Word of Salvation – Vol.05 No.08 – February 1959

 

Forgive Us Our Debts

 

Sermon by Rev. W. B. den Brave on Lord’s Day 51

Scripture Reading: Psalm 51

Singing : 61:1,5; 384:1,2 after the law; 384:3 after announcement of grace

                        467 after Confession of Faith; 432; 420;6 after the sermon; 216

 

Translated by John Westendorp (with some help from Google J).

Translator’s note: early editions of ‘Word of Salvation’ still had some sermons in Dutch for the migrant communities that then made up the Reformed Churches of Australia.

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Prayer is something you must learn.  The disciples understood that well; they asked: “Lord, teach us to pray!”  Then the Lord taught them, and then it appears that the spiritual and the material are connected to each other.  For He teaches us to ask: give us this day our daily bread” but right after that and connected by the word “and”: “and forgive us our debts”.  So also the following petition: “And lead us not into temptation”.  The material and the spiritual things may not be separated from each other in our lives.

You cannot do without bread if you want to serve in the kingdom of God.
But what use is bread to you, though it be rich and plentiful, so that you are, humanly speaking, independent, if you do not have the forgiveness of sins?  Then you have nothing.

So in this prayer the decisive thing is prayed for.
“And forgive us our debts…!”

In this prayer lies, of course, the recognition: Lord, there is guilt in me.  The catechism even uses the weighty words: ‘the evil’.  This prayer rises from depths of guilt; and many here in our midst will know from experience that this prayer can become a cry out of tremendous need.  There will also be those in our midst today, who will immediately think back to that very dark hour, and that deeply miserable time in which these words were almost cried out in despair.

But whoever has REALLY prayed this, has also received the comfort of the grace of forgiveness.  For Jesus said: “Come to Me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  Confessed guilt is forgiven guilt.

If you then only see and acknowledge that guilt.  How easily we just skip over it!  And when we then speak of guilt, we are inclined to think especially of that one specific sin, in the one it’s this, in another that, but then still that sin, which according to your awareness, burdens you the most.  Every person knows such sins.  Often hidden sins!  And we would perhaps consider all our other sins light in comparison.

The question is, however: how does God see those sins?  It is not what we find bad or less bad that is decisive.  It is not our judgment that is important, but God’s judgment.

And God says that all our sins affect Him in His holiness, Our whole life is set in the light of His holiness.  Not just that one evil, that particular sin.  But, as the catechism teaches you: “…any of the sins we do or the evil that constantly clings to us.”

And then it becomes terrible, unimaginably bad.  You do not even have to have committed murder to be a murderer before God’s holy judgment, for whoever hates his brother is a murderer.  Who will go free?  The Lord Jesus says: whoever looks at a woman (only looks at her) with lustful intent has already committed adultery.

And so our whole life cannot stand before God.  We would like to weigh things: that great sin… that great guilt!  God will be angry about that!

We then prefer to point to someone else, and if we ourselves were spared from public sins, we think we have done pretty well.  Well, of course there are those little sins, those white lies; that careless gossip, and so on.  Is that so bad?

But when I read the catechism now, nothing good remains: “the evil that always clings to us.”  And there is no mention of the greatness or smallness of sin.

Of course it can be very possible that a person is in great need because of a certain sin in his life.  There can be things that interfere so deeply and have destroyed so much that there remains the pain for the whole of life.  That is the bitter deception that sin offers.  And of course you must then also thoroughly confess that specific sin before God.  That is what David did…!

But do not forget that this one sin cannot be separated from the whole of our sinful lives.

Every sin has a history.  It goes back so far, many generations back, so far, until you finally come to Adam.  There you have the beginning, of the wickedness that always clings to us.

That is the sin that must be forgiven us.  And that is also the guilt that you must confess and that is forgiven you.  If you will only bring that guilt before God’s Face.  And just as little as you can realize the depth and breadth of your DEBT, just so little can you fathom the greatness of God’s MERCY!  Here we can only worship, if we believe the miracle of His forgiveness!  And the more you realize your sin, which is a transgression against God, to that extent you will be all the more amazed at God’s forgiving mercy!  The Lord Jesus knew how terrible the guilt of fallen man was.  For He bore the full curse of God for it.  He suffered the entire horror of the desolation of hell.  And then the full measure of God’s mercy also became visible there, because there, on Golgotha, as our Substitute, He suffered and atoned for ALL the burden of our guilt.  That’s how great God’s mercy is.  So great the grace of His forgiveness of sins, that He made His Son pay for OUR sins.  As far as the West is from the East, so far has He, for the comfort of our souls, removed our guilt and sins!”

So far…!  Go to the West, you will never reach it!  Or travel to the East, the road does not end.  So far has He removed guilt!  So great is His mercy!  And as it is true that our guilt can make us ashamed and distraught, so too can God’s forgiveness of guilt make us so small and ashamed that we are almost crushed under it.  Therein lies God’s glory: so great, so merciful is He!  You can never understand that, you can only believe and that faith then becomes worship: Oh, if only all that is in me would praise Him!

And greater yet is the glory of God when you consider that though you must repent of your wrong, that repentance is not a condition and ground for the Lord’s forgiveness.

You don’t say, “Lord, forgive me, BECAUSE I am so sorry!  I am so sad about my sins!”  Anyone who would speak like that thinks he can offer God something that will soften Him towards us.  But repentance is also a gift of God’s grace.  And then it is never a sorrow about yourself.

I think; that is how Judas repented of his betrayal: he had disappointed himself; he had lost his self-respect.  But he had no sorrow towards God and he did not seek forgiveness because he (if I may say so) had disappointed Jesus so much, he, one of the twelve…!  He did not see that it is the worst thing, if you have grieved the Holy Spirit.  Had Judas seen that, he would not have fallen into the utmost despair, but would have fled with his guilt to Jesus like Peter, like other children of God, who also sinned so grievously.

Understand well, that a feeling of sorrow and regret for what was wrong and bad, is not yet the true repentance – which is sorrow BEFORE GOD.  So you can be guilty, even in the manner of your repentance.  It is awful, that even our tears can make us guilty before God.  Therefore we may approach Him only as poor, as creatures having nothing.  Then we stand there before Him, with nothing, empty-handed; not even our repentance can we give Him.  So poor are we.

But with this prayer we will become so rich.  You may then pray: forgive us our debts – with the promise: with Him there is forgiveness!  And forgiveness is the richest thing you can receive, because then everything becomes good again, and all other things you desire are, as it were, included in it.

The Lord forgives!  There is no telling what that means.  Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow!  What is more, they ARE no more when God forgives them.  He blots them out like a thick cloud.  For what God does, He does perfectly.  When He forgives, you are completely forgiven.

“The iniquity of Israel—it shall not be there, and the sins of Judah—they shall not be found, declares God, for I will forgive them!”

There are lives full of sins and iniquities, but when they go with their debts to Him who is merciful in Jesus Christ, He no longer sees those debts.

And so His forgiveness does not depend on our repentance.  The Lord first loved us; not when WE came to Him in repentance, but when we were yet SINNERS.  Our repentance is also a fruit of His grace.

That is why it is so bad, when someone does not show that repentance in his life.  Because then he does not show, that in his life is the fruit of God’s forgiveness.

And if someone does not have the forgiveness of his sins, what will that lead to?  God’s grace must be SEEN in your life!  In the sorrow for your sins, in your conversion and struggle.  Then lay your whole life, which is so sinful in itself, down at the feet of the Crucified One.  With Him is forgiveness!

And then understand what it means, when the Lord teaches us to pray: “Our debts”.  The plural form therefore…!

You are not alone with those debts.  For God does say in His Word, to each of us personally: “You are that man!” and “You are that woman!”  But still you are connected to others.  When you came to discernment, you also saw YOUR sins in your parents; you parents see your sins reflected in your children.  The consequences of sins are sometimes revealed to distant generations.  The misery of children can often be traced back to the sins of the parents.  Others follow your example!  We influence each other!  Sometimes fortunately, for good; but how often also for evil?

“Our debts” – we are not alone.  Sometimes there are family sins.  That is something terrible that sin brings: it binds people together and yet it is that same sin that separates them again and alienates them from each other.

There is a solidarity in the debt.  No one should say that the debt of his family, of the church, of society, does not concern him.  Because he is a part of the whole, and he also made his contribution to it.

One can easily enough accuse society and Christianity, the church and what not, of all sorts of evil; one can bring many accusations; and who would dare to say: there is no guilt?  How true it can often be.  But never forget that you are a member of that society, a member also of that church, and that you too bear your part in that great common guilt, which sin has made.

What did you do to improve things, if only by praying for the responsible leaders?  Do you pray for the rulers of the people?  Do you pray for your church council, your pastor?  As long as someone has not done that, surely the criticism must begin with himself….!  OUR debts….!

Thus we share in each other’s guilt, but also in each other’s salvation.  “Our Father, forgive us our debts,” say children, united in their common salvation from their common guilt.  So radically does God forgive.  So completely, that it is: “Just as if I had never had or committed sin.”  He does not count them against us, says the catechism.  For the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has reconciled everything.  The account has been paid.

And there God has the great purpose: to sanctify our lives.  He forgives us so that we too will be forgiving.  “For if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”  And that is the meaning of the words, which the Lord Jesus has us add to this prayer: as we forgive our trespasses.

You understand that these words do not mean that WE set our forgiveness before God as an example.  If that were so, then it would look bleak for us.  Because a forgiving attitude – the real one – is a rarity.  If there really has been something that has deeply hurt you and you have forgiven, then you know how easily something often “remains”.  “It is not like it used to be”, we then say.  So the broken community has not yet been fully restored.  Yes, that is difficult for us humans.

But fortunately, God does not forgive in this way.  For then heaven would remain closed.  The broken fellowship between God and us is restored.  He is so merciful: it will be “as before”.  The lost son who was found is taken back into the house; he gets the ring on his finger and the best robe to wear!

In this way WE are not an example to God.

Nor is our forgiving disposition a condition or a ground for pleading: “Lord, I did so, with much effort, but now I have certainly earned it that You will forgive me too!

You don’t read that anywhere in the Bible.  You do read this: “O Lord, forgive for Your own sake!”  And also: “For Your name’s sake, Lord, forgive my iniquity, for it is great!”

We are not God’s example.  But God is our example.  The grace that your sins are forgiven is inseparably connected with your forgiving disposition.

If you cannot say, “As we forgive,” then you should not ask, “Forgive us.”  For if you cannot forgive another, then it is clear that you do not know God’s forgiveness for yourself either.

For many, it is the most difficult thing there is.  Because it requires sacrifice.  And for many, that turns out to be very hard.  Even in small matters, you sometimes encounter such irreconcilability.  You sometimes encounter it: that “wanting to be right”, that “wanting to see it recognized that the right is on our side .”  Woe betide if someone has to step back a bit when he thinks that he has been offended in his personhood.

Yes, that is difficult.  The disciples of Jesus contended which of them was the greatest!  I think the angels in heaven would rejoice if there were a holy rivalry among God’s children to be the least to one another.  What a flourishing community life we would have then!  You see that at once when it is put into practice, for that also happens – in spite of Satan’s efforts to separate and divide.

What do you see come true: “where love dwells (and that also includes that attitude of forgiveness), the Lord commands the blessing.”

That happens, it can happen, if we only look at the unspeakable debts that the Lord forgives us.  When we look to God, who completely forgives all your sins.

It is possible, by God’s grace: “as we also forgive”.

Thus the Lord Himself teaches us to pray.
That we may be delivered from the bonds of hatred.
And that we may be delivered from our self-love.

Whoever does this, with self-denial, finds within himself the testimony of God’s grace that his whole purpose is to forgive his neighbour from the heart.

It is carefully formulated in the catechism: “…his intention”.

But by the power of God’s grace that purpose becomes a reality.
If you will but look to Jesus!
Who prayed for His enemies!

And thus God’s Name is glorified and your life saved, when you have learned to pray this prayer sincerely, taught by Jesus Himself.
And the answer is assured in Christ.
Already on earth you may know wonderful consolation – if you believe the forgiveness of sins,

“As far as the West is from the East, so far has He, for the comfort of our souls, removed our guilt and sin!”

For Jesus Christ has merited for us that we are allowed to say “Father…!”
We – sinners.  Lost sons and daughters – but found, …but saved.

Righteous people, raise your joyful voices!
It will be all right again, as before.
For the Lord forgives.
And His mercies have no end!

Amen.