I hope you were right there when we had our last little heart to heart talk on this portion
of the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And you remember that in our last little heart to heart talk I reminded you that this clause
is the turning point of the prayer.
And notice something.
Jesus has so arranged this marvelous pattern for prayer, the pattern that we call the Lord's
Prayer when in reality it is a pattern for our prayer.
And Jesus has so arranged this marvelous pattern for prayer that it covers the entire ground
of unfoldment of our souls completely.
It omits nothing.
It omits absolutely nothing that is essential for our salvation and to our Christian life.
And yet it is so compact that there's not a thought, there is not a word too much.
Every move fits into its place with perfect harmony and in perfect sequence.
Anything more would be too much.
Anything less would be incomplete.
If you want to study something that is a masterpiece, study this part of the sermon that Jesus preached.
Study the pattern for prayer that Jesus gave from his own lips.
First he begins by telling us of this wonderful relationship that we have.
Our Father.
Jesus tells us who God is and then he moves right into telling us what man is.
From there he tells us how we're to do our own work.
That there is a perfect will for every human being.
A will in the mind of God.
A will in heaven for that life.
For you and for me.
And we should pray that his will in heaven should be carried out for our lives here and
now on this earth.
And yet all of us are created with a will of our own.
Separate and apart from the will of God.
We are created as free moral agents.
But we are to pray that our will shall be so yielded, so surrendered to him that here
and now our lives should be lived in perfect harmony with his will in heaven for our lives.
From that step he explains the way in which we're to receive our true nourishment.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Oh up until now it's so wonderful.
Oh it's so thrilling.
Not one word has been said about forgiveness.
Sin up until now has not been mentioned.
Not one word has been said regarding sin.
That's the reason I told you a second ago.
That we are now to the place in the prayer where this clause is the turning point of
the entire prayer.
For now he comes to forgiveness.
Do you want to know something?
The forgiveness of sin is the central problem of life.
It's the major tragedy of human experience.
And I want you to see something and I want you never to forget it.
We are faced here and now in this prayer with our inner relationship amongst men.
And you cannot separate the spiritual from the material.
You cannot separate your relationship with God from your relationship with man.
You cannot do it.
It's impossible.
You cannot claim to be a wonderful child of the king.
You cannot claim any spirituality.
You cannot claim to be deeply spiritual and then treat your fellow men as though they
were the scum of the earth.
You can't do it.
I repeat, you cannot separate the spiritual from the material.
You cannot separate your relationship with God from your relationship with your fellow
men.
And right here in the center of this prayer, after he tells us our wonderful inheritance
in Christ Jesus and that all that is His is ours, and here we are, away upon the pinnacle.
We're on a glorious mountain peak when suddenly he brings us face to face with our inner relationship
amongst men.
Forgive us as we forgive.
We cannot expect forgiveness from him while there is malice in our own heart.
And this is the only petition of which Jesus gives us an exposition.
In substance he's saying, we must get our pain done before we begin our praying.
And there are a lot of folk who are saying an awful lot of prayers and doing an awful
lot of praying who have never gotten the pain done.
You treat your fellow men, you act like the devil when it comes to relationship to your
fellow men.
They despise you.
You're mean, you're contemptible, you're unforgiving.
You've been carrying a grudge in your heart for years.
There's malice, there's prejudice, there's jealousy.
But beloved, God lays it on the line.
That's exactly what he does.
We're obliged either to forgive our enemies in sincerity and truth or never again to repeat
this prayer.
He lays it on the line.
Come on and face it.
This is the most important thing that I could bring you this morning because some of you
may be wondering why you haven't been getting an answer to your prayer.
You may be wondering why you have no spiritual power in that life of yours.
You may be wondering why you have no power in your testimony.
Why you're not being used of God.
Why there is no power in your example.
Jesus literally shows us that we're obliged to either forgive our enemies or never again
to repeat this prayer.
I still say that the Lord has so constructed His prayer with more skill than ever a lawyer
ever displayed in the casting of a deed.
Yes ma'am.
He actually makes our claim to our own forgiveness to depend upon our forgiveness of others.
That's it.
Now He gave something and everything I'm giving you comes from His own lips.
You need not fear that that which I am giving you is not correct doctrine or that I may
be misleading you in your theology because all that I'm doing is giving you the words
from the highest authority in heaven and earth.
That's Jesus, God's Son.
And who is a better authority on prayer, on how to pray than the Son of God?
Because everything that you and I receive in prayer must come through Jesus.
Everything.
I don't care what your prayer is that you're praying.
I don't care what the desire is that you're desiring of Him.
Everything that you receive through prayer must come through Jesus.
There is no greater authority then than Jesus Himself when it comes to this thing of prayer.
I continue giving His own words as He gave an example.
Here comes Peter.
He was always the spokesman for the crowd.
Always.
Peter always said things and did things where angels would fear to tread.
I guess that's one reason I have an awfully warm spot in my heart for Peter because I'm
kind of like that myself.
I want to know.
And sometimes I think the disciples put Peter up to some of the things that he asked.
But this is once when I believe it was Peter's own thinking because this would be just like
him.
He probably had someone who was getting on his nerves.
He knew the teaching of the Master.
And he had forgiven this one over and over again until his patience was wearing thin
and he was just about ready to knock his block off.
He was going to literally take those words, faith without works is dead.
He had exercised faith long enough.
Now he was going to do a little works on the guy.
And so the word of God says, then came Peter to him, that's to Jesus, and said, Lord, how
oft shall my brothers sin against me and I forgive him.
And then before Jesus could answer, Peter put the words right in the mouth of Jesus
and gave the answer himself because he had it all fixed in his own mind.
I've forgiven him for the last time and now the eighth time I'm going to knock his block
off, till seven times, this is what Peter asked, isn't seven times enough to forgive
him?
And Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times
seven.
Then Jesus didn't stop.
He continued.
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king.
And remember that certain king is our wonderful king of kings.
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants.
And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents.
But for as much as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, his wife and
his children, all that he had and payment to be made.
The servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying, Lord have patience with me and
I will pay thee all.
And then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, loosed him, forgave him the
debt.
Now who is he talking about up until now?
He's talking about you.
He's talking about me.
For not a sinner has enough wealth, has enough righteousness of his own, has enough wherewith
to pay for his way into heaven or to pay for the forgiveness of his sins.
Not one of us.
Had we all the wealth of the world combined with all the wealth in the worlds to come
and laid this wealth at the feet of Jesus and said here, here it is all of it, please
may we buy our salvation.
He would laugh and say, there's not enough wealth in the universe to pay for the forgiveness
of even the smallest sin.
You have not enough righteousness of your own, for your own righteousness is as filthy
rags in my sight.
Therefore, what has he done?
In love, in compassion, in mercy.
He has written across our debt of sin paid in full with his own shed blood.
Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, loosed him, forgave him the debt.
That's you, that's me.
Our debt is paid in full.
But the same servant that steal you, that steal me, we have been forgiven.
The same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants that owed him a hundred
pence, 20 cents, a little less than two bits.
Then he laid his hands on him and took him by the throat saying, pay me that thou owest.
And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, besought him saying, have patience with me
and I'll pay thee all.
And he would not.
But he went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt.
So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told their
lord all that was done.
Then his lord, after he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave
thee all that debt because thou desirest me.
Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity
on thee?
And his lord was raw, delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was
due unto him.
Now here it is.
So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts, not just
your lips, if ye from your hearts, here we have sincere forgiveness.
Forgive not every one his brother there trespasses.
Yes, ma'am.
We are obliged either to forgive our enemies in sincerity and in truth from our hearts
or never again to repeat this prayer.
Jesus actually makes our claim to our own forgiveness to depend upon our forgiveness
of others.
You and I cannot demand our own release from sin before we release our brother.
Do you want to know something?
Preachance of others is literally the vestibule of heaven.
And Jesus has led you, he has led me to the door.
Obey him.
Amen.