DISCOURSE: 1316
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Matthew 6:12. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
THE petitions of men to the Supreme Being will be presented in a different order, according to the general state of their minds, or according to the particular circumstances in which they are placed. A person just awakened to a sense of his guilt and danger, would most probably assign the first place in his petitions to that which, at such a season, would press most forcibly upon his mind—the obtaining of reconciliation with an offended God. But when he has obtained peace with God, and is enabled to come to him as a child unto his father, his slavish fear gives way to an ingenuous concern for his father’s honour, and his own personal safety occupies a less prominent situation in his prayers. Not that he is less interested in the welfare of his soul than before; but he is more interested in other concerns, which, at the first, had no place in his thoughts. Accordingly we find, in that form of prayer which our Lord himself has prescribed as the most perfect, this order is observed. The devout soul is first led to express its concern for the universal establishment of the Redeemer’s kingdom; and then, after one petition for the preservation of its existence in the body, it is taught to implore the pardon of all its multiplied transgressions. This is the portion of that prayer which we are at this time to consider: and in it we shall notice,
I. The petition itself—
To pray for the forgiveness of our sins is,
1. Universally necessary—
[Sins are here spoken of under the notion of debts: for as by the preceptive part of the law we are bound to obedience, so by the sanctions of the law there is laid upon us an obligation to suffer punishment in case of disobedience. Our sins therefore are debts which we owe to divine justice for our violations of the laws of God. And who is there among the children of men that has not many debts to be forgiven? That there is a great difference between different persons in respect to the guilt they have contracted, we readily acknowledge; but “there is no man that liveth and sinneth not:” “in many things we all offend:” “if any say that they have not sinned, they make God a liar, and his word is not in them:” for his testimony respecting the whole race of mankind is, that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;” and, consequently, that “every mouth must be stopped, and all the world become guilty before him.”
What then must be done? Can any one discharge his own debt? If any will attempt it, what method will he pursue? If he will obey the law in future, that will no more satisfy its demands for past disobedience than the ceasing to increase a debt will discharge a debt that is already contracted. If he will endeavour to atone for his sins by tears of penitence, rivers of tears will never suffice to wash away one sin. There is but one possible remedy remaining for him; and that is, to cast himself upon the mercy of God, and to implore forgiveness for the Redeemer’s sake. In this respect all are upon a level: whether our sins have been greater or less, this is the only way in which we can return to God with any hope of acceptance. The proud self-justifying Pharisee will be dismissed with abhorrence; and those only who come in the spirit of the self-abasing publican will obtain mercy at his hands.
There are two sorts of persons indeed, who are apt to indulge very erroneous conceptions on this subject: some suppose that they are so completely justified as not to need any renewed applications for pardon: and others, that they are so perfectly sanctified as not to have any fresh occasion for pardon. But as David, after God by Nathan had sealed his pardon, still implored mercy at the hands of God [Note: Compare 2 Samuel 12:13. with Psalms 51.], so must we; and they who fancy themselves living in a sinless state, are proud deceivers of their own souls [Note: 1 John 1:8; James 3:2.]. There is not a day or an hour in which any human being has not just occasion to offer the petition in our text; the corruption of his nature, the transgressions of his former life, and the imperfections of his very best services, all require it of him [Note: See John 13:10. As they who have walked in a bath yet need to wash their feet on account of the defilement contracted in coming from it, so, &c.]
2. Infinitely important—
[Consider the state of a man whose iniquities are not forgiven; God, the Almighty God, is his enemy [Note: Psalms 7:11-13.] — — — He is every moment in danger of dropping into hell [Note: Luke 12:20.] — — — He neither has, nor can have, any solid peace in his mind [Note: Isaiah 57:20-21.] — — — He lives but to aggravate his guilt, and augment his condemnation [Note: Romans 2:5.] — — — Can any one reflect on this, and not see the importance of urging the petition in our text? The only wonder is, that any person in an unforgiven state can close his eyes in sleep, or give attention to any of the concerns of time or sense, till he has implored mercy at the hands of his offended God.]
But whilst the general importance of this petition is obvious, there certainly is some obscurity in,
II.
The limitation or condition annexed to it—
To understand this part of the Lord’s Prayer aright, we must compare the expressions as recorded by St. Luke, with those which are used in the text. St. Luke says, “Forgive us, for we forgive others [Note: Luke 11:4.]:” but in the text we pray, “Forgive us, as we forgive others.” Now we cannot doubt but that both the Evangelists have given the prayer with accuracy, so far at least as not to comprehend in it any thing which was not intended by our Lord. We, therefore, shall take the petition in both views, and consider it as importing,
1. A profession of our readiness to forgive others—
[This is a frame of mind which God requires in all who come to him for mercy; and he warns us not to expect mercy at his hands whilst we are indisposed to exercise it towards others [Note: James 2:13.]. Such is the explanation which our Lord himself gives of his own words [Note: ver. 14, 15.]: and, taken in this sense, they are a kind of plea with God to grant us our desire, and an encouragement to ourselves to expect it. The duty of forgiving others being imposed upon us as a condition, without the performance of which God will not forgive us, a consciousness of having performed the duty emboldens us to ask forgiveness at his hands. Moreover, whilst we thus appeal to God respecting our endeavours to obey his commandments, we do in effect acknowledge the agency of his Spirit, and the efficacy of his grace; without which we should have neither the ability nor inclination to fulfil his will [Note: Philippians 2:13.]. In this view then it is also encouraging; for, if God has already bestowed his grace upon us, and we have a clear evidence of it by its operation on our hearts and lives, we may reasonably hope, that he will yet further extend his mercy to us in the pardon of all our sins: we may regard his past favours as a pledge and earnest of others yet to come, and especially of those which our souls most need, and which he himself is most ready to bestow.]
2. A consent that the mercy we shew to others should be made the pattern of God’s mercy to us—
[We cannot with propriety request, that the forgiveness which we exercise towards others may be the measure of that which we would receive from God; (because every thing we do is so extremely imperfect:) but the pattern it may and ought to be. Of course, as in the former case, when we speak of a condition, we are not to be understood as if there were any thing meritorious in forgiving others, or as if God bargained with us, as it were, and bartered away his mercies: so, in the present case, we are not to be understood as if there were, or could be, any thing in us that was worthy of God’s imitation. There is a sense in which we are to be “pure, as God is pure,” and “perfect, as he is perfect:” and, in a similar sense, though not with equal strictness, we may beg of God to forgive us our offences, as we forgive our offending fellow-creatures; that is, freely, fully, cordially, and for ever.
True it is that, in offering this petition, we need to speak “with fear and trembling;” lest there be in our hearts any root of bitterness unperceived by us, and lest, when praying for forgiveness, we do in effect pray, that we be not forgiven. And, that no doubt may exist respecting our sincerity in forgiving others, we ought to be rendering good for evil, and “heaping thereby coals of fire on the heads” of our enemies, to melt them into love. Then may we use this petition with safety, with confidence, and with comfort.]
From this view of our subject, we learn,
1.
The temper of a Christian—
[Knowing that his own debt to God is ten thousand talents, and that his fellow-creature can at the utmost owe to him only a few pence, the Christian dares not take him by the throat unmercifully, lest God should retaliate on him, and require at his hands the debt, which the whole universe could never pay. Freely has he received remission; and freely does he grant it, even to those who may have injured him in the highest degree. All bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, are put away from him, with all malice: and he is kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving towards others, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven him [Note: Ephesians 4:31-32.].
Let us examine then whether this be indeed our character: let us search whether our mode of speaking of others, and of acting towards them, accord with it: for, if we bring our gift to the altar with an unforgiving spirit, God bids us to “go our way,” and not presume to expect any tokens of his favour, till the most perfect reconciliation has been sought with our offending or offended brother [Note: Matthew 5:23-24 and especially 18:35.]
2. The privilege of a Christian—
[Here God permits, encourages, commands us to ask of him the free and full pardon of all our sins. No consideration whatever is had to the number or greatness of them: the command is given to every human being; and the fullest possible assurance, that none shall ask in vain [Note: Matthew 7:7-8; Isaiah 1:18.].
Some however have thought, that, because no mention is here made of Christ and his atonement, we need not to have respect to him in our addresses at the throne of grace. But we must remember, that our Lord had not yet declared the whole of what he was come to reveal. This sermon was delivered quite at the commencement of his ministry, and before the minds of his followers were sufficiently prepared for the clearer manifestation of divine truth. What therefore he afterwards declared respecting the intent of his death and resurrection, must direct us in our use of this prayer. He has told us, that he “shed his blood for the remission of sins;” and that we must present our petitions to God in his name; consequently we must have respect to the merit of his blood, and to the efficacy of his intercession, whenever we approach our God, whether in the use of this prayer, or of any other, which we may think suited to our state. If the consideration of an atonement seem to detract from the freeness of the pardon, St. Paul saw no ground whatever for such an objection [Note: Romans 3:24.].
Be it known then to all, that a way of access unto the Father is opened to us through the crucifixion of the Son of God; and that, if only we ask forgiveness in the Redeemer’s name, our iniquities, whatever they may have been, shall be “blotted out as a morning cloud,” and be irrecoverably “cast into the depths of the sea.”]