The human need for forgiveness is a strong present reality no matter how we philosophize about it.

-Jeff Vines

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’

-Luke 11:1-4

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.

-Matthew 6:14-15

  

1. Jesus places the principle of forgiveness in the Lord’s prayer.

  

2. What is sin?

Non-Biblical Definitions:

“The fact is that philosophies and religions outside of God’s revelation have never had a true concept of sin in the first place.”

In every case though, the concept of sin against a personal God is missing.

-Jack Cottrell

  

Do you see how some of these views about sin have crept into the church?

First, human beings all over the earth have this curious idea that they ought to behave a certain way and cannot really get rid of it. Second, that they do not in fact behave in that way.

-C.S. Lewis

  

The word sin that is used by Jesus in the Lord’s prayer - what does it mean?

Hamartia: to miss the mark.

It is the failure to hit the mark He has set, His standard, of perfect love and perfect obedience to Him.

-Jack Cottrel

  

Other words for sin in the Bible:

Planao: To be deceived, to err, to go astray, to wander away.

Adikeo: To wrong someone or to do wrong to someone.

Apeitheo: Represents the context of disobedience.

Parabaino /Abar: To go over, to go aside, to go beyond an established limit.

Sin done by us, sin done to us, and sin done around us.

-John Mark Comer

  

To live in forgiveness; being forgiven by God and forgiving one another.

  

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’

-Mark 2:17

In His analogy, sin is like a sickness and He was the doctor. Repentance wasn’t just pleading for mercy before a judge; it was opening up your wounds to a physician.

-John Mark Comer

  

We have to acknowledge that we are sick, that we have a disease, that we are sinful.

  

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

-Luke 11:4a

Confession is our part in dealing with sin. God is the physician; we are the patient. All we can do is set our sin in his light.

-John Mark Comer

The human need for forgiveness is a strong present reality no matter how we philosophize about it.

-Jeff Vines

  

What does this mean for us today?

  

1. Forgiveness for the sinner.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.

-Romans 3:23-25a NLT

If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to His, then of course we see no need for radical salvation or healing let alone for a radical atonement to secure it. When, on the other hand, we have glimpsed the blinding glory of the holiness of God and we acknowledge what we are, namely ‘hell deserving sinners,’ then and only does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it.

-John Stott

  

2. Baptism for the forgiven.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

-Matthew 28:19-20

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’

-Acts 2:37-38

‘Repent and be baptized because your sins are forgiven.’

-Acts 2:38

  

3. Daily confession for the forgiven.

The Bible views salvation as an event and a process.

-Richard Foster

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

-James 5:16

James is addressing Christians, not non-Christians.

  

Prayer of Examen:

• Ask God for light. I want to look at my day with God’s eyes, not merely my own.
• Give thanks. The day I have just lived is a gift from God. Be grateful for it.
• Review the day. I carefully look back on the day just completed, being guided by the Holy Spirit.
• Face your shortcomings. I face up to what is wrong—in my life and in me.
• Look toward the day to come. I ask where I need God in the day to come.

In my pursuit of God, I thirst for holiness. As I approach the Son, I must consider this. Offenses unresolved, they'll keep me from the throne.

-DC Talk, Between You and Me

Unconfessed sin, hidden sin, will keep the Christian from enjoying a deep relationship with God, and with others.

  

4. The forgiven worship expressively.

Until what Jesus has done for you becomes real, your response in worship is going to be very weak.

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.

-Luke 7:47

  

One who has been forgiven much, loves much.

  

The person who has known forgiveness and release from persistent, nagging habits of sin…should rejoice greatly in this evidence of God’s mercy.

-Richard Foster

  

What has God done for you?

Make a Decision Between You and Me by DC Talk Lectio App