All right, church, would you stand with me if you're able to take the Word of God and turn to Matthew chapter 6.
Matthew chapter 6, we are continuing our second to last sermon here in our series on talking with God.
Talking with God.
Matthew chapter 6, we read in verses 5 through 13, what we call the Lord's Prayer.
And we say the Lord's Prayer is less of a prescription and more of a pattern.
Less of a prescription and more of a pattern.
Jesus wasn't saying this is how you always have to pray.
But he was saying this is a pattern or a recipe for praying.
Section 1 focused on God.
God-focused petitions.
And now we're in section 2, which focuses on life-focused petitions.
I'm sorry, definitely not man-centered petitions.
All of our prayers should be God-centered.
And yet, these prayers to God, these petitions are focused on life.
So let's pick this up in verse 12.
Let's read it together.
You follow along as I read verse 12.
I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible.
We finished up last week saying,
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread, verse 12,
and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Like we mentioned earlier in the service, the subject this morning is on forgiveness.
And God spends quite a bit of time talking in this passage and throughout the scriptures on the principle of forgiveness.
So let's ask him to speak to us today.
God, we come to you in prayer and we thank you.
First of all, for who you are.
We thank you for how great, how mighty, how majestic you are.
And yet, how personal, how loving, how intimate you are with us.
I pray that you would speak to us each from your word.
Let us not miss anything that your spirit has for us today.
And if someone here does not know you and have that personal relationship with you,
let it begin today.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Thanks for standing.
I want to share this quote with you.
How many of you thought you'd come to church this morning and hear a quote from Will Smith?
Throughout life, people will make you mad, disrespect you, and treat you bad.
Let God deal with the things they do, because hate in your heart will consume you too.
That's what Will Smith had to say about forgiveness.
And then just fairly recently...
Look, I'm not trying to just pick on Will Smith, all right?
That was a tough spot.
Maybe not his most shining moment.
If any of us holds us to 100% to the words we say all the time, none of us are going to measure up.
But the truth of it is, forgiveness is hard.
Sometimes we know the right thing to do, and sometimes it's hard to do the right thing.
Even when we know we should.
So, let's look at the Bible.
Leviticus 19, verse 18.
Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbors as yourself.
Don't take revenge.
Don't bear a grudge.
Why?
Because it'll eat you up.
Before long, you're on a national stage slapping somebody on worldwide TV.
Nelson Mandela said it this way, an interesting quote.
Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping then that it will kill your enemies.
Anybody ever done that before?
I'm going to drink this poison of resentment and hope that you suffer for it.
Well, good luck with that.
It doesn't work that way, of course, right?
Now, in our heads, we know that.
We know that forgiveness is the right thing to do.
We know that resentment, bearing a grudge, is the wrong thing to do.
And yet, it is so difficult to live that out in day-to-day life.
So, number one, if you're taking notes in your bulletin, there's spots there for you to fill in.
Forgiveness is God's nature, not ours.
Now, we know that to be true.
We know it is not natural for us to forgive.
What's the quote?
To err is human, to forgive is divine.
There's a reason that that has existed for so long, because it is true.
Forgiveness is divine.
It is God's nature.
It is not your nature, nor is it mine.
But, we should forgive.
But it's hard, right?
C.S. Lewis had several quotes on forgiveness when I was researching for this sermon today.
And this is the first one I wanted to share with you.
Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.
Isn't that true?
It's easy to tell others to forgive.
It's easy to want others to forgive us.
It is a much harder prospect when we are the ones who have to forgive.
Why?
Because we were wronged.
Whether in our own heads or in reality, we were wronged.
And in those moments, we don't want to think about how much we've been forgiven.
We don't want to think about all the times that we've wronged others.
We just want to live in that moment of justification and self-righteousness, saying,
I was right.
They were wrong.
They hurt me.
How can I possibly be expected to forgive them for that?
That's our natural attitude.
Let's go to Matthew 6.
We're not going to have it on the screen.
But back in your text, Matthew 6, we're going to jump down past the Lord's Prayer.
And let's read verses 14 and 15.
I think it's very interesting that when Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray,
he gives them verse 12.
Forgive our debts, God.
As we also have forgiven our debtors.
But then he comes back, circles back around to this idea of forgiveness in verse 14.
For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.
That's good news, right?
If you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.
But verse 15 is in there too.
If you don't forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.
Well, what do we do with that?
Does that challenge the entire understanding of the gospel, the good news of Jesus,
the free gift of salvation and eternal life, does this erode this now?
Does it shake it?
Does it mess it all up for us?
No, it doesn't.
Let's look at Mark 11.
Mark 11 verse 25.
When you are praying, first, forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against,
so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too.
Very similar, isn't it?
Very similar reading to what we just read in Mark, I'm sorry, Matthew 6, 14 and 15.
First, forgive those you are holding a grudge against,
so that your Father in heaven will then forgive your sins too.
Again, this is a little scary to read.
So what you are saying is, if I don't forgive them,
then God is not going to forgive me?
How many of you all have read this passage before and maybe struggled with it a little bit?
Yeah, thank you.
Thanks for being, yeah.
The rest of you just haven't read this passage before.
I get it.
No, I'm kidding with you.
I'm kidding with you.
Let's go back to Matthew and jump over to Matthew 18.
Matthew 18.
This one isn't going to be on the screen either.
We're turning our Bibles a little bit today, all right?
Sometimes we put it on the screen if it's a quick reference to a verse,
but this is a little bit longer passage,
and if you've got a Bible in front of you,
if you didn't bring one, there's one in the pew in front of you.
Matthew 18, verses 21, down through the end of the chapter.
This is the parable of the unforgiving slave, okay?
Then Peter approached him and asked,
Lord, talking about Jesus,
how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?
As many as seven times?
Jesus says, I tell you, not as many as seven, Jesus replied,
but 70 times seven.
Jesus is saying there's no magical number 70 times seven,
but the point he was making to Peter
is there's never an end to the amount of times
that we extend forgiveness to someone else.
Verse 23.
For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king
who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began to settle accounts,
one who owed 10,000 talents was brought before him.
You understand that this amount of money,
he would never be able to pay back.
In his lifetime or many others,
he would never be able to pay back
this 10,000 talents that he owed to this king.
Verse 25.
Since he did not have the money to pay it back,
his master commanded that he, his wife, his children,
and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.
You think our world is in rough shape now?
This was how you settled debts back in the Bible days, okay?
A little scary.
You, your family, everything would be sold
to pay off your debt.
Verse 26.
At this news, the servant fell face down before him,
humbling himself, falling down before this king,
and he says, be patient with me,
and I will pay you everything.
Then the master of that servant had compassion,
released him, and forgave him the loan.
That massive debt that he could never repay,
the king took compassion and forgave him the whole thing.
So what happens?
The servant jumps up and throws his arms around the king
and says, you're my savior, I owe you forever,
and then went out and was as nice to everyone
as he could possibly be, right?
No, not at all.
Verse 28.
That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a hundred denarii,
a very small amount,
owed him just a little bit of money.
But the guy didn't have it.
So he grabs him, starts choking him,
and says, pay what you owe.
At this, the fellow servant fell down
and began begging him,
be patient with me and I will pay you back.
But this other servant,
who had just been forgiven so much,
he wasn't willing.
Instead, he went and threw him into prison
until he could pay what he was owed.
How does that work?
If you're in prison,
how are you going to go out and raise the money, right?
Because other people have to go raise it for you
to get you out of prison.
When the other servants saw what had taken place,
they were deeply distressed.
They went and reported to their master
everything that had happened.
Verse 32.
Then, after the master had summoned
that first servant back again from jail.
I'm sorry, not from jail.
The other guy was in jail.
My bad.
His master then says to him,
you wicked servant.
I forgave you all that debt
because you begged me.
Shouldn't you also have had mercy
on your fellow servant
as I had mercy on you?
And because he was angry,
his master handed him over
to the jailers to be tortured
until he could pay everything that was owed.
His world just got a whole lot worse.
So also, verse 35.
I would love if the story just ended right there.
But verse 35 says,
so also my heavenly father
will do to you
unless every one of you
forgives his brother or sister
from your heart.
Y'all, these are hard passages.
What do we do with these passages?
Again, I ask the question,
does this undermine everything
that we believe about God's
once for all death,
payment for our sin,
on that cross?
Does it undermine everything
we believe about God
being willing to forgive our sin
once and for all?
Not forgive our sin
until we mess up again
and then His forgiveness is withheld?
Is that what this is teaching us?
No.
That's what
someone who doesn't understand
the God we read in the Bible
could think.
That's what someone
who doesn't
take the whole counsel
of the book
and not just select passages
could think.
If you just read those passages
and left the rest of the Bible
on the shelf,
then sure, you could think
that if anyone ever
chooses to not forgive someone else,
then God will never forgive them.
But that's not true.
1 John 1-9
is in the book.
If we confess our sins to Him,
He is faithful
and He is just.
He is correct.
He is right in doing this.
He is justified
in forgiving us our sins
and cleansing us
from all wickedness.
All wickedness.
Even the wickedness
of unforgiveness.
Even the wickedness
that that wicked servant
showed to his fellow servant
after he had just been forgiven
so much.
Even if we reach
that level of wickedness
and selfishness,
God says
if we confess our sins
to Him,
He is faithful
and He is just
to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us
from that wickedness.
So,
let's go to number two.
Forgiveness
is a key part
of God
transforming
us.
This is the answer here.
Number one,
presented us
with a problem.
God says forgiveness
is a big deal.
If you don't forgive others,
I won't forgive you.
What do we do with that?
Number two,
forgiveness is a key part
of God transforming us.
Here's the secret.
The work of the Holy Spirit
within us
will cause us
to forgive others.
Does that mean
that if
you continue
to harbor bitterness
and
will never forgive
someone else,
does that mean
that you are not
a child of God?
That's between you
and God.
I'm just reading to you
what Jesus said
about the matter.
But I do know
that forgiveness
is a key part
of God
transforming us.
So God's
transforming work
within you
will bear
the fruit
of forgiveness.
C.S. Lewis
said it this way,
to be a Christian,
if you call yourselves
a Christian,
how many of you
in the room today
would say,
I'm a Christian
by uplifted hand?
Yeah, awesome.
You can put your hand down.
I want to make sure
most of us are on
the same page here.
If you couldn't raise your hand,
that's alright.
To be a Christian
means to forgive
the inexcusable
because God
has forgiven
the inexcusable
in you.
Now, oftentimes
we don't see ourselves
that way, do we?
Well, it's easier
to point our fingers
at someone else
and say,
what they did
is inexcusable,
but it's a lot harder
for us to look
in the mirror
and say,
I have done
the inexcusable
and God
has forgiven me.
I can promise you that.
It's really hard.
It's really hard,
especially when you've
been trying to live
a clean, moral life
and have as few
mess-ups as you can
and then you realize
the truth is
you are dirty,
rotten,
wicked,
to the core.
And apart from God,
there is nothing good
about you.
And you have been
forgiven by God
so much.
And not just by God,
you've been forgiven
by so many others
of so much.
So that is what
being a Christian
leads you to understand
that God has forgiven
the inexcusable in me
and so then I must
forgive the inexcusable
in others
even when it's hard
because God
will help us.
His Spirit
within us
will bear that fruit.
Ephesians 4.32
Be kind
and compassionate
to one another,
forgiving one another
just as God
also forgave you
in Christ.
Just as God
forgave us
when Jesus died
on the cruel cross
and endured
so much pain,
so much heartache,
so much sorrow
as God,
His Father,
turned His back
on His Son.
Jesus went through
all this torment,
all this suffering
so He could forgive
you and me.
so then
we are to be kind
and compassionate
to one another.
We are to forgive
one another.
God isn't asking us
to hang on a cross
and go through
what Jesus went through.
He's just asking us
to forgive each other
when we are wrong
just as God
forgave us.
So how does that look?
It looks like
forgiving your spouse.
It's one of my favorite
quotes on this.
A happy marriage
is the union
of two good forgivers.
How many of you all
have been married
a little while
can testify
that it's important
to forgive one another?
Yeah?
Anybody?
Yeah, of course.
Usually,
the problems
become bigger problems
because we won't
forgive each other
and move on.
Say,
yeah,
I've got to teach them
a lesson
that their behavior
was wrong.
You know who's really
good at teaching
lessons?
God.
You know who's really
not good at teaching
lessons to others?
Us.
We just make things
worse most often.
But if we leave
the lesson teaching
to the Holy Spirit
and we just
take the Christ-like
attitude of forgiveness
and we've got
a happy marriage,
whether that's
a husband and wife
or two church members
or parents and children
or a boss
and an employee,
neighbors,
friends,
co-workers,
whatever the relationship
is,
we must treat it
with the spirit
of forgiveness.
And then we'll have
the happiness
that the fruit
of the spirit brings.
Not based upon
the other person,
but based upon
God working in us.
Romans chapter 12.
Would you go there
with me again?
Romans 12.
How many of y'all
are starting to recognize
this passage now?
Romans 12 too?
We've been doing it
for months.
Like almost every Sunday
going to Romans
chapter 12
and verse 2.
Any translation
that you read,
any Bible translation
that you read
in this passage
is going to be good.
But my personal favorite,
just for the wording's sake,
is the New Living Translation.
So that's what I'm going
to read from right now.
Don't copy the behavior
and the customs
of this world.
But let God
transform you.
There's that
transforming work
of God
leading us
from not being willing
to forgive
to forgiveness
through the work
of the spirit.
So, verse 2,
let God transform you
into a new person
by changing
the way you think.
I'm not,
now I'm no longer
looking for revenge.
That was my old way
of thinking.
I'm not bitter anymore.
That was my old way
of thinking.
I am purposing
in my heart
to let God
transform me.
And maybe He hasn't
fully transformed me yet,
but He's working on me
and I'm going to let Him
change the way I think.
Then you will learn,
verse 2,
to know God's will for you,
which is good
and pleasing
and perfect.
Look down at verse 3.
Because of the privilege
and authority
God has given me,
I give each of you
this warning.
Don't think of yourselves.
Don't think you are better
than you really are.
Be honest
in your evaluation
of yourselves,
measuring yourselves
by the faith
God has given us.
That's a great reminder.
Be honest
in how you look
at yourself
when someone else
has wronged you.
Remember that
you've wronged others.
You've been forgiven much
and so you must
then forgive much.
Go down to verse 9.
Don't just pretend
to love others.
Really love them.
Hate what is wrong.
Hold tightly
to what is good.
Love each other
with genuine affection
and take delight
in honoring each other.
We would say
we love each other
as members
of the body of Christ
in Henrietta, Texas.
We would say
we love each other.
But so often
we don't show
that genuine affection
and love.
That comes from
the Holy Spirit of God.
And He's not
transforming us.
Changing the way
we think
like He wants to
because we're
throwing up those walls.
Down to verse 14.
Bless those
who persecute you.
Recognize this
from the sermon
from the
Sermon on the Mount
when Jesus
talked about this.
Bless those
who persecute you.
Don't curse them.
Pray that God
will bless them.
Verse 15.
I'm sorry,
verse 17.
Never pay back evil
with more evil.
Now we're getting
really down to it here
with the forgiveness theme.
Never pay back evil
with more evil.
Do things in such a way
that everyone can see
you are honorable.
Do all that you can
to live in peace
with everyone.
Dear friends,
never take revenge.
Leave that
to the righteous
anger of God.
For the scriptures say,
I will take revenge.
I will pay them back
says the Lord.
Yeah, but God,
you haven't done it
according to my timeline.
You haven't done it
fast enough.
They're not suffering.
They're loving their life.
They don't feel
one bit sorry
for what they did.
Leave that to God.
Don't let them
eat you up inside
any more than
they already have.
Don't let them
ruin your life
any more
than they already have.
Leave that to God.
He said,
I will pay them back.
Instead,
verse 20.
Boy,
this is a mind shift.
Such a mind shift.
If your enemies
are hungry,
feed them.
Anybody want to
invite your worst enemy
over for dinner tonight?
Me neither.
I got them.
I don't want to
invite them up here.
I just gave you a clue.
Instead,
if your enemies
are hungry,
feed them.
If they are thirsty,
give them something
to drink.
In doing this,
you will heap
burning coals
of shame
on their heads.
Don't let evil
conquer you,
but conquer evil
by doing good.
You realize
that it's not about you.
It's not about me.
It's not about us.
It's about the greater work
of the kingdom of God.
And sometimes,
evil will come
against us.
But the victory
is not in
winning against
that person.
The victory
is God's work
going on anyway.
The victory
is God's love
outshining that dark
anyway.
The victory comes
when God
still continues
to see
your heart
chasing after Him
and saying,
yes, I was wrong.
Yes, I was mad
in that moment.
Yes, I hated it
and I struggled
not to hate
that person.
But I understand
that though my flesh
is weak,
I want the Spirit
within me
to truly make me
different
than Joe Blow
next door.
And I want
the love of God
to shine
through forgiveness
to this person
in this situation.
I'm still working
on this, y'all.
There's people
that I still struggle
to forgive
in my life.
But God can.
He is strong enough.
He can help us
through that struggle
and we can reach
a place
of forgiveness.
Corrie Ten Boom,
a woman who was
persecuted
because she was a Jew,
suffered things
that you and I
probably never will.
She said a profound
quote on forgiveness.
Forgiveness is an act
of the will
and the will
can function
regardless
of the temperature
of the heart.
Our heart is weak.
Our heart is deceitful.
It will deceive us.
It will lead us astray.
But when we make
God's will
our will,
we can be strong
enough to overcome
the temperature
of our heart
which might be
ice cold
toward that person.
And instead,
we can feed them.
We can give them
something to drink.
We can show love
to them
which will
absolutely
confound them,
confuse them.
Like, what?
Why are you
being this way to me?
By the power of God.
C.S. Lewis,
this is his last quote
on forgiveness
that we're going
to share today.
Getting over
a painful experience
is much like
crossing monkey bars.
Kids in the room
just perked up.
Monkey bars?
I like monkey bars.
Some of y'all
got to think back
a little bit
to the last time
you did monkey bars.
We're able to do
monkey bars
without just
immediately dropping off.
You have to let go
at some point
in order to move forward.
Isn't that true?
Remember when you're
teaching your kids
monkey bars
for the first time
or when you were a kid
and doing monkey bars
for the first time
and you just kind of freeze?
It's like,
man, I know,
I know I got to let go
but I feel like
if I let go
I'm going to fall.
At some point
you've got to let go
to move forward.
So here's the application.
Are my prayers
being limited
because I'm not letting go
and letting God
change me?
I can't move forward
because I'm not letting go.
What they did
was too hurtful.
I'm still suffering
for what somebody did to me.
and you're going to
continue to suffer.
We are going to continue
to suffer
until we let go
and let God change us.
He can do it
but he's got to change
the way we think.
He's got to change us
from the inside
and let his will
be stronger
than ours.
Would you pray with me
in this moment?
God,
whatever is going on,
whatever bitterness,
whatever anger,
whatever resentment
is being held tightly
in hearts
in this room
this morning.
I don't believe
it's any accident
that you laid it
on my heart
to preach through
the Lord's Prayer
and lead our church
into a season of prayer
and I'm confident
that there is forgiveness
that needs to happen
in this room.
For the next few minutes
we're not going to stand.
Sometimes we stand
and sing.
We're going to keep
our seat this morning.
For the next few minutes
would you work on hearts
just to keep their heads bowed,
keep their eyes closed
to shut out distraction
and just focus
on what you would have them
to do in forgiving.
I'm going to do
the same thing, Lord.
Start with me.
Go throughout my family,
throughout the other families
in this church,
the individuals in this church
and let this community
be impacted
by a forgiving body
of believers
at First Baptist.
Maybe there's phone calls
that need to be made
after this service.
Maybe there's conversations
face to face
that need to happen.
But God, I pray
that you would go ahead
and work in us, Lord.
The music plays.
We're going to sing
one verse of a song
and then just have
some quiet prayer.
And we'll be out of here
in a couple minutes
and we'll go to lunch.
But I pray that God's Spirit
would lead us
to forgiveness.
Maybe there's somebody
in this room
that needs to be forgiven
of their sin.
We talked about Jesus
dying on the cross.
Easter's coming up.
We're going to celebrate him
rising from the dead
and we know that he's alive today
and hears us when we pray.
But while our heads are bowed,
would you be bold enough
to slip your hand up
and say,
I need Jesus to forgive me
of all my sin.
I need to become his child today.
Thank you.
Anybody else?
You can put your hand down.
Thank you.
If that's you,
while everybody's
seated and praying,
I'd love for you
to slip out the back doors
and I'll be in the back
to talk to you
just for a moment
about how you can know
that you're forgiven
and that God is your Father.
For the rest of us,
would you continue on in prayer?
Brother Greg's going to lead us
in a verse of a song.
You can sing along softly
while in your seat
if you'd like to.
But right now,
let God have his way
in your heart.