In this sermon, Pastor Steve Hopkins delves into the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer, focusing on forgiveness of debts as presented in Matthew 6:9-12. He highlights the contrast between the Old and New Testaments regarding addressing God as Father, citing R.C. Sproul and Jehoiakim Jerameus on the rarity of this address in Jewish tradition until Jesus. The sermon emphasizes sin as a debt owed to God, a debt that humans are incapable of paying. A.W. Pink and Matthew Henry's comments are used to underscore the necessity of pairing physical provision with spiritual forgiveness. Hopkins stresses the importance of daily repentance and faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice, which alone satisfies divine justice. The sermon also explores the necessity of forgiving others, drawing on teachings from John Gill and John MacArthur to illustrate that forgiveness is both a disposition and an act, independent of the offender's repentance. The believer's heart should mirror the forgiveness they receive in Christ, fostering a life of humility and mercy.
Welcome back to Brenna Bible Church. This week Pastor Optins will continue his series on the Lord's Prayer. If you would turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 6. In a moment we will be picking up with verse 12 and we'll be standing and reading verses 9 through 12. But before we stand and read, several weeks ago in my sermon entitled Our Father Which Art in Heaven, I said that the people of the Old Testament did not address God as Father.
And of course the context was prayer. And a couple of members raised a question about that, because God, of course, is referred to as Father in the Old Testament by the prophets in the Old Testament on a few occasions, though God is never directly addressed as Father by anyone in the Old Testament. And I responded by sending around a short message by R.C. Sproul that's very concise. If anybody wants it, I'll send you a link to it.
It's really good. And it influenced my study on the subject as I was preparing for that message. And I wanted to share a portion of that here this morning in his internet message clip entitled, quote, the privilege of addressing God as Father. R.C. Sproul says, and I hope I pronounced this name correctly, R.C.
Sproul says, Jehoiakim Jerameus, the German New Testament scholar, has done research on the prayers of the ancient Israelite people, and it is his conclusion that there is not a single example anywhere in extant Jewish literature, including the Old Testament, the Talmud, the Targums, and so on, until the 10th century AD, where a Jewish person addresses God directly as a father, that it simply wasn't done. People would speak of the fatherhood of God among the Jewish people, but no one would address Him directly, Father. And Jeremiah says, you don't find it until the 10th century A.D. In Italy. Yet in the New Testament, of course, we have the record of a Jewish rabbi, this is a scroll going forward, who has many, many prayers recorded for posterity, and that in every prayer that he prayed, except for one, save one, he directly addressed God as Father, and that's Jesus of Nazareth." By way of explanation, the Jewish leaders of Jesus today were claiming God as their father because they were the sons of Abraham.
They thought because we're Jews, God is our father. Okay? And of course Jesus corrected them and He told them at one point in time, if God were your father, you would love Me. But of course they did not. They hated Jesus.
And then Jesus looked at these leaders directly in the face and says to them, you are of your father the devil, and the less there are deeds of your father you will do. In other words, Jesus was saying, if God were your father, you would love me and obey me, but you manifest that you are not members of the family of God by your disobedience. Sproul says, quote, Jesus defines sonship with obedience and because we are not by nature obedient to God we are by nature children of wrath And the only way we ever have the right to call God Father is because we've been adopted. And only Christ is the natural Son of God. And only if you are in Christ do you become a member of the household of God." End quote.
So I hope for anybody else that might have had some questions, that is helpful. But I can send you that link if you're interested. It's just a very helpful and concise message. And I listen, you know, to Sproul. I read Sproul probably every week because I want to be influenced by and learn from not only by the great theologians and pastors of history and preachers of history but also those of our own day.
The scripture says to give honor where honor is due and we have a very honorable man who recently passed from us but we still have access to all of his teachings and I recommend every one of you read Sproul, listen to Sproul, in addition to your favorite authors and pastors, you will learn much and can pass along much of what he has simplified in his presentations of deep theological issues, as I also attempt to do. And with that, let's stand and read together Matthew chapter 6 verses 9 through 11 together as a congregation. Read with me the word of the Lord. After this manner, therefore pray he, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Let's be seated. In the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer, Jesus told his disciples, when you pray, pray, Father forgive us our debts. Father forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. A.W. Pink, the great pastor, and some would set him to the height of theologian in the 1950s, the mid-1900s, said, quote, the fourth and fifth petitions of the Lord's prayer are to be especially linked in our minds.
For quote, without pardon, that is without the pardon or forgiveness of sins, all the good things of this life will benefit us nothing." Pink then uses the analogy of a prisoner who's sitting on death row, waiting to be executed. And he asks what being fed and what being clothed even with the best diet and with the costliest apparel is worth to a man quote as long as he remains under the sentence of imminent death. Our sins constrict the channel of blessing and therefore as often as we pray give us says Pink we should also pray forgive us. Amen. If we trust in God's providence to provide for our bodies, fourth petition, should we not trust Him for the salvation of our souls from the power and the dominion of sin, and from sin's deadly wages." And of course, his question is rhetorical, absolutely we should.
Matthew Henry comments in similar manner when he says, quote, our daily bread doth but fatten us as lambs for the slaughter if our sins be not pardoned. Our daily bread is just a means of fattening us as lambs for the slaughter if our sins be not pardoned. Our daily bread is just a means of fattening us as lambs for the slaughter if our sins be not pardoned. And so we pray, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts. Now we tend to think of debts especially in the modern era in terms of money only.
When we incur debts, they're typically financial in nature. And when we discharge those debts, we typically satisfy our obligations in dollars and cents. In Luke chapter 11, when Luke records the Lord's prayer, he uses the word, you may have noticed, sins, instead of debt. He says, and forgive us our sins. I'm sure the Lord taught this prayer more than once to his disciples.
And what we need to understand is that for every person ever born, sin is a debt. Sin is a debt. Sin is a debt owed to God by every man. Sin is a debt owed to God by every man. I was stopped by some folks that were very antagonistic to my street preaching on Wednesday before I could get into the van, a woman with her children who came up and announced to us that she was a devil worshiper, and her 10-year-old and 8-year-old children were voicing the same thing, we worship the devil.
And it came up afterward, and I was quoting some scripture and and trying to reason with her a little bit before heading to supper and then prayer time with the church and This little ten-year-old boy said said you keep saying men. We're not men. I said, well, when the Scripture says men, it's talking about mankind. And so here, sin is a debt owed to God by every man, by every person who has ever come into the world, by all of mankind. Every one of us was once conceived in sin, not meaning that we were brought into the world through an act of sin on the part of our parents.
That's not what it means to be conceived in sin, but that at conception we came into the world with a sin nature. Every one of us at conception came into the world with a sin nature. Every one of us at conception came into the world with a sin nature. We came into the world sinners. And you've heard Sproul say this before, we are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners.
We sin because we have a sin nature, and everything acts according to its nature. We sin because we're sinners, and every one of us has been accumulating more sin debt ever since the day we were born. We just continue to accumulate sin debt every day and every moment of our lives. Every person, everyone who has ever come into the world comes into the world under obligation. Do you understand this?
We all, when we come into the world, come into the world under obligation to reverence our Creator. He made us, He owns us. We come into the world under obligation to reverence him to worship him and to obey him But no one does No one does Every one of us has failed to fulfill his or her obligation to our Creator Anyone here say no, I fulfilled all my obligations. I fulfilled my obligations to worship God, to reverence God, you know, to obey God. When I came into the world, no one can say that but Jesus.
We all come into the world debtors because we all come into the world debtors because we all come into the world with a sin nature. And we all come into the world with a sin nature from which flows our actual sins, which proves the fact also that we all come into the world rebels. You came into the world a rebel. You came into the world with your fist, and so did I, lifted to heaven, saying, I don't want this man Jesus to reign over me. Every one of us came into the world the same way, under obligation to reverence God, to worship God, to love God, but not a one of us has fulfilled his obligation.
In our study of Romans chapter 1, recently we saw the Apostle Paul making it crystal clear that everyone knows God. You know God. I've never had any person in my street ministry ever contradict that statement when I say the scripture says you know God. Well, no, I don't know God. No, you know God.
You know God. Everyone knows God from the created order all about them, as well as the conscience God has placed within them. And therefore no one, as the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 1, has an excuse. An excuse for what? An excuse for not reverencing God.
An excuse for not loving God. An excuse for not obeying God. An excuse for not worshiping God. Why? Because God has revealed himself sufficiently to all men, that is all mankind, through the things that he has made, even his eternal power and Godhead, even his sovereign reign over all things.
God has revealed himself so clearly that all are without excuse. To not fulfill the obligation to reverence the God men know is sin. To not fulfill the obligation to love and obey the God men know is sin. Again, all men are obligated to reverence God, to love God, and to obey Him. But no man ever born has fulfilled that obligation to God except Jesus.
And so the debt men owe continually increases because all have sinned, past tense, and all fall short, that's present and ongoing. All fall short continually of the glory of God, that is of God's perfect standard of righteousness. And justice demands payment in full. The justice of God demands payment be made in full. A note in my Reformation Heritage Bible commentary says, quote, sin is a failure to fulfill our obligation to God, resulting in enormous debts to divine justice.
But just as sin is a failure to fulfill our obligation to God, resulting in enormous, and I might add, ever-increasing debts to divine justice, no man has the currency with which to pay it. No man has the currency either within him or by his own efforts to satisfy his sin debt, ever-increasing sin debt, to divine justice or any part of it. None of it can be satisfied by the currency we have within us. Sin is a debt owed to God by every man that no man can pay. We are utterly incapable of paying it.
We are all debtors who are unable to pay. Now God, If you're not convinced of this yet, God demands perfect obedience in His Word. He says, be ye holy even as I am holy. First Peter 1, 16. And God's law demands that we love Him with a whole heart.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind. Deuteronomy 6.5. But we aren't holy as he is holy. And we don't love him with all our hearts. And we continue to sin daily and our accounts of sin debt are bulging.
Our accounts are bulging with sin debt, debts that we are utterly incapable of satisfying in whole or in part. We've all violated God's law. We are all guilty. The Apostle Paul spoke of rendering all the world guilty before God. We are all guilty of sinning against God's holy nature and against His holy laws.
And justice demands that we be punished. Justice demands that we be punished. Again, I'll quote A.W. Pink, when we pray, forgive us our debts, we're not asking to be discharged from the duties we owe God, but to be acquitted. We're asking God to be acquitted from our guilt.
That is to have the punishment do us remitted. That's what we're asking for when we pray, forgive us our debts. And what a blessing to the children of God is this petition. The fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer is a prayer that looks to another, capital A, to pay in our place that great debt we are unable to pay the least part of. Think about it, how could finite creatures like us ever hope to satisfy our sin debt to an infinitely holy God?
It is an impossibility for man, for mere man. But praise God from whom all blessings flow, the message of the gospel lifts the burden of guilt from the backs of God's people burdened and weary with sin for God, for Christ. God incarnate, the Son of God come to earth has borne our sins and he's carried our sorrows and suffered the punishment We deserve and Couldn't pay in our place paying that debt for his people on the cross In a matter of hours think about it In a matter of hours what we could not pay in an eternity of human suffering. Which is one reason why hell goes on forever and ever. We're not able to pay.
The debts never satisfied. Hell's eternal, hell's forever. You're not able to satisfy the debt. Only Christ, only He who is God incarnate can satisfy the infinite debts before an infinitely holy God. Only one who is God and man could bear the load.
We sang earlier, hymn number 403, not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul. Not what my toiling flesh has done can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs and tears and crying and weeping for my sins can bear the awful load. Thy grace alone, O God, to me can pardon speak thy power alone Oh son of God thy work alone.
Oh Christ thy blood alone. Oh lamb of God Can break this sore bondage can can ease this weight of sin can give me peace within And then we sang in him 175, guilty, vile, and helpless. We, spotless, lamb or Son of God was He. Full atonement. Can it be?
Yes it can be. And it has been. And it was. Through Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. Hallelujah, what a Savior.
Jesus our substitute made full satisfaction to the justice of God. Paying the sin debt of His people in full at the cross. But one might ask, well, why daily? Why are we told to pray and forgive us our debts daily? Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts because we sin daily.
Jesus instructs his disciples to humble themselves daily before God praying, Father forgive us our debts. True children of God are grieved by their daily sins and take them to God daily. Pretty simple. When we pray and forgive us our debts, our trust, listen, our trust is daily renewed in the mercies of God who for Christ's sake in His once-for-all sacrifice cleanses us from all sin. Our trust is daily renewed.
We're going before God, our Father, when we come to the fifth petition, Forgive us our debts. We're looking to Christ and we're trusting that for Christ's sake, in the mercies of God, that His once-for-all sacrifice has cleansed us from all sin. The life of the Christian is a life of repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20 21. They preached a repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not as a one-time act. That's the life of the Christian. Those who preach that repentance is a one-time event, that's something I did like getting an inoculation. They have no place in their prayer lives for the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer. And what they end up doing is being weighed down with guilt.
They end up being weighed down with guilt. I grew up in churches that preached continual, what they called, you get saved and then they preach the rededication of your life. So they would be calling every week, do you want to, You need to get saved, walk the aisle, say the sinner's prayer. If you're saved and you're burdened by this or that or whatever, maybe you need to rededicate your life. It's not found anywhere in Scripture, either one of those.
Jesus never asked anyone to pray the sinner's prayer with him, neither did the Apostle Paul or any of the apostles. They never said pray this sinner's prayer or pray this prayer with me and then you're saved. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever. Offered a hundred dollar reward one time on the street. Somebody could find me a place where it was said if you pray the sinner's prayer of the Scripture, you're for sure saved.
No one, no one guy tried to come forward, he couldn't pull it off. But then you have to have this rededication of life because there's this ever-growing sense of guilt. Because we're not living in repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then of course somewhere down the line, the weekly communion of the Lord's table with its call for self-examination was replaced by altar calls, what they call invitations, a whole man-made system to act as a relief valve for sin. At any rate, the fifth petition of the Lord's prayer is a blessing to redeemed souls.
Again, when we pray and forgive us our debts, our trust is daily renewed in the mercies of God, who for Christ's sake in His once-for-all sacrifice cleanses us from all sin. When God forgives us, Understand, when God forgives us, praise God, He remembers our sins against us no more. You want a relief valve? There it is. He remembers our sins against us no more.
As far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our sins, our guilt from us. He remembers our sins against us no more in the sense that he will no longer charge us with our sin debt anymore. Matthew Henry writes, when sin is forgiven it is blotted out. It is remembered no more. It's not like God has a memory lapse and he can't remember that you ever sinned, but it will not be remembered against his people for Christ's sake.
No longer to be charged against them because it was already charged to Jesus Christ on the cross and discharged by his death. Praise God our fellowship with God that was broken in Adam was restored in Christ. Amen. When we pray forgive us our debts we are trusting that our infinite debts, which we are unable to pay to an infinitely holy God, including our daily failures, have been paid, have been satisfied in the full by Christ's infinitely acceptable atoning sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. When we pray, Father, forgive us our debts, Our hearts are renewed with the assurance that God does in fact and has in fact forgiven us all our trespasses Christ settled the debts of his people at the cross once and for all by the sacrifice of himself When he said it is finished our sin debt was paid in full.
To telestai, stamped, paid in full, account settled, acquitted. And no further payment can be, nor ever will be, required of us. Is that comforting or what? It's comforting. It will never be required of us.
And when we pray and forgive us our debts, we pray looking to Jesus in faith, confessing our sins, and trusting in God's promise. Remember what it says in 1 John 1, 9? If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That God is faithful to His covenant and faithful to the promises given us in His Word to forgive us for Christ's sake, and that He is just to exact upon us no further charge for that which was already discharged by His Son the Cross, and that we were justified in His sight, and no one can exact a further payment. And even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us, likewise the second part of this verse, we need to be forgiving others their debts against us.
Likewise we need to forgive the debts owed us by others. Mark chapter 11 verse 25 says, and when you stand praying, forgive. Okay, so Jesus said, pray, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us, God. Forgive us our debts, our great debt of sin that we owe to you and cannot pay.
Forgive it, O God. Forgive. Mark 11 25, when you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, ought against any, that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive your trespasses. Forgive. Forgive.
When you stand praying, forgive. If you have anything against anyone, how can we pray, How can we go before God and pray, Father, forgive us if we are unwilling to forgive others? How? Husbands and wives, how? Brothers and sisters, how can you do it?
Church Church members, forgive, forgive, forgive, even as you have been freely forgiven. How can you hold on to that debt against your spouse knowing all God has forgiven you? How can you retain that debt and live with unforgiveness in your heart toward your husband or toward your wife, toward your brother, toward your sister, your mother, your father, or anyone on earth when you consider how merciful God has been to you. One of the evidences that we have been forgiven is that we are now forgivers. We forgive.
We forgive. We forgive. Those who have never experienced the love and forgiveness of God don't really know how to forgive. They don't really know how to forgive. They've never experienced it.
They've never known it. And they can't give it to others. They just can't let go. Colossians 3.12, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, that's heart filled with mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And then Ephesians 4, 31 through 32, let all bitterness bitterness comes with unforgiveness bitterness let all let all bitterness Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you, forgive. Can you not find it in your heart to forgive? Can you not let go of it?
Oh, go to God, looking to Christ on the cross, bearing your sin, bearing your sin debt, suffering for the offenses that you have committed against him. And then forgive. Forgive, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. In John Gill's commentary on this passage back in the 1700s. He says that the elect of God are to be continually, quote, forbearing one another and forgiving one another all trespasses and offenses, so far as committed against themselves.
And listen to this, and praying to God that those trespasses and offenses against us as committed against Him. In other words, as all sin is primarily an offense to God, we're not only forgiving them what has been done to us, but we're asking that that it not be imputed to them before God. Because God didn't impute our sin to us. Love your neighbors yourself. If any man have a quarrel against any, let his quarrel or complaint be what it will be.
Whatever so great, ever so just, and well founded, let him put up with it and forgive it. Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. What God has said to do for Christ's sake, what here Christ has said to do as mediator, He has procured the remission of sins, of our sins by the shedding of His blood. And as God forgives sins freely and fully, forgetting the injuries done, so still guilt, forgetting the injuries done, not remembering them against us, not upbraiding us with former offenses, that too without our asking and before there's any appearance of repentance. Catch this, please listen to this.
Before there's even any appearance of repentance in that person who's offended you, so should the saints forgive one another as they expect to have an application and manifestation of forgiveness given to them. Our salvation of course is not based on our performance. Believers are forgiven all trespasses for Christ's sake and not on account of their performance in forgiving others. Our text is talking about the disposition of the heart of one coming before God in prayer? What is the disposition of your heart when you come before God is it a disposition of forgiveness towards other Calvin comments here quote if we are not harder than iron this exhortation ought to soften us it should soften us It should soften us and render us disposed to forgive others their offenses.
Again, John Gill writes, if while a man is praying it comes into his mind, such a one is committed to trespass against him, he remembers an injury that was done against him, which he has a just reason to complain of, but instead of complaining of it before God and calling up upon Him to avenge His cause, He should immediately in His heart and from His heart forgive Him." You're praying before God and it comes into your mind, my spouse said this or did that. Forgive, Forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive. Even though, Gill says, the person who's committed the trespass is not present to acknowledge his or her sin and ask for pardon. This points at a temper and disposition of mind well-pleasing to God." Forgiveness is not only a transaction, it's not only an act granted when someone repents of an offense they've committed against you, it's also a disposition of the heart towards others before God. You understand that?
A disposition of the heart toward others, toward everyone else before God. Does someone who has sinned against me have to repent before I can extend forgiveness? Not according to this passage. The word forgive means to hurl away. Hurl away.
Am I obligated to wait on someone to repent before I can hurl away the offense? From what I can tell from Scripture, forgiveness is already in the heart of the godly toward their offenders before the offenders even desire it. Would a live with a heart of forgiveness towards others. Now, many people confuse forgiveness with reconciliation. Forgiveness requires only one party.
Reconciliation requires two. It doesn't mean that the person we forgive is going to want to come back to us and reconcile with us. Maybe they won't. But our disposition towards them is still forgiveness, the heart of forgiveness. You can forgive someone even if they don't want to be forgiven.
You know that? Even if they don't want to be forgiven. You know that? Even if they don't want to be forgiven, even if they don't think they need to be forgiven, you can forgive them. Stephen said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
Remember, he looked up to heaven. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Don't impute the guilt of this sin to them as they were crushing him with rocks. They were in the process of sinning against him. That's the heart of forgiveness.
His harsh desire was that God might not impute the sin to them because God, for Christ's sake, had not imputed his sins to him. The guy might not charge the sin, they were in the process of committing against him to their accounts, which showed that he was not demanding their repentance as a condition for his forgiveness to be extended to them even though they were not reconciled to him. Were they reconciled to him while they were throwing rocks at him and crushing him? No. Was there a heart of and disposition of forgiveness toward them while they were throwing the rocks at him and killing him.
Yes. Joseph forgave his brethren back in chapter 45, long before they asked him to forgive them in chapter 50. They sold him into slavery, they lied. Brother Eric just went through this. He told their father he was dead, and he hurled it away.
He forgave his brethren and extolled the providence of God in using their evil to save their lives. My heart is to be full of forgiveness for others no matter what's been done to me or to those I love, even though that doesn't mean that they're reconciled to me or that I'm now obligated to restore a relationship of trust in situations where there have been grievous, grievous sin, we can still have a heart and disposition of forgiveness toward that person. In his sermon, Reasons to Forgive, John MacArthur says, quote, sometimes people want to debate, well are you supposed to forgive everybody if they don't ask? Yes, yes. I agree with his position.
You forgive immediately. You forgive instantaneously. You forgive totally. You forgive completely. Whether or not you will ever have reconciliation whether or not you will ever have reconciliation You forgive totally, you forgive completely, you forgive instantaneously.
Whether or not you'll ever have reconciliation and what that relationship will be in the future is a matter of that person desiring that relationship to be what it should be. But forgiveness, that comes immediately." In another message on forgiveness, MacArthur says, this is the one that I transcribed from an audio message, for me, just as a personal testimony, for me the deepest pains come when people speak evil against me and want to destroy my reputation. I hear about things that are just unbelievable, things that are supposed to be true about me, just unbelievable. And those are the things that pain me the most deeply, untrue criticisms and allegations and accusations. And I find that those become for me the test of a forgiving heart.
And I ask God to give me the grace to forgive. I don't want to carry a grudge, a bitterness for five seconds. And so eagerly when I hear that, am I anxious to offer up a prayer, O God, put in me the heart of forgiveness, listen to this, so that I may commune with you in the fullness of fellowship and joy and Not experience the chastening that comes when you don't forgive me he's talking about temporal not eternal It's all put away in Christ But there is temporal chastening that comes when we live as Christians in disobedience to our Heavenly Father. He comes to us with the rod, and He gently brings us back, and where more intense measures are needed, then they might increase. But we don't want to experience the chasing that comes from God.
And we want the fullness of our fellowship and joy to continue. Therefore forgive, forgive. And may I remember, he goes on, that for everyone who sins against me I have multiplied times sinned against you God. And you've always forgiven me. And at no point in time has any of my sin caused me to forfeit my eternal life.
And nor should anyone else's sin cause them to forfeit my love and mercy toward them. In closing, when we pray Father, forgive us our debts, even as we forgive our debtors, we come humbly before God, acknowledging that though we cannot satisfy the least entry on the ledger of our sin debt account, that Christ by His infinitely satisfying and acceptable sacrifice has discharged all, that Jesus has power on earth to forgive sins and has forgiven us all. And we come with hearts full of mercy and forgiveness before God toward others. When we pray, Father, forgive us our debts, we trust that he has. And our heart is, Father, forgive all of us.
Forgive us. Forgive us all. That's our heart. Oh God, forgive us all. Help us daily to be ever forgiving everyone, Even as you, God, for Christ's sake have forgiven us.
Let's pray. Father, we are all, every one of us, worthy of death. We're every one of us worthy of eternal death. We're all worthy of a death that never ends. Divine justice required our eternal destruction.
But we thank you God that you brought about the death of death and the death of Christ, justifying forever in your sight all who have faith in Jesus. We thank you Father that the justice due your people was satisfied in the execution of judgment upon your son Jesus as our substitute 2, 000 years ago at Calvary. We thank you Father that our sins were dealt with fully and our sin debt fully discharged on that cross. We thank you that our iniquities are no longer counted against us for Christ's sake. And we pray that you would help us to not hold the sins of others that they've committed against us against them either.
For we ask it all in Jesus' name, amen.