Sermon Tone Analysis

*Forgiveness.*

Let us pray the prayer that Jesus taught: (I know that you all will tend to say the KJV but so we all say the same, let’s do it as on the screen *[P]* [*Matthew 6:9-13* /Our Father who is 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 do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen/.]

That is taken from Matthew 6:6-13 in the NASB, Jesus goes on to say: [*Matthew 6:14-15* /For// if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions/.]

*[P]*

*Forgiveness is foundational:* Forgiveness is fundamental – you can see Jesus made a big deal of it.

In fact our relationship with God is dependent upon it.

*[P]* We are related to God through a covenant – we have just remembered that in the communion we have shared.

When Jesus shared that Passover with His disciples this is what He said when they drank the wine: [*Matthew 26:28* /for this is My blood of //the covenant//, which is poured out for many //for forgiveness of sins//./]

Jesus established a covenant in His blood – for what purpose?

– for the forgiveness of sins.

Covenant is the basis of all relationship with God and the new covenant is a covenant of forgiveness: Jeremiah foretold this new covenant: [*Jeremiah 31:34* /“They will not teach again, each man his neighbour and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know יְהוָה,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares יְהוָה, “for //I will forgive their iniquity//, and //their sin I will remember no more//.”/]

It is spoken of in: [*Romans 11:27* /This is //My covenant// with them, when I take away their sins//./]

and in: [*Hebrews 10:16-18* /This is the //covenant// that I will make with them after those days, says יְהוָה: I will put My laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them,” He then says, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more//.”

Now where there is forgiveness //of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin./]

We could not come before God without first being forgiven our sins.

Forgiveness is foundational to the covenant we have with God, the basis of the whole of the way we relate to God. [*Ephesians 1:7*/ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace/].

Forgiveness is a wonderful thing!

Isn’t it wonderful to have your sin forgiven, for the debt to be paid, for the burden to be gone?! [*Psalm 32:1-5* /How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!

How blessed is the man to whom יְהוָה does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to יְהוָה”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin./]

Hallelujah!

This was the Good News that Jesus said to proclaim in all the world: [*Luke 24:47* /that //repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed //in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem./]

(Not sombre “good news” but fantastic news!)

And that is what the early church preached: [*Acts 2:38* /Peter said to them, “Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus //Christ for the forgiveness of your sins//; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit./]

It was a message of faith in Jesus, faith that resulted in forgiveness: [*Acts 10:43* /Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins./].* *

*Forgiveness is conditional:* Forgiveness is the heart of the Gospel message it is foundational; but as we saw from Jesus’ teaching this forgiveness is conditional *[P]* We prayed it: “/forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors/.”

– we have already forgiven them first.

[*Matthew 6:14-15* /For// *if* you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But *if* you do not forgive others, *then* your Father will not forgive your transgressions/.]

Our forgiveness which is absolutely foundational is completely dependent upon us forgiving others.

If we don’t forgive others, we won’t be forgiven!

That is scary stuff!

I remember a fellowship I attended and there was a woman, an elder’s wife, who had attended the fellowship from its very inception – she sang up the front, a pillar of the church – but the pianist had offended her somehow, he had sought to resolve the issue – but she wouldn’t let it go – she bore a grudge.

It’s scary – I feared for her salvation!

God says I will cancel your debt, if you will cancel the debt that others owe you.

We have been forgiven so much!

[*1 John 4:11* /Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another/.]

What we have to forgive is so little in comparison [*Colossians 3:13* /bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you/.]

*A forgiving God:* I said that forgiveness is foundational, it is essential.

If there is no forgiveness we are done for!

[*Psalm 130:3-4* /If// You, יְהוָה, should mark iniquities, O יְהוָה, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared/.]

But, praise His Name, God is a forgiving God *[P]*.

There is forgiveness with Him! Hallelujah!

When יְהוָה revealed Himself to Moses by His Name, let him see a portion of His glory – Moses was hidden in cleft in the rock and יְהוָה passed by – this was the revelation of יְהוָה Himself! [*Exodus 34:6-7* /Then יְהוָה passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “יְהוָה, יְהוָה God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness and truth; who keeps loving-kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations/.]

Forgiveness is inherent in יְהוָה’s Name, His very character, part of who He is.

When I started looking at this I was overwhelmed with all the references to this!

It is a massive topic!

Here is just a sample, a mere scratching of the surface:[*Nehemiah 9:17* /They refused to listen, and did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; so they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.

//But You are a God of forgiveness//, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness; and You did not forsake them./]

A wonderful psalm of forgiveness: [*Psalm 103:1-4* /Bless יְהוָה, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless יְהוָה, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with loving-kindness and compassion/; *Psalm 103:10-12* /He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving-kindness toward those who fear Him.

//As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us./ *Psalm 65:3* /Iniquities prevail against me; as for our transgressions, You forgive them./

*Psalm 86:5* /For// You, יְהוָה, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in loving-kindness to all who call upon You./]

We have a forgiving God! Bless His Name! [*Jeremiah 33:8* /‘I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me./]

The verse after the one on the wall behind me:/ /[*Isaiah 55:7* /Let// the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to יְהוָה, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for //He will abundantly pardon//./

*Isaiah 43:25* /I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins./

*Isaiah 44:22* /“I have //wiped out your transgressions// like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist.

Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”/

*Isaiah 38:17*/ it is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back./

*Daniel 9:9*/ To יְהוָה our God belong compassion and forgiveness//, for we have rebelled against Him/; *Micah 7:18* /Who is a God like You, who //pardons iniquity// and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?

He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love./]

Over and over again the Scriptures tell us that we have a forgiving God.

*Forgiveness is not trivial* He is so ready to forgive – that the trouble is we can be in danger of presuming upon it, regarding it lightly.

“It doesn’t matter, God will forgive.”

“Just say sorry and God will forgive.”

The danger is that sin is trivialized.

And forgiveness is not trivial!

*[P]* Forgiveness is a serious and weighty matter – it is not trivial, something we brush aside, say sorry and carry on as before.

Forgiveness is not trivial because the crime is not trivial.

The fact is: that God made us, made us for Himself, with the purpose that we glorify Him – but we have all fallen short of that glory.

We are His, we exist for Him.

But every single one of us, like sheep has gone astray, every one has turned to their own way.

We have gone our own way, lived our life as if it were our own, not His!

This is rebellion – it came as a revelation to me one day reading [Deut 21:18-21] that the penalty for a rebellious son was stoning to death.

And it hit me!

I was a rebellious son!

I knew that!

Suddenly the Holy Spirit hit home to me through His Word that I was deserving of the death penalty!

I had committed an awful crime!

And that is true for every son of Adam – we are all rebels, and the wages of our sin is death.

That is what we owe.

We have taken our life for ourself, lived independently of God.

We are in debt to God, we owe our life!

– a life that is now corrupted and cannot be paid back.

We owe a debt to God and we cannot pay!

We need to realize the gravity of sin, the seriousness of our situation; forgiveness is our only hope having that debt forgiven.

The psalmist appreciated the situation: [*Psalm 25:11* /For Your name’s sake, O יְהוָה, pardon my iniquity, for it is great!/]

*Forgiveness is costly* Forgiveness is not facile – it is not “forgive and forget”.

Forgiveness is not trivial because the debt is not trivial.