Forgiven Forgive and Forget

Those who are forgiven will forgive and forget. In Matthew 6:12 we read, “Forgive us our [sins] debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,” those who sinned against us. Did you notice the words: “as we have already forgiven”? It is in the aorist (past) tense. We cannot come to God and ask for forgiveness if we have not forgiven those who sinned against us as they come to us in repentance. So Jesus is teaching us to pray, “Forgive us our sins as we have also already forgiven those who sinned against us.”

“Forgive” means “to blot out,” “to cancel” our sins. In Matthew 5:23–24 Jesus tells us that if we are offering our gift to God at the altar and the Holy Spirit reminds us that someone has ought against us, we must stop worshiping, leave our gift at the altar, and go and get right with that person. Repent, and he will forgive you. Don’t worship without a clean heart. God will not accept such worship. Acceptable worship means we are coming to God, having forgiven all people, including our spouse, our children, our neighbors, and others. It is a serious matter to worship the Lord on the Lord’s Day. Before we take holy communion, we must make certain our hearts are pure.

Consider what we read in Matthew 18:21–35. This passage begins, “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times,’” which means without limit. Thank God, there is no limit for God’s forgiveness of us. We need forgiveness every day. We even forget the sins we commit against God.  There is no limit for God’s forgiveness.

Then Jesus told a parable: “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents 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.” Our sin is infinite because it is committed against God, who is infinite and eternal and holy. Our sin is not small. It is huge.

“‘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 and canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. 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, and I will pay you 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 greatly distressed 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 that 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 his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured [sent to hell], until he should pay back all he owed.” And Jesus concluded, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” May God help us to forgive truly and remember not.

Each of us owes an infinite debt to Jesus. He bought us, and the price he paid is the highest—the blood of Jesus. We sinned and he paid the price, the infinite price, so that he could forgive us our sins. In Ephesians 1:7 we read, “In him,” that is, in Jesus, “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Praise God for grace eternal. Grace saves, and there is no limit to it.

The price for our salvation is the blood of Jesus; it is an infinite price. Acts 20:28 says that God bought us with his blood. In Luke 6:37, Jesus said, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged.” He was speaking about unrighteous judgment. Then he said, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” In other words, if we do not forgive others, God does not forgive us. Notice, it says, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” This is a divine passive. It means we will be forgiven by God himself.

In Isaiah 38:17 we read, “Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction [from hell]; you have put all my sins behind your back.” God does not see our sins. All our sins are forgiven; they are cancelled forever.

In Isaiah 43:25 the Lord says, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake.” In other words, he does not do this because of our righteousness, but for his own sake. So Isaiah says the nature of God is to forgive sins; then he says God “remembers your sins no more.” He forgets them. How can he forget anything? But he does forget our forgiven sins.

Likewise, those who have been forgiven will forgive and forget. There are brilliant people who always remember how others have sinned, and they will constantly remind them about their sins. Such people are damned. They are not forgiven.

In Isaiah 44:22–23 the Lord declares, “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist.” Our sins are gone forever, covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Then he says, “Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” In other words, “I paid your price.” And on the basis of this redemption, the prophet exhorts, “Sing for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.” God did not have to save a single person. We were sinners—conceived in sin, born as sinners, only to practice sin. But we are forgiven, and that is God’s glory.

Not forgiving is a sin against God. He did not have to save anyone. We are told in Romans 9:13, “Jacob I loved, Esau I hated.” They were both sinners. But he elects certain people to be saved. And if you want to argue, then argue with infinite God. I am glad that I am saved. And you can rejoice because you are saved, when he did not have to save anyone.

In Jeremiah 31:34 we read, “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the Lord. For [because] I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” God forgets. God forgives and God forgets.

I marvel at Jeremiah 50:20: “‘In those days, at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none.’” This is what glorification is. There will be none. “‘and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.’” Hallelujah! All our guilt will not be found. Many, especially the devil, will search for it, even throughout the whole universe. But it cannot be found. It is covered by the blood of Jesus.

In Micah 7:18–19 we read, “Who is God like you”? The answer is, there is no one. And what does this God do? He “pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant [the elect] of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;

pardon there was multiplied to me;

there my burdened heart found liberty,

on Calvary.

So Micah says, “You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” Our God forgets all the sins we committed. Once he has forgiven us, God does not see our sins. He forgets them.

In Luke 24:46–47, Jesus said, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead.” This is the price he paid for our salvation. We owed our debt, and he paid our debt. That is why we can now worship him, praise him, and sing his glory. So we read, “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” God threw me out to the other end of the world so that I may preach the gospel to you. God loved you and chose you from all eternity, from before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4).

In Ephesians 4:32 Paul exhorts us, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” God forgave us once for all; we are to do the same to others, “just as in Christ God forgave you.”

In 2 Corinthians 5:19 we read, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” We owed to God an infinite debt, and Jesus paid all our debt. Now God is not counting our sins against us, but he is counting them against Jesus Christ, the God-man, our substitute. Christ  never sinned; he died for our sins. We sinned, and he paid. It is a good deal for us. And in 2 Corinthians 5:21 we read, “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin [offering] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We are clothed, not in the righteousness of man, but clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And when God looks at us, he sees us as perfect. We do not understand it. In fact, we are surprised by it. But we glory in it now and we will glory in all eternity in this one thing: God forgave our sins! So Paul writes, “The wages of sin is [eternal] death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). We deserved hell; God gave us eternal life!

Jesus told his disciples, “Do not rejoice that [demons] submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). I do not understand it, but I rejoice in it. In the book of eternal life, in eternity past, God wrote our names as those who have been already saved. The Philippian jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?” And the answer came: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, and your household” (Acts 16:30–31). We must trust and obey, and he helps us to trust and obey. He regenerates us. It is a monergistic work. We do nothing because by nature we are twice dead. He regenerates us. He gives us repentance and we repent. And he gives us faith, and we believe in Jesus Christ. So we read, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). Salvation is all by grace.

In Psalm 130:3–4 the psalmist asks, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” The answer is, no one. All are damned, all will go to eternal hell unless God intervenes. But God does intervene. So the psalmist concludes, “But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared,” obeyed, trusted.

In Matthew 6:14–15 Jesus said, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” It is better to forgive people when they sin against us and when they repent. (PGM) In Luke 17:4 Jesus said that if a brother comes to us seven times in a day and says, “I repent,” and he goes and sins again, and he comes to us again and says, “I repent,” even seven times in a day, which is 2,555 times in a year, we must forgive. If we do not forgive others who sin against us when they come to you and say, “I repent of my sins,” it proves that we are not saved.

In Mark 11:25 Jesus said, “When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him.” It is a present imperative, which means it is a command by God. What is the reason Jesus gives? “so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Our prayers will not be heard if we do not forgive others; we cannot come to worship in that way. If we do, the Holy Spirit will come to us and remind us, “Someone has a problem against you. Forgive him,” and we must do that.

In Colossians 3:11–13 Paul begins, “Here there is no Greek or Jew.” There is no discrimination in God’s church. Paul continues, “circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” When we despise someone, we are despising Christ in that person. All discrimination must be eliminated. Then Paul says, “Christ is all, and in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

There are three essential components of salvation. First is the cross. Jesus said, “This is my blood which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:28). Christ, who never sinned, died in our place for our sins. The second is faith. In Acts 10:43 we read, “All the prophets testify about [Jesus] that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” In Matthew 1:21 we were told that he was to be named Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. The third component is repentance. In Luke 24:46–47 we read, “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations.”

So look at the cross. Who is crucified on it? Jesus Christ. Why was he crucified? For our sins. And God himself gives us faith. It is not that we can manufacture true saving faith. And Paul tells us what true repentance means: “He who stole, let him steal no longer but let him work with his hands [manual labor] that he may have something to give to those in need” (Eph. 4:28). The thief stole, but now he works and gives. True repentance is a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree change.

Conclusion

Let me close with a few questions and comments:

1. Have we forgiven our debtors, those who have sinned against us?
2. Are we like the man whose infinite debt had been forgiven but who would not forgive a man who owed him $100 (Matt. 18:21–35)?
3. Do we realize our own infinite debt to God was paid by Jesus when he shed his blood on the cross? We sinned, but he died for our sins.
4. Do we realize that God refuses to see our forgiven sins? He forgets. It is an impossibility but it is true.
5. God blots out our sins once for all.
6. He remembers them no more. He forgives and forgets.
7. The devil may search for our guilt but it will not be found. The devil will bring our guilt to our minds; we must tell him, “It is forgiven by God.”
8. Our guilt is buried in the depths of the sea, and there is a sign. What does it say? “No Fishing.”
9. Do not judge others wrongly for sins they did not commit against you. We can imagine things, and the devil also puts thoughts into our heads. The devil works in our imagination.
10. There is no limit to our forgiving others. Seventy times seven means no limit.
11. God justly forgave our infinite sin committed against our infinite God because Christ died for our sins, for our guilt, for our punishment. And Reformed theology says that Jesus Christ went to hell for our sins.
12. If God kept a record of our actual sins, no one could be saved. Thank God, he does not keep a record!
13. We are to forgive just as God forgives us. He blots out our sins. He remembers them no more. It is a miracle.
14. Forgiven forgive and forget.
15. If we do not forgive others, we are not Christians, we are not forgiven, and we are wicked.
16. Without repentance, there is no forgiveness from God.
17. There must be proof of repentance (Acts 26:20; Luke 3:8). He who stole will now give.
18. Do not use forgiveness to commit more sins. Some people say, “We sin and God forgives. It is his job to forgive. So we will continue to sin and he will forgive.”
19. If you do not forgive others, God will not forgive you. You will die in your sins.
20. Without faith in Jesus Christ and true repentance, there is no forgiveness from God.
21. We live daily by repentance and saving faith. So we pray daily, “God, forgive our sins,” even though we do not remember all of them.

God, have mercy upon us sinners. Forgive us all our sins as we have forgiven others, those who sinned against us. In the name of Jesus we pray this. Amen.