 verses 1 to 6. To God's praise.
[4:42] Psalm 51 verse 6. After thy loving kindness Lord have mercy upon me for thy compassion's kindness Lord have mercy upon me for thy compassion's great blot out all mine iniquity. Me cleanse from sin and freely wash from me.
[5:21] me wash from my living with thee. For my transgressions I confess my sin I ever see.
[5:44] It's the only reason when thy sight can live still.
[6:00] But when thou speakst, thou mayst be just and feel in judging still.
[6:16] The whole die iniquity was formed alone within.
[6:29] My mother also be consumed with guiltiness and sin.
[6:47] People now in the inward parts with whom they like it are and with some clouds that make me know within the hidden heart.
[7:16] Let's turn back to the chapter we're following through in Matthew 6. Matthew 6.
[7:30] As I was saying today, a time passed if we find ourselves here at the second to last section of the prayer. Verse 12.
[7:42] And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
[7:54] Like we say every week, we only have enough time and space to really just give an overview of what this is for us, of what this could mean for us. And each week we're hoping to incorporate what we hear from God's word into our prayers somehow this following week.
[8:14] So what does it mean for us as Christians? What does it mean for us to pray that God would forgive us, that we would then forgive those who have sinned or indeed who have debt against us?
[8:28] As we approach this topic, the word we have here as debt, it's important we do have that word very much in mind.
[8:41] This is an exact translation of the word used here and interestingly enough, the word used here for debt is a very secular word, we could say. It's a word that was used at this time in the financial world.
[8:56] This is the literal word for debt. This is the same word you would use if you were a tax collector at the time writing a report to your Roman masters and we have these reports, we have reports from around this time and the same word is used here for debt as a tax collector, as the bankers of the day would have used.
[9:22] Debt. We, in this petition, are praying that God would forgive the debts that we have accruing up in our name and then we'd then ask that as we do that that we would begin and we would indeed forgive the debts others have, the debts, the grudges, the sins that others do towards us.
[9:49] Also, before we begin properly, we must be clear, brothers and sisters, your sins are forgiven. Brothers and sisters, the slate, as it were, has been cleaned.
[10:04] I say brothers and sisters quite clearly because this only applies to the Christians, of course. Brothers and sisters, when God looks on you just now, as Murray McShane would always say, quoting himself from the Puritans, when God, dear Christian, looks on you, he does so not with a frown but with a smile.
[10:25] When God looks on you, dear Christian, he does so not with a frown but with a smile. That's biblical. Your sins have been forgiven.
[10:36] Your debts, as aware, have been paid. But, and we'll see this as we go on in detail, and the Christians here, you will agree and I'm sure nod your heads with me.
[10:46] Yes, you know and you believe that your debts have been paid, but you still sin. I still sin. We still sin, brothers and sisters, don't we? We find ourselves daily still sinning, which is why this verse and this prayer, this part of the prayer is so important to us.
[11:06] We also have to note the very first word of verse 12, and, and, and here's where our verse numbers, which of course are man-made and we're not inspired, they're helpful, but we're not inspired at all, where the verse numbers kind of complicate things for us a wee bit.
[11:24] In reality, verse 11 and verse 12 almost go together. That and tells us that there is, there's some, some Greek learning for you, there is and there was no punctuation in the original Greek, no punctuation at all.
[11:42] when you see it, and there's also at times no spaces either, it's just a block of text, just a block of, of Greek writing and it's, it's, it's, it's near impossible at times to see what's being said.
[11:56] So verse 11 and verse 12, they're together in one sense because we're praying in these verses for our everyday reality, as we said last week. Verses 9 and verse 10, we're praying for God's kingdom and God's will, praying for these things which are around us and over us.
[12:15] The last Lord's day we were praying for our daily bread, the average, normal, daily, with respect, stuff, the daily sustenance, God's daily providing to us, his provisions to us.
[12:31] And same for us this evening. We're this evening praying for the daily reality of our own sin, of our own waywardness, of the fact that we are confessing that just as we need God to feed us and to sustain us every day, we acknowledge quite openly and quite simply that every day we sin.
[12:54] And every day, just as we need his sustenance and his keeping, we also need his forgiveness. This part of the prayer, it should humble us as Christians.
[13:07] But also it should help us, we hope as we go on to look at it in detail, it should help us to have our minds focused not on us but on our Saviour.
[13:19] On our Saviour. Jesus does not shy away from being honest and we know that again and again. We saw that this morning, didn't we? He honestly, quite simply, tells the Pharisees this morning, he told them that they were in sin, that they were blind.
[13:37] And even when Jesus speaks to his disciples, to those who are his and those who he loves eternally, he's honest. He lets them know that they are sinners, that they keep sinning, that they must pray for that reality.
[13:53] They must pray that their sins will be forgiven. We sin every day. Therefore, we must pray and have a reminder every day in our prayers of the forgiveness of God in our lives.
[14:07] But more than that, we're also sinned against. We are wronged very often. Wronged by other brothers and sisters but also by those around us. That also happens day by day.
[14:21] And touching what we heard and we looked at last Thursday in Psalm 133. If you are as a congregation to be united and to grow in your unity and to grow in your love for one another, there has to be forgiveness amongst you.
[14:36] I'm not saying there's not, but I'm saying biblically we must all practice the reality of having forgiveness amongst ourselves. So two very broad headings for this massive topic.
[14:48] First of all, looking at received forgiveness. Received forgiveness. And then given forgiveness. Received and given.
[14:59] Very simple headings. Very broad headings. Received forgiveness. And forgive us our debts.
[15:11] What are our debts? Well, every Christian here, indeed to everyone here, you've heard this countless times. We all know what it is to sin. Every Christian here, we know and we believe and we will say honestly that yes, we sin.
[15:28] But at times we need that reminder, don't we? We need a brief reminder as to just the reality of sin. As to the true heinous nature of sin.
[15:40] As to the true horror of what sin really is. that's why we read in Isaiah 53. In that section we read, section we all know so well, we've heard so often, we're reminded, we're reminded physically at least, as to the horror and the misery and the pain and the abuse that our Saviour had to endure to begin to atone, to pay for our sin.
[16:11] Our sin is a rebellion. A rebellion against the only holy living God.
[16:23] We sin against the one who, as we heard last week, who gives us the very breath, the very life we have and we sin against him when we sin.
[16:35] Yes, we sin against each other at times, we wrong each other but ultimately all sin is sin against him. His perfect holiness, his perfect righteousness, his rebellion against the one who knows us and who made us.
[16:54] It's the thinking and the doing and the planning at times even without reason and at times even without thought it feels and it seems the rebellion against against the very person, the very nature of who our God is.
[17:15] Our sin left to our own devices, our sin makes it so that we cannot come near to God. God cannot see sin, he cannot be near to sin, he cannot be in the presence of sin, he is too holy for that, too perfect for that.
[17:32] So in and of ourselves our sin separates us eternally from God, eternally, without hope, without help, without any way we can help ourselves or save ourselves or fix that broken barrier, that relationship we could say.
[17:53] Sin has broken that and we are helpless, we are hopeless and more than that, sin kills. Spiritually, sin kills.
[18:03] We heard this morning that sin blinds, but it blinds because it kills. We often hear the reality of the illustration that those who are without Jesus, that we're like someone who's drowning and when they hear the gospel, it's that hand rescuing them and it's a valid illustration but it's also not really biblically true.
[18:27] Without Jesus, we're not drowning. We're dead. We're dead. There's no life. There's no hope for life. It's gone. Gone. Jesus doesn't just rescue us.
[18:40] He rescues us by giving us new life. We are in debt to God. We cannot pay back that debt ourselves. That debt is beyond our ability to repay.
[18:54] There is no debt payback scheme. There is no options given to us. we are helpless and hopeless on our own. That's the damage that sin causes.
[19:07] Sin, as aware, has bankrupted us. And we pay a great price for our sin, an eternal price for our sin. like any other debt in this world.
[19:22] We can't pay it ourselves. The only thing stopping our lives being ruined by that debt is if someone will pay it for us. To use the illustration of the debt collector's at the door.
[19:37] And we're born of that situation. We're born of that reality. The bouncer is there. The debt collector is there. And he's knocking on the door. If nothing changes in our life, that debt is collected, I will never, ever see eternity in heaven.
[19:57] Do I share this before? Maybe I did my first month in Edinburgh. Went to study. I was getting letters through the door.
[20:09] I won't say his name actually. A man who wasn't me. And the debt was on this letter. This man, who was in my address at some point, owed several thousand pounds to the gas company.
[20:27] Of course, I thought, I don't live here anymore. It's not my address. Now, do with me, I didn't open the letters. First of all, of course, I ignored the letters. I strode them back and sent them back again, saying no longer here. The letters kept coming.
[20:38] I kept sending them back. Within the first three months of me being at this new address, we get Mondays off in Free Church College, and I heard a knock on the door at half seven on a Monday morning.
[20:50] And there was two men, twice my size, I'm not joking, twice my size, looking at me and saying, we're here to collect the debt or to make payment for your debt. Well, I've got no debt.
[21:04] I've got no debt at all. But they had to come in, they had to see proof that I wasn't the person I said I was, they had to do the checks, and they wouldn't leave the property until the checks were done.
[21:14] If the debt was in my name, I would have nothing to say, nothing to do. They had full right to be there, and full right to repay the debt.
[21:33] The debt wasn't in my name. And this man, I presume, will pay the debt. But for Christian, the truth is, our debt has been paid for us. And before we move on, the question I have to ask is, dear friend, if as of yet you don't know Jesus, do you not still feel that debt just hanging off you?
[21:56] I know you do. Every Christian here knows you do. We've all been here before you. That debt which hangs off you, that reality that God is there, and you cannot have access to him, and you feel so far away from him, and you feel it all weighing down on you, and you just feel that distance, that distance you cannot close as hard as you try because you are in debt that can't be paid.
[22:22] Dear friend, if that is you, the debt's been paid. Jesus has paid that debt for all who come to him. You need not remain in that place. Come.
[22:34] Come. It's been paid for you. For the Christians, this prayer then leads us to the question, we're all happy to admit as Christians, we should be happy to admit, or happy, but we should be willing to admit that yes, we are sinners.
[22:48] Yes, I have debt. Yes, today I have sinned against God. But it leads us to the question, doesn't it? If as Christians we are forgiven, and if we are told in Scripture we are forgiven, if we're told that our sin has been cast into the depths of the ocean as far as the east is from the west and all that, then why do we still pray that God would forgive us?
[23:12] why are we still praying as Christians, and this is a prayer framework for Christians to pray, why are we praying that God would forgive us?
[23:24] I thought I was already forgiven. Well, here's we have to take a wee detour and think of redemption, of how Jesus saves us.
[23:38] Christ and the cross, Christ and his finished work, our debts are paid for.
[24:08] Redemption is accomplished. It's accomplished. On the cross, as aware of the work of Jesus, his finished work, his resurrection, it shows us the debt is paid.
[24:21] All who come to Jesus, our debt is paid. Our sin, the wrath of that sin removed from us. No ifs, no buts, it's done, the end. Our redemption is accomplished, full stop.
[24:36] But then, because we live in time and in space, because we go about our day from day to day, because God deals with us naturally, because God deals with us in time, because God made us to live normal, real lives, the redemption which is accomplished is then applied to us naturally.
[25:00] as we sin and ask for forgiveness, the work of the cross, the finished work of our Saviour, that's it being applied to us.
[25:14] Now, those who would be Roman Catholic, this is no time or space for that teaching, and I won't claim to be expert in their beliefs, but we know that they believe that the work of Christ has to be continually, as we're reapplied, but we're not saying that at all.
[25:33] What we're saying is his work is finished on that cross, but because we live and we grow, as we sin and ask for forgiveness of that sin, we in our own lives need to be reminded again and again of the forgiveness that's been shown to us.
[25:50] As we sin and ask for forgiveness, the work, the finished work of the cross is applied to us again and again and again. As we said to us last week, it's the same idea.
[26:04] This is a child talking to a father, a child talking to a father, and given normal family life, normal child talking to their dad, their father, the father, the good father, he loves his child.
[26:25] he loves his child. And that love, it's a blanket love. He loves you, you are his. But then when you go against him, when you're cheeky, so on and so on, you ask that he would forgive you, you say you're sorry.
[26:46] And your father, then what? He reminds you again, yes, that was wrong, you shouldn't have done that, so on and so on. I still love you, you're still mine. Of course, we say that in normal language, but that's what's taking place here.
[27:00] When we come as Christians to the place, to the throne of grace, and we say, Lord, Lord, I have sinned again. This morning, this day, this week, I've made a mess of this week, a mess of this month, this whole year is just gone, it's all this already, and I've made a mess of the month of this year so far.
[27:21] As we come just now in your mind and you think, Lord, even today I have sinned, I said that thing, I did that thing, I thought that thing, and so on and so on.
[27:31] What are you doing? You, Christian, are going to your loving father in heaven, our father, art in heaven, the one who hears you, who cares for you.
[27:45] Again and again, as you go back to that place of grace, as you cry out for forgiveness once more, he is not tired to forgive you, he is not weary in forgiving.
[27:57] In fact, the truth is, it is when you are in sin and you find yourself begging forgiveness, when you find yourself crying out for that forgiveness once more, it is there his mercy and his grace and his love is shown once more.
[28:14] A long suffering God who forgives his people out of his grace and out of his mercy. Christian, as you pray for forgiveness again and again for your sins, as you find yourself come before your father, you aren't doing so begging for your life.
[28:35] Your place in eternity is not at stake here. And we say it, we think, well, surely that, surely that then means and that allows Christians to sin without care. Paul, Romans 8, Romans 9, he deals that question, doesn't he?
[28:49] And Paul in Romans 8 and Romans 9, to summarise very, very briefly, what does he say when he's accused of saying, well, if grace is so free and if mercy is so easy, then surely that allows Christians to sin and to sin without care.
[29:06] If we can come and pray for forgiveness, surely that means we would sin and sin without care. But is that what happens to a Christian? Dear brother, dear sister, as you're reminded of God's love and God's forgiveness for your sin, is your first thought then, well, that means I can go and sin more.
[29:25] Well, if it is, if that truly is your first thought, then I say this very carefully and very soberly, you must search your soul. You must really search your soul and see if you know the Lord.
[29:40] Because if a genuine Christian, when we find and when we know we need forgiveness to the Lord, when we go and ask for that forgiveness, when we receive that forgiveness, our first thought is not, well, I'm free now to go sin.
[29:53] Our first thought is, I have a God, a Father who loves me. A Saviour who's paid the price for me. This is not an excuse to sin. But much like everything we pray to our Father who knows us, who knows our thoughts, who knows our words, where we think them or save them, every time we come to him to ask for forgiveness.
[30:14] That forgiveness has already been purchased for you, dear Christian. It's accomplished on the cross. But it's applied in your life again and again. And the God who has given you forgiveness, that he, in his love and his mercy, that he is pleased.
[30:33] Pleased to show you once more that he has enough grace, enough care, enough love to remind you once more that he is the God who forgives his people, who loves his children and who keeps his children.
[30:49] Brother, dear sister, you are free from wrath this evening. And as you daily repent, as you daily find yourself going back again to the throne of grace and saying, Lord, yet again I have let you down.
[31:03] Yet again I have failed you. As you find yourself praying these prayers, you are reminding yourself of the finished work of your Saviour. Professor Bob Ackroyd in the college and teaching theology, he says something that's quite true and he always reminds us of this.
[31:23] As humans, because of sin, we are so imbalanced. Every one of us here, we're so imbalanced. We always go one way or the other in everything.
[31:35] Where scripture is perfectly balanced. Perfectly balanced. The reality is that as we pray for forgiveness of sins, it does two things.
[31:48] We're reminded, first of all, the fact that we are sinners before God. But we are still needing his help and his grace. And sometimes we focus on that perhaps too much.
[32:03] But we have no joy in our lives. We focus only on our sins and only on our shortcomings. And that feels quite holy. It feels quite good at times. It feels quite right to be so humble.
[32:17] But it's not true, is it? It's not real. Because if we only focus on how useless we are as Christians, then we're ignoring the other side of things. Where God tells us that you're forgiven because of the finished work of your Saviour.
[32:31] As you maximise your own sin over his forgiveness, then you've gone too far. Also the opposite way. If you say, as we said, well, I am forgiven anyway, so I can go and sin as I please, or act that way, then you've gone the other way.
[32:49] The truth is, as we come to him and ask for forgiveness for sins, as we ask that he would cleanse us and he would, as we pay off again our debts, as we would come to him and ask that he would forgive us, we remind ourselves that forgiveness has been achieved for us, purchased for us.
[33:09] At the same time, we also remind ourselves that we are weak and we need his grace and his help day by day. That's our given forgiveness.
[33:20] Dear reverend or sister, you are forgiven. You are saved. The debt has been paid for you. But still, day by day, at times, hour by hour, we all need that reminder, don't we?
[33:34] That we are still weak. We still sin. Out of our weakness, even out of our own waywardness, God uses that to bring us back to himself again and again.
[33:47] And when he does that, he is glorified. He is glorified. And more briefly, we see given forgiveness. Given forgiveness.
[34:01] First of all, we saw we received. We receive forgiveness from God. Then we see given forgiveness. Let's read again in verse 12 and read it carefully.
[34:12] And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Debtors. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
[34:24] And the obvious question is, is this saying that if we don't forgive, dear Christian, then you won't be forgiven? I have to say quite clearly, your eternal forgiveness is not at stake here.
[34:40] Your eternal forgiveness does not hang on verse 12. It's quite arrogant to think it does. Because if we think that verse 12 is saying to us that if we don't forgive, then God will remove from us our forgiveness.
[34:54] Then that's saying that we have somehow ourselves an ability to change God's plans. To alter God's salvation work in our lives.
[35:04] Well, that's nonsense. Of course. What is verse 12 saying to us as Christians? Because verse 12 is quite clear. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
[35:19] If we come to the Lord just now, if this very moment or this evening you come to the Lord and you're seeking to ask forgiveness for your sin today, but yet in your mind, in your heart, you are bearing a grudge, as it were, or you have some problem with a brother or sister in the Lord.
[35:40] If someone has sinned against you and you have not yet even began to forgive them, and then you come and you ask for forgiveness for the Lord, then you won't, and the Christians here know this truth, you won't begin to feel or to understand or to realise that forgiveness in your life.
[36:02] We're here talking, of course, about the very daily reality of sin. We've seen that. This is talking about a daily reality. Same as verse 11.
[36:15] This is not talking about eternal. This is talking about the day by day living our lives as Christian. We will not know the reality. We will not feel the reality or sense the reality of that feeling of forgiveness of sin if we're still harbouring that grudge or not forgiving ourselves or always seeking to forgive the sin of those who are sinning or have sinned against us.
[36:41] R.C. Sproul, who's always good and every, it seems, topic of scripture, he comments on this verse saying, Those who do not forgive others cannot expect God's forgiveness for themselves.
[37:00] But he carries on. Since a genuine apprehension of God's grace received will make us gracious to others. A genuine apprehension of God's grace received makes us gracious towards others.
[37:20] Quite simply, to your brother, sister, and to myself very much also. As we approach the throne of grace, we must, we must bring to the throne of grace also, not just our sins, not just our debts, but also the debts that have been paid against us, the sins others have committed against us.
[37:47] If we're honest, this makes for quite some uncomfortable reading, doesn't it? Quite uncomfortable to be reminded of our place in doing this. It's quite easy at times, not easy, but it's easier at times to bring our sins to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm sorry, and so on.
[38:06] But to begin to forgive those who have sinned against us, that changes, doesn't it? We're very happy for the Lord to forgive us for our sins against him, a holy, eternal, ever-blessed Lord who lives in eternal glory, who is without spot of sin.
[38:24] We're happy to bring our sin to him, for him to forgive us, but when someone sins against us, a fellow human, a fellow sinner, it begins to get quite hard, doesn't it?
[38:35] Quite difficult for us to really begin to even forgive that person. Now, very briefly, we have to be clear, there is a marked difference, and this is very important for us, there's a marked difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.
[38:54] Forgiveness and reconciliation. Not for a second, am I saying, or would I ever dare to say that just because someone has wronged us, that we must somehow be with them or exist with them the same way as we did before they wronged us.
[39:11] We all know, without giving examples, we all know ourselves, there are situations in life where those, some may wrong us in ways which are awful.
[39:24] We can be wronged and sinned against in ways which are impossible, almost. Impossible to understand, impossible to begin to work through.
[39:37] That's where we have to remember forgiveness is different to reconciliation. Dear brother, dear sister, and I say this, of a very solemn reality behind it, understanding the truth of it, we must forgive.
[39:54] Is it easy? No. Is it painful? Most of the time, yes. Especially when we've been sinned against in perhaps an unbearable or an awful way.
[40:09] You alone know your own context, your own life, your own stories. But dear Christian, we must forgive. Why? Why?
[40:22] Why does God tell us this? Why must we pray for those who have sinned against us, who have debt against us? Why? First of all, because this glorifies God.
[40:37] Quite simply, it glorifies God. Second of all, it's for our good. And again, without detail, you have your own stories to tell and your own lives.
[40:50] But it's no stretch to say that every Christian here, if we're being very honest, sometimes we much prefer to bear a grudge. We much prefer to feel sinned against than to actually ever begin to heal or to help or to work through what's happened to us.
[41:11] It's much more easy to feel wronged than it is to begin the process of forgiving the ones who wronged us somehow. For his glory, but also for our good.
[41:24] The truth is, spiritually and physically and mentally, bearing that weight of not forgiving someone will crush us and crush us and crush us.
[41:36] And we all know this to be true ourselves. For his glory, for our good. Again, in extreme cases where there's been complicated situations, situations of abuse and so on and so on, our lives might look different.
[41:54] We might never see the person again or hear from the person again or so on and so on. But we must, in our own hearts, our own souls, begin to ask the Lord's help to forgive that person.
[42:06] In small things and in big things. Those who wrong us in small ways day by day and those who have wronged us perhaps even in years gone by. We must, if we know the Lord and love the Lord, begin to seek that process of forgiveness.
[42:26] His glory and for our good. It's very easy, isn't it? It's easy to study this, easy to apply this, it's easy to have the theological thinking of this.
[42:39] But let's not kid ourselves. When we leave this place and when you go home just now and think through who in your life has wronged you and how they have wronged you and you think through of the grudges and of the debt you hold against these people and you think through, can I really, can I really begin to forgive them?
[42:59] Or how do I even begin to forgive them? Or should I begin to forgive them? The truth is, the answer is yes. We can look in scripture, we can see the answer is yes, we can back it up with scripture.
[43:13] But the truth is, that work begins, in a sense just now, but it begins in reality with you on your knees as it were before God. As you remind yourself as to his love and forgiveness shown to you, that begins the process of you being able to forgive those who have wronged you personally.
[43:34] For his glory, but dear brothers and sisters, really it's for your good. God loves you enough and he cares for you enough. That holding that grudge will bring your life down.
[43:47] It will begin to destroy your happiness and your joy. It will wear you down and wear you down. You must begin to forgive. Because he tells you to do it, he tells me to do it.
[44:00] Challenging words, but we have the glorious words, but challenging, Colossians 3. This will conclude. Colossians 3, verses 12 to 13.
[44:13] These are the words given to this church, a church that was persecuted, a church that was struggling. And they're told, Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another.
[44:39] And if one has a complaint against the other, forgiving each other. Here's the crucial part. Why all this? Well, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you.
[44:54] The Lord has forgiven you. To summarise quite simply, we have been forgiven, or we who have known forgiveness of our Lord.
[45:06] We must in turn then take steps and take time to forgive those who have wronged us. For his glory, for our good. As we begin this new week, let's have our minds and our hearts set in prayer.
[45:23] As you pray this evening, as you pray as this week goes on, and that's how it begins, quite simply. And this is where it begins to get quite complicated, but also quite painful, but also the only way of doing it.
[45:38] Bring to the Lord in prayer the names, the faces, the situations where you've been wronged. As you begin to pray for these people, pray for forgiveness for them.
[45:53] Pray that the details of your own situation, but pray that the Lord would save them, that the Lord would let them work on their situation, whatever it might be.
[46:04] Again, the details don't matter. You alone know your situation. But you begin to forgive the person who's wronged you. Begin to do that by praying for them. It's the old saying, but it's true.
[46:18] If you tried it, you know it's true. It's very hard to hate those you are praying for. Let's be honest. We at times feel these strong feelings towards others.
[46:31] We do. To our shame, but we do. It's very, very hard to keep feeling that hate, that strong reality of feeling against the ones you are praying for, week after week.
[46:46] It's not my place to tell you what to do in your private prayer lives, but I want to exercise, even this week perhaps. Once a day. Now I'll do it with you.
[46:57] Once a day. Think of whoever's in your mind just now, whoever's been in your mind the last half hour, whoever's been forefront, whoever that person is that's wronged you.
[47:09] Once a day, whenever you pray, bring that person's name to the Lord. You alone know the situation, or what needs to be said, but bring that situation to the Lord.
[47:21] Trust that he will work these things out for his good, for his glory, according to his plan. We forgive because he has forgiven us.
[47:33] Because he's forgiven us with an eternal forgiveness, we, brothers and sisters, must be ready to be a forgiving people. It's costly.
[47:44] It's painful. It's hard. We do it for his glory, and for our good. Let's bow our heads now. A word of prayer. Lord, as we come to, again, deal, Lord, with topics, with subjects, which are so difficult for us, we come to dealing with the reality of life, we give you praise.
[48:06] You're a God who cares for that reality. But you're not distant and far removed. But indeed, you are close. You are close to your people as we seek to work through these things, as we seek to find answers for these questions in our lives, as we seek this week, even, to pray for those who have wronged us and have sinned against us.
[48:29] Help us, Lord, we ask. Help us to do so. To do so understanding that we, who have been forgiven much, must also in return forgive much. Lord, we trust that you alone will perform your justice, that you alone are holy.
[48:46] Lord, that those perhaps who have wronged us terribly, who have wronged your people terribly, Lord, that you alone will repay what needs to be repaid. You alone, Lord, are in charge of the reality of that.
[48:59] Our place is to trust in you. Our place is to find that place in our lives, to begin to pray for forgiveness. Help us each time we pray for our own forgiveness, to pray also for those who have wronged us.
[49:14] We pray again for those here who as of yet don't know you, who as of yet have not in our lives experienced, or felt, or known forgiveness for their sins. We ask that even this evening, even, Lord, just now, you would let them know that for themselves, that they would cry out, even in the quietness of our minds just now, Lord, that they would cry out, that you would save them, that you would truly forgive them.
[49:39] You would give them that simple prayer. Lord, forgive me a sinner. Lord, forgive me a sinner. I would help that to be the prayer of even one here this evening.
[49:51] To begin this new week, we begin it knowing you and trusting in you. We give you, Lord, praise for this day, a day we've had time around your word, as brothers and as sisters, dealing with situations which are difficult, with truths and the realities of what it is to live in a broken and sin-filled world.
[50:08] Lord, we give you praise that your word is honest towards us. It does not hide from us the reality of living in a sin-sick world, but instead, in your love towards us, you give us again and again these ways to live a life that glorifies you, these promises.
[50:27] Lord, help us, we ask now, as we do pray, Lord, we ask for forgiveness for our sins. We ask for forgiveness for those who have sinned against us. Asking all these things, trusting in and relying on our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[50:44] Amen. Let's close by singing God's praise. Let's sing to his praise from Psalm 103. Psalm 103.
[50:59] Psalm 103. Again, this is a reminder for us as we conclude of God's forgiveness towards his people. O thou my soul, bless God the Lord, and all that in me is, stirred up his holy name to magnify and bless.
[51:16] Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God, and not forgetful be, of all his gracious benefits, he hath bestowed on thee. Psalm 103, verses 1 to 5, to God's praise.
[51:29] O thou my soul, blessed of the Lord, and all that in me is, be still in his holy name, who my divine name, who my divine name, blessed.
[52:01] Bless, bless, bless, O my soul, the Lord, thy God, and not forgetful be, of all his gracious benefits, he hath bestowed on thee.
[52:31] All I am iniquity, his brother, most graciously forgive.
[52:46] give, whoever.
[52:59] Who did he live, who did he find, thy life, God bless you.
[53:40] God bless you.
[54:10] Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, both you now and forevermore. Amen.