Forgive Us Our Debts

The point: Learn and cultivate consciousness of God as the supplier of all temporal needs, fostering dependence and gratitude.

Martin describes the 'blessed frustration' of having more to share than time allows, contrasting it with the 'awful experience' of having to fill time, illustrating his commitment to thorough exposition.

I was telling one of the folk in preparation for this morning's message, I started out hoping to cover the three petitions relative to our needs, and then as my preparation finalized, I gave up hope of covering all three, but I had notes prepared for the two and only got through the one.

0:32 - 0:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Die to the terrible itch for worldly security, finding security in being the object of God's concern.

He uses the pressure from insurance salesmen to secure the future as an example of the 'terrible itch for security' that believers must die to, contrasting it with the security of being the object of God's concern.

We want to see everything lined up for the next 40 years. If I tried to do what insurance men tell me I ought to do for my family, I'd have no bread on the table. They'd make you feel that if you didn't have things set so that if you died, your wife could move into the ritziest section of town and live happily ever after until the millennium, that you're just failing as a husband. And we've got to die to that pressure that's on us in our society, the crave for security.

3:48 - 4:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Die to the terrible itch for worldly security, finding security in being the object of God's concern.

A stock market crash is used to illustrate that worldly calamities cannot touch the security of God's fatherly concern to supply His children's needs, even if it means scantier quantities.

And even a stock market crash can't touch that, Bill. Can't touch that. Even if the stock market comes crashing down and everybody feels the world has come to an end, it doesn't change the father's concern for his children to supply bread. It may come a bit harder in a little scantier quantities, but the psalmist said, I have been young and I have been old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging.

4:23 - 4:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate the attitude of recognizing sin as debt and acknowledging absolute helplessness to pay it.

Quoting the hymn 'Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling,' illustrates the believer's inability to pay the debt of sin and sole reliance on Christ's atonement.

We are brought to that place where we consciously recognize that every sin has incurred a debt, in that we fail to do what God has required and are indebted in that sense. Our sin is a breach of God's justice and justice demands payment. And I come in the words of the hymn, even as a Christian. And I sing, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.

10:50 - 11:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate the attitude of recognizing sin as debt and acknowledging absolute helplessness to pay it.

Quoting 'Just as I am, without one plea...' illustrates the Christian's ongoing need to come to Christ for forgiveness, often more intelligently and frequently than before conversion, especially after failures.

I find I sing. I sing this other hymn far more intelligently and often as a Christian than I ever did in my unregenerate state, just as I am, without one plea. But that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. I sing that far more as a Christian than I ever thought of singing as an unsaved fellow.

11:30 - 11:52 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third acknowledgment is God's willingness and eagerness to forgive the debts of His erring children, as evidenced by Jesus teaching us to pray for it and illustrated…

He uses the example of praying for a meteorite in his backyard to illustrate that one cannot pray in faith for something not known to be God's will.

And if we know that He hears us, we know we have the petition we desired of Him. Now I can't pray. I can't pray in faith that God will send a meteorite down in my backyard simply because I have an interest in meteorites and would like to pick one over. How can I pray in faith for that?

13:27 - 13:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third acknowledgment is God's willingness and eagerness to forgive the debts of His erring children, as evidenced by Jesus teaching us to pray for it and illustrated…

He uses the example of praying for the sun to stand still (like in Joshua's battle) to illustrate that prayer is not for satisfying curiosity but for discerning and aligning with God's will.

I can't do it because I have no grounds to believe that that's the will of God. I can't pray just to satisfy some curiosity of mine that God will make the sun stand still or make the world stand still to be more technical as He did there in the battle of Joshua simply because I'd like to know what it was like. No. But if I am in a situation where I'm in a situation where I'm in a situation where I'm in a situation where I'm in a situation where I'm in a situation where I'm in a situation in the purpose and plan of God where even a mountain needs to be removed in the will of God, Jesus said, Fa...

13:44 - 14:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Learn to pray according to the Lord's pattern to avoid wallowing in guilt, believing God is ready to forgive.

Quoting 'Could my tears forever flow, could my zeal no longer know these, for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone,' illustrates that human efforts cannot atone for sin, only God can save.

Why? We can't believe that God is ready to forgive. We somehow feel that we have to groan and moan for a few months to atone for our sin. No, dear ones, could my tears forever flow, could my zeal no longer know these, for sin could not atone.

16:41 - 16:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Learn to pray according to the Lord's pattern to avoid wallowing in guilt, believing God is ready to forgive.

The extended narrative of King David's adultery, murder, and subsequent confession to Nathan (2 Samuel 12) is used as the most precious example of God's immediate and eager willingness to forgive His erring children upon sincere confession.

And one of the most precious examples of this that I know in all of the Bible is that passage in 2 Samuel in the life of King David.

17:16 - 17:25 Read in full sermon

Driving home: In an instant. That's grace, beloved. Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Martin uses the anthropomorphic image of God 'leaning out over the battlements of glory' and 'straining his ear' for a year, longing for David's confession, to vividly convey God's intense desire and readiness to forgive His children.

But God in mercy sent his prophet to restore his erring child. And I can picture God for a whole year. Again, this is only a human figure. I can picture, I can picture God leaning out over the battlements of glory and looking down upon his child and oh how he longed to reveal himself again to his child.

19:35 - 19:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not dare to come into God's presence asking for favors before confessing debts incurred by failing to keep His precepts.

Martin shares a personal anecdote of his son immediately confessing misbehavior upon his return home, illustrating the natural consciousness of offense in a healthy father-son relationship and projecting it upward to our relationship with God.

This has to do with the home. And even if we didn't understand this from the Bible, just good plain old horse sense would tell you you can't get on your knees and look up into the face of a God whom you know you've offended any more than my son can look up into my face when he knows he's done something that's been contrary to my wish and to my will. In fact, this is one of the most convicting things to me as a father. I'd like to give a fresh example of this.

27:52 - 28:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not dare to come into God's presence asking for favors before confessing debts incurred by failing to keep His precepts.

He uses the analogy of a 'brazen brat' who defies his father's wishes and then dares to seek favors with a sweet smile, to illustrate the unacceptability of believers approaching God for favors without first confessing their sins.

They weren't even aware of it. And this smote his conscience. And when he saw his daddy, he couldn't come pop up into my arms or up into my lap till first of all, he said, Daddy, you see, that consciousness that's cultivated in a normal, healthy father-son relationship is projected upward in our relationship to God. It'd be nothing but a brazen brat who would openly defy his father's regulations and wishes and then dare to come up with a sweet little smile and pop up on his daddy's knee as though nothing ever happened.

28:50 - 29:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate a greater sensitivity to sin and recognize that justice demands payment for every violation of God's precepts.

Martin recalls his own experience as a young Christian trying to 'roll up my sleeves and determine to pass out a few more tracts' to compensate for sin, illustrating the common but mistaken human tendency to try and pay off spiritual debt through good works.

Then I must recognize the second principle that I can't pay that debt. I can remember as a young Christian when I'd fail the Lord, I'd roll up my sleeves and determine to pass out a few more tracts the next day. You don't do that, do you? You know what I'm talking about?

35:37 - 35:56 Read in full sermon