God our Father loves us, His children, though He doesn't love our messes. And when He recognizes our messes he doesn't let us stay there and wallow in it. Just like an attentive parent would change a dirty diaper, God seeks to clean us up from our messes. In this message Whit takes a closer look at Matthew 6:12 of the Lord's Prayer and the phrase, "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." We all struggle with two parts of forgiveness. 1. Forgiving ourselves and believing that we are forgiven by God. 2. Forgiving others and being haunted by the consequences of not forgiving others. The Major Understanding of Forgiveness: In this context the scripture speaks of forgiveness in comparison to a financial debt. In Jesus' day people were imprisoned for unpaid debts. Debt was considered a serious offense with equally serious punishment. To be forgiven of a debt was considered an act of extravagant mercy. Forgiveness is like that. It is the decision to no longer credit the offense against the offender’s tab, to no longer credit the offense that the person has done to God or that they have done to you, to no longer, place that offense on their account, to no longer charge them for it. Why must I pursue forgiveness if I’m already a Christian and thus I’ve already been forgiven by God? Great question! There are two types of forgiveness mentioned in this instance: 1. Judicial Forgiveness (Greek word Charizomai) Legal forgiveness or judicial forgiveness has to do with being forgiven for the penalty of a crime or of a sin. When you trusted Jesus Christ, you were legally forgiven. In the courtroom of heaven, the slate was wiped clean when you were born again. It was not only wiped clean of your past sins, it was wiped clean of your present sins. It was wiped clean of your future sin, so that sin can never come up with regard to your relational standing with God. That’s one of the reasons you can’t lose your salvation. The reason you can’t lose your salvation is that sin can never be brought up in relationship to your salvation. 2. Relational Forgiveness (Greek word aphiemi) This goes back to the phrase, "our Father". The Lord’s prayer is not dealing with God as a judge, it’s dealing with God as a father. He is our Father, and while you may be legally free in terms of your status with God as a son or daughter, that does not mean you are relationally free with God as a father. While the legal issue is settled once and for all, when you come to Christ, the relational issue has to be settled regularly. The Manner of Forgiveness (Matthew 18:15-35) This account is the parable of the two debtors which illustrates this issue of being forgiven and forgiving others. We see in this illustration the importance of forgiving others because God has forgiven us. If we realize that God has forgiven us ALL our debts, then we cannot reasonably refuse to show that same grace towards others. If we DO refuse to forgive — then it demonstrates that we never really comprehended the grace of God at all. So Jesus says we are to pray to forgive others “JUST AS” we have been forgiven. That means that we are to forgive others: • Graciously - that is, when THEY do not deserve it; just like we didn’t! • Freely - that is, you don’t make them “earn” it, or “pay for it” in some way; just like you didn’t! • Deeply - no matter how great the hurt, you still forgive; just like God forgave our worst sins! • Repeatedly - that is, you do it every time. 70 x 7 — “JUST AS” God forgives the sins you commit over and over — you forgive them that same way too! The Marks of Forgiveness: We also see in this illustration two marks of forgiveness 1. Negative = Discipline Why did the king throw the slave into prison? It was not to repay his original debt. The king had already forgiven him of that debt. What he owed the king was forgiveness of the other slave who owed him. Just the same for us, what we owe God is not for the sin that we have already been forgiven of. What we owe God is to forgive others as He has forgiven us. God will discipline the believer who seeks forgiveness and is unwilling to grant it. He does it as a father. He’s a father. And don’t you do that to your children? Don’t you teach your children to forgive one another? 2. Positive = Peace The positive consequences are awesome. You will experience forgiveness and peace of mind. There is so much stress, discouragement, and depression because you don’t forgive. You know what forgiveness does? It allows people to move past failure. It means every time I see you I don’t have to be reminded about my failure. Forgiveness allows people to move on. Jesus’ words on forgiveness are clear. Without forgiving others we will not be forgiven. “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable (in others), because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” ~ C.S. Lewis