We're turning once again to Matthew chapter 5 and as we do so we will consider the next petition of the Lord's Prayer which is and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Although this is the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer it is the second petition that relates to our individual needs. And this petition relates to the need, the very personal need of our souls. Now I know that there is huge emphasis upon the body. The body needs to be fed with proper food. The body needs to be exercised. Huge amounts of money are spent on the body. And don't get me wrong. God has given us our bodies to look after. He wants us to look well. But if we put the body before the soul, then the body becomes an idol. And for many, many people, the body, the health of the body, the well-being of the body, the appearance of the body has become an idol. So much time, so much expense, so much effort spent upon the body and no time spent upon the soul. And the soul is more important than the body. Throughout the Lord's Prayer Christ has been teaching us this. Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Constantly the emphasis upon the soul, our relationship with God. How we should honour God, how we should glorify God. There's nothing more important than this. And the reason why we need our daily bread in order to live is that we should use our body for the glorifying of God. Because what is the body? The body is the home, the residence of the soul. and the body will die and the body will perish but the soul will live on and therefore there's nothing more important than the soul. The soul is the most precious possession that any of us have. We're only here for a little while and what we do with the time that we have here on earth will determine our eternities and what does the soul require more than anything else? What does your soul need? What does my soul need? It is forgiveness. Therefore we are taught to pray and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. So let's look at this subject of forgiveness. Let's think about the problem. Sin is here recorded as a debt. We owe God a debt. What is the debt that we owe God? It is perfect obedience to his law. God requires obedience to his law. Perfect obedience. Flawless obedience. And this is a debt that we cannot pay. It is the worst kind of debt because of the person we have robbed. We have robbed God. He is our creator. He owns us. He has possession over us. He has determined the length of our days. He is in charge of us. We owe God this debt and yet this debt is multiplied. Sin upon sin. Transgressing the law over and over and over again from the moment we were born. We sinned. We have kept sinning. We have continued to sin. Not only this but it is a recorded debt. We are told that on the day of judgement there will be books opened and the things that Sinners have committed against God will be recorded so God records every sin. There will be that accounting day whenever every one of us will give an account of ourselves unto God. So this is serious business to owe God a debt. To be an accountable creature who has broken his law and to be standing before him should make us tremble. That is the problem. Let's also look at the prayer. And so what must we do? We must confess our sins to God. And the sinner needs to pray this prayer of confession. We are told in 1 John 1 verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Sin is an offence to God. Therefore we must ask God to take the offence away. Over and over in the scriptures we read about people asking God for this forgiveness. Job asked for his iniquity to be removed, Job 7, 21. The psalmist asked for his sin to be covered, Psalm 85, verse 2. Isaiah talked about the God who blots out our transgressions, Isaiah 43, 25. Micah talked about the God who put all of our sins into the depths of the sea, Micah 7, 19. And the psalmist, in Psalm 103, verse 12, talked about our sins being put away as far as the east is from the west. Only God can comprehensively deal with the sin problem and therefore we must come to Him and ask for forgiveness. But let's also think about the payment. Where you have a problem and that problem involves a debt, well the debt can only be resolved whenever a payment has been made. Salvation is talked about as being a ransom or a redemption. The word ransom, that is a payment. Redemption is a word that implies payment, which teaches payment. And if we are to be forgiven by God, we must have our debts paid for. And how is the debt of our sin paid for? It is paid for through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's what Calvary was all about. Our sin was transferred to Christ. Our sins were imputed to Him. They were placed to His account. He suffered the guilt of our sins in order that His righteousness might come to us. That's why the Bible says without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Therefore we must come to God on the grounds of Calvary and the grounds of the precious blood of Jesus Christ and we must ask him for forgiveness. Let's also think about the peace. Whenever we are pardoned, we have peace. God will remember our sins no more. Jeremiah 31-34 says, we are justified by his blood according to Romans chapter 5 verse 9. The conscience is pacified to stare into death and beyond death to the day of judgement with a clear conscience. To be sure of heaven. To be able to come before God with boldness. To be able to pray and knowing that God is listening to us. To know that we have the love of God in our hearts. The Bible says in 1 John chapter 4 verse 18, There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment. What a tormenting, horrible, awful thing fear is! To fear death, to fear judgment, to fear hell, to have no hope in this world. What a dreadful thing! But whenever God's love comes into our hearts, there is peace. The fear is removed. Let us also think about the performance here. We are taught by this that not only do we need our debts cancelled, but we need to forgive our debtors as well. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And so the person who has been forgiven, that person should have a characteristic and that characteristic should be that he should want to be a forgiving man, she should want to be a forgiving woman. There is a characteristic that flows from forgiveness. Whenever we are forgiven we should have that desire to forgive others. Now forgiveness doesn't mean that we turn a blind eye to sin. Sin still needs to be repented of. Where people do wrongs they need to put right what they have done wrong. The person as a Christian should never hold that bitterness, should never hold that grudge, should never want to get even, should never be consumed with a bitterness and a rage towards the person that has done them wrong. A person rather should have a heart of compassion because God is at a heart of compassion towards us. So let me ask you today, are you truly forgiven? Has your life been changed, transformed by the forgiveness of God? Is your sins covered by the precious blood of Christ because that revolutionizes a life and it also transforms an eternity and it puts the soul right before God. So listen to these words and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.