WEBVTT 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:06.959 Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were a teacher with recess duty? 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:08.480 Well, probably not. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:12.640 Unless you're a teacher who happens to have recess duty. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:14.320 I just thought I'd ask first. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:18.320 I like when Pastor Chris starts with a relatable question to his stories. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:26.320 Though, if you've had to handle children in any capacity, I'm sure this story will be relatable. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:27.679 I'm a teacher. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:31.120 Last year I taught English language arts for third and fourth grade. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:36.719 And throughout the school year, you see all sorts of trouble, no matter what age. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:46.479 There were these two boys I remember every day at recess who would come up to me with some new problem between each other or in their circumstance. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:50.880 Sometimes it would be they didn't play the game right, and so I'm upset with them. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:53.679 Other times it'd be they said this about my mom. 00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:57.520 And sometimes it was about girls. 00:00:57.759 --> 00:00:58.799 How lovely. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:12.799 But that's not always the case. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:23.280 I sit them down and first have them explain what was wrong, then help them recognize why it was wrong. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:32.560 Usually at this point in the discussion, or hopefully at this point, at least one of them begins to feel some responsibility and guilt for what they did. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:37.599 I tell them both to apologize to each other for what they did specifically. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:40.719 We don't play with vague problems. 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:43.280 We were hurt for specific ones. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:52.560 And then to ask for forgiveness, to make things right so that they can have fellowship again and play whatever game they were playing. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:56.959 Turns out we needed to have that conversation every single day. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:59.200 And not just during recess. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:03.439 So it is with us before God and often with others. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:06.560 Forgiveness is something we return to daily as well. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:16.960 The Lord's Prayer, which acts as a template for what all our prayers should reflect, has repentance and forgiveness clearly displayed in that fourth petition. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:19.599 I'll read it again, Luke 11, 4. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:26.000 Forgive us our sins, as we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:28.560 Now I want to preface. 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:34.400 Before continuing, the Lord's Prayer is designed for those who are already Christians. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:36.960 That should raise a natural question, though. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:44.639 If I am a Christian who is already forgiven in Christ, why do I still need to ask for forgiveness? 00:02:45.360 --> 00:03:02.479 But as this particular petition is cried out by all sinners at conversion too, it will help us to answer that first question if we distinguish how we ask for forgiveness as a Christian and at conversion. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:11.199 One saves us from sin's eternal penalty, the other from sin's power and presence in our redeemed lives. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:25.520 This distinction is also exciting because it provides a clear opportunity to share the gospel, to proclaim it directly and specifically as an encouragement for the believer and as a witness to one who is not one yet. 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:35.280 And whether we realize it or not, the way that we forgive others is directly impacted by how we understand how we've been forgiven by God. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:38.240 There's a pattern surrounding forgiveness. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:40.080 I hope you will see all throughout. 00:03:40.319 --> 00:04:00.319 That's there's an exposure, an exposure to sin, that there is a right repentance and turning from that sin, a change in the relationship with sin, that forgiveness is asked for and given, and restoration and reconciliation bear the fruit of that forgiveness. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:13.680 In summary for this whole sermon, the better we understand how we receive forgiveness at conversion and throughout the Christian life, the better we understand how to show forgiveness towards others as well. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:23.759 With that, because we're all note takers to some degree, whether mentally or on paper, there are three things I'd like to unfold from this petition today. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:29.360 One, we pray for forgiveness that justifies at conversion. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:35.199 Two, we pray for forgiveness that sanctifies after conversion. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:40.480 And three, we forgive others that they may be brought before God. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:43.120 Let's look at point number one. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:47.120 We pray for forgiveness that justifies at conversion. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:52.879 The first three petitions in the Lord's Prayer actually can relate to this sense of forgiveness as well. 00:04:53.199 --> 00:05:05.439 As forgiveness that justifies, keeps the Father's name holy, gives us entry into his kingdom, and provides for us the bread of life necessary for forgiveness to be received in. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:09.519 But let's slow down, let's define what justified means. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:12.560 Any good English teacher knows you've got to define your terms. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:15.199 So what does it mean to be justified? 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:20.560 Well, it's a legal term, means to be declared righteous. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:25.279 Or even more simply, to be declared not guilty. 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:41.120 But since this justifying forgiveness we seek is not just in an earthly courtroom, but a heavenly one, it will help us to know that there's a charge on all of our accounts before we even enter that heavenly courtroom. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:47.040 There's a debt we must account for, as every single one of us has sinned against the true and living God. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:48.240 Well, how so? 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:56.160 Well, by failing to keep his law, and in so doing, we profane his holy name. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:08.959 Understanding a forgiveness that justifies starts with the understanding that the Father must keep his name holy in his judgment, as the judge in that courtroom. 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:15.279 Forgiveness that justifies keeps the Father's name holy in his courtroom, in his court. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:19.759 And he does this by using his law as the standard, not mine. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:22.319 His law is the standard. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:26.800 When he sets his seal on a sentence, that seal bears his name. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:32.639 In his judgment seat, he condemns or pardons for his name's sake. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:43.040 As the plea of the psalmist in 2511 says, For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:48.240 In relation to God, his law displays his holiness and perfection. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:56.959 In relation to us, though, the law of God initially exposes us to our sin, our inability to keep it. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:11.759 We like to think we're all good people by nature, according to our own standard or culture's standards, but God's standard, not mine, is what will count in that final analysis, that final verdict, that final sentence. 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:14.959 So let's use that standard. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:21.519 Let's ask ourselves some of the questions that He will hold us to, that He will judge us by. 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:23.040 Let's take a good person test. 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:28.959 Now I know during the rest of our morning, we'd ask a question and you would answer. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:30.480 We'd answer together. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:33.040 I don't want you to do that with some of these questions. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.160 Maybe the first one, but you'll understand why not the others. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:39.279 Let's look at his Ten Commandments. 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:40.800 Have we ever told a lie? 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:41.920 Yes or no? 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:43.040 Yes. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:44.879 Well, thank you for being honest. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:48.560 What do we call someone who lies? 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:50.000 A liar. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:52.079 Thank you for your participation. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:53.680 That is where it will end. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:57.199 I don't want y'all to answer this one for me. 00:07:57.360 --> 00:07:58.720 Have we ever murdered someone? 00:07:58.959 --> 00:07:59.279 See? 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:12.560 Well, if not physically, remember that Jesus makes the parallel in Matthew 5 that anyone who is angry with a brother without just cause is guilty of the same judgment as murder. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:16.560 And we call someone who murders a murderer. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:19.199 Have we ever committed adultery? 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:23.120 If not outwardly, then certainly we have inwardly. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:32.080 Again, Christ in Matthew 5 tells us, whoever looks at another with lustful intent has already committed adultery with them in their heart. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:42.480 In all these, we see the law of God is just as concerned about the heart behind the action as he is the action himself. 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:54.000 These laws are regarding how we interact with others, but thinking back to the seriousness of the Lord's name being kept holy, let's ask ourselves one more. 00:08:54.240 --> 00:09:01.840 Have we ever used the Lord's name in a vain, derogatory way, as a replacement for an expletive or cuss word? 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:07.039 If so, we'd be guilty of blasphemy, thus called a blasphemer. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:12.399 Let's look at our scorecard according to even just four of the Ten Commandments. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:14.000 It'll prove its point. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:24.879 In the courtroom of God, where this is the standard, we would have to bear the title and judgment of a liar, a murderer, an adulterer at heart, and a blasphemer. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:29.759 You might ask yourself, but can't I redeem myself, maybe? 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:39.759 We can't redeem ourselves by breaking less laws, as James 2.10 says, whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:49.759 We also can't make things right by trying to do more good, to outweigh the good, uh outweigh the bad with the good. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:56.879 Romans 3, 9 through 12 and Galatians 3, 10 through 11 explain that clearly too. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:00.480 Romans 3, both Jews and Greeks are under sin. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:01.919 That's everybody. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:04.480 What he means by Jews and Greeks. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:05.840 We're all under sin. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:12.480 As it is written, none is righteous, no not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:14.320 All have turned aside. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:16.639 Together they have become worthless. 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:19.120 No one does good, no, not even one. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:22.399 And then Galatians 3. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:26.879 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:34.480 For it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:44.080 Now it is evident that no one, here's that key word again, is justified before God by the law. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:49.600 But is he not a God of mercy and grace, slow to anger? 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:51.519 Absolutely he is. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:55.279 But let's read that verse to its very end. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:20.879 Exodus 34, starting in verse 6, says, The Lord the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:26.480 This should be weighty, as we're guilty. 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:32.799 This should yield a right fear in the heart and uncomfort. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:37.679 It should offend us, it should offend our sensibilities and pride. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:40.639 It should make us clamor for a way out. 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:44.559 It should make us feel exposed. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:54.399 It's a mirror to the soul, exposing every blemish and scar. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:12:01.039 And because we can now see where we have sinned, we can recognize that we're guilty of it. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:09.039 Before we pray for forgiveness that justifies us before him, we plead that we are guilty according to his standards. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:13.759 That in truth hell is what we deserve for our sin. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:19.919 In order that his law be proven true and his name be kept holy. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:24.320 Our allegiance has been for the kingdom of this world, not his. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:31.919 Here we see next how justifying forgiveness requires us to be brought into the kingdom of God. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:39.200 In order to no longer be an enemy outside his kingdom, we must know the Prince of Peace to gain entry. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:44.399 As it's through Christ and Christ alone we can have forgiveness and pardon for our sin. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:51.519 It is this justifying forgiveness through Christ which brings us into the kingdom and household of God. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:56.480 We must know Christ in order to know the Father and to have peace with Him. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:03.200 John 14, starting in verse 6, says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:07.039 No one comes to the Father except through me. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:11.919 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:14.320 They're a package duo. 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:16.559 You can't have one without the other. 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:21.039 We can't know God the Father if we don't know God the Son. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:24.799 We can't even approach the Father apart from his Son. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:32.159 So the first question to ask is if you know Christ and what about Him makes Him the way, the truth, and the life. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:41.039 We again look back to the law that we couldn't fulfill and ask, how does Christ fulfill the law of God? 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:50.960 A debt of infinite worth against the law and its demands requires a payment of infinite worth in accordance to the law and its demands. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:52.960 The Lord Christ is that payment. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:14:00.000 He came down and took on flesh to live the life necessary to honor and fulfill his law and its demands. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:07.440 His own words in Matthew 5.17 are, Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:10.960 I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:18.320 He does not do away with the law, but fulfills it in every aspect of his life. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:22.799 Every kingdom on earth has rulers who can't keep their own laws. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:31.919 And I know that because every one of you is probably driven on I-20 and knows we're breaking the law, driving really fast there. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:37.360 I can't imagine any king or ruler has not exceeded the speed limit. 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:45.759 Christ, though, he is the only king who has not uh who has not fallen. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.720 He is the only king who has kept his perfect law. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:54.879 His kingdom is the only place where the king has fulfilled it. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:57.279 He lived the perfect life we couldn't. 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:05.360 Every command, every act was perfect obedience, never for a moment forgetting or forsaking his mission of redemption. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:10.639 His whole life was pointing to that sacrificial death on the cross. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:17.759 And it was here at this cross that sin's wages and penalty were conquered, for death is dead in Christ. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:31.200 It was here at this cross that God showed his love for us, even while we were still sinners, even while we were still in debt to him, even while we were still his enemies, Christ died for us. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:44.960 It was here at this cross he died in our place as a substitution, bearing the full wrath of God on our behalf willingly, to purchase perfect redemption for all who repent and believe. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:52.159 And it was here at this cross that that first promise in Genesis 3.15 regarding him is fulfilled. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:56.639 As the enemy bruised the Savior's heel for a moment in that death. 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:04.000 But the Savior crushed the enemy's head with that same death and later resurrection. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:10.559 And that resurrection from death that followed three days later is the seal of his life's work. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:19.919 It confirmed his sinless life and keeping of the law, as everyone who sins cannot revive themselves from death. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:21.679 He did. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:26.080 And he did not return to death either, like Lazarus. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:29.919 He went to be with the Father. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:34.879 And it is in him that forgiveness that justifies is to be proclaimed. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:55.200 Acts 13, 38 and 39 says, Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers, that through him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and that in him everyone who believes is justified from all things which you could not be justified from through the law of Moses. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:58.720 So this is his life, his death, his resurrection. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:17.920 This is Christ, this is the Prince of Peace, the one who rules in his heavenly kingdom, the one we need to know in order to know the Father, the one we must know to have redemption and forgiveness of sins, that declares us righteous before the Father. 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:27.519 He alone can stand before us in that heavenly courtroom and say, Put his debt on in sin on my account, and know it is paid in full. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:53.920 Colossians 1, 13 and 14 say, He, being God the Father, has delivered us from the domain of darkness, transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:59.440 With our sins exposed by the law, but the law being fulfilled in Christ. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:04.240 How then do we receive Christ and his forgiveness? 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:12.079 We pray for forgiveness that justifies by receiving his broken body, the bread of life. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:19.039 Just as the Lord's prayer shows us where all our provision comes from, this daily bread. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:26.640 We are given the gifts of repentance and faith by God, the Holy Spirit, so we may receive Christ, the bread of life. 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:33.279 Again, to define, in repentance, we have a changed relationship with sin. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:41.759 It is not just an acknowledgement for sin to exist in us, but that we no longer want to sin. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:50.799 We no longer want to submit to it as a slave, no longer trying to protect it or keep it to ourselves, we turn from it. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:19:00.720 And in faith, we believe and trust Christ to be who he says he is to be, not as I say he is to be, his standard. 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:07.920 Believing in his righteousness for us, we forsake any semblance of self-righteousness. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:26.640 The Puritan Giles Furman, cool name, explains faith well and succinctly when he says, Faith in Christ, then, is the receiving of Christ as he is offered in the gospel, and so resting upon him alone for life and salvation. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:32.880 In that as our foundation, do we first ask, Lord, forgive me for my sins. 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:39.920 And he confirms that forgiveness is found in him with his disciples in that Last Supper meal. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:54.079 Starting in Matthew 26, 26, it says, Now as they were eating, Jesus took the bread, and after blessing it and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:20:00.400 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:08.240 For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:14.880 Here we have forgiveness that is founded on Christ's life, work, and death. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:21.039 He broke his body and poured it out, poured out his blood to forgive the sins of many. 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:29.039 That many being all who have true repentance of their sin and faith in him and his righteousness alone. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:37.440 Forgiveness that justifies receives and rests in his broken body, the bread of life through repentance and faith. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:41.279 So in this sense do we pray for forgiveness that justifies. 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:46.559 We ask that God will forgive us for our sins, for offending his holy name. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:56.559 We ask that he will look to the finished work of his son, of Christ on the cross, gaining entry to the kingdom by the Prince of Peace. 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:13.279 And we ask for this forgiveness on the grounds of repentance and faith in him who broke his body for us, recognizing this as his provision, that we are totally dependent and cannot provide for ourselves this salvation apart from his gift. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:15.039 Is this you? 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:22.960 Is this the forgiveness you know you need, but you've refrained from asking for it or believing it's there in Christ? 00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:27.200 Do you believe you have much to be forgiven of or very little? 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:30.799 Being forgiven for little sin makes little of Christ. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:34.000 Being forgiven for much sin makes much of him. 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:39.920 This gospel is not for the righteous or good person, it is for sinners. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.319 That is what makes it good news. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:53.519 No matter what sin you've done or how much of it you've committed, repent and believe the gospel for the forgiveness of sins, and you will find him to be a most satisfying Savior. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:58.799 You will find joy in his fellowship now and forevermore. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:21:59.680 And it is 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.359 For Christians, that we have this new life and fellowship. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:13.599 First saved from God's righteous judgment against our sin, we are then saved to a life of holy fellowship with God. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:15.279 And that begins here. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:17.839 That doesn't begin later. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:19.359 That begins now. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:31.759 Let's turn to our second point to understand how and why we still pray for forgiveness as someone who's been forgiven by God, who has this justifying forgiveness. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:37.759 We pray for forgiveness, point number two, that sanctifies after conversion. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:44.559 The kind of forgiveness that's being asked for in the Lord's Prayer is not the same that justifies us before God. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:49.440 We ask for that forgiveness as enemies of God, outside his doorstep. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:55.519 But this forgiveness, this forgiveness is from within his home, from within his kingdom. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:23:00.160 It's asked for not by an enemy, but as an adoptive child. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:04.799 An adoptive but disobedient child at times, too. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:16.240 If the Lord's prayer was referring to that justifying forgiveness, we'd have a devastatingly difficult time having any sense of security in our fellowship with God. 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:20.799 It would feel like a daily game of pulling the petals off of a daisy. 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:28.640 He loves me, he loves me not, he justifies me, he justifies me not, he forgives me, oh, I sinned, he forgives me not. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:33.519 That's not the flower that I think is in the Lord's gardens. 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:36.720 And that's not the case with his justifying forgiveness. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:40.640 The forgiveness that covers all adopted into his family. 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:48.720 The flower that is in his garden is a flower that ensures I will persevere in the faith, because he will ensure it. 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:59.680 It is a flower that says, I will not be snatched out of his hands, that his son's redeeming work actually accomplished my salvation and didn't just make it a possibility. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:10.799 For we can say then with the psalmist in Psalm 103.12, As far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:21.279 Or with Paul in Philippians 1.6, he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:31.839 These verses and many more would not make sense if it was justifying forgiveness we ask every day as forgiven people. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:35.440 They'd be meaningless or confusing at best. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:44.559 But the Lord's Prayer is asking us, is telling us to pray for a sanctifying forgiveness. 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:49.920 One way that it is chiefly applied is in our fellowship with God. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:55.599 It is forgiveness that sanctifies the sinner within God's fellowship. 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:58.079 Again, I'm not going to leave you loose. 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:00.160 I'm going to define sanctification for you. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:03.759 At its simplest, it means to make something holy. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:15.200 Ephesians 4, 19 through 24, though, I think gives a clear demonstration of how sanctification is applied in the Christian's life. 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:18.240 They die to sin and live to righteousness. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:29.279 Ephesians 4, starting in 19, says, They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:32.319 But that is not the way you learned Christ. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:46.079 Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires. 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:47.920 Take that off. 00:25:48.319 --> 00:26:01.359 And verse 23, we are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:12.240 The fact that sanctification is explained throughout Scripture should make it clear sin is not eradicated permanently in the Christian's life. 00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:17.599 Though the penalty of sin is taken care of in Christ, we're given a new nature in him. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:21.279 The power and presence of sin is what we now fight. 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:28.400 It's found in this old sinful nature, this power and presence of sin that we are to wrestle with. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:38.400 When we pray for forgiveness that sanctifies, we're asking for his washing power over us, that our fellowship with him will be restored. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:42.240 As when we sin, it is marred daily. 00:26:43.039 --> 00:26:46.880 That is why we must again go back to that template. 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:48.880 Expose this sin. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:53.759 We must expose this sin every day so that we can see what we're fighting. 00:26:54.079 --> 00:27:01.039 Sin will stop at nothing to have us look away from the Lord, to have us not be satisfied in him. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:09.839 So when moments of failure do happen, we have example of how saints in the past have asked for their heavenly father's forgiveness. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:11.920 King David is a good example. 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:22.640 He's a man after God's own heart, but he also has the most documented series of sins that we might talk about in a church service. 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:32.160 Both in adultery with Bathsheba and then murder of his wife, I mean, of her husband, forgive me. 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:43.599 It took the prophet Nathan to expose David, to expose him to this sin, to confront him with it, that we then get Psalm 51, David's prayer. 00:27:45.119 --> 00:28:06.720 Psalm 51 4, he asks the Lord, Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the abundance of your compassion, blot out all my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:17.519 Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you're justified when you speak and pure when you judge. 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:20.319 We'll return to verse four later on. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:26.720 He puts all justice into the Lord's hands, so that his name is kept holy. 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:43.599 Acknowledging and repenting of his sin before him, he also says, in verses eight through ten, let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones that you have broken rejoice, hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:48.799 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:58.799 He does not charged God with any injustice for how he runs his kingdom, in his right disciplining of him, as the discipline of the Lord is a good thing. 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:08.079 David knows that the discipline of the Lord is his work of restoring, his work of restoration within his kingdom. 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:20.319 David finally asks that he renew him, providing for him a clean heart after he had filled it with sin, and a renewed spirit that brings him to this fellowship at God's table again. 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:21.759 That is for us. 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:26.720 That is the same thing we ask for when we ask for forgiveness. 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:34.799 And even in today's service, you'll notice we confess sins corporately and individually. 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:37.599 So we see that pattern in Scripture as well. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:43.599 A corporate example would be 1 Kings 8, verses 34 33. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:51.680 We start and say, When your people, Israel, are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against you. 00:29:51.920 --> 00:30:00.400 If they turn to you again and confess your name and pray and make supplication to you in this house, then listen in heaven. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:02.960 Forgive the sin of your people Israel. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:06.960 Bring them back to the land which you gave to their fathers. 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:13.440 Verse 36, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:19.119 Give reign on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:26.400 The pattern of forgiveness is the same both for the individual who fell in sin and the collective covenant people. 00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:33.279 In repentance of sin against God, we follow it with a plea for his grace and forgiveness. 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:45.200 But it doesn't just end at forgiveness, it continues onward toward a growing, toward a growing into that new nature we've been given in Christ. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:49.680 Both examples show forgiveness that sanctifies. 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:56.079 A forgiveness that seeks the Lord to steer them back to the right path. 00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:00.559 That works with the shepherd analogy we see all throughout scripture. 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:04.559 Like sheep that steer off course, the good shepherd brings them back in. 00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:08.880 He doesn't just tell the sheep, come on, sheep, come on, all right. 00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:12.319 No, he has a rod, a shepherd's staff. 00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:18.480 Grabs them by the neck, rings them over away from the wolves in the cliff, so he does with us. 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:23.759 That may hurt for a moment, to be yanked back to the flock. 00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:34.000 But man, I would much rather have that short temporary disciplining pain than to be taken by the wolves or to find my way off the cliff. 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:38.799 We can know we are forgiven, though, and that we will be washed. 00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:48.799 1 John 1, 8 through 9 says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 00:31:50.240 --> 00:32:00.400 But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:05.519 The forgiveness that sanctifies is offered daily, even hourly. 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:14.240 Confessing this sin is not designed to be a checklist for ourselves, though, to say that we did it and go right back into the sinning. 00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:19.599 True repentance, again, is a change of relationship and attitude towards sin. 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:29.839 Paul makes it clear in Romans 6 that though grace abounds to the believer, where sin does too, that's not a license to pursue sin. 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:37.440 It is a daily, hourly war we are called to, to die to sin and live to Christ. 00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:43.440 This sanctifying grace, as 1 John 2 1 says, is so that we may not sin. 00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:54.400 But even in that same verse in 1 John 2, we're reminded that if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:58.880 When you sin, Christian, lay yourself down at the feet of Christ. 00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:09.839 Be reminded of the woman in Luke 7, who washed his feet with her hair soaked with tears, who knew her sin was great, but knew her Savior was greater. 00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:17.119 Don't let yourself become a Simon in that same chapter, thinking little of your sin compared to her. 00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:25.680 Your love and appreciation for Christ will only match how great you realize your sin is, that he will forgive daily. 00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:40.240 If a man goes to a doctor to have a cosmetic lump taken out, when in reality he has a cancer festering deep within, do you think he'd be more glad to know that his concern should be vital and not merely cosmetic? 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:44.000 And then to hear the news that it can be healed and treated. 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:50.240 Severe sin, not just as a cosmetic blemish or lump, but the cancer that it is. 00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:57.359 Be rid of it, take it to the only physician who has the guarantee to restore and heal you. 00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:04.640 When we pray for forgiveness that sanctifies, we're asking the Father as children in his home. 00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:11.280 Imagine an adopted child having an episode of disobedience to their new father. 00:34:11.519 --> 00:34:14.320 They were told not to play outside because of the mud. 00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:19.760 But we've all been kids, uh, and we see the mud and we're like, man, that looks fun. 00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:24.480 There's a certain allure to it, but it's a deceptive one. 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:32.960 We go out, we first maybe think, ah, I I can play outside, but not just fall into the mud. 00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:36.880 Well, mud is slippery, especially around it. 00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:39.360 That's where makes mud mud. 00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:44.400 The child falls into it covered in mud. 00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:47.840 Tries to get himself back up in a frantic hurry. 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:52.079 In doing so, scrapes his knee on a rock blood. 00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:55.360 Now he's got more than just mud to think about. 00:34:55.679 --> 00:34:57.599 He tried to get himself out of the situation. 00:34:57.840 --> 00:34:59.599 He cries for help. 00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:08.400 And the father's only son comes out, grabs him, brings him to the porch, having him tell him all that happened. 00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:13.039 The son goes, talks to the father on the child's behalf. 00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:21.119 And the father, knowing well what happened, comes outside with the son, has the mud-drenched kid tell him all that happened again. 00:35:21.519 --> 00:35:23.199 Child confesses everything. 00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:34.239 At first in tears, not over going against their father, but because of the effects of that sin, because of the scrapes in the mud. 00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:44.960 But after the father asks him why he wouldn't listen to his rule and trust that there was good purpose for it, his tears become quieter over that deeper offense. 00:35:45.599 --> 00:36:00.000 Then, with no excuses, the child repents for what he did, that he hates that he did it and he wants to change, he asks his father, forgive me, forgive me for this sin and help me so that next time looks different. 00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:20.000 Father wipes away some of the mud from the child's jacket, where the family name is written, and he reminds the boy that though there will be discipline, though it's gonna sting a little when we patch you up, though the water will be cold when we hose you off, he tells him, I knew we'd have moments like this. 00:36:20.320 --> 00:36:34.639 I wrote the family name on all your clothes, and had my son give them to you as a gift whenever we adopted you and your siblings, so that you'd know that you are still in this family, even when we have to clean you up. 00:36:35.039 --> 00:36:38.239 Remember the name on your jacket and who gave it to you. 00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:40.400 You're forgiven, my dear child. 00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:52.880 He then cleans him up on the porch with that hose and has him tell all his brothers and sisters what happened, not so they'd ridicule him, but so that they would learn from all that he learned that day. 00:36:53.199 --> 00:37:00.000 And that way, when the dinner table was set at the evening, they could all fellowship again in peace and harmony. 00:37:00.320 --> 00:37:04.719 I implore you, Christians, listen to your Heavenly Father, always. 00:37:05.039 --> 00:37:10.639 But when disobedience does come out of you, cling to Christ, your brother. 00:37:10.880 --> 00:37:18.880 Go to the Father to repent and ask for forgiveness, knowing he will forgive you to keep his name holy. 00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:23.760 Seek his discipline and know he disciplines those whom he loves in his kingdom. 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:31.280 Then take your seat at his dinner table and enjoy the fellowship he provides in his sanctifying forgiveness. 00:37:32.079 --> 00:37:40.800 It is in light of his mercies and graces and forgiveness that we can come to this last point, this other half of the petition. 00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:45.280 For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. 00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:52.000 My third and final point is this we forgive others that they may be brought before God. 00:37:52.800 --> 00:38:07.519 In both senses of forgiveness, justifying and sanctifying, the surrounding pattern has been expose sin, repent of it, seek forgiveness, be restored and reconciled by God. 00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:10.639 This template is for us to use as well. 00:38:10.960 --> 00:38:15.519 Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who's indebted to us. 00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:26.400 Because the Lord has so richly blessed us in forgiveness, both to justify us before Him and to sanctify us to Him, we in turn must forgive others as well. 00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:31.199 There are some differences, though, between the way God forgives and the way we can. 00:38:31.599 --> 00:38:38.000 For example, I do not have the ability to forgive someone from that penalty of sin before God. 00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:42.480 That's God's to administer, and his to administer alone. 00:38:42.800 --> 00:38:48.800 But that does not mean forgiving others doesn't have any meaning or a use in the Redeemer's hands. 00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:59.519 The first thing forgiveness towards others does is sanctifies my heart, as we forgive others beginning in the heart. 00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:09.920 That might sound vaguely similar to some Christian lingo that we have in our culture that says, forgive them in your heart, forgive others in your heart. 00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:20.000 And while I understand the sentiment, I want to challenge that a little and say that the process of forgiveness begins there, certainly. 00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:25.440 But for forgiveness to have its full effect and fruit, it cannot stay there. 00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:33.599 We walk, we we start in the heart because we tend to be quick to flippant anger, not slow to it. 00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:42.639 We run circles in our heart over and over, harboring and digging up all the vile things we can think of of the person who's offended us. 00:39:43.280 --> 00:39:49.679 We make their debt become so big in our eyes that forgiving them seems impossible. 00:39:50.159 --> 00:39:57.360 This kind of hardening of our hearts can only be softened by being reminded of the forgiveness we've been shown. 00:39:57.679 --> 00:40:15.519 John Bunyan, in his book The Fear of God, says, If thou would be rid of a hard heart, that great enemy to the growth of the grace of fear, be much with Christ upon the cross in thy meditations, for that is an excellent remedy against hardness of heart. 00:40:15.760 --> 00:40:23.440 A right sight of him, as he hanged there for thy sins, will dissolve thy heart into tears, and make it soft and tender. 00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:29.440 They look, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn, Zechariah twelve ten. 00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:37.119 Now a soft, a tender, and a broken heart is a fit place for the grace of fear to thrive in. 00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:43.119 If I could, this whole sermon would just be bunion quotes, but I had to refrain. 00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:49.119 Be reminded of Christ's work for you on the cross when a hard heart begins to solidify in you. 00:40:49.360 --> 00:40:55.199 The air of this day's culture is to find things that offend us and then shun them out at all costs. 00:40:55.840 --> 00:41:05.599 When we do that, it's a fear of man that we're actually building up, because we dwell on what angers and hurts us most about humanity. 00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:11.760 But that's according to our standards more often than not, not God's standard. 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:14.719 The law of God still plays a role. 00:41:15.199 --> 00:41:21.840 The grace of fear that Bunyan is speaking of, though, in that quote, is of our right fear of God. 00:41:22.239 --> 00:41:25.119 The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. 00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:28.480 Fools despise that wisdom and instruction. 00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:30.719 Fear God and not man. 00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:35.599 Be reminded that their sin is not ultimately against you. 00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:38.079 Their sin is ultimately against God. 00:41:38.719 --> 00:41:40.960 Bring back to mind Psalm 51.4. 00:41:41.199 --> 00:41:42.239 We read it a moment ago. 00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:45.920 David said, Against you and you only have I sinned. 00:41:46.400 --> 00:41:49.760 That isn't to say we don't feel sin's effects in this world. 00:41:50.079 --> 00:41:50.719 We do. 00:41:51.280 --> 00:41:58.400 But the sin of others you experience is an offense ultimately to God's perfect law, not yours. 00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:11.280 So if it is his law that has been transgressed, then it is his right to tell us how we are to forgive others as sinners ourselves. 00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:14.079 Mark 11, twenty five. 00:42:14.719 --> 00:42:24.800 Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 00:42:25.840 --> 00:42:28.239 The Father sees the heart we have. 00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:40.079 So to sanctify us in our stubborn hearts, he has Christ command us to forgive others if there is anything we have against them with prayer, knowing justice is in his hands. 00:42:43.519 --> 00:42:51.199 This is especially necessary in those occasions where the people we need to forgive will not be people we can ever see again. 00:42:51.519 --> 00:43:03.440 Whether because of death, distance, or a danger that is hostile, we're still called to forgive them in our prayer as our starting point. 00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:12.000 The world would call this foolishness, but the wisdom of God uses it to sanctify us, to remind us of his grace toward us. 00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:17.920 The Prince of Peace has us do this, so his peace will reign in our hearts. 00:43:18.159 --> 00:43:23.119 If we're not willing to forgive others, why should we presume God's forgiveness to us? 00:43:23.440 --> 00:43:26.800 Was not our offense to him infinitely worse? 00:43:27.039 --> 00:43:34.800 Yet he offered his son so graciously, forgive so as to proclaim his forgiving you. 00:43:35.199 --> 00:43:43.599 Tell your heart to consider how infinitely greater a chasm there was between you and God than between you and someone else. 00:43:43.920 --> 00:43:49.360 He is holy, holy, holy, forgiving someone who is stained with sin. 00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:57.519 You and I don't have holy attached to our name, and neither does that person we're forgiving. 00:43:58.079 --> 00:43:59.760 This transformation of the heart. 00:44:00.639 --> 00:44:04.719