"Pray then like this: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'" Matthew 6:9-13
“Forgiveness is the key ingredient, not only in marriage, but in any relationship involving sinners. If your friends are going to stick around, if you’re going to see your relatives more than once a year, if you plan to work in the same place with the same people for any length of time, if you want to be happy in the church (or simply not give up on the church), you need to learn forgiveness. You need to grant it and you need to receive it.” Kevin DeYoung, The Lord’s Prayer, pg. 71
1. Why do we continue to confess our sins if we have been fully forgiven of our sins by the work of Jesus on the cross? (In part, the confession of sin and fleeing from sin removes the roadblocks to the enjoyment, glorification, and honoring of the living God by the believer).
“Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses…” Colossians 2:12-13
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God...Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:3, 5
Heidelberg Catechism Question 126
Q. What is the fifth petition?
A. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
That is: For the sake of Christ’s blood, do not impute to us, wretched sinners, any of our transgressions, NOR THE EVIL WHICH STILL CLINGS TO US, as we also find this evidence of your grace in us that we are fully determined wholeheartedly to forgive our neighbour.
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8-9
2. As we confess our sins, it reminds us of the glory and wonder of the grace of the gospel personally received.
"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Matthew 6:14-15
"Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:1-2
“So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”Matthew 18:35
3. It leads to the joy/assurance in our walk with the Lord.
We are saved by faith alone, but there are traits (fruits) which the Holy Spirit produces in the life of the child of God. One of those traits is a forgiving spirit.
“Christ’s way of unpacking forgiveness is not three easy steps. It is a way of life, following Jesus, learning from him, being involved in his church, hearing his Word preached. Apart from consistent involvement in these disciplines, you are trying to paddle with a stick. And that just won’t work.” Chris Brauns, Unpacking Forgiveness, pg. 32
Forgiveness is desiring the welfare/good, not the ruin, of the one who wronged you. It is the refusal to allow bitterness or hate to strangle our life in Christ as we trust that Abba Father is just in all His ways (Romans 12:19-21).
“When God forgives, he frees the sinner from everlasting punishment, and blesses him with his favor, which is the fountain of life and of all happiness. But when we forgive, we merely cease to indulge towards the offender our feeble, and perhaps impotent wrath, and bestow upon him our best wishes.” Hermann Witsius, Sacred Dissertations, pg. 323
Application Questions:
- How are we like “Jean Valjean” in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables? How do we have a tendency to be like his antagonist “Javert”?
- Why did the disciples say, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11)?
- Why do we confess our sins if we have been fully forgiven by the blood of the cross?
- Do you believe “evil clings to us close” (Heidelberg 151)?
- "If bitterness and settled anger is a primary trait of your life as compared to grace, kindness, and mercy which flows from the cross, then there’s every reason to question your salvation.” How do you respond to this comment?