The Pardon of Prayer

Dr. Tony Evans says there's an important link between being forgiven and being forgiving if you do something that can never be. This is the alternative with Dr. Tony Potter speaker, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas Texas and president of the alternative, God's forgiveness is again Dr. Evans is the grudges we hold toward others can prevent us from receiving. Let's join him in Matthew chapter 6 as he takes a look at the prayer that leads to pardon at this point of the Lord's prayer. He says forgive us as we forgive our debtors.

After talking about how name submitting to his kingdom and yielding to his will and having gotten the provision of God. He says now forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

So the question that we have to ask is what does the word forgive me because a false definition will lead you to a false conclusion. First of all let me make this inextricably clear forgiveness is first and foremost our decision.

Let me say that again.

Forgiveness is first and foremost a decision meeting about one more time.

Forgiveness is first and foremost a decision a while by telling you that the rice because it is not first and foremost an emotion. Forgiveness is not first and foremost how you feel. While it does not ignore how you feel. It is not the definition of forgiveness you decide to forgive or not forgive your emotions have to catch up with that decision.

But if you define forgiveness as an emotion, then it will be determined by how you are invoking at a particular moment in time to determine whether you have forgiven and emotions off with actuating all the time you can be forgiven. One moment I'm forgiving the next moment about the same issue because it's tied to on what place on the Richter scale. Do your emotions happen to be at any given moment. So let's establish the fact that forgiveness at its foundation is a decision what kind of decision is it is a decision to relieve a person from an obligation or a debt incurred by a sin or an infraction against you in the present. Forgive us our debt.

Why, because sin brings up a bill.

The word that is the word for encountering a bill when you go to the store and buy something, you get a bill there is a charge a chart you are expected to pay for the bill that you incurred for the thing that you bought when we sin against God. We incur a bill. That bill must be paid. It either must be paid by you or somebody who pays the bill for you, but sin infractions against God incurs a bill that's why said forgive us our debt because you incur a debt to God when you said so the first part of the presence forgive us our walk cancel our bill.

The bill that I have accrued because I have disobeyed you rebelled against you sin against you.

I want you to clear my record to push the delete button for my failure to let me off of the hook.

Now let me clarify. Forgiveness does not mean excusing ignore ring justify or pretending that something didn't happen. It does not mean that I just dismiss reality and pretend. What did happen didn't happen so I can feel better about what happened because I was not being honest. In fact, you can't forgive unless you're willing to acknowledge the truth of what occurred. Forgiveness deals in the reality not the dismissing of the reality, but it deals with having a debt pay for an infraction committed now at this point we need to clarify the kind of forgiveness were talking about. There are two types of forgiveness when it comes to our relationship with God of the first part of the prayer is forgive us our debts, can you bring to God. The first kind is illegal forgiveness.

The biblical word for legal forgiveness is justification when the Bible says we are justified God in heaven declares us legally not guilty for me.

Infractions against him. But the reason he declares us legally not guilty.

When we get say when we accept Jesus Christ is because God credits the righteousness of Christ to our account. Jesus on the cross Angel bill Jesus on the cross paid my bill, which allows God the father to credit us and not guilty, not because we're not guilty. We are guilty but because the debt that was incurred by being guilty was picked up by the death of Jesus Christ, the sinless son of God who paid the penalty for our sin that's illegal forgiveness. That's an eternal issue settled when you come to Christ for salvation, but that's not what he's talking about here. He's not talking about legal forgiveness because he's now dealing with your relationship with your father, our father who art in heaven, so you're already a child you already a son or daughter of God.

So you dealing with another kind of forgiveness he's dealing with relational forgiveness legal forgiveness is settled forever when you come to Christ, but relational forgiveness is conditional legal forgiveness is about to pick right relational forgiveness is MI and fellowship with my father when we sin against God. We break fellowship. We are legally bound but will not intimately connected, so I a lot of Christians live a long time out of fellowship with God because they are on their way to heaven, but they are refusing to deal with the mess in their lives and get forgiven for God's intimate fellowship with him. So God not only wants to be the Savior will take you happen, but the father fellowship with you on our so this is a fellowship turn so forgiveness means that God cancels out the thing that's breaking up the intimacy that he wants to have with you now how do you know when forgiveness has occurred. If it's not a feeling. Then, if you look into your feelings.

Forgiveness may be here today may not be here tomorrow as I don't feel like giving you but since forgiveness is a decision you can always measure whether forgiveness has occurred because forgiveness occurs when no retaliation is being sought said it again.

Forgiveness occurs when you're not seeking to retaliate against the person who offended you, as long as you reach back into history to bring it up today even though it has nothing to do what was happening the day. The only reason you're bringing it up is to cause pain today even though it happened yesterday, it means you have not forgiven yet because you're using it as a tool to bring pain because you have forgiven even though you may still feel it.

It is the act of retaliation that demonstrate whether you forgiven or not, because you know whether you're retaliating or not using that thing from yesterday to bring about an act of judgment today so forgiveness is the decision that I am not going to credit this to your account on knuckle put a charge on your bill Michael bring up the bill and say you still owe me. Let me say one other thing, by way of introduction.

What about forgiving and forgetting many people say I'll forgive but I won't forget what actually is okay because God forget he would be omniscient if he forgot admission means God knows everything.

Sophie forgot something that we didn't know anymore and is not possible what the Bible means by forgetting is not forgetting the information.

It's forgetting the pain that was caused by the information is not forgetting that it happened. It's no longer allowing what happened to have the impact now that you have when it happened was Joseph when his brothers sinned against him. He says in Genesis 41 verse 51 he says these words, he says God has helped me to forget what you did to me but in chapter 50 brings it up again. You matter for evil but God meant it for good.

So he never forgot what happened to bring up in 50 but he forgot the impact that it had on him so he didn't have the same impact so it even though you may remember when you see that person will see that situation happened five years ago when you forgive it no longer destroys your day destroys your week destroyed your life because you made a decision to forgive. One of the reasons it stains destructive if we Forgiveness as an emotion and not as a decision once you make a decision and is no longer an emotion that emotions don't decide about whether forgiveness of the guard. The decision has made for you so forgiveness is the cancellation of whether or not you remember what happened will remember the details. It is the cancellation of debt for a sin, an infraction that was committed against you.

Dr. Evans will come back in a moment with more to say about the two different kinds of forgiveness and the different roles they play in helping us grow closer to God first.

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These are sermons their teaching courses to help you engage understand Scripture and not just to hear about, but to explore the kingdom of God on your own. Find out more Tony Evans training.org Tony Evans training.org talking about two categories. First is unilateral forgiveness, unilateral forgiveness is forgiveness that you grant even when the person hasn't asked for, why would you give unilateral forgiveness. Nobody said I'm sorry, nobody repented and you forgive anyway.

Unilateral forgiveness is given one. Because the issue is so slow enough with the didn't matter. They did wrong but you don't care that much stuff you can forget so you won't even care if they say I'm sorry if they repent is unilateral because it's so small I'm not really you would you unilateral forgiveness is the person refuses to say I'm sorry refuses to confess refuses to repent. As I repent no plan to hurt you that I did so they refusing another one is they can repent, because they died they hurt you when years ago Benson's passport so they can't make amends, even if they wanted to they can't because they're not here maybe you don't even know where they are anymore, so they moved away, then gone somewhere so they can prepare if you don't do unilateral forgiveness, then you'll stay stitch to something that can never be fixed because a God big dog they'll never gonna say I'm sorry unilateral forgiveness is to set you free is to forget what happened even when the person is not sorry about what happened because you don't want to be held hostage by what happened, so it sets you free. In acts chapter 7 Stephen is being stoned to death in acts chapter 7 they come out to destroy him. In verses 54 to 60 and and they're not repent and then not sorry that still remember that and in the middle been stoned to death as his father forgive, don't hold this to their account but they are stoning you but I'm not all that vast stone remove God's work in my life, let their stones and what did he see he saw Jesus standing on the right hand side of the father, many of us don't see Jesus because we won't unilateral forgiveness. That's where you forgive when there is no apology they are not sorry but you decide I'm going to not credited to your account. Even though you transactional forgiveness is different. This is where a person repents of what they did to you for coming by confessing first.

I'm sorry for what I did. That's confession confession is. I agree that I did you wrong. Repentance takes confessing to the next step.

Repentance is the decision to make it right. I want to turn from doing it and I want to make restitution. I want to make it right. Whenever, right as possible to be made.

I want to do.

The Bible calls that fruit of repentance, network, how do you know if a person is truly repented, because their words don't mean anything they can say I'm sorry not mean it how you know that the confession was real. You know the confession was real when there are visible acts of repentance that is trying to make in life at whatever level is possible to correct the reason for transactional forgiveness is because that opens the door for a restoration of the relationship. The relationship cannot be restored because repentance has been requested and forgiveness have been granted. Opening up the opportunity for reconciliation with transactional forgiveness.

You forgive Amber go is to try to reconcile and to heal the breach that caused the problem, you and I witness transactional forgiveness in the Amber Geiger case.

When you saw her justly condemn for the act of killing an innocent person.

She was given a judgment of 10 years. But here's relative on the stand asked the judge for permission to leave the stand and embrace her because all the stand. She confessed that she had done it, and a judicial judgment for what she had done had been granted 10 years in jail but because that was the statement of repentance and there is going to be fruit of action impose on her, certainly by the court.

He asked for the opportunity to restore relationship.

He got on the bench, walked over, the judge granted the opportunity and they embrace themselves for an extended period of time, saying even though you hardly by what you did for you and I'm willing to risk all what can be restored and canceled the sentence but it opened up the opportunity for restoration but on top.

The John gets up and the job comes down and the judge embraces her and gives her a Bible and John restored the same job who condemned her and restored her because when you repent no consequences but it got me while we were gone 10 years consequent legal build the bridge to restore relationship. That's what transactional forgiveness it seeks to bring about healing due to the expression of repentance, so forgiveness can is legal. When you accept Christ as relational when you confess your sins in Jesus Christ and repent of your wrong direction and get back in fellowship with God in Mark chapter 11. Jesus is telling the story and he says in verse 22, 26, he says, have faith in God. And when you have faith in God is and you can move mountains, a mountain in the Bible isn't over comparable situation situation, you can fix is called a mountain. He says you can say to this mountain, the situation in your life, be removed and it will be cast into the sea. So you got a problem when you like camping you got an addiction. You can get over you living in fear. Maybe you afraid personal time may be controlled by anger. Maybe the marriage can never get right your living of the defeated single whatever the mountain is you try to get rid of it with the counselor get rid of it is a mountain and God says you can speak to the mountains and will go into the city. If you have faith in God.

The only way God will help you move a mountain, he says, is if I see you forgiving if you don't forgive. You will be able to get rid of your mountain get rid of that addiction feel that relationship so that emotional problem because you're living in on forgiveness. Forgiveness will block God's miracles.dragons will come back to leaders in a brief time of personal introspection just a moment first. So if you'd like to get a copy of today's lesson to review again or share with someone else.

The title to ask about is the pardon of prayer, but it also comes bundled with seven other messages in Tony's current teaching series. The Lord's prayer and through Monday only repackaging this entire compilation on CDs and digital downloads. Along with this popular book God is more than enough.

They're all available to you is or thank you gift when you support Tony's ministry with a contribution to keep his messages coming to the station each day. You can get all the information on this special offer. Make your donation online and instantly download the messages in this series Tony Evans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222 our resource center is open 24 seven so there's no need to wait again, dial 1-800-800-3222, or online@tonyevans.org. We often pray to God to help us get out of difficult situations or circumstances. But tomorrow Dr. Evans will talk about the kind of prayer that can help us avoid them altogether. Right now though he's back to close our time together today with this so now is a sacred moment. If there's any area forgiveness. You need to deal with will set you free. Right in the area forgiveness to give yourself giving somebody else in the wreath on the even if you manage God if there's any area forgiveness that you need to deal with your couple you this mountain of a relationship. It won't budge because somebody had forgiven somebody I want you to write down very short. I need to forgive blank and just put in the short phrase.

What is for.

No, I don't see this, which is more about that. I need to forgive blank whoever that person is yourself. Whatever it is for and whatever the thing is maybe more than one thing, but is going about the Scripture. I need to forgive blank for because we want to set you free, and we want to get God back in the same room which is for the prayers being answered. Mountains are being moved so that he can forgive you because you're now a forgiving person sign of how your emotions. I forgive blank for whatever it is the alternative with Dr. Tony have brought to you by the urban alternative is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like