Let's listen to the words of the Lord from Matthew 6. I'm going to listen to the whole chapter. Because the prayer that we are focusing on tonight is In verse 12, and forgive us our sins, as we also forgive our sinners. Whereupon we pray in verse 14 and 15, because if you forgive the people their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive the people their transgressions, your Father will not forgive your transgressions either. Let us now listen to the words of the Lord. Beware that you do not show your love to the people to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. When you show your love, do not play a trumpet for them, as the enemies do in the synagogues and on the streets, that they can be honoured by people. For what I say to you, their reward is gone. But you, if you show love, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your love can be hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden, He will reveal it to you in public. And when you pray, do not be like the enemies, because they love to stand in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets and pray to be seen by these people, for which I say to you that they have a way out. But you, when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray for your father who is in hiding. And your father who is in hiding will see you, and will publicly forgive you. And if you pray, do not use an idyllic repetition of words like the Jews. Because they think that they will be replaced by many words. Do not become like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. So you must pray, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy 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 forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For unto thee belongs the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their transgressions, your Father in heaven will forgive you also. But if ye do not forgive men their transgressions, your Father in heaven will not forgive you also. And when you catch them, don't make long faces like the enemies do. Because they make their faces so that it can be seen by the people that they are catching. For what I say to you, they are on their way. But you, if you catch them, wash your face so that you don't let the people see that you are catching them. But your father who is in hiding, and your father who sees you in hiding, will reveal you in public. Do not make for yourselves treasures on the earth, where mud and rust are new and where thieves break in and steal. But make for yourselves treasures in heaven, where no mud or rust is new and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, your heart will be. The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is right, your whole body will be for light. But if your eye is wrong, your whole body will be dark. If the light is in the darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve two lords. For either he will hate one and love the other, or he will hate one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. That is why I say to you, do not complain about your life, about what you will eat and what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is life no more if the food is in the body as clothes? Look at the birds of heaven, they do not sow, they do not mow, they do not bring together and do not cut, and yet they feed their heavenly fathers. Are they not worth much more than they are not? Who among you can therefore blame one eagle for its length? And what do you blame for clothing? Look at the animals of the field, how they grow, how they work, and how they spin. And I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of them. If God then throws the grass of the field that is there today and tomorrow into a corner, so covered, how much more is too little for you little believers? Therefore you must not complain and say, what will we eat, what will we drink, what will attract us? Because after all these things, look for the inheritance. Because your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But first look for the kingdom of God and His justice and all these things will be added to you. Do not complain about it, do not worry. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Sunday 51, then we have the declaration of the 5th prayer. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. That is, count us poor sinners all our crimes, as well as the evil that still haunts us, for the sake of the blood of Christ, not then. We pray for you, because we find this proof of your grace in you, that we have the earnest intention to forgive our neighbors from the bottom of our hearts. Nine years ago, Paul Washer, at a commemoration, during the gathering of men who were studying at the Master's Seminary, he started his commemoration as follows. As a matter of fact, as I look out over you, my greatest fear for you is that you will not become men of prayer. And if that is the case, then everything that you learned is lost. Dear community, dear Diamant Valley, may the Lord grant that we will be a community of prayer. May the Lord raise men from prayer, whose knees are already hard, from all the honor they have brought in prayer. May the Lord give us women who do not pass a day, not even a morning, that they do not bring into prayer. May the Lord give parents who pray for their children, for their salvation, for their preservation, for their sanctification. May the Lord give the following generations, who know God from childhood, enjoy God, and call upon Him as our Father, who is in heaven. May the Lord move us, not only to say easily to others, I will pray for you, not only that our righteousness will do this, but a joint prayer, will become a normal and glorious part of us together as friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord. May the Lord grant that the things that the diamond of life teaches and the things that we do will not be in vain, because we also do not pray. Even more so, may the Lord grant that that our prayers will not only have a flat and superficial content, but that in the content of our prayers there will also be obedience to our Master, to the Messiah, to Jesus Christ. May our prayer be about our Father. Our God is our Father. Pray for us about how forgiving He is as the God who is in heaven. May we pray for his holy name. May we pray for his kingdom that is to come. May we pray for his will that must happen in heaven and on earth. May we pray every day for our daily bread. May we ask for forgiveness of our sins. May we forgive our sinners. May we depend on him for the redemption of all evil. Yes. Just think, community, how wonderful it is when the Spirit moves a community to constantly pray like this. When the Spirit moves someone's soul to carry out his life in prayer like this. How lovely that Christ Jesus Christ, the Church, through prayer, also frees from the bonds, That life is about the individual. When Christ is praying for her teaching. Our Father, give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive our sinners. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. This is not an individualistic belief. And also how holy it is when the Holy Spirit renews Christian thoughts, that they call out souls. Not I, O Lord, but You. And not us, O Lord, but You. You are in heaven. Your name is the name that is to be sanctified. Your kingdom is the kingdom that is to come. Your will is the will that is to happen. It is you, hand, that gives the daily bread. It is the deepest you that gives forgiveness. It is you that delivers from the evil. Yes, and you belong to the kingdom, the power and the holiness for eternity. Communities, see what Christ teaches us here. See us. That Christ, through His Spirit, strengthens the sinner to pray in such a way. What a precious treasure it is for the soul that calls to the Lord in such a way. What a rich source of peace and contentment. Because here it is. Here it is. Here is the Christian life. This is where it is all intertwined. The soul that prays in this way is a soul in which the will and the mighty hand of God the Holy Spirit is renewed and bent in a new direction. And now we have to ask ourselves, do we have that love? Community, do you also have this precious treasure? Does your soul experience the joy and satisfaction that is in this prayer? And if not, do you taste it? And if you do, do you taste to have it even more? Oh, dear community, dear thirsty soul. God gives all these treasures and gifts to enjoy, but He just gives it in His Son. You will not find it at another place. You will not find it at another one. And so you really have to hear in this corner, the cry To you, come to Christ. And the shouts come to the unbelievers and to the believers. It's not that the unbeliever should come to Christ, it's the believer that is called again and again. Come, come to Christ. Run to Him. He is the one who needs your soul. 1 Peter 2, verses 4-5. Come to Him. Him, in this part, is Jesus Christ. Come to Him. Come to Christ. Come to the messiahs. Come to your Lord. Come to your master. Come to the bridegroom. Come to Him. The living stone that has been cast by the people, but is available to God and is precious. And let you also, like living stones, build a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to bring spiritual sacrifices that are beneficial to God. by Jesus Christ. May it be that the Holy Spirit has already begun a good work in you. Yes, like a warrior who conquers a fortified city, may it be that the Holy Spirit has already unleashed his attack on you, that he has already broken the gates to your soul, that he has taken your heart, that there is now a new master, What happens then in such a soul? The shocked one realizes that all the tricks you can use to protect yourself from sin are totally invalid. Even more, there is a total resistance to try to protect yourself from sin. Yes. When God the Holy Spirit works so in the soul, then He works in that soul, so that He will call Him less and less to humiliating circumstances. Then comes a realization, which the foundations of your heart let shake. And that is, I am a sinner. I have sinned. I have transgressions. Because what does our Lord teach us to pray in Matthew 6 verse 12? And forgive us our sins. This is not an attempt to humiliate it. This is not an attempt to glorify it. This is what happened and therefore glorify me for what I did. This is a recognition. I sinned. I have transgressed, and my disobedience will make me guilty of the Lord." Luke 11, verse 4, the parallel of this part in what Matthew says, and it is said, And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive those who are guilty of us. The 2 verses are a bit later in Matthew 6, because if you forgive the people their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive the people their transgressions, your Father will not forgive your transgressions. Guilt, sinners, sins, transgressions. You get the same in Matthew 11, the parallel of Matthew 6, verses 14-15. But believe me, it's not always like that. When the spirit, the foundations of a soul, starts to shake its heart, it's not just the realization that I have sinned, and I can't talk it away, I can't hide it, I am a transgressor. There is also the recognition of who I have sinned against. Some of the realization of guilt comes from the recognition of who I am most guilty of. You see, it starts with, I have transgressed against a human being, at times, not in all cases, but at times it starts with, I have transgressed against a human being, but it doesn't stop there. If in my transgression, my sin, I have transgressed the law of God, then in every sin I have committed, I am most guilty before the Lord." We see this in Psalm 51, verses 1-6. What an impressive Psalm! Here you have the King of Israel, What a terrible sin he has committed. He has committed murder, he has committed adultery, he has committed a terrible sin. And when the Lord confronts him with his sin, when a true repentance comes, then he goes and writes a psalm. Which he begins with the introduction, a psalm of David, which came to the prophet Nathanael after he went to Bathsheba. This is not an attempt to smear it. In effect, he teaches the people, sing this psalm. Here is my prayer for the Lord, and I give it to the religious community. Sing this. But he writes in the introduction, his sins against people. You can go back to the history, you can read how he went to Batsheba, you can read how he murdered Batsheba's wife and her husband, Uriah. So it is not a denial of the sin against the people, against Batsheba and her husband. But what did he say in verse 6? I have sinned against thee alone, and done that which is wrong in thy eyes, So that you can be just when you speak, pure when you keep your word. Now, such a soul can begin to ask in great fear, How can someone like me then go to the Lord? How can someone like us Run to the Lord, when I realize that I have sinned, I am a sinner, I am guilty. And I am guilty to the Lord. How can I go to Him, when I am guilty to Him? How can we run to Christ? Welcome to Jesus. The answer that our souls need is here in the 50 parts. and forgive us our sins. As we also forgive our sinners. Hear the voice of the Master. Hear how He calls. Hear how He is calling the evil sinners to Him. He says, come to Me with your sins. Run to Jesus. There is only at Jesus forgiveness for sins. It is before you call. Run to Him. At Him alone. There is no forgiveness of sins outside. There is no other way. There is no other way. The only hope for life is if we run to Jesus. He is the one who gives forgiveness. And then read to us how he does it in his ministry. Think of Mark 2, verse 5. There is the lost son who is cut off from the roof before us by Jesus. And then read to us in verse 5. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the lost son, Your sins are forgiven. Where do you hear that? Here is the one who The sins can forgive what we have done for God. We are guilty before the Lord. If you want to talk about the cult groups and false churches that say that Jesus is not God, then you have a problem with parts like this. Then you see, the Jew is completely right. How can you forgive the sins that God must forgive? On what basis can you make this statement? Ask the Lord God. And what is our answer? Well, He can, because He is God. He is God. It is only with Him that forgiveness is received. Luke 7, verse 48, then we read about the Sons of Rez, who come before us through Jesus. and make His feet wet with His tears, and dry them with His hair, and make His feet pure in Himself. And then we say to her, Your sins are forgiven. Acts 13, verses 38-39. Let it be known to you, brothers, that through Him the forgiveness of sins is announced to you, through Jesus. This is the announcement of the Gospel. There is forgiveness of sins, but it is not In Him. Just in Jesus. So run to Him. There is only at Jesus forgiveness of sins. But run to Jesus too, because there is only forgiveness through His blood. Hebrews 9 verse 22 sums it up beautifully. And almost everything is cleansed with blood according to the law. And without bloodshed, there is no forgiveness. That is what the people had to hear all the time in the Old Testament. There is blood being demanded. The Lord demands blood for forgiveness of sins. And without bloodshed, there is no forgiveness possible. They then flee to Jesus. Because through His blood there is forgiveness of sins. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 13-14. He who has given us salvation in the power of the thousands, and brought us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, and who has given us salvation through His blood, namely the forgiveness of sins. In whom we have the redemption? Through his blood. Through his blood is the forgiveness of sins. Ephesians 1 verse 7. In whom we have the redemption? Through his blood is the forgiveness of sins, and the riches of his grace. So run to Jesus, for there is only forgiveness to be obtained from him. Run to Jesus, for there is only forgiveness through his blood that is forgiven. Run to Jesus, because forgiveness is only given in His name. If you try to run to another person, he can tell you, that person's name must also be praised. But that's not how it's going to work. It's only His name that will be honoured, praised and glorified through all the ages, as the name that has been slain, as the redeemer, as the one who is forgiven. Luke 24, verse 47, "...and proclaim the forgiveness of sins in his name." Acts 10, verse 43, "...for all the prophets have testified that everyone who believes in him receives the forgiveness of sins in his name." 1 John 2, verse 12, "...I write to you, my children, that the sins which you have forgiven are in his name." That's why you have to listen. If you sit here and you struggle, you struggle with faith security, you struggle to think, can it be that the Lord will say at the end of the day, you are forgiven? Is it possible that someone like me is forgiven? Well, then look away from yourself and look at the name of Christ. And see that God will be just as humble as He will write the name of Christ through the mother. will he deny the forgiveness that Christ has confessed and idealized. For his name's sake the sin is forgiven. Now I hear how the miserable sinner exclaims, I want to flee to the Lord, but I don't know how. I see that I have to run to Christ. And I see that I can't go to another one. But how? How do I run to the Lord? How can my soul run to Christ? And see how good our master is. He doesn't just teach us that we have to run. He also teaches us how to run. He flees with a broken heart and a broken spirit. Psalm 34, verse 19. The Lord is near unto him that is broken of heart, and he delivers him that is broken of spirit. Psalm 51, verse 19. The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit. A broken and a broken heart you shall not despise, O Lord. Our Lord also teaches in Luke 18. Luke 18 is the likeness of the Pharisees and the Ptolemaics. Such a community does not have to come to God with a Pharisee heart. Who prays, Oh God, I thank you that I am not like the others. The other people are not robbers, unjustified, breakers of the law, or also like these thieves. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of everything I receive. And at the end of the service, then Christ says to such a person. Everyone who will be exalted will be humiliated. Yes, he is not going to his home justly. No, the Lord teaches us to stand before Him, as the psalmist did. The one who stands far away from the temple, because he realizes that He is not worthy to enter. The one who does not even want to open his eyes to heaven. The one who slaps on the chest and says, O God, who has mercy on me? And for such a person, says Christ, he who will be exalted for the Lord. Such a teacher is one who goes to justice. Our Lord also teaches us this in Matthew 5, when he begins the mountain preaching, the holy speeches. How should we come before the Lord is with our arm of Jesus. We should not come with a proud pride of being worthy to be forgiven. No, we should come with an awareness of our spiritual poverty. We should come in humility, we should come with a hunger and thirst for justice that is not yours. This is how we should come before the Lord. But the Lord teaches us more. It's about more than just coming with a broken heart and a defeated spirit. It's about more than that. The Lord also teaches us that we should come with a mouth that speaks. You can't just stand in front of the Lord with a broken heart and a defeated spirit. It will flow over to the next thing. And it is, if our sin is forgiven, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all iniquity. 1 John 1 verse 9 It is how we come before the Lord. It is with a heart that is broken and battered. But that heart should not be on your mouth. Your mouth should come before the Lord with the forgiveness of your sins. What does the evil soul pray for in darkness to deny God's sins? What does the evil sinner pray for to make as if the God who cannot lie, is busy lying because he is your sinner? Do not be afraid. Come and stand in the light before God and confess your sins. Do not try to write it away and try to throw it away. Confess your sins and flee to Jesus. You see, when the Holy Spirit works in your soul, He works it in your heart, He works it in your mouth, but it goes even further, it goes over to conversion. Revelation 2, verse 38. And Peter said unto them, Convert ye, and let every one of you be killed, in the name of Jesus Christ, to the forgiveness of sins. Convert ye. The call also comes to the Sons. You see, it doesn't fit to come before the Lord with a cry and a weeping and a mourning of sins, but with the attitude of, as soon as I get this forgiveness, I will go back and do it again. Or you can go into a prayer room and say, I have a plan to do all these good things this evening, can I pray for as long as it takes? There is no contradiction there. It does not fit. It does not fit with someone in whom the Lord works in the heart not to want to repent of your sinful deeds. Psalm 33, we read it too. How many parts does the true repentance of man consist of? It consists of two parts. The death of the old man and the resurrection of the new man. What is the death of the old man? It is a hearty mourning that God has destroyed us through our sins. That is why I hate sin more and more and run away from it. What is the resurrection of the new man? It is a heartfelt joy in God, dear Christ, and a joy and love to live according to the will of God in all good works. So what is it that the Holy Spirit works in the miserable sinner? He works in your heart a brokenness, a defeat, a heartache about your sin. He works in your heart, also that it overflows in your mouth, that you want to preach, you want to come before the Lord and say, Lord, I have sinned against you. He works in your heart, the desire to repent, to turn away from the sins and to turn back to the Lord in obedience. But the most important thing, the work of the Spirit and the miserable sinner, faith. Acts 10, verse 43. Because God has shown all the prophets, that everyone who believes, receives forgiveness of sins through his name. That everyone who believes, receives forgiveness through his name. In a way, what it means to flee, is to believe. Because when I run to Christ, I believe He is the only way. He is my only hope. He is the life. When we hear what we have to do, we hear how we have to do it. And then we can hear when we say, I'm doing this, but I'm still so weak. I am still so, so terribly weak. I struggle to believe that the Lord has really forgiven me. And then you give for the misery still there. Don't you see how Christ is so good to us? How he continues to give and give and give. And then he gives us the sacraments. Acts 2 verse 38. Dearly beloved, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, to the forgiveness of sins. When the nightmare is set in Matthew 26, then read to us in verse 28, for this is my blood, the blood of the new testament, which is poured out to the forgiveness of sins. He then gives the sacraments to his church, to strengthen them, so that they can be sure of their salvation, of the forgiveness, which is in Christ through faith alone. Where love takes over us beautifully. That when we come to the nightmare, it is confronted with it. Not only that you need forgiveness, but also that you have to forgive. Go and read the formula again tomorrow. Then in the third part of the Cell of Search, it is confronted with it. Everyone must examine his conscience, whether he is inclined to show true gratitude to God from now on, and to truly walk for Him, and also to honestly let go of all enmity, hatred and envy, and to continue to live in true love and unity with his neighbor. This is all that, when I forgive my neighbor, Spread these things forward. Love and unity, where we can live together. So when the Lord calls us to the table at night, He confronts you with your own heart. And He asks, will you forgive others? We have to ask ourselves, Can we hold each other's throats? Can we hold each other's hearts? Can we vow to seek forgiveness, to give forgiveness? And then, in that state, still with humility come to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. As if we think that these two powers just go hand in hand. Love, that is incredibly important. Think again of Matthew 18, where our Lord tells us about the servant who has been set free from terrible numbers of money. And then he gets out of there and he grabs a servant who owes a small amount around his neck. And he begs him and he says, pay me, pay me. And there you see how disgusting and how ugly it is when he does not want to forgive us. What you see here, when you read it, is that it doesn't fit. It doesn't work that way. We can think about what a father does to his children. If his children are ugly, or have done something wrong, or have done something very bad, and he takes his children aside and says, we don't do these things. What does he say to the children? It doesn't suit us. We're not going to do these things. It doesn't work. It doesn't work here. And it doesn't work for those who realize what God has forgiven us for holding on to our broken hearts. We don't want to forgive, and we don't want to look for forgiveness. It doesn't suit us, and it doesn't work. We really need to turn away from it. Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive our sinners. When we read these prayers, we can ask ourselves, what does this mean? Christ is saying that we are forgiven because we have forgiven others. That is what this means. The Lord will forgive you, Because you have forgiven others. That is what this part says. It can sound like this, if you read Matthew 6, verses 14-15. If you forgive the people their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive the people their transgressions, your Father will not forgive your transgressions either. But dear, it can't be like that. Because if you compare scripture to scripture, you'll see that it doesn't work like that. Go read Ephesians 4, verse 32. But be friendly and full of compassion to one another, forgive one another, as God also forgave you in Christ. You see, it's just the other way around. Colossians 3, verse 13. Forgive each other when one has sinned against the other. As Christ has forgiven you, so you must also do. So now you have turned it exactly around. As God has forgiven us, we must forgive others. So that means that the verses in Matthew 6, verses 14 and 15, I have to say something else. It can't be that we are forgiven on the basis of our forgiveness. Because then the basis of our forgiveness is no longer Christ. It's now me. It's now what I do. It's no longer what He does. Then our work is saved. Otherwise it's all lost. So how should we understand that? Well, there are the fathers who asked the same question a long time ago, and our Savior gave a beautiful answer. What is the fifth prayer? Forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive our trespassers. That is, count us, poor sinners, all our crimes, as on the evil that still afflicts us, for the sake of the blood of Christ, not then. That is the Gospel. Count us, sinners, for the sake of the blood of Christ, not then. They embraced the gospel through faith and they learned it for the next generations. But how to make peace with the second phrase? We pray to you, because we find this proof of your grace in us, that we have the earnest intention to forgive our neighbors from the heart. Do you hear it beautifully? We pray to you, what do we pray? Forgive us our sins, We sinners, for the sake of the blood of Christ our Lord, we beg you, because we see this proof of your grace in us. We see that you have already given grace to us, that we find the earnest prayer in our hearts to forgive our neighbors. See how the Fathers explained this. Verses 14 and 15. It's no longer, my forgiveness is the grounding of the forgiveness I receive from the Lord. No, it's about faith and certainty. If you forgive people's transgressions, if you see this graceful work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, that He has a good work in your heart, that you want to forgive others with all your heart, Then it gives you the certainty that your Heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you see in your heart a rebuke, a warning to forgive your neighbor, then these serious warnings will not forgive your Father your transgressions. Forgiveness, bring forgiveness forward. If we can get a grip on how gentle waking the forgiveness is that Christ gives you, on the basis of His blood. Then we have to say, if you are not ready to forgive others, then something serious will go wrong. If Christ's sacrifice does not move you to forgive others, then something is seriously wrong. But on the other hand, if you see that there is something that the Spirit has worked in me, that I want to forgive others, there is a sense of forgiveness that I notice in myself. It is not, It's the Pharisee. Thank you, Lord, that I'm not like that one who doesn't want to forgive, no? No, huh? Hear how the Father says it beautifully. Ah, Lord, I see this merciful work of you in my heart, that you change my heart, that I would like to forgive others. Give me also this tranquility, this peace, that you will also hear these prayers. You will also hear an answer when I say, O Lord, forgive me my sins. For I already see the graceful workings of you in my life. We pray to you, because we find this proof of your grace in us, that we have the earnest desire to forgive our neighbors. Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive those who sin. Amen.