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'll 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. 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. And 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 all. 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 up on
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've 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'm 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 than 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 it. 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 till 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'd 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 brother 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 worshipped 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, so your
own righteousness is as filthy rags in my sight.
Therefore, what has he done? In love, in compassion,
in mercy, he has written a cross, 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 still you, that still me, we
have been forgiven. The same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants that owed
him a hundred pence, twenty cents, a little less
than two bits. And 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 the Lord was
wroth, 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 everyone
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? Forgiveness
of others is literally. the vestibule of heaven.
And Jesus has led you, he has led me to the door.
Obey him. Amen.