"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE ABOUT FORGIVENESS"
Matthew 6:14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Matthew 6:15 “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
NKJV
Matthew 6:14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
Matthew 6:15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
NLT
Some explanatory thoughts and application:
1. These verses come out of a the sermon on the mount, and out of what we commonly call the Lord's prayer, or as some have said, perhaps, it ought to called the Disciple's Prayer, because Jesus was teaching the Disciples how to pray.
2. This part of the prayer, actually comes after the teaching on prayer. In other words, Jesus taught about how to pray, but, then He went back and added these extra thoughts about the subject of forgiveness, which He had already taught on earlier.
3. He is of course dealing with the subject of forgiveness, and making some very serious and sobering statements about it.
4. He puts two thoughts together here. One, if you forgive men, then your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you.
5. The word trespasses, means, an offense, a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness, a sin, misdeed. The word forgive means, to leave, let, forsake, let alone, to send away, to depart, yield up, to disregard, to give up, keep no longer.
6. Isn't it wonderful to know that God forgives us of our sins, and of our misdeeds. And, it's wonderful to know that He places such importance on our forgiving others. It's clear that He wants us to act towards others the way He has acted towards us.
7. It's very easy to go into asking all kinds of questions about what these verses mean. That is, they can be rather troubling to us. I won't go into that here, but, may I suggest that Jesus was not teaching us about this to stimulate all kinds of questions, rather, He was stating a truth about forgiveness, and He I'm certain would like us to just be forgivers. I think, that's the main point Be a forgiver just like He is a forgiver. Our God is a forgiving God, and He wants His children to show the same forgiveness to the rest of His children, and to others who may not even be His children.
A prayer:
Lord, Thank You for being a forgiving God. It's hard to imagine what it would be like to live without Your forgiveness. And, it's not to hard to know what it's like living with human beings, who do not apply what You are teaching us in these verses. May we take to heart Your Word, and by Your grace and power put into practice what You call us to do. Thank You for being the creator of the entire concept of forgiveness, it sure was not our idea, but Yours.
In Jesus name, amen.
Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia
