"Forgive Us", Part 2

It is so sweet to trust in Jesus, the second frame says, oh how sweet to trust in Jesus, just to trust his cleansing blood, just in simple faith to plunge me neath the healing, cleansing flood.

The hymn we sang earlier, Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee, we sang the song, Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed, wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest. So many times we forget how great God's forgiveness is toward those of us who have sinned against him. David, in the book of Psalms, chapter 32, verse number one, we record these words.

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away. How many people do you know whose body is wasting away because they have kept silent about their sin? David would say, through my groaning all day long, for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. David says, this was my condition when I had sinned against my God.

When I had committed adultery with Bathsheba, when I had murdered her husband Uriah, when I tried to cover up my sin and lie about my sin, God's hand was heavy upon me. You know, there are many Christians today who have the heavy hand of God riding upon them and they don't even know it. And their life has been drained from all its joy. It's been drained from any kind of happiness, any kind of pleasure, any kind of usefulness for the Lord. Because the heavy hand of God is weighing upon them because they're in sin and they refuse to deal with their sin.

David said, that's the way I was. And then he said this, verse five, I acknowledge my sin to thee and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. I acknowledge my sin. I confess my sin. I had transgressed the law of God. And you know what I found out? That God was ready to pardon. He was ready to forgive. And things began to change drastically in David's life after he confessed his sin. We are in a part of the disciples prayer that deals with our sin, doesn't it?

It comes at the right moment because it helps us acknowledge God and who he is, that he is the hallowed God of the universe who has a kingdom and has a will. And we submit to that kingdom plan, that will, and we follow the preeminent God of the universe. And when we see him for who he is, it causes us to recognize our sin. We go to him for provision, give us a stay our daily bread, but we go to him also for daily pardon and forgive us our debts, Luke says. Specifically, and forgive us our sins for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

That statement is more than a mouthful. That statement is more than a, than a whole, whole sermon full. That's, that's two, it's going to be three, might even be four sermons full for us as we come to understand exactly what the Bible says concerning God's forgiveness.

We saw last week that this petition in and of itself promotes my consciousness of sin. It promotes my consciousness of sin. It, it deals with the fact that, that the scope of sin is huge. It, it is something that encompasses everyone. It includes everyone. In sin did my mother conceive me, Psalm 51, Romans 3, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So we saw the scope of sin last week. We saw the strategy of sin, how it wants to ensnare us and entangle us. And we looked at different words in the scripture that talk to us about sin to help you understand that sin is missing the mark.

We fall, we fall short of God's standard. And, and sin is, is crossing over the line. God draws the, the, the proverbial line in the biblical sand and says, look, you cross this line, there are consequences. These are my laws. And we tend to want to tiptoe over that line. And sin is crossing over the line. Sin is that which is rebellion, anomia, to it's lawlessness. It's going against God's word and outright rebellion against him. Sin is, is the slipping and falling into transgression. It's a word used in Galatians 6, verse number one, that we are spiritual are to restore those who have fallen, who have slipped because it's, you just can't escape sin.

You can't escape sinning. It's just the way it is. We have a sin nature. We will sin. It's going to happen. You can't get out of it. You will slip. You will fall. That's why those of us who are spiritual are to come alongside of those people, lift them up, build them up, hold them up and take them through a difficult time. And sin is debt, a debt that cannot be paid. It cannot be paid. You could spend all eternity in hell and still not make the proper payment for your sin. That's how wide the gap is between you and God.

That's how grave the sin is. And so we looked at the scope of sin. We looked at the strategy of sin. And then thirdly, we looked at the separation of sin.

How sin is that which separates us from God. It moves us further from God. It doesn't move us toward God. It moves us further from God. Yet there's a solution. The solution for sin is Jesus Christ, the Savior of man's lives. That's the only solution. There is no other solution. You can't atone for your own sins. You can't do anything good enough to get you accepted into God's kingdom. This is the work of God. And so we took you to the book of Micah. Micah chapter 7 verse 18 says, Who is a God like thee who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession?

He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Only God can forgive man his sins. The Bible says that forgiveness is the putting away of sins.

It's the covering over of your sins. In fact, Micah says that that forgiveness is to cease being angry and love the sinner because the sin has been dealt with. Forgiveness deals with the anger. Why? Because love covers a multitude of sins. Second Corinthians 5.19 says that Christ was not counting our transgressions against us.

Forgiveness is God lifting our sin from us and putting it upon Christ who would pay for our sins. Isaiah 53 says that he laid up on him, his son, the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 43.2 says that he blots out our sin so that it can no longer be seen. Mark 2 verse number 7 says, Who can forgive sins but God alone? Peter said it this way in first Peter 2.24 and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds you were healed.

Chapter 3 verse number 18 says, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that he might bring us to God having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. Second Corinthians 5.21 says that he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

God did that. That's the solution. There's only one solution to your sin problem and that's God. It's not you. It's God. It's not what you can muster up. It's not how you can atone for your sins. It's what God himself did on Calvary's tree. In fact, I love what the book of Colossians says. Colossians chapter 2 verse number 13. And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him. It's God who makes man alive. That's why the story of Lazarus in John 11 is so unique because it typifies what happens at the salvation experience.

Lazarus was dead. He could not move. He could not respond. He could only respond when God called him. He wasn't going to walk out of that grave unless God empowered him, God called him, God raised him. And the Bible says you were dead in your transgressions and your sins.

You were alienated, as Ephesians says, from the life of God. You are separated from God. You can't move without God. And the book of Colossians says that he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions. And the only way that we can be made alive is if God forgives us our transgressions. And then it says this, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

In other words, when a man was crucified, they would take his sins and they would nail them to the cross so everybody who walked by could know the violations of that man and know exactly why that man hung on that tree. When Jesus Christ died on Calvary's tree, it's as if God had taken the record of all your sins, nailed him to that tree, and put all those sins on his son. He would bear your sins in his body and pay the penalty for your sins. He died in your place. That's why it's called a substitutionary atonement.

He died for your sins. That's why when Jesus said in John 19 30, it is finished, he was able to cry because redemption had been accomplished. The world had been dark for three hours, symbolizing the judgment of God upon his son for the sins of the world, and when Christ said it's finished, the redemptive process was complete. He had paid the price in full, and now that certificate of debt, that record of all your transgressions has been wiped clean by the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. He's the solution.

Hebrews 10 says it this way. Hebrews 10 verse number 10, by this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all. In other words, we have been set apart. We have been made holy by God by one offering, not your offering, by his offering. And then it says, and every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.

For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Folks, those set of verses right there blow away every religious system in the world, because there's been one offering that sanctifies an individual. There's one offering that perfects an individual. Remember in Matthew 5, 48, Christ said, be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. Well, who can do that? Who can do that? If all sin and all fall short of the glorious standard of God, and yet the demand is be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect, who can do that?

Answer, you can't. You can't do that. But the Bible says, for by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are set apart for his purposes, those who are made holy, those who are sanctified.

God does it. And every other priest, there was no seat in the place of offering in the temple, because the priest had to continually offer sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice. But when Christ gave up his life and offered his life as that once for all sacrifice, he now sits down. Why? Because there's no longer any sacrifice that remains for sin. That was a completed sacrifice. It's over. It's done. Unless you believe in that one-time sacrifice and put your complete trust in that one-time sacrifice on Calvary's cross, you can't get saved.

You won't get saved, because you can't work your way to heaven. You can't do enough good deeds to get there. And to believe in Christ's sacrifice and yet add extra things to it would say that the sacrifice of Christ was insufficient and it was not complete, devaluing what Jesus Christ did on Calvary's cross. He's the solution. There is no other solution to the sin problem. It's Jesus Christ, our Lord. And when we go and we begin to pray the way God wants us to pray, it does promote in us a consciousness of sin.

As huge as sin is and how it ensnares me and entangles me and how easily I fall into sin, there is a God who forgives, who cleanses, and wipes the slate clean. He's the solution. When we pray, Father, forgive us our debts, it promotes in us a consciousness of sin. It also prompts my confession of sin. That's point number two.

It prompts my confession of sin two ways, specifically and substantially. Specifically, it prompts my confession daily. Why? Because as He gives us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, in other words, it's implied that as we daily receive provision, daily we receive pardon from our God. And the Bible says in 1 John 1.9 that if we confess our sins or literally if we are the ones who are confessing our sins because that's what Christians do, they live in a state of confession.

Christians are confessors. Why? Because they know there's a God who's ready to pardon. They know there's a God who wants to deal with my iniquity. And so they willingly go to Him and confess their sin because they want to be cleansed from that sin. And so they go and they confess it. They deliberately confess it. They say, Lord, I know I've sinned against you. It's not like, well, forgive me of all my sins and just kind of throw it out there, carte blanche. No, it's saying the same thing about your sin that God says about your sin.

It's rebellion. It's a violation of your holy standard. I just honored your name. I've blasphemed your name. God, forgive me of my sin. I confess it to you. So the question comes, well, wait a minute. I thought that I am forgiven. Why would I confess my sins if I'm already forgiven? And if I'm already forgiven in Matthew's account, which gives us a commentary on this particular phrase, and by the way, Jesus only gives us a commentary on this aspect of the prayer, no other aspect, because it affects us more than any other thing that we do.

And therefore, because Christ gives a commentary on it after his doxology in Matthew 6, it elevates the importance of this section of the prayer. And if I'm already forgiven, why am I confessing my sin? And in Matthew's account, how is it that my Father won't forgive me my transgressions if I don't forgive those who have transgressed against me? How can I have unforgiven sin? How can that possibly be when God has forgiven me all my sins? Well, that's the second aspect of this whole thing about confession, and that is substantially forgiveness falls into two categories.

One is positional. The other is parental. One is judicial. The other is relational. The judicial act of forgiveness is what we talked about in Micah chapter 7, 1 Peter 2, verse number 24, Colossians 3, Hebrews 10. The Bible says it this way in Ephesians 1, 7, we have redemption through Christ's blood, the forgiveness of sins.

It says in Ephesians 4, 32, God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Forgiven is full. Forgiven is free. Forgiven is complete. It says in Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. 1 John 2, 12, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. Matthew 26, 28 says, this is my blood, which is shed for the remission of many. There is a judicial act of forgiveness. That is, God has forgiven all your sins, past, present, and future.

When you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ's sacrifice on Calvary's tree, that forgiveness is full and free forever. Of every sin you ever committed and of any sin you will commit because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. That's important. But the reason we confess our sins is not for judicial forgiveness. It's not for positional forgiveness. We have that. Although, when you get saved, you confess your sins, right? You repent. You have to repent and confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

Why? Because you're admitting to Christ that you're a sinner and there is no forgiveness without repentance and confession. There is none. If you seek to cover your transgressions, you will not prosper. Proverbs 23, but he who confesses and forsakes his sin shall find what? Mercy. And so, we know that judicial forgiveness is granted when I repent of my sin and confess my sin to God. He cleanses me from all my sin. But parental forgiveness is a whole different ballgame. That's why confession is so important.

I can be positionally forgiven freely, fully, and forever and not be parentally forgiven. I can be judicially forgiven for all my sins, but not be relationally forgiven of my sins. Let me give you a couple examples.

I have a lot of children in my house. You know that. That's not any news to anybody. If one of my children sins against me, they are forgiven automatically because they're my children. I forgive them. In fact, they don't even have to come and confess their sin to me because they're forgiven because I love them and they're mine. But the relationship we have is broken until there's confession on their part. Is that not true? There's a gap that's there. They sin against their father. They sin against their mother, and they don't confess that sin.

The relationship just goes this way, further and further and further apart. Better this way. It goes this way. The parent never moves. By the way, God never moves. He's always there ready to forgive. But when we sin, we move further and further and further and further until there's confession. Until there's confession. And then that forgiveness in a relational sense, in a parental sense. We call it the parental sense because it says, our Father who art in heaven. Our Father. He's our Father. So as Christians, we are praying to our Father who is our spiritual parent.

He's our Father who is in heaven. We know that we have forgiveness of our sins. But you know, as well as I do, that when one of your children sins against you, there's a broken relationship. There's a loss of fellowship. There's a loss of communion. The intimacy is not there, is it? It's like your husband and wife, right? You're married. As husband and wife, you automatically forgive your spouse their sin in a judicial sense. But unless that spouse comes and confesses and repents, what happens to the relationship?

This gets further and further apart, doesn't it? Because there's no confession. In that bridge, that gulf becomes huge. Huge. Let me say it to you this way.

Second Samuel 12, 13. Nathan came to David to confront him on a sin. And David recognized that he had sinned against God. And Nathan said to David these words. Second Corinthians, I'm sorry.

Second Samuel 12, verse number 13. The Lord has put away thy sins. In other words, God's already put away your sins, David. He's already put them away. Because David, from a judicial standpoint, had been cleansed from his sin. Because he put his faith and his trust in the Lord God of Israel. And Nathan says, the Lord has already put your sin away, David. But then again in Psalm 32, 5, David confesses his sins. Why? Because it was his sin that separated him from his God. It was his sin that moved him away from his God.

In judicial forgiveness, in positional forgiveness, there's salvation. Listen carefully. In parental forgiveness or relational forgiveness, there is the joy of salvation. David had lost all of his joy. Now see, the funny thing about it is that he thought that having an affair with Bathsheba was joyful. He thought that was it. He thought he could cover his sin and he could get Uriah murdered and he could live in joy. And he thought that his sin would bring him joy. It never does, does it? It might for a brief moment because Hebrews talks about enjoying the passing pleasures of sin for a season.

So we know that sin's pleasurable because if it wasn't pleasurable, we wouldn't do it. But David knew that there was pleasure for a moment. But the consequences, oh by the way, although forgiven by God, positionally and parentally based on Psalm 32 and Psalm 51, it did not negate the consequences of his sin. You must not ever forget that. Forgiveness never negates the consequences. It doesn't. If you get drunk and you drive your car and you kill somebody, that person still did, right? Consequences aren't going to change.

You're still going to jail, maybe for a long, long time. You're still going to lose your license. Consequences, you can be forgiven by the parents of the child you hit. You can be forgiven by God, but the consequences still remain, right? Sometimes we forget that. In David's consequences, Nathan said, the sword will never leave your house. It never did. It never did. I've known parents for years who because of their sin, even having confessed their sin, that sword still remains in their family. The devastating consequences of sin take its toll on many people's lives.

That's why sin is so loathsome. That's why God counsels us against sinning and following him and serving him. But turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 51 for a moment.

Let me explain to you this a little bit further so you understand it. David said in verse 10, I'm sorry, verse number seven. In fact, let's just begin in verse number one.

Be gracious to me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according to the greatness of thy compassion. Blot out my transgressions. Well, wait a minute. I thought David's sins were forgiven. They are. And they were. But there was something that happened in David's life that separated him from his God. Remember, sin is defined by, or sin is defined by death, and death is defined by separation. And there was that estrangement between the king of Israel and his God. Because that's what sin does. Sin separates.

And he knew that. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. How did he know that? He lived in sin. It was always before him. Bathsheba was there. The pregnancy was there, right? The memorial service for Uriah was there. I mean, it just, it was always there. It was always present before him. My sin is always present. Against thee, the only, I have sinned and done what is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified when thou dost speak and blameless when thou dost judge.

Isn't that good? I've sinned against thee. He didn't say, I sinned against Bathsheba, although he did. He didn't say, I sinned against Uriah, although he did. Because sin always is primarily an offense against a holy God. And so he said, against thee, the only have I sinned. And then he said, whatever you do to judge me, you're blameless and righteous. I had nothing to say. Nothing. Because you're a holy God. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou dost desire truth in the innermost being and in the hidden part thou wilt make me know wisdom.

Purify me with wisdom and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice. Who broke the bones? God did. David lost all joy. Let me ask you a question.

Where's your joy today? Have you lost all your joy? That's because there's unconfessed sin in your life. That's what the Bible says.

There is sin that you're not willing to deal with and confess and bring it before almighty God. And God's hand is heavy on you, zapping you of all that joy. And you're miserable. Absolutely miserable. Oh, you might put a face on at church or you might, you know, put a face on in front of your kids, but inside you are miserable. You're in turmoil. That's because God has broken your bones, spiritually speaking. And David says, I need to rejoice. Listen to this. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from thy presence and do not take thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation. That's the point. David's already saved, right? He's forgiven. In a judicial sense, all of his sins are forgiven. Nathan affirmed that in 2 Samuel chapter 12. But yet there was a cleansing that needed to take place so that the joy of his salvation, the communion and intimacy of the relationship would be restored so that there was a uniting of spirit with spirit and soul with soul.

That only comes when you confess your sins. That's called parental forgiveness. He says in verse 12, and sustain me with a willing spirit. Listen carefully. Verse 13, then I will teach transgressors thy ways and sinners will be converted to thee. Did you get that? David, listen carefully, was useless for ministry's sake because of his sin. Did you get that? Once I am converted, once I've confessed my sins, then what happens then is that now I am free to be used in ministry. Now I can effectively teach transgressors the way.

I can lead sinners in the everlasting way. I can lead them properly now. See, we forget that our sin keeps us from being used of God effectively for his glory and for his honor. And what grieves me the most is that there are people who are in this situation and they don't even recognize it. People involved in ministry for years and then all of a sudden they're no longer involved in any ministry in the church. Doing nothing for the Lord because their usefulness is ineffective because of their unconfessed sin in their life.

They're unwilling to deal with that which has caused an estrangement between them and their God. And they've become so comfortable in that miserable, joyless, non-intimate relationship that they just stay there. Not knowing that in essence they're affecting everyone around them. And they are dishonoring the Lord in their lives. How sad. And David becomes that perfect example of that. He realized he was ineffective. He had no joy. He was miserable because he didn't have parental forgiveness. He had to confess his sin.

Let me give you another illustration. John chapter 13. The night before our Lord's death there was an argument about who was the greatest in the kingdom. Remember that story? And as they were arguing about who was the greatest in the kingdom Jesus quietly got up and girded a towel around his waist and began to wash the disciples feet. Right? It says in verse number five that he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.

And so he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered, said to him, what I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand hereafter. Peter said to him, never shall you wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Our Lord would take a very natural illustration that was commonly used in the land of Israel because people, yes, they would bathe in the morning, but as they would walk through the streets of Israel each and every day, sand and dirt would get on their feet and the host of the house would wash their feet in a gesture of humility and admiration.

They would do that. Jesus was going to do that to show them that humility was the primary object of their lives amidst all of their desire to be great. And he would take a normal illustration and turn it around to give us a spiritual principle about cleansing. Peter, if I don't wash you, you have no part with me. Well, then take the whole thing and throw it on me, wash my hands, wash my head, wash my feet, just clean me up right now.

And Jesus said this, he was bathed, he's going to wash his feet, but it's completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you. In other words, there was one there that wasn't clean. Who was that? That was Judas, right? He wasn't clean. For he knew the one who was betraying him. For this reason, he said, not all of you are clean. It was, it was a reminder of the daily cleansing. The daily cleansing that needed to take place in the life of every individual person. If you have not been washed in the blood of the lamb, if you haven't received a bath, well, then you need to get one.

Because once you're clean, you need that daily cleansing experience because you want the relationship to be intimate, clean. You want the communion to be strong. You want the relationship to be pure and holy. Well, to do that, there comes that confession of sin, which says, Lord, I've sinned against thee, against thee and thee only have I sinned. And so Christ uses that as an illustration. But notice what he also says.

He says in verse 12, and so when he had washed their feet and taken his garments and reclined at the table again, he said to them, do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right. For so I am. If I then the Lord and the teacher washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Now, the natural ramifications of that is that we should go around washing everybody's feet. No, if you take the spiritual connotation of what Christ told Peter and you run it through, Jesus says, I left you an example to follow.

As I have washed your feet, as I have given you a daily cleansing, so too you must be involved in daily cleansing when you have sinned against your brother or your brother's sinned against you. The illustration still flows through. That's important because that leads us to our third point, which says that this petition preserves my communion with the saints and with my Savior.

This petition preserves my communion with the saints and my Savior. It says, and forgive us our sins for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Do you? Said this way over in the book of Matthew, Jesus said, when you pray, pray this way and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Verse 14, for if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your father will not forgive your transgressions.

Question comes, how is it you as a believer have unforgiven sins? Not in a judicial sense, not in a positional sense, because you're forgiven, but in a relational sense, in a parental sense. There's no forgiveness. There's no communion. There's no joy. There's no fellowship. And so the Lord sets the tone and says, you got to forgive. You got to forgive. Forgive us our debts, even as we have already forgiven our debtors. It says, Lord, forgive me because I have already forgiven those who have sinned against me.

Now it gets really difficult, doesn't it? Because how is it I am to forgive those who have sinned against me? Oh, by the way, how do you know you have an unforgiving spirit? How do you know that you have a bitter spirit? Do you know the Bible tells you that? And yet, if we are unwilling to forgive our brother their sins, guess what? Our Lord will not forgive us our sins in a relational sense. We're robbed of joy, intimacy, vitality in any spiritual relationship with our God. We lose it simply because we decide to harbor a bitter spirit, an angry spirit, an unforgiving spirit.

And you know, our Lord has so much to say about this. It's incredible. Matthew 18, the parable of the man who wouldn't forgive a brother who just sinned against him a little when he was forgiven an incalculable debt. And God dealt with him in a very harsh, harsh way. But let me just share with you this story because it will lead us into next week's lesson because this will come up again in the lives of the disciples because they tended to be unforgiving people.

Oh, by the way, so do we, right? And he said to his disciples, it is inevitable that stumbling block should come. You know what? People are going to sin against you all the time. It's inevitable the stumbling blocks are going to come for your life and for mine. The woe to him through whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard if your brother sins, rebuke him.

If he repents, listen, forgive him. He doesn't say just forgive him. He says if he repents, forgive him, right? Remember forgiveness is conditional. It's not unconditional. It's conditioned on repentance. If he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times saying, I repent, forgive him. Jesus says you're going to go through life and guess what?

There's going to be all kinds of stumbling blocks there. They're inevitable. They're going to come. The woe to the man through whom they come, but they're going to come. So be aware of that. And if the one who caused you to stumble comes back to you and says, I repent, forgive me. You have one option, forgive. And if he does it seven times in a day, you have one option and one only, forgive. Now, if that's a normal 24 hour day, which it is, and you sleep for eight hours, that gives you 16 hours. That means he sins against you every two hours and 15 minutes.

He does the same thing to you every two hours and 15 minutes in one day. He robs you of your money. Oh, I repent. Would you please forgive me? I sinned. What's your response? Not this time. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. I'm not forgiving you again. Jesus says if he sins against you seven times a day, forgive him.

Now, we think that's just ridiculous. Peter did. And the apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith. Lord, I got to have faith. We can't forgive. We got to have more faith. If we're going to be forgiving people, we have to have more faith. Really? Jesus teaches a perfect lesson that forgiveness, listen carefully, has nothing to do with your faith. Nothing. Forgiveness has nothing to do with your faith. Forgiveness has nothing to do with your feelings. Forgiveness has everything to do with your desire to obey God.

So, Jesus gives a story. If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you. It's not about faith, Christ says.

If you have a little bit of faith, you can uproot a mulberry tree and throw it in the sea. It's not about faith. But which of you having a slave plowing a tennis sheep will say to him when he comes in from the field, come immediately and sit down to eat. But would he not say to him, prepare something for me to eat and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I've eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink. He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?

Let's say you're a slave owner and your slaves have been working in the field all day because that's what slaves do. And they come in after a hot 100 degree day and you come in and say, you don't come in and say, hey, come on in guys, take a load off. Let me fix you some nice cold nest tea and sit down and watch ESPN and kind of relax and I'll do your dinner for you so you guys can relax and have some downtime.

Don't the owner does? No, no, not at all. His slaves, they've been working all day, they're hot, they're tired, they're thirsty, they're hungry. They come in, what do you say? Change your clothes, get my food, fix my dinner, prepare my meal and get it done now.

That's what the slave owner says. Why? Because he owns them, right? He owns them. And he says he does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So the slave comes in and he's all hot and tired, he's down, he wants to rest and he's got to change his clothes and he's got to prepare the meal, he's got to prepare the drink, he's got to do all this stuff. He's going to come in and say, hey man, thank you so much for slaving in the field all day. You're amazing. And then you come in here and you fix my dinner and you prepare my food.

I am so glad you're my slave. Slave owner doesn't say that. Why? Because the slave just did what a slave is supposed to do. That's all a slave does. He obeys his master. Here comes the punchline. Ready for this? So you too. Oh, who? You, you disciples. So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you say, we are unworthy slaves, we have done only that which we ought to have done. Jesus says, so you, so you.

When you have done that which is required of you, what's required of you? That you forgive, that you forgive. And listen, once you have forgiven your brother, no matter how great the sin, don't pat yourself on the back because you've only done that which is your duty to do. See, we think, wow, how can that person ever forgive that individual for what he did to them? The Bible says you've only done that which is your duty to do.

Don't pat yourself on the back, no big deal. That's what you're supposed to do because slaves obey their masters. Listen, without question and without reservation, you've been bought with the price. You're no longer your own. Your body's a temple to the Spirit of God. And the Bible says you're to forgive up to seven times a day.

Then later on in Matthew 18, Christ says you got to give 70 times seven. How often is that? It's every 1.9 minutes of the day, if you take it literally. And when you've done that, you've only done that which is your responsibility. In fact, it says you're just an unworthy slave. That's it. You see, the Bible sheds a whole new light on forgiveness, doesn't it? Different than what we expect because we fight for our rights. We have rights. Our feelings have been hurt and we deserve better. Do you really?

The Bible says you're a slave. You don't deserve anything better than slaves wages. Oh, but I'm a child of the king and I deserve a lot better than that. Don't you treat me that way. Really? Somehow you're better than God because you treated God pretty bad, according to what the Bible says.

Well, God can forgive, but I can't forgive. Oh, so you just elevated yourself above God. You're better than God. God's willing to forgive, but you're not. So you're better than God. See, the Bible really sheds light on the truth of where we stand within, doesn't it? Here's the point. Friends, we need to be forgiving people because you are most like Christ when you forgive. When you don't forgive, you are most unlike Christ. But when you forgive, you exemplify the beauty of his nature and all around we'll see the glory of Christ.

And that's what it's about, seeing his glory. Let me pray with you. Father, thank you for today. Forgive us of our sin, Lord. Some of us just aren't interested in hearing about forgiveness. We don't care. Others want to remain in the state they're in. And yet, Father, you have commanded us to confess our sins and that you're faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to make that relationship with you pure and true and holy. And I pray, Father, for every one of us that we'd have forgiving attitudes, that we'd exemplify you, that we'd preserve that communion that we have in the family of God, and that, Lord, we exemplify the nature of our God.

If there's someone here today who has yet to receive the forgiveness of God, we pray that today they would be forgiven. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.