The Lord's Prayer

If you have a Bible, would you turn to Matthew's Gospel?

1 of the 4 gospels showing us lord Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 18, and verse 21 to 35. And then we're gonna go back to Matthew chapter 6. And carry on our series there. So Matthew chapter 18 verse 21, Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother and sister who sins against me?

Up to 7 times. Jesus answered, I tell you not 7 times, but 77 times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began to settlement, a man who owed him 10000 bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children, and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

At this, the servant fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me. He begged. And I will pay back everything. The servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt, and let him go.

But when that servant went out, he found 1 of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him, pay back what you owe me. He demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him. Be patient with me.

I'll pay it back. But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in.

You wicked servant, he said. I canceled all the debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger, Master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister.

From your heart. And then go over to Matthew 6 because we're working our way through the lord's prayer. And in Matthew 6, we're gonna start verse 9 in and it says this. This then is how you should pray our father in heaven Hello, be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also forgive have forgiven our debtors. And leaders not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil 1. For if you forgive other people, when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father or not forgive your sins. So reads god's precious, wonderful life giving word, and Tom is gonna come and open that up to us.

My name's Tom, and I'm 1 of the pastors here at the church, and, let me extend my welcome to all of you, but again to the, family and friends of Matty and Patricia. It's lovely to have you here. And, as Pete said, we've been working our way through this series in the Lord's prayer. And, we're really just going to be looking at the second half of verse 12 this morning. So last week, we looked at the first half of verse 12 and, if you haven't managed to hear that, yet, then I would encourage you to have a listen because parts 1 and 2 of verse 12 are very intimately connected but we are just gonna be looking at that second half today, as I said, and, as we turn to it, let's bow our heads and ask for the lord's help.

Heavenly father, we thank you, that as we just heard in, the introduction, to this to this reading, as Pete said, these are life giving glorious truths. Your word is truth, and we pray that you would challenge us. We pray that you would show us areas of our lives. That we really do need to change and that you would give us the grace to change in the ways that you would have us change. Help us please again to marvel at the great forgiveness available to us in the lord Jesus Christ and shape unmold our lives in light of that forgiveness we pray in Jesus' name.

Oh, men. Well, surely that parable that we just, had read in Matthew 18 is is 1 of the most disturbing stories ever told. In scene 1, we find a man on his knees. 10000 bags of gold in modern terms is apparently 6000000000 dollars. Okay?

And so the point is, this is a debt the size of which you could never you could never even imagine. And yet, as the king looks upon him in his desperation, His heart wells up with pity, and with just 1 word, he releases that man from this staggering debt. And his wife and his family home, and his children and their toys, and everything that he owns has been saved It's been saved. And yet in scene 2, that same man is gripping 1 of his own servants by the collar. Pinning him up against the wall, choking the life out of him, demanding that that servant pays what he owes.

Now a hundred silver coins is not a small amount of money, but In comparison, it's something like 12000 dollars versus 6000000000 dollars. And yet this man who has been shown life changing mercy, life changing mercy refuses to offer the same. His own servant is pleading with him. Please, I beg you. Just give me more time Just give me some time.

I'll I'll get something to you. I'll get it together. Please, please. But verse 30, he refused. And did you notice even in the parable verse 31, people are outraged by this.

Even in the story, people are outraged, but never heard anything like it. Such unkindness, such a lack of grace from 1 who has so received it. People are outraged. And with the passing of time, this parable has lost none of its force and none of its shop is a disturbing story, isn't it? But there's also a sense in which this is all just impossible.

It's a disturbing story, and it's an impossible story. You see, there are some parables which Jesus tells which you can imagine happening, you know, the lost sheep, for instance, or the parable of a good Samaritan. You can kind of imagine those taking place in real life. You know, Shepard loses a sheep. Shepard goes looking for sheep.

Shepard finds sheep. Shepard brings sheep home, and there's a big party. It's not hard to be met. That's that's a sort of scenario that might happen. But this 1 in Matthew 18, according to the teaching of the Bible, contains a contradiction, which makes it an impossible story.

It's a disturbing story, but it's also an impossible story. Let me try and show you from some other parts of the Bible, and hopefully I can flick this on. His colossians 3 verse 13. Bear with each other, and forgive 1 another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the lord forgave you.

Ephesians 4 32, be kind and compassionate to 1 another. Forgiving each other just as in Christ, god forgave you. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, Your heavenly father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others there, sins, your father will not forgive your sins. The story in Matthew 18 is impossible. It's like telling a story about a square triangle.

Or telling you a story about the married bachelor. Have you heard the story about the married bachelor? It's impo it's impossible. You can't have a story like this. If if if the mercy of Jesus Christ has really made an impression upon someone's heart, They will be a forgiving person.

And therefore, if a person will not, extend forgiveness to others, then that mercy of Christ has not made a saving impression upon their hearts. Here are 2 things that god has joined together. Forgiveness from god, and forgiveness for other people. And what god has joined together, no man can separate. If you're forgiven by him, if you know that, then you are a forgiving person.

This parable in Matthew 18, is disturbing, and it is impossible. And in theory, I'm sure most of us here believe that. You know, we we read the parable, and we know it's horrible. And we say, who would who would do something like that? Who I would never do something like that?

But what about when it happens to me? When somebody does something, to me, and now they owe me. What happens when it's me in this parable? Do I still believe that? Or in truth, do I want to try to live within the contradiction?

Do I want to live within the impossible third? Forgiven by god. Yes, please. Yes, please. But for giving for that person or towards those people, I refuse.

Now look, before we go any further with this topic, when you have been in the same church for a while, as many of our elders have, you do get to know people's stories. And I know, and we we would know as elders that some people hearing this today or who will hear this have been sinned against in their lives very, very greatly and have sometimes been sinned against over and over and over again. Or there are people hearing this who have never been given what they should have had, which, by the way, is the point of this debt language. It's not just financial, It could be a child who should have been loved, but wasn't. It could be a husband who ought to have been faithful, but wasn't.

It could be a government or a regime who ought to have cared equally for all of their citizens. But instead, they were abusive and oppressive and cruel to the minorities that they didn't like. And so for all of these people, the idea of forgiving cannot be divorced from that person or that situation. And to all of us, to some extent, We cannot divorce the theory of forgiveness from that person or those people or that country who did us such great harm. So the question becomes, how do we take this challenging life giving word?

Forget us our debt, says Jesus, as we also have forgiven our debtors, how do we take it and work it through? And this morning, I've got 7 ways of 7 ideas, and we wait we may not get through all of them. And I've sort of written this sermon so I I'm ready to stop at any point, basically, depending on how the timing goes. So, Hopefully, it will never feel like a false false landing. But whatever we don't cover today, we're gonna try to put in a podcast.

So this was 1 sermon that turned into 2. There's 2 that's now turned into, you know, at least 2 in a podcast. But anyway, we're gonna we're gonna see how we go. So firstly, Forgiveness begins with the word father. Forgiveness begins with the word father.

And this may be the most obvious point this morning, but missing the wood for the trees is always a possibility which is why we have sayings like that. And so, firstly, we have to remember that verse 12 comes to us as a prayer. It is not a stand alone command, which the lord expects us to do in our own strength and without him. Verse 12 is a prayer. And therefore, in order to forgive, we need to say, first of all, father in heaven, I need you in order to do this.

I need you I need you to cancel my own debt before you, so please will you do it? I can't do it. I need you. And then will you help me to forgive other people. I can't do it by myself.

I can't. I can't take the Buddhist route and pretend that sin and Suffering is sort of not real and that these things are more of an illusion. When somebody hurts me or wrongs me, it's not real. It's just in my mind, it's an illusion because it's not, is it? It's not like that.

When people sin against us, it hurts. And we need help in order to forgive. But we also need help because by nature, I'm not really into forgiveness very much. I naturally take the way of grudges and bitterness and daydreaming about revenge and how I'll exact my revenge on somebody else. That's where my heart goes.

And so I need your help. I don't have it in me, father. I don't have it in me to do this, to forgive, and so I need you. I discovered a him this week, by a lady I'd never heard of called Rosalmond Herclots, and I'm sure I'm butchering her name, but she was a methodist lady in the in the sixties and she wrote this song in the sixties. And in her hymn, which is called forgive our sins as we forgive, She she writes this in the first verse.

Forgive our sins as we forgive, you taught us lord to pray. But you alone can grant us grace to live the words we say. And perhaps there is someone here this morning who has been trying to work up feelings of forgiveness on their own. Or has been trying to let go of something that was done to them in their own strength, and they just need this reminder. That before we can forgive or even be forgiven ourselves, we must say those words, father.

Forgiveness begins, not inside ourselves, but with the word father. Secondly, Forgiveness is a form of voluntary suffering. Forgiveness is a form of voluntary suffering. And I stole that phrase from an article called the fading of forgiveness by Tim Keller, the fading of forgiveness is an excellent article, particularly on the cultural, dynamite that forgiveness is. And in that piece, he makes the point that forgiveness is always always costly.

Always costly. And we saw that in Matthew 18, didn't we? You know, in verse 27, The debt is canceled, and the man is let go. It's fantastic. Absolutely fantastic for him.

Fantastic for him. But what about that 6000000000 quid? I mean, who's gonna pay who's gonna pay for that? Someone's gotta pick out the tab, That's just not gonna, appear with the due tomorrow morning on the grass. That's gone.

What's gonna happen to that 6 who's gonna who's gonna sort by the the king? The king has gotta sort that out, isn't he? The king has gotta bear the cost. It's like when you're in a restaurant, And somebody gets their wallet out, British people don't do that this very much. When somebody gets their wallet out, and they say, I'll pay.

You know, I'll I'll pay. I'll pay for you. And they say, no, no, no, let me, let let me, let me offer you something. Let me offer it. And you say, no, no, it's, no, it's on me.

I'll I'll sort it. I'll I'll cover it. The money's not just gonna appear in front of them for which they have to pay. They bear the cost. Yeah?

In order to let somebody else go free, somebody has to pay. And so, yes, for the servant in the story, forgiveness was free at the point of reception. Was free for him, but wow, did it come at a cost? Someone had to pay. And out of pure pity and mercy, that person was the king.

And what a picture that is of the gospel. Brothers and sisters, how does forgiveness come to us? It comes for free. Praise the lord. Comes for free.

But was it costly? Well, just look at him there, the lord Jesus, on the cross. With our sin, upon his shoulders, and shedding his own blood so that he could cancel our debts. Was it costly? Yeah.

It was costly. And therefore, when it comes to us, we shouldn't be too surprised. When this forgiveness thing comes at a price. When there is some sort of emotional physical cost. That needs to be born in order for someone else to be free.

Tim Keller puts it this way. It may be literal and financial, but in any case, he or she has wrongfully robbed you of some good. Whether reputation or relationship or health or of something else. To forgive is to deny oneself for revenge. It is a commitment to not try to exact repayment from them by inflicting on them the things they did to you.

Therefore, forgiveness is always costly to the forgiver, but the profits at the least within your own heart, and at best in the restoration of relationship outweigh the cost. Forgiveness is a form of voluntary suffering, but the profits outweigh the cost. Thirdly, forgiveness is often, but not always granted before it is felt. Forgiveness is not often not as often, sorry, but not always granted before it is felt. And that might be a change of mind for us.

Because in our minds, I think it often goes feelings before status. Feelings before status. In other words, when I feel normal with you again, or when that thing you did no longer bothers me anymore, that's when you're forgiven. I feel fine now. So you must be forgiven.

I feel fine, so you must be forgiven. Feelings come before status. But it doesn't always work like that, doesn't it? So you might imagine a person from outside the UK who becomes a citizen of this country. And so they go through the process, and they learn their facts, and they learn their history, and they learn about our monarchs and they pledge allegiance and they stand by the flag and they have their photo taken or whatever else is involved.

And after they've done all of that, There's the stamp. It's citizenship granted. Your status has changed. You are a citizen now. But it might take years.

Before they actually start to feel like citizens who know the language and the slang words and they know where to go for this, and they know where to go for that, and they know how to just do life within the country. You see? I mean, I've never done it myself, but I guess if you I guess that's true. I guess that's what people would say. There's a moment when status is granted citizen, but the feelings do have to play catch up a little bit, and it might take a while before the statings and status and the feelings begin to overlap.

Now with god, it is a little bit different because when we trust in the lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness, God doesn't say forgiven, and then in 5 years time, I hope my feelings will catch up to your status. I hope I'll feel like you're forgiven now that I've declared you're forgiven. With him, it's just part of 1 big, glorious act of salvation. But with each other, sometimes it must happen that way in this world. Where instead of waiting like we feel as if someone is forgiven, we should start with this God empowered decision, where we come to god, and we say, okay, my father.

Because of Jesus Christ, and because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and in the power of the mercy of Jesus Christ, I'm going to consider that person forgiven. I don't wanna hold on to this anymore. And I don't feel like I'm a hundred percent there yet in my heart, but as far as it depends on me, I want to now forgive that person. I wanna give them a new status now. And then Holy Spirit, I pray that over time you would bring my feelings into alignment.

With that decision I have made before you today, that person is forgiven. In lots of cases, perhaps in most cases, that's the way round it goes. And if you're still not convinced of it, let me share this story with you. Corey, Corey, Tim Boom, you you probably No or have heard of her. She's a Dutch lady amazing, follower of the lord Jesus Christ, her and her family helped to save many, many Jewish people from the Nazis during World War 2.

But then she was, eventually court and she was sent to a concentration camp where she actually continued to do wonderful things for the lord and for other people and survived that ordeal. Well, in her book the hiding place, she talks about a moment later in life, where she came face to face with 1 of her old nuts see guards from the concentration camp, and this is what she writes about that moment. It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him. The former SS man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravenbrook. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time.

And suddenly, it was all there. The room full of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsy, and this is her sister who actually died in the camp. Betsy's pain blanched face. He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming, and bowing. How grateful I am for your message, Frowline, he said.

To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away. His hand was thrust out to shake mine. An eye who had preached so often to the people in Blomandar, which was a a a refuge center in the Netherlands, the need to forgive. Kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them.

Jesus Christ had died for this man. Was I gonna ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me. And help me to forgive him. I tried to smile.

I struggled to raise my hand. I could not I felt nothing. See that feelings. I felt nothing. Not the slightest spark of warmth for charity.

And so, again, I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give your forgiveness and as I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder, along my arm, and through my hand, A current seems to pass from me to him, while into my own heart sprang a love for this stranger. That almost overwhelmed me.

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness. That the world's healing hinges, but on his. When he tells us to love our enemies, he gives along with the command. The love itself. And so again, maybe there is someone here this morning.

Who needs to forgive. And up until now, they've just been waiting. Waiting for the feeling to either come or go when it might now be time to say. Lord Jesus Christ because of the cross. Help me to forgive.

And then bring my feelings along. It may not happen as quickly as it did in that story. But lord Jesus, I am a Christian now. And my debts are paid. And if that means anything at all, Then I've got to move in that direction.

That's my direction now. And so you see that forgiveness is often, but not always, granted before it is felt. Fourthly, Forgiveness and reconciliation won't always go together. And this is a hard 1, I think, because in the gospel, those things, again, really do go together. In fact, when god forgives somebody, he never leaves them alienated from him.

He doesn't declare them forgiven and still consider them a stranger. His forgiveness is his reconciliation and his adopt is the cleansing of our sin, and it all merges together in 1 wonderful gift of grace, forgiveness and reconciliation come together. And so for Christians, that would always be the best outcome, wouldn't it? True repentance, real forgiveness, reconciliation, and glory to Christ who made it all possible. But in this sinful world, That just can't always happen, can it?

There are some wrongs, like abuse, And like unfaithfulness, which are so deep and so horrible, It may just be impossible for trust to be restored. There are some people you could just never be alone with again and should never be alone with again. There are some people who will never, for as long as they draw breath, repent before you or say sorry. And even if they do, it just will never be normal again, even if it was in the first place. And so we have this saying, don't we?

To forgive and forget, but for some people in this life, forgetting may never be possible. And you know that's okay because Jesus doesn't say in verse 12, forgive and forget. He doesn't say that. But he does say, forgive us our debts As we also have forgiven our debtors, and therefore, even if forgetting, and reconciliation just may not be possible in this life. A Christian must fight, and it is a battle.

It is a battle. Stop be naive about that. It is a battle. But a Christian must fight to let go of all bitterness and and grudges and a vengeful spirit, and anything else, which in the end is just gonna be toxic to our souls, and is gonna poison us. And to forgive.

Now will that be slow? Probably? Will it be up and down? Probably. It might be times when it feels easier than at other times.

Will they find old wounds opening up from time to time? Almost certainly. Will they need the help of Christian friends? To walk with them almost certainly. But look at some point, we have to say, as I look at my savior, dying on a cross for my sins.

I know what I've gotta do. And so none of this is about perfection, you see, it's about direction. It's not about perfection, it's about direction. As a Christian, I must move in that direction for the rest of my life. Reconciliation may not be possible.

It may even be unwise to seek it. But over time, by god's grace, I wanna be able to say verse 12 with conviction. I wanna be able to say it with conviction. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And look if the lord can bring us to that point.

Who knows what might happen? I mean an ordinary Dutch girl and a murderous Nazi jailer feels pretty unlikely, doesn't it? But do you know god converted that man? And in god's providence, they met again, and miracles can happen. Can't they when we pray this?

It may not always be possible, but miracles can happen. Forgiveness and reconciliation won't always go together in this life. 50, forgiveness is a fierce spiritual battle. And to my mind, the strangest thing about this prayer you have a look down at it, the strangest thing about it is verse 13. If you read it again and try to get the tradition of it out of your mind, Just what is verse 13 doing there?

What is verse 13 actually doing there? Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil 1. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. Now, wouldn't it flow more literally, if you skip verse 13 altogether. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you.

Seems to flow, Much more naturally. It's the same topic after all, isn't it? And so what is this introduction of temptation? And evil and sin and the evil 1. What is that actually doing there?

Well, surely, it is at least in part to make point that forgiveness is a spiritual battle. Now if you're visiting today and you're not used to Christian teaching, The idea of an evil 1 in this world, I know might sound very strange to you, but the Bible tells us that not only is the devil real but that he is opposed to all that god is and to everything that is good and wholesome in the world. And therefore, when people on earth refuse to forgive, when they hold grudges and Think about them and nurse them and go over them in their minds. He loves that behavior. He loves that behavior.

Because that ruins people's souls, and it keeps people from Christ. He's very into that. And so we need to be aware of that. Unforgiveness can be very tempting, which again may sound strange to us because normally we think of temptation in storms a pleasure, I must deny myself for an extra donor I really ought not to have. We think of temptation in those kinds of ways, But brothers and sisters, unforgiveness can be very tempting.

It can be very tempting because it affords me such power. It affords me such power. You see, you imagine a couple who are together But in the past, 1 of them did something really, really wrong. Well, look, if I, on the other side of that relationship, fused to ever properly forgive that. I am always going to have this very powerful card in my hand, which I can play at any moment.

If I'm losing an argument, if I'm feeling particularly angry, I know what I've gotta do. I just gotta get my aces out of my sleeve, bang them down on the table, And there it is, again, I've won. Unforgiveness allows me to play god. Doesn't it? It allows me to play god because if I won't truly forgive you, I've still got this power of judgment over you.

And with my cold behavior, and with my little reminders about what you've done, I can bring judgment down on you. It feels like I can bring god's judgment down on you again and again and again. In the Bible, god says it is mine to avenge. I will repay. That's my job.

But Satan says, I know. You can be like god. You can be like god. You can play that role. You don't need why settle for being a creature when you can be create a judge in that person's life.

You can be like god. Or he whispers to us, doesn't he? Why should you forgive that person? Because after all, you would never do anything like that. Would you?

And if you would never do anything like that, then why should you forgive anyone who would? You don't have to. Or he says to us, don't be so unwise here. Just take a moment and think before you respond this morning. Because if you forgive today, you don't know how your life might change.

This unforgiveness thing may not be very nice we can agree on that, but isn't it like an old, comfortable blanket to you now? You're securing You understand it. It helps you make sense of your past. It helps you to cope be being bitter and nursing that old grudge, it's what you've always known, and it gives you control, doesn't it? It helps you to control and process what you've been through, you hold that hold on to that thing, and you stay safe, my friend.

Because who knows what's gonna happen if you bring it to this Jesus man, who knows how your life is gonna change? And so isn't the old phrase true better the devil that you know than the devil that you don't? Fear is what he uses. Fear to hold people away from forgiveness. Now those are all just ideas, but but here's the point you see.

Verse 13 reminds us that forgiveness and unforgiveness are part of a very fierce spiritual battle. And the evil 1 hates forgiveness. He hates forgiveness. Largely because When this world is filled up with people who have been forgiven by Christ and then forgive for Christ's sake The glory of god is unleashed on the world, and he hates that. When that happens, his end has come.

And so he will do anything to stop us. Why is verse 13 there? Always remember it next time. Verse 13 is there. Because to forgive is part of a fierce spiritual battle.

Lastly, just do 6. Forgiveness is a heaven or hell issue. Forgiveness is a heaven or hell. Look with me at verse 14 again. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others their sins, Your father will not forgive your sins. And 1 of my biggest worries with this talk was that as we think about forgiveness and try hard to work it through with all the complexities of life, we would miss the plain urgency of that verse. John Piper, who used to be an American pastor, he wrote an article on verse 12, which begins with the sentence. There are no unforgiving people in the kingdom of god. Think about that.

There are no unforgiving people in the kingdom of god. And with all else said, that is the bottom line. Verse 12 and its application in verse 14. Mean what they say. They mean what they say.

Now, of course it is true, that we are not saved because we forgive other people, just as I am not saved because I'm kind to other people. Or by any other virtue of mine, I'm saved by the blood of Jesus Christ alone. But the truth is If I will not forgive other people, if I refuse to do that, if I will not do that, if I hear all of this today and read these verses and think I'm not doing it, then sure as day, I will not be forgiven. I will not be forgiven. If I won't do it, I will not be forgiven.

Struggling to do it, that's 1 thing. Battling to do it, that's another thing. Longing to do it, but finding it hard and needing help, that's 1 thing. But a settled unwillingness, a settled unwillingness to forgive, as Christ has forgiven me, reveals that I am not actually a saved person. Verse 14, It means what it says.

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, Your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, Your father will not forgive your sins. And that is why whether we will forgive or not is a heaven or hell issue for us. And so, really, the final application of this talk is the same for everybody. If you are not a Christian here this morning and you have never known that the freeing liberating power of canceled debts in Jesus' name.

You can come to the cross and know that joy for the first time this morning. Since forgiven. Forever debts canceled. Hallelujah. You can know it this morning.

Or if you're here and there is something or someone you need to forgive, then come to the cross and see Christ dying for you. And with his help, let it go. Let it go. It's about stated the feelings might take a while. We've seen that.

But maybe a new status this morning is what's needed. Or if you're here this morning and you have forgiven people in the past, But this whole topic has opened up old wounds for you again. I guess there's something very natural about that. But the destination is the same for you too. Come to the cross again and see Christ dying for you.

This is not about perfection remember. This is about direction. Will we go in the cross direction? Come to the cross of Christ again today. Forgive our sins as we forgive You taught us lord to pray, but you alone can grant us grace to live the words we say.

Let's bow our heads. Our father in heaven. Forgive us our debts. As we also have forgiven our debtors in Jesus' name, amen.