The topic of our text from Matthew 18 today is forgiveness. C.S. Lewis wrote this about forgiveness:
To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. This is hard. It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single great injury. But to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life—to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son—how can we do it? [1]
In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus teaches us about forgiveness.
Our God is a forgiving God. When the Lord God proclaimed the glory of His name to Moses, He said, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Exo. 34:6-7). Psalm 86:5 declares, “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.” And Psalm 130:4 says, “But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.” Speaking about the new covenant, the Lord says in Jeremiah 31:34, “…For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Micah 7:18-19 says, “Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. 19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.” And Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”
And the New Testament declares that forgiveness is found in our Lord Jesus Christ. At the very beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, the angel told Joseph to name Mary’s child “JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). In Matthew 9, Jesus forgave a paralytic and healed him to prove “that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” (Matt. 9:6). Instituting the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” In Acts, Peter preached, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38) and “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). Paul declares in Ephesians 1:7 that in Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Mercy, compassion, forgiveness, pardon, remission of sins—those words characterize our God and Savior Jesus Christ. And yet, as we just read in Matthew 12:32, Jesus Christ tells us that there is a particular sin that will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. What are we to think about this?
The setting of this passage is very important to notice. Over the last few chapters in Matthew, opposition to Jesus from the religious leaders has been growing. In Matthew 12, Jesus declared to the Pharisees that He was Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8) and proved it by healing a man on the Sabbath day in their synagogue. Being proved wrong by Jesus was more than the Pharisees could handle. They “went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him” (Matt. 12:14). By His words and His works, Jesus proved Himself to be the Son of God, the Messiah, the King. But the scribes and Pharisees would not believe in Him and instead sought to kill Him.
Here, again, in Matthew 12, there is a conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. Let’s look at the details of it. First,
1. Jesus heals (Matt. 12:22)
Matthew 12:22 says, “Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.” As we see later, the Lord healed this man by casting out the demon. This was not unusual for Jesus. We have already seen Jesus heal many people and cast out demons from people in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus clearly has power to heal and total authority to cast out demons.
As we have noted before, Jesus did not do miracles just to draw a crowd or thrill audiences. He healed and cast out demons because He had compassion on hurting people; and because every miracle, whether healing, raising the dead, delivering the demonized, or feeding multitudes, announced that the kingdom of God had come, and that the Messiah was among them (Matt. 11:3-5).
How did the people react to this miracle?
2. The people react (Matt. 12:23)
Matthew 12:23 says, “And all the multitudes were amazed …” This is the only time that the word translated “amazed” is used in Matthew’s Gospel. It literally means “thrown out of place”, so the idea is that they were beside themselves and utterly astounded. This led some of them to begin to ask, “Could this be the Son of David?” (Matt. 12:23). As we have noted before, the term, “Son of David,” is a messianic title (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalm 89:3; Isaiah 9:6-7). This is the title the crowds later used of Jesus when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and they hailed Him as Messiah and King.
This was not so much a confession by the multitude but a confusion about whether the Messiah had indeed come. They recognized that Jesus was performing the signs of the Messiah. They were amazed at His power and authority, but they were also confused because they knew the Pharisees were against Jesus. Jesus’ works proclaimed He was the Son of David, but the experts said He was not. So literally they asked, “This one cannot be the Son of David, can he?”
And it was right then that the Pharisees jumped into the picture. If people were beginning to believe in Jesus, they had to put a stop to it.
3. The Pharisees accuse (Matt. 12:24)
Matthew 12:24 says, “Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.””
Notice what their statement implies. The Pharisees do not deny the miracle. They couldn’t. Jesus’ healings and exorcisms were so miraculous and complete, no one could deny them. So, because they could not deny Jesus’ supernatural power, they questioned its source. To them, it could not be that Jesus cast our demons by the power of God. The only other supernatural power with power over demons was Satan.
To say that Jesus operated in the power of Beelzebub was an extremely vulgar blasphemy. This was a play on the name of a false god that the Jewish people altered to mean, “lord of the flies” or “lord of dung”. The Jews used it to refer to Satan.
And this wasn’t the first time that the Pharisees accused Jesus of being in league with the devil. In Matthew 9:34, when He cast a demon out of a different man and healed him of his inability to speak, they said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons”. Jesus warned His disciples in Matthew 10, “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household?” (Matthew 10:25). So, this wasn’t a spontaneous reaction by the Pharisees. It was the settled expression of a heart that was progressively hardening against the Savior.
These Pharisees were trying to prevent people from seeing Lord Jesus operating in the power of the Holy Spirit, and from coming to the conclusion that He was the promised Messiah sent from God. Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus condemned them for this, saying, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” (Matt. 23:13).
Matthew tells us that none of this was hidden from the Lord. Matthew writes, “But Jesus knew their thoughts . . .”(Matt. 12:25). This leads us, then, to next consider how. . .
4. Jesus answers (Matt. 12:25-29)
First, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand” (Matt. 10:25). This is just a matter of common sense. No organization, no institution, no corporation, no family can stand if it is in disunity with itself. If it fights against itself, and actively seeks to undo its own interests, it is doomed.
Jesus applies this principle to the accusation of the Pharisees that He cast out demons by the devil. In Matthew 10:26, Jesus asks, “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?” Satan isn’t stupid. He spreads his own evil kingdom by destroying men. And if Satan were in the habit of casting out his own demons, then he would be undoing his own kingdom. Why would Satan do such a thing? Why would he willingly give up ground he has already taken? In casting out demons, Jesus was undoing the kingdom of Satan. It is absurd to say that Jesus was operating in the power of Satan. It was inconceivable.
Jesus next shows that the Pharisees were inconsistent. That first argument demonstrated that the Pharisees were mistaken about Jesus; and this second argument demonstrates the hardness of their heart toward Him. Jesus said in Matthew 12:27, “And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?”
The ”sons of the Pharisees” were their apprentices, their disciples. Apparently, some of the Pharisees followers claimed to cast out demons also. We see an example of this in Acts 19 when some Jewish exorcists attempted to cast out demons like Paul did—in the name of Jesus. But the name of Jesus is not some magic formula and that episode did not end well for those would-be exorcists.
Jesus’ argument is this—You are being inconsistent. The Pharisees endorsed their sons as being from God when they cast out demons. They claimed that their follower’s power came from God. Jesus is contending, “If you say their power comes from God, then Mine does also and you have lied about Me. And if you say My power comes from Satan, then theirs does also, and you have been endorsing Satan. So which is it?
Jesus says, “Therefore they shall be your judges” (Matt. 12:27). The evidence Jesus just gave in regard their sons will be enough evidence to condemn them on the Day of Judgment. He says that your endorsement of them proves you recognize God’s power, so during the judgment you will not be able to plead ignorance.
Their claim is inconsistent. So Jesus concludes in Matthew 12:28, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” In other words, it’s not Satan’s kingdom attacking Satan. It’s God’s kingdom attacking Satan! And that makes a whole lot more sense. The kingdom of God has arrived in the person of Jesus, and the proof is in the miracles themselves. Jesus is driving out demons by the Spirit of God. Jesus is demonstrating his power over Satan and Satan’s kingdom.
Jesus illustrates this in Matthew 12:29, “Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.” In this illustration, Satan is the strong man, and the souls of men and women are the plunder. Jesus is plundering Satan’s domain—He could not do that without overpowering and binding Satan.
Now, all of this is meant to do two things. First, it was meant to remove from the Pharisees the ability to argue that Jesus operated in the power of the devil. And second, it was meant to force them to the inescapable conclusion that the kingdom of God had truly come upon them in the person of the King Himself. Jesus is obviously the Messiah. And that means the kingdom of God is here. But the Pharisees refused to accept Jesus or even recognize that He did the works of God. They are opposed to the kingdom of God.
So Jesus warns them.
5. Jesus warns (Matt. 12:30-32)
“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matt. 12:30).
Jesus warned them that there is no neutrality with Him. Jesus spoke of only two kingdoms—the kingdom of God (of which He was King), or the kingdom of the devil (of which He was the enemy). There are no other alternatives. There is no middle-ground. The Pharisees were either of one kingdom or the other.
Rejecting Christ makes you God’s enemy. Doing nothing with Jesus is as good as rejecting Him. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “To be almost persuaded is to be certainly damned.” How much worse for the Pharisees who openly rejected Him. Even today, people think that they can be neutral toward Jesus. But He has put everyone at the fork of a decision. In Matthew 10:32-33, Jesus said, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” To not be “with” Jesus is to set yourself “against” Him. To not “gather” with Him is to “scatter” in opposition to Him.
Then Jesus takes warns about the unforgiveable sin. In the case of the Pharisees, they saw the truth about Jesus. The Holy Spirit demonstrated before their very eyes who Jesus is. Instead of believing, they dared to blaspheme the work of the Holy Spirit for having revealed the truth. Their blasphemy revealed a hardened, unrepentant heart. Jesus told the Pharisees, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matt. 12:31-32).
I want you to notice the first part of that statement from Jesus: “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men…” Here is the good news. God can anyone for any sin. God has forgiven murderers, drunkards, thieves, homosexuals, blasphemers, and even politicians. Jesus even says “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him.” There is no amount of sin that is beyond God’s forgiving love. He will forgive anyone of anything, anywhere, anytime, if they will turn to Him and seek forgiveness. Praying for those who condemned Him and crucified Him Jesus said from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
The volume of sin does not end the possibility of God’s merciful forgiveness. An old man who has lived a life of wickedness all his life is just as forgivable as a child who has done nothing more than the characteristic foolishness that children have.
Paul killed Christians, but was forgiven. In 1 Timothy 1:12-13 he writes, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”
That means that you can even temporarily reject Christ; you can even have been a blasphemer; you can even have opposed and persecuted Christians—And you can still be forgiven.
The Pharisees had said some evil, blasphemous things about Jesus. They were plotting to destroy Him. But they could be forgiven for those things. You can be forgiven for blaspheming Jesus and even killing Him. Jesus says however there is one sin that cannot be forgiven. He says, “the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men” and “whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.”
What does that mean?
Blasphemy as used here means “defiant irreverence.” It is speaking against what the Holy Spirit has done, which is exactly what the Scribes and Pharisees had done in accusing Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub. They attributed to Satan the work the Holy Spirit did through Jesus.
Many people have become distraught and fearful over this matter, worrying about whether or not they have said words that constituted “blasphemy against the Spirit”. But the issue is not the saying of a set of words. The issue is that of a persistent, unrepentant attitude of heart toward the divine revelation of Christ. It was, strictly speaking, a sin that was committed when Jewish religious leaders continually witnessed the actual work of Jesus Christ in performing miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit in an undeniable way over and over again—and yet, out of hatred for Him, they persistently attributed those miracles to the power and working of the devil.
Why was this sin unforgivable?
Well, what does the scripture teach that the Holy Spirit does?
Look at what Jesus says about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in John 16:
7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:7-11).
He will convict the world of sin because they need to know they have not believed Jesus. He will convict the world of righteousness because the Jesus, the righteous One in heaven exalted at God’s right hand. He will convict the world concerning judgment because judgment is imminent now that the ruler of the world is defeated. And Jesus is the judge. So the Holy Spirit testifies towards sin, righteousness, and judgment.
So the Holy Spirit comes to show sinners the truth about their sin, the truth about the Savior Jesus, and the reality of judgment. The Holy Spirit’s renders people without excuse. So if a person has the witness of the Holy Spirit and truly understands the message about Christ, and rejects it, how can they be forgiven?
The ministry of the Holy Spirit, you see, is that of ‘shining the light’ on Christ (John 16:14). The Pharisees were willingly blind to the light, and then went so far as to curse and blaspheme the Holy Spirit Himself for seeking to remove their blindness. They had witnessed the good work of Jesus Christ in performing a miracle through the power of the Holy Spirit in an undeniable way and in His bodily presence. And yet, they were so persistently hardened in their hearts against Jesus that they dared to call the Holy Spirit the devil. That was a sin that the Pharisees committed with full knowledge and awareness of what they were doing. It was an act of profound hardness of heart. It was a sin that left no room for the grace of God. What hope is there for someone who would do that?
The Holy Spirit had done everything possible to bring them to repentance and they rejected His witness to them. They Such was the case with all that Jesus had done before these Scribes and Pharisees. What more could be done than He had done?
Their sin was not done accidentally or unintentionally. It was willful and deliberate. It reflected a heart that was hardened in sin so much that the Pharisees were plotting to murder Jesus. The sin becomes unpardonable, because the person committing it is unwilling yield to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit as He reveals Jesus.
It’s not that God won’t forgive them. They have chosen not to accept God’s forgiveness. To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is to understand the truth, feel the conviction, and then say consistently and permanently say no. There is nothing you can do for that person. You can’t save a person who won’t accept the Savior.
When you really think about it, people who are fearful that they may have committed this sin, and worry that they will now never be forgiven, actually prove that they haven’t committed it at all! A man or woman who has such a fear about that sin–or any other sin, for that matter–is experiencing the gracious work of God the Holy Spirit; because apart from the grace of the Holy Spirit, we wouldn’t even feel the conviction of sin at all (John 16:8). This, it seems to me, proves that their heart is not hardened against God, and that they are open to the Spirit’s revelation of Christ.
Maybe today the Holy Spirit is convicting you of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He has shown you your sin, the Savior who died for your sin, and the judgment that awaits if you continue to reject Christ. You cannot be saved while rejecting Christ. And to remain neutral about Christ is to reject Him. Therefore, the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts…” (Heb. 3:7-8).
Come to Jesus today. He will forgive your sins. He will give you a new life. He will indwell you with His Holy Spirit. He will take you to glory. The Holy Spirit is speaking. Listen. There is no better time than today.
In our verse-by-verse study of the Gospel of Matthew, we have seen that Matthew’s theme is that Jesus is the promised Messiah-King. In every narrative, every teaching of Jesus Matthew is continually stressing that point. In Matthew 8 and 9, we find that Matthew has carefully selected events in the life of Jesus without much concern for the chronological sequence of the stories. Instead, we find that Matthew is carefully building a case that Jesus demonstrates authority in areas that only God has authority, thereby demonstrating that Jesus must in fact be God in human flesh. These different areas of authority build in significance.
In Matthew 8, we saw Jesus healing a leper with a touch, a paralyzed boy with just a command without even seeing him, and Peter’s mother-in-law from a fever. Matthew then tells us that Jesus was healing every disease brought to Him and casting out demons as well. Jesus has authority over sickness and disease. Then Jesus demonstrated authority over nature itself by stopping the wind and calming the sea with a simple command. Next, Matthew showed that Jesus has power over the supernatural when He cast out a legion of demons from two men. Jesus has authority over sickness, disease, nature, and the supernatural. And then last week, we saw that Jesus has the authority to forgive sin. This power is of the greatest significance because sin is the root of all mankind’s problems, and more than anything else, people need their sins forgiven.
Recall that after Matthew showed the first three miracles of healing in Matthew 8, he presented Jesus’ dialogues with two would-be disciples where Jesus explained the cost of following Him. Now, after the second set of three miracles, Matthew again narrates two dialogues with Jesus focusing on discipleship. We will look at the first of these today and the second next Sunday. Today’s passage is also the second of three controversy stories that open up Matthew 9. Last time, some scribes thought Jesus was blaspheming when He forgave sins. In this week’s passage, the Pharisees accuse Jesus of eating with tax collectors and sinners.
There is also a similar theme between last week’s passage and our one today. Last week’s passage (Matthew 9:1-8) was about Jesus’ power to forgive sin. Today’s passage (Matthew 9:9-13) is about Jesus calling sinners. Let’s look at these verses in three sections today: 1) Jesus called sinners (Matt. 9:9); 2) Jesus associated with sinners (Matt. 9:10-11); and 3) Jesus came to heal sinners (Matt. 9:12-13).[1]
1. Jesus Called Sinners (Matt. 9:9)
Matthew gives us the setting in verse 9: “As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.” Matthew places this story right after Jesus proved something very important. He had proven that He had the authority to forgive sins. And right after Jesus demonstrated His authority to forgive sin, what does Matthew show Jesus does next? He demonstrates His mission by calling sinners to follow Him.
Matthew doesn’t tell us how much time passed, but that Jesus “passed on from there,” in Capernaum, His home base. Mark informs us that Jesus “went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.” (Mark 2:13). Then, returning from the lake, Jesus passed by Matthew’s tax booth (Mark 2:14).
This story is especially significant because Matthew is the writer of this Gospel account. Many people in the Bible had two names. And so, when Mark and Luke wrote of his ministry as an apostle, they called him “Matthew”, but when they told the story of his being called while a tax collector, they chose to refer to him by his lesser-known name “Levi” (Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32). Maybe they chose to do this out of respect for his apostolic ministry and from a desire to protect his ministry from the scandal of his dubious past. But Matthew himself had no such hesitancy. In telling his own story of his sordid past, he calls himself “Matthew”. In fact, even when he included his name in the list of apostles in Matthew 10:3, he identified himself with his sin calling himself, “Matthew the tax collector“.[2]
A tax collector, in Jesus’ day, was a Jewish man who collected taxes from his own Jewish kinsmen on behalf of the Gentile Roman government. He made his living by collecting not only the required revenue appointed by the Roman government but by also collecting a percentage above that required amount as his own cut.
Most Jews considered a tax collector a traitor to his own people. He was a sell-out to an occupying Gentile government. And he was doubly despised by his fellow Jews; because he not only collected taxes from his own people for the Roman occupiers, but also because collection of that tax was characterized by greed, extortion, deceit, bullying, and oppression. There was no such thing as an honest tax collector in that system. Other Jews considered tax collectors to be the worst of sinners in the same category as harlots, drunkards, and thieves. A tax collector was not permitted to serve as a witness in a court of law. Any money that came from him was to be considered “defiled”.
Someone has once said, “The church is the only fellowship in the world where the one requirement for membership is the unworthiness of the candidate.”1 The Holy Spirit has chosen to include this story in the Bible because it has great lessons to teach us about how merciful and loving our wonderful Savior is to those sinners that the world despises the most and considers the most unworthy.[3]
Where was Matthew when Jesus called him? He was “sitting at the tax office” (Matt. 9:9). Jesus didn’t wait until after Matthew changed his life and left the tax booth to call him. That’s the way that Jesus calls sinners—He calls them while they are still sinners. In fact, Paul writes in Romans 5, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8). Do you know that that’s why our Savior Himself said He came? Jesus said about another tax collector, Zacchaeus, ” for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus doesn’t sit around and wait for the lost to come to Him, He seeks them and saves them.
Look at Jesus’ call to Matthew: “… And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’” Matthew doesn’t tell us how much he knew about Jesus before He called him to follow. As we already saw, Jesus had done outstanding miracles in Capernaum and had regularly taught the word of God there. Surely Matthew knew all this. Still, it must have come as a shock to both Matthew and all those who were there that day that Jesus not only talked with him, but called him to be a disciple. “Follow Me” is the same call to discipleship that Jesus gave to the fishermen, Peter and Andrew, in Matthew 4:19.
How does Matthew respond? “… So he arose and followed Him” (Matt. 9:9). He left the tax collector’s booth. There was no going back for Matthew. The Gospel of Luke tells us he “left all” to follow Jesus (Luke 5:28). He left a cushy job that made him wealthy. He left his life of sin and stealing. He left all this and more to follow Jesus.
Listen, Jesus calls you as you are, but He doesn’t leave you as you are. He calls you while you are still in your sin, but He also calls you out of your sin. He calls you to follow Him, to be His disciple, to walk as He walked, and to live as He lived. This is the Christian life—following Jesus.
So first, Jesus calls sinners, and second,
2. Jesus Associates with Sinners (Matt. 9:10-11)
Matthew left his wicked profession behind, rose up, and followed Jesus. And next, he tells us, “Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples” (Matt. 9:10). When Mark tells this story, he lets us know that this was Matthew’s own house that Jesus went to. It must have been a very large house, considering that “many tax collectors and sinners” came and joined Jesus and His disciples at the meal. And Luke tells us even more – letting us know that Matthew was putting on a great feast in Jesus’ honor (Luke 5:29).
Matthew had found the Savior; and I believe he wanted to have a bunch of his former friends over to meet Jesus and be introduced to the Savior too! When one hopeless and needy sinner discovers the mercy of the Savior, he wants to share that mercy with other hopeless and needy sinners!
It’s important to understand what Matthew means by the word ‘sinners’ here. He’s not saying that some people are sinners and some people are not. The Bible is clear that we are all sinners. But the Jewish people used this word for those people whom they felt were the very worst of sinners –tax collectors, thieves, drunkards, and prostitutes. They called them ‘sinners,’ because they felt that those sins were so much worse than their own sins.
Now some people read passages like this one and use them to excuse sin. They say this passage shows that Jesus doesn’t care how you live. He accepts you as you are, and fellowships with you—sin and all. And then they say we also should accept people just as they are, without saying anything about their sin. After all, isn’t that what Jesus did? But we already saw from Matthew 9:9 that Jesus calls you as you are but he doesn’t leave you as you are. And Jesus will say that He came to bring sinners to repentance, not just to leave them in their sin.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about not associating with people who professed to be believers but were continuing to live immoral lives. He tells them: “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.” (1 Cor. 5:9-10). We shouldn’t be surprised when unbelievers are living immoral lives. They’re not believers! But true Christians are not to continue to live immoral lives.
Jesus shows us that we don’t avoid sinners who need Christ. Jesus didn’t avoid lost sinners, and neither should we.
Why did sinful people seem to flock to Jesus? For one thing, He loved them. He never condoned their sin, but they knew that He loved them. They knew they needed forgiveness. They knew that Jesus could forgive their sins. I believe they felt that Jesus looked past what they were right then, and saw them for what He had come to save them to be in glory.
Now, contrast this with the attitude of the Pharisees. They were the religious leaders of the day. From the outside, no one looked more righteous than a Pharisee. One thing I can assure you is that the tax collectors and sinners weren’t flocking to the homes of the Pharisees! The name Pharisee itself comes from a Hebrew word that means to separate. They separated themselves from any who were not as religious as they were. The Pharisees did their best to avoid ‘sinners’. In fact, one of their sayings was this: “Keep far from an evil neighbor and do not associate with the wicked.” (Aboth 1:7).[4] These Pharisees objected to Jesus’ disciples having dinner with such riff-raff. Matthew 9:11 tells us, “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, ‘Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’” The way their question is phrased suggests that they viewed this as Jesus’ habit.[5] The Pharisees are probably a little jealous that instead of choosing to dine with them, Jesus chose to dine with the tax collectors and sinners.
Notice that the Pharisees don’t complain to Jesus directly but to His disciples. They don’t seem interested in getting an answer, they just want to undermine Jesus with His disciples. They call Jesus “your Teacher”. The title “teacher” meant much more than just someone who passes knowledge and information on to students. It referred to someone who also taught by example! Jesus once told His disciples, “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am;” and then He told them, “. . . I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:13, 15). The Pharisees were complaining to Jesus’ disciples that their “Teacher” was setting an unspeakable example to them – eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners!
Jesus did set an example for His followers. Jesus’ close association with sinners is meant to be our example to follow. We are to love the poor, needy, despised sinners of this world so much that we welcome them into our presence so that they’ll know that they are loved. How else will they come to know Christ and follow Him?
We have seen that Jesus called sinners, He associated with sinners, and thirdly,
3. Jesus Came for Sinners (Matt. 9:12-13)
Matthew 9:12-13 says, “When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Jesus responds to the Pharisees’ criticism with three brief, striking statements, each of which highlights the fact that Jesus came for sinners.
First of all, Jesus tells them: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” (Matt. 9:12).
Could you imagine going to a doctor and complaining to him, “Listen, Doc. I don’t care too much for the kind of people you associate with. You always seem to be around sick people!” What a ridiculous statement! Who else would you expect a doctor to be associated with? In the same way, who else would you expect the Savior of sinners to be associated with than sinners who need to be saved? Jesus is saying, “Who else would you have me go to?”
If you think you are well, you probably are not going to seek help from a doctor. Medicine is for the sick, not the healthy. How many of you would go to a doctor and say, “Doc, I feel really healthy. Please give me a full course of chemotherapy.” Of course, you wouldn’t say that unless you knew you had cancer and it was the only treatment that would cure you! Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, “You don’t think you are sick, so you won’t come to me for healing. These ‘sinners’ know they are sick, and so I go to them.”
Jesus invites us to see Him as our spiritual physician. He does not set up an office and wait for people to come to Him. He makes house calls. Indeed, sometimes He walks up to people in the street and says, “I know you are sick; I have come to heal you.”[6]
Second, Jesus communicated from the scriptures that it was God’s purpose to be merciful to sinners. He quoted the words of God to them from the Old Testament prophecy of Hosea 6:6. He said (Matt. 9:13), “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’“.
Despite all their study of the scriptures, the Pharisees had obviously failed to ever understand God’s message. God’s message is all about redemption, not destruction. Even when you read those difficult passages of God’s judgment in the Old Testament, God gives them because He is calling men to repentance so that they won’t be ultimately judged. God is a God of great compassion, great mercy. And yet the Pharisees didn’t get that at all.
By quoting this verse, Jesus wasn’t saying that God did not require a sacrifice for sin. Clearly, the Old Testament teaches that He does. In fact, those sacrifices required by the law of Moses pictured for us the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. In His mercy, God gave the sacrifice of His own Son for sinners. In quoting this verse, Jesus is teaching that the sacrifice was all about mercy!
God doesn’t want mercy instead of sacrifice and obedience. Rather He wants mercy along with sacrifice and obedience. Jesus is saying that because God is merciful towards us, we also ought to be merciful to others.
And finally, Jesus communicates that He came for sinners by giving a clear affirmation of His own mission. He says plainly, “For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matt. 9:13). Jesus is not saying that the Pharisees were “righteous”, but that they saw themselves as “righteous”. Those who don’t see themselves as needy sinners have no interest in a Savior. They’re like the false believers in the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:17, saying of themselves, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing“, not knowing that, in reality, they are “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked“.
The Pharisees completely misunderstood Jesus’ mission. They thought that they were already righteous, so they didn’t need a Savior. They thought the Messiah would come to reward them for their righteousness, not call them to repent of their sinfulness. “Jesus did not come to this earth to write ‘A+’ on the moral report cards of all the good boys and girls. He came to call sinners, to invite the bad boys and girls to His gospel feast.”[7]
It wasn’t for the righteous that Christ relinquished His glory and stepped out of heaven. It wasn’t for the righteous that Christ suffered the temptation of Satan. It wasn’t for the righteous that Christ endured the hostility of man. It wasn’t for the righteous that Christ submitted to death on the cross. The righteous didn’t need it.
Christ came for sinners. Christ suffered for sinners. Christ endured for sinners. Christ died for sinners. Paul wrote, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (1 Tim. 1:15).
This is good news for us because the Bible tells us there is no one righteous. We read in Romans 3: “There is none righteous, no, not one … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:10,23). We all have sinned. We all fall short of God’s glory. But praise God! Jesus came for sinners. The only qualification you need for Jesus to call you is that you are a sinner. Jesus came to call sinners because there is no one else to call.[8]
Jesus called sinners; He associated with sinners; and He came to save sinners.
What can we take to heart from this passage today?
Jesus can save anyone. It doesn’t matter how badly you’ve sinned against God or failed other people in your life. You do not need to get your life together before coming to Jesus. Jesus calls sinners, so if you’re a sinner, you qualify. The one who knows he is the worst sinner is the very best candidate for salvation.
You must acknowledge your sinfulness. Jesus did not come to call the righteous or those who think they are righteous. You must confess your sin to God. You must know that God is a holy God and you are condemned as a sinner. If you think for one minute that you are able to make yourself look good before God through good works or religious rituals, you are badly mistaken. No one looked better on the outside than a Pharisee, and Jesus condemned their self-righteousness. Jesus saves sinners but He rejects the self-righteous.
Finally, this passage has something to say to those who are followers of Jesus. We should be merciful to sinners, even as God was merciful to us. All of us are just beggars telling other beggars where to find bread. Jesus saved you not so that you would think you are better than others, but so that you would be merciful to others in their sin and point them to Christ who can save them from their sin.
[5] Daniel M. Doriani, Matthew & 2, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, vol. 1, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008), 381.
All three synoptic gospels record this event that we have in Matthew 9:1-8. As Matthew does with some other events, he shortens the account, leaving out several of the details that Mark and Luke include. Matthew, instead, focuses on the central point that Jesus has the authority and power to forgive sins.[1] There is nothing more needed in our lives than forgiveness.
John MacArthur correctly states that,
“the most distinctive thing that Christianity has to proclaim is the reality that sin can be forgiven. That is the heart and the very lifeblood of the Christian message. Although the Christian faith has many values, many virtues, and has a myriad of endless applications, the most essential message that God ever gave to man is that man, a sinner, can know the fullness of forgiveness for sin. That is the heart of the message of Christianity.”[2]
That is the message of Matthew 9:1-8. The structure of the passage follows a clear pattern. Jesus meets a paralytic and speaks to him; the scribes react by speaking to themselves; Jesus replies to their thoughts; and then Jesus speaks again to the paralytic, healing him. I have divided it into three sections: Jesus’ declaration of forgiveness, His defense of His authority, and His demonstration of forgiveness.[3]
1. Jesus declares forgiveness of sins (Matthew 9:1-2)
Matthew closes the last story and begins this one by telling us, “So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.” Jesus had been in the region of the Gadarenes on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. On the way over to that side, Jesus had calmed the storm on the sea (Matt. 8:23-27), which taught us that Jesus has authority over the natural realm. He rebuked the wind and the waves, and they obeyed Him. While Jesus was on the shore of the Gadarenes, He cast demons out of two demonized men (Matt. 8:28-32), which taught us that Jesus also has authority over the supernatural realm. He commands even the evil spirits, and they must obey Him. Jesus exercises divine authority.
Now, as Jesus enters the boat once again to cross over the Sea of Galilee and comes to Capernaum, “His own city”, Matthew shows that Jesus exercises divine authority in yet another area, the forgiveness of sins.[4] The other Gospels give us the details of the setting. According to Mark, Jesus was in a house (perhaps Peter’s house) in Capernaum (Mark 2:1). There, Jesus was teaching (Luke 5:17), speaking the word to them (Mark 2:2). So many were gathered in the house and outside it, that there was no more room, not even by the door (Mark 2:2).
Matthew 9:2 says, “Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.” Mark informs us that the “they” was four men (Mark 2:3), and that “when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.” (Mark 2:4). With the words “Then behold,” Matthew captures the surprise that must have overcome those in the house listening to Jesus teach when these men dug through the roof and lowered their friend right in front of Jesus.
But Jesus does not seem concerned about the roof—what He notices is their faith. Matthew says, “When Jesus saw their faith…”—that is, the faith of the paralytic and his friends who brought him to Jesus. These were not just faithful friends, they were friends who were full of faith—faith in Jesus. They had the strong conviction that Jesus could heal their friend. Jesus perceived the faith of the paralytic and his friends.
How did Jesus respond to their faith? He spoke to the man saying, “Son, be of good cheer …” (Matt. 9:2). Jesus calls him “Son” which is the Greek teknon, a word which speaks not only of Jesus’ authority (as of a parent to a child) but especially of His tenderness towards the paralyzed man.[5] Jesus wants this young man to be encouraged, not afraid or distressed. When you’re paralyzed and lying on a mat and you’ve been brought to a healer, and he tells you to be of good cheer, you know that something good is coming. And you would probably expect that something good to be a healing.
Then Jesus said something that no one expected. He confidently and tenderly said to this poor, helpless, paralyzed man, “… your sins are forgiven you.” To forgive means to let go, send away, or remove. Forgiveness is not just diminishing the guilt of sin but removing it completely.
During Jesus’ day, it was common thought, that if you had a sickness or a disease, you had a double problem—sickness and sin. Even as far back as the Book of Job, it is obvious that people equated suffering with sinfulness. Job’s friends thought he was suffering because of some secret sin. They didn’t believe that the righteous would suffer. Eliphaz told Job, “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same.” (Job 4:7-8). Eliphaz thought that pain and wounds were a direct punishment for a person’s sin. This mindset had carried into the New Testament. In John 9 Jesus’ disciples question Him about a man born blind saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). Later, Jesus healed the blind man, and the Pharisees got angry, because he defended Jesus. So, they say to the formerly blind man (John 9:34), “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.
Does that mean the man was paralyzed because he had sinned? In Matthew 8, we saw in our lesson about the leper that sickness and sin are connected in this world, but not always directly. Sickness or disease is a general result of sin in the world. That’s why we see a connection between healing and forgiveness in such passages as Psalm 103: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.” (Psalm 103:2-3). Matthew showed a connection between healing and forgiveness in Matthew 8:17 when he quoted Isaiah 53:4, “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.” We saw that sickness or disease are a general result of living in a sinful world, but we cannot necessarily blame a specific sickness or disease on a specific sin. Jesus provides for healing through His atonement, but not always in this life. Jesus’ healings were a foretaste of the ultimate healing that believers will have in the day of resurrection.
Was the man’s physical condition the result of his sin? We do not know. But we do know that Jesus dealt with the sin problem first, for this is always the greatest need.[6] Jesus knew what this man needed most. From this very passage, we see that Jesus knows the thoughts of those around Him—He knew what the scribes were thinking (Matt. 9:4). And I’m sure He also knew the thoughts of the paralyzed man. Deep down in his soul, forgiveness of sins was what he needed most of all. And Jesus declared his sins forgiven.
Forgiveness of sins is the greatest need for every person. In a lot of ways, this poor man’s physical condition is a picture of our spiritual condition. We are helpless. We can’t heal ourselves. We are completely at the mercy of God who alone can forgive our sins. Paul describes our sin-sick condition in Romans 5:6: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” The term “without strength” means feeble, helpless, or powerless. The whole reason Christ died for our sins is because we were powerless to save ourselves.
No one but Jesus and the man on the bed himself could have known what happened in his heart when he heard Jesus speak those words and the burden of his debt to God rolled away! I’m sure that had something to do with Jesus’ words, “Son, be of good cheer . . .” Jesus encouraged this man that his fears were gone because his sins were forgiven. I love the way that Keith Getty writes about Christ redeeming us from our sin in the hymn “In Christ Alone”:
No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.
From life’s first cry to final breathe, Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand.
‘Til He returns, or calls me home, here in the power of Christ, I’ll stand.
This is what Matthew is showing us. Jesus performed the miracle of forgiveness of sins and the man’s guilt and fear were removed.
But next, we see that not everyone was cheerful about this. In fact, Jesus’ words sent some people through the roof in the other direction! So, next, we see that . . .
2. Jesus defends His authority to forgive sins (Matthew 9:3-5)
Matthew tells us (Matt. 9:3), “And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This man blasphemes!” The Gospel of Mark explains their concern when it has them saying, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7).
Think about who it was that said this. In his Gospel, Luke tells us who these critics were, writing, “Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.” (Luke 5:17). These were men who came from all over the region to investigate Jesus. They were scribes, teachers of the law of God in the Old Testament scriptures. They were reasoning within themselves that no one but God can forgive the sins that are committed against God. It would be blasphemous for a mere man to presume to do what God alone had the right to do. Therefore, they conclude that what Jesus said was horribly blasphemous!
They were correct in thinking that only God could forgive sin. On this, the scripture is clear. In Isaiah 43:25, the Lord God says, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.” And again in Isaiah 44:22, “I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, And like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” It is against God that men commit sin (Psalm 51:4). We can only forgive people for what they have done against us. We cannot forgive people for what they have done against others, and we certainly cannot forgive people for what they have done against God. Only God can forgive sin. They had this right.
Their error was in their belief that Jesus was a mere man. It was the discernment of the Scribes that was lacking. The Son of God incarnate was in front of them, and they couldn’t see Him. Jesus had been proving over and over that He was not just a mere man. His works had been testifying that He had authority to heal diseases and infirmities. He had authority over the wind and the waves. Even the evil spirits obeyed His command, crying out and calling Him “Son of God”. His whole life, as we’ve been studying it together from Matthew, has been showing that Jesus was not just a mere man, but is the Son of God in human flesh.
So, Jesus sets out to defend His authority to forgive sin. Notice again, that Jesus knows their thoughts (Matt. 9:4), “But Jesus, knowing their thoughts…” Jesus had seen the faith of the paralytic and his friends, now He saw the thoughts of these scribes. And notice how Jesus characterized their thoughts. He said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” They thought that their thoughts of Him were reasonable. But He said that they were “evil” thoughts. They were thoughts of sinful unbelief. He had been showing them who He was, but they still wouldn’t believe. This was the beginning of the religious leaders’ opposition to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. Next, in Matthew 9 we will see them grumble that Jesus associates with sinners (Matt. 9:11) and later they say, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.” (Matt. 9:34). What they were thinking was untrue, unbelieving, and blind to what was being revealed before their eyes.[7] Either Jesus was a blasphemer assuming to Himself the right to forgive sin, or He was God. But they refused to entertain that possibility for a moment, even though no other man had ever spoken as He spoke or performed miracles as He did.[8] It was not Jesus who blasphemed, it was the scribes who blasphemed by having evil thoughts toward the Son of God.
Jesus turned to those who had evil thoughts about Him and said, “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?” (Matt. 9:5). Jesus may have paused for a moment to let that question sink in. Notice He doesn’t ask them which is easier to do, rather, which is easier to say. Both of them are equally impossible for men to do.
But which is easier to say? To be honest, it’s a very easy thing to simply ‘say’ the words, “Your sins are forgiven you.” Anyone in this room could say those words. But there would be no way for others to know if we actually could forgive sins. We can’t look into someone’s heart and mind to see if they are forgiven. No one would be able to tell if the debt of sin had been removed. Even if the person felt relief from the feeling of guilt, who is to say that the real guilt of their sin against God was removed? Who could prove that the sin debt they owed God had been canceled? To say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” would be a very easy thing to say but a very hard thing for others to verify.
But if someone were to tell the man to get up and walk away; now, that’s not such an easy thing to say because it could be immediately proven whether or not it was true. All that would need to happen to prove it would be that he got up and walked home! To order him to get up, then, is not such an easy thing to say because none of us can make it happen. It is humanly impossible.
Now think about what we’ve seen so far. We’ve seen that Jesus has forgiven sins and that the scribes challenged His authority to forgive sin. This leads us to our third point; that . . .
3. Jesus demonstrates His authority to forgive sins (Matt. 9:6-8)
So, Jesus and the teachers of the law are at a standstill. How do we know if Jesus actually forgave this man’s sins? How could anyone know? There is nothing visible about forgiveness. It is an act that takes place in the spiritual realm. Anyone can say, “Your sins are forgiven.” But how do you know if they really have the authority to forgive?
So how do we know? Jesus demonstrated His authority to forgive by healing the paralytic. Look at what Jesus does. He speaks to the doubting scribes and says (Matt. 9:6), “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.” This is the second time in the gospel of Matthew that Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man. The first time was back in Matthew 8:20. Remember we learned then that the Son of Man not only refers to Jesus’ humanity but also His deity. It is the title given to the divine figure in Daniel 7 who is given an eternal kingdom and who is worshipped by all. Jesus began his ministry preaching that the kingdom of God was near, and He demonstrated that He was bringing the kingdom through His miracles.
The word, “power” in Matthew 9:6 (ἐξουσια, exousia) may mean either the ability and strength one has or the authority one holds. Jesus is claiming both. He has the ability to forgive sin and the authority to forgive sin. Then, turning to the man on the bed, “He said to the paralytic, ‘Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.’”
When Jesus commands the paralytic to rise, in front of everyone, salvation hangs in the balance. If the man rises, Jesus is Lord and has the power to forgive sins. If not, Jesus is a blasphemer and deserves the full punishment of the law.[9] Matthew doesn’t leave us in suspense. He tells us (Matt. 9:7), “And he arose and departed to his house.“
What does this mean? Jesus has the authority to forgive sins! He offered unmistakable proof that He forgives sin. Jesus is Lord. He is Immanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23). This is why He was given the name Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21).
What that means for us, is that when we come to Jesus in true repentance and faith, then we can be confident that our sins are indeed forgiven. Paul writes in Colossians 2, “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Col. 2:13-14). And in Ephesians 1:7 he writes, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Through His death and resurrection, He has canceled our debt. He has removed our condemnation. All our sin was nailed to the cross as Jesus died. He has the power and authority to forgive.
And notice the reaction of the people who saw this. Matthew tells us (Matt. 9:8), “Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.” The word that Matthew uses to describe their reaction isn’t one that simply describes a mild amazement at what occurred. It’s one that means that they were “terrified” or “frightened”. They became afraid just as the disciples in the boat were afraid when He commanded the winds and the sea and just as the people of the Gergesenes were afraid when He commanded the evil spirits to be cast out of the two men. The people who saw the paralyzed man get up were moved with a sense of holy fear because they knew that they were in the presence of One who possessed divine authority, and who exercised the right to do what only God can do—to forgive sins.
And they also glorified God. But you’ll notice that their reaction still came up somewhat short. They glorified God for giving such power “to men“. It may be that they had a reverential fear of what they saw in Jesus but they still seemed to think of Him as a great man among men. They didn’t yet understand, it would seem, that He forgave sins committed against God because He was, in fact, the Son of God in human flesh.
Those of us who know the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the World—we should worship Him, giving glory to God. Worship Him for the forgiveness He provides through His death and resurrection. We couldn’t earn forgiveness. We couldn’t afford to pay our sin debt. We didn’t deserve to be forgiven. We could never perfectly live up to it. But praise be to Jesus—He has given it to us and we will never be without it.
Those of us who are in Christ have not only been forgiven, we have also been given the privilege of announcing Christ’s forgiveness to others. The Risen Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). As His church, we proclaim to all who repent and believe in Jesus that their sins are forgiven through His blood shed on the cross.
This morning, let me offer this forgiveness of sins to you. The Son of God became a man in Jesus Christ (John 1:14). He lived a perfectly sinless life (Heb. 4:15). He then was crucified for sins He did not commit (1 Pet. 3:18). And His blood became an acceptable offering to God on behalf of all who will trust in Christ (Heb. 9:12). God raised Him from the dead for your justification (Rom. 4:25). He lives today at the right hand of the Father in Heaven to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him (Heb. 7:25). If you will repent of your sin, and believe in Jesus Christ, He will forgive you of all your sin and make you righteous before God (Acts 2:28; 3:19). God’s Spirit is calling you to embrace Jesus Christ as the Son of God who alone can forgive you of your sins. If you have not done that, do it today. Do it now. Who knows but this may be the last time you will hear the gospel?
This morning, before we come to the Lord’s Table, let me also say that if you have turned from your sin, and trusted in Christ, there is no reason for you to live in fear or guilt anymore. We “have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 2:1-2). “For [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus says to you what He said to the paralytic, “Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”
[7] D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 222.
[9] Daniel M. Doriani, Matthew & 2, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, vol. 1, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008), 373.
“And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. … For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:12, 14-15)
Last time, we began to look at the topic of forgiveness in Matthew 6:12. The context, of course, is the Lord’s Prayer in which Jesus taught His disciples to pray. We are to daily ask our Heavenly Father to “forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).
This request comes in the second half of the prayer after we have prayed for God’s name to be hallowed, His kingdom to come, and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. In this part of the prayer, we are petitioning God to meet our needs—needs for daily provision, pardon from sins, and protection from temptation and evil.
1. Prayer For Forgiveness
In this petition, we saw that forgiveness is the issue—it is our deep human need. We saw that our sins, our transgressions, are debts that we owe to God. They are a failure to honor and love God and others. It is a debt that we have not paid and could never pay. So, we need to be forgiven.
And we saw that forgiveness has two aspects: 1) removal of guilt; 2) restoration of fellowship[1].
Remember, this prayer is only for true children of God who have been saved by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we were saved, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, all our sins were forgiven. We were justified with God. All our sins were accounted to Christ and His righteousness was accounted to us (2 Cor. 5:21). The guilt for our sins was removed forever by Christ. We stand in Christ forgiven.
Yet, we still sin. And when we do, it hinders our fellowship with our heavenly Father. A believer’s sin does not break the relationship we have with our heavenly Father through Christ, but it does strain that relationship. It hampers it. Sin harms the fellowship we enjoy with God. So we need forgiveness to restore close fellowship with God.
In John 13 Jesus is with His disciples on the night He will be betrayed, the evening before He will die on the cross. John records that
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” (John 13:3-10).
Jesus’ reply to Peter explains precisely what is happening as we pray this fifth petition. “ He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean” (John 13:5-11). The bathing speaks of the judicial kind of forgiveness, the removal of the guilt for our sin. But the washing of the feet refers to the defilement that the kingdom citizen gets as he walks through this life. From this, he needs daily washing so that his fellowship is restored and his joy is undiminished.
So, the first part of this prayer is a prayer for forgiveness; the second is a:
2. Prayer For a Forgiving Spirit
Why does Jesus say that we should pray to be forgiven as we forgive others? It seems as if Jesus is saying, “The way you forgive other people is the way God will forgive you.” Ray Pritchard[2] points out that on one level that thought is puzzling; on another, it is profoundly disturbing; on still another level it appears to present a major theological difficulty. Augustine called this text “a terrible petition” pointing out that if you pray these words while harboring an unforgiving spirit, you are actually asking God not to forgive you. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great English preacher, said that if you pray the Lord’s Prayer with an unforgiving spirit, you have virtually signed your own “death warrant.”[3]
When Jesus teaches us to pray “And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors,” It cannot mean that forgiving others is a work by which we earn God’s forgiveness. As we saw last time, the gospel proclaims that Christ has already paid the debt with His blood for our forgiveness. We cannot earn it by any act or obtain it by any forgiveness that we offer others. Rather, as children of God, our forgiveness flows from a heart satisfied with the mercy of God and rejoicing in the cancellation of our sin debt (Matthew 18:24).
John Stott comments, “This certainly does not mean that our forgiveness of others earns us the right to be forgiven. It is rather that God forgives only the penitent and that one of the chief evidences of true penitence is a forgiving spirit.”[4]
So what does it mean to pray “And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors”?
Notice the conjunction that connects the first half of the petition with the second half. It is the little word “As”. Everything hangs on the meaning of that word. Lenski comments, that the “as” (ὡς) is not causal; it does not state the reason why God should treat us likewise but the necessary prerequisite without which no believer would dare to appear before God to ask for forgiveness.[1]
The New Testament is clear that there is a real connection between how we forgive others and how we receive forgiveness from God. It teaches us that we,
A. Forgive Because We Are Forgiven
When we understand how much God has forgiven us, we are set free to forgive others. Sometimes we excuse our lack of forgiveness on the grounds that the one who has wronged us does not deserve our forgiveness. But the truth is: No one ever wronged you as much as you have wronged God. You did not deserve God’s forgiveness. He gave it freely to you by grace because of the sacrificial death of His Son.
In Matthew 18:23-35, Jesus told the parable of Unforgiving Servant to explain this point. He tells the parable in response to Peter who asked Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (Matt. 18:21). Jesus said to Peter, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matt. 18:22). Then Jesus illustrates forgiveness with the parable:
23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, “Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, “Pay me what you owe!” 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.
The point of the parable is that those who are forgiven must forgive. After being forgiven a massively unpayable debt, how could the servant be so mean and cruel to others? The servant had been forgiven a great debt, and so he should have forgiven the debt of the other servant. The servant was forgiven first, so he should forgive.
This is how forgiveness is passed on. Forgiveness always begins with God. It never begins with us. Having been forgiven our unpayable debt to God, by the grace of God we are then able to forgive others their debts to us. Indeed, our ability to forgive is one of the surest signs of our having been forgiven. “There is no forgiveness for the one who does not forgive,” writes Don Carson. “How could it be otherwise? His unforgiving spirit bears strong witness to the fact that he has never repented.”[5]
When God’s grace comes into our hearts it makes us forgiving. We demonstrate whether we have been forgiven by whether or not we will forgive. The bottom line is, if someone finally refuses to forgive, there can be only one reason, that is, that he has never received the grace of Christ.
The Bible also teaches that we,
B. Forgive Just as We Are Forgiven
Ephesians 4:32 says, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.” How did God forgive us? Unconditionally because of what Christ did for us. He forgave us freely. C. S. Lewis writes,
No part of His teaching is clearer: And there are no exceptions to it. He doesn’t say that we are to forgive other people’s sins providing they are not too frightful, or providing there are extenuating circumstances, or anything of that sort. We are to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, however often they are repeated. If we don’t, we shall be forgiven none of our own.[6]
The Greek term for “forgiveness” (aphiemi) comes from a word that means “to let go.” Forgiveness is a release, a letting go of self-destructive feelings like anger, bitterness, and revenge. Phil Newton writes,
If you are having trouble forgiving someone that has wronged you, then meditate on the cross; meditate on your own forgiveness. God has not forgiven you because you deserved it any more than He commands you to forgive someone else because he deserves it. Just as you have been met by grace, even so show the grace of forgiveness to others.[7]
This is how God forgave us in Christ. This is how we are to forgive.
Finally Jesus is teaching that we,
C. Forgive That We Might Be Forgiven
Does Jesus really teach that God’s forgiveness of us is somehow linked to our forgiveness of others? Yes. In fact, Jesus clearly emphasizes this point. Notice that the only part of the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus singles out for additional teaching here is this fifth petition.
Matthew records Jesus’ commentary in Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Jesus states this principle in the positive, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,” (Matt. 6:14) and in the negative, “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:15). Jesus could not be clearer. Unless you forgive you will not be forgiven. This is a hard word, isn’t it? But it is a hard word of grace. When we were saved God forgave all our sins in Christ. We have been declared righteous on account of Jesus Christ taking our sin debt in full. Our guilt has been removed; we are forgiven.
But if we want to experience the daily sense of forgiveness in our walk with the Lord, we must ask for forgiveness when we sin and forgive those who have wronged us. When I forgive, I set the prisoner free, and I discover that the prisoner I set free is me. Jesus stresses that only those who grant forgiveness will receive it.
Pritchard writes that when you are unforgiving “you have chosen to hang on to your bitterness and to forfeit your daily walk with the Lord. You would rather be angry than joyful. You have chosen resentment over peace. Your grudges have become more important to you than the daily blessing of God.”[8]
Someone has said it this way, “Resentment is like drinking deadly poison and praying for the other guy to die.” Unforgiveness produces bitterness, becoming an infectious cancer of the heart, it begins to chew up and eat up your whole life.
In this life, we will never be free of sin. Therefore, we must daily repent of wrong thoughts and actions that offend God and others. By doing this, we maintain and increase our spiritual health and life. But also, because we live in a world full of sin, we will often get hurt by others and, in response, we need to practice forgiveness. When we do this, we keep the blessing of God’s forgiveness in our lives.
Remember how much you have been forgiven in Christ. Then forgive everyone who has wronged you. We are never more like the Son of God than when we choose to forgive.
J I Packer quotes this hymn by Rosamond Herklots:[9]
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.
How can your pardon reach and bless
the unforgiving heart?
that broods on wrong, and will not let
old bitterness depart?
In blazing light Your cross reveals
the truth we dimly knew,
how small the debts men owe to us,
how great our debt to you.
Lord, cleanse the depths within our souls,
and bid resentment cease;
then, reconciled to God and man,
our lives will spread Your peace.[10]
May that be true of us today.
Forgiveness is about releasing. It is about my releasing my sins into the hands of God’s grace so that I can experience His forgiveness. It is about releasing the debts others incur against me so that my fellowship is not hindered with God or with man.
Are there debts in your life that need to be canceled today? If so, bring them to the Father in prayer. He will forgive them because of the redemption provided through the death of His Son Jesus Christ. Are there debts that need to be cleared up with others? If so, forgive them. Make it right, whatever it takes so that your fellowship with the Lord can be restored.
“And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12)
You should have your Bible open to Matthew 6 where Jesus is teaching His disciples how to pray. We have camped out here for several weeks, going phrase-by-phrase through the Lord’s Prayer. We have seen that our prayer is based on our relationship with our Heavenly Father through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Because He is our Father, God is near to us and has compassion on us. Because God is in heaven, our Father has all authority and power to answer our prayers according to His will and for His glory.
Then Jesus teaches us six petitions to take to our Father in prayer. The first three relate to God and His glory, and three of them relate to us and our needs. We begin prayer not with ourselves and our needs but with God and His glory: Hallowed be Your name; Your Kingdom Come; Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Then, having committed ourselves to honoring God’s name, extending God’s kingdom, and doing God’s will, our Lord teaches us to ask the Father for what we need. These are not just personal requests for us individually, but we are asking both for ourselves and for others.
What do we need? Jesus teaches us to pray for three fundamental needs: to be sustained (our daily bread), to be forgiven (forgive us our debts), and to be delivered from the temptation and evil. What we are doing whenever we pray this prayer is to express our dependence upon God in every area of our human life.[1] If you think about the needs of your life and the lives of others, they all belong under one of these three petitions: sustained, forgiven, delivered.
Did you notice how these last three petitions are all linked together? The first word in both Matthew 6:12 and 13 is “And”:
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:11-13).
So, the requests are connected. The life we are asking God to sustain is a life in which we forgive as we are forgiven, a life in which we rise above the temptations within us and the evils around us. That’s the life we want to live because we are committed to honoring God’s name, extending His kingdom, and doing His will.[2]
With that review, we move to the fifth petition, “And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12). Just as necessary as daily bread—even more so—is daily forgiveness.[3] Forgiveness is the issue, our deep human need. But forgiveness for what?
If you recite the Lord’s Prayer by memory with a group of Christians from various church backgrounds, things usually go pretty smoothly till you get to this fifth petition. Some will say “forgive us our debts,” some, “trespasses,” and others, “sins.” How we recite that phrase usually reflects the influence of the English-speaking Church tradition we grew up in. Those raised in Presbyterian or Reformed traditions are more likely to say “debts.” Those who come from Anglican/Episcopal, Methodist, or Roman Catholic traditions are more likely to say “trespasses.” Those from churches practicing ecumenical liturgical movements of the late twentieth century will often say “sins.”
Which is better or does it matter? Well, obviously, Matthew, in his account of the Lord’s prayer uses the word debts. Both places in Matthew 6:12 he uses the word Greek words, opheilēma/opheiletēs meaning “debts” and “debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Our modern understanding of “debt” might dull the edge this word had for Jesus’s original hearers. Debt, for them, was serious and debtors’ prisons were a real fact of life. You could be thrown into prison to work off a debt that you owed, as in Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:23–35). We live in a society that eats, sleeps, and breaths debt! We have a national debt that staggers our imaginations. Today we have bankruptcy laws and consumer protections that were inconceivable to past generations. So “debt” might not carry for us the sense of threat it did for them.
In Luke, when Jesus teaches this prayer, He uses the word “sins” and “indebted.” The Greek word for “sins” is hamartia, which literally means “to miss the mark.” To sin is to miss or turn aside from the path of righteousness (Rom. 3:10-12). It is to “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Luke’s account pairs this word for sin with opheilonti (“indebted to us”), meaning “to owe” or to be in debt for. So sin is a debt. 1
Our sins are described here as debts to God. Our Lord also speaks about debtors: people who have sinned against us. Here is the reality of our position in this world: we sin and we are sinned against. We have debts, and we have debtors. Each of us lives in a network of relationships in which we have responsibilities and obligations: what I owe to God, what I owe to others, and what others owe to me.
How is sin a debt? It is a debt, as Thomas Boston put it, “because it is taking away from God something for which we owe him…” He adds, “By sin we rob God of his honour, and owe him reparation.”[5] John 3:4 says “sin is lawlessness,” it is rebelling against and dishonoring God’s law. In Romans 1 Paul describes the pervasive unrighteousness and ungodliness of a world under the wrath of God “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful.” (Rom. 1:21). The reason that sin is so serious and has such a heinous nature is that it is man’s attempt at robbing God of the honor that is due Him as creator.
Yet as children of God bought by the blood of Christ His Son, we owe our Father much more. We owe Him not only honor, but especially we owe Him love. Jesus summed up the law of God saying, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.” (Matt. 22:37; Deut. 6:5). Then He added, “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matt. 22:39; Lev. 19:18). We owe God a life of devoted love every hour of every day of our entire lives. What we owe, we have not paid, and because God calls us to love, we have an obligation to others. We owe a debt of love. You owe it to your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your neighbors, your friends, your employer your employees, your business partners, and your colleagues. Every day, we owe a debt of love to God and to each other, and however much we love, that debt is never fully paid. Paul writes, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Rom. 13:8). You have one debt that is always outstanding and that is your debt to love God and to love others.
Our sins are debts. They are a failure to love God as He has loved us. They are a failure to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our debt of love is a debt that we have not paid and cannot pay. We need to be forgiven because we have an unpaid debt. David had such an understanding of the nature of sin as a moral debt against the honor and love of God that he cried out, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight—That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.” (Psa 51:4). So, the debt we need forgiven is our sin against God.
But why do some churches say “trespass”? This word comes from Jesus’ explanation of this petition in Matthew 6:14-15. Immediately after teaching this prayer in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” In these verses, the word “trespass” is the Greek word paraptōma and it literally means “to fall beside or near something.” Figuratively it means “a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness” or “an offense.” A trespasser violates another person. Jesus wanted His disciples to understand sin in both the sense of owing a debt to God and the sense of trespassing against or offending God.
Jon Bloom writes,
This is what happened in the garden of Eden and what we have all done since. We have not merely borrowed from God an unpayable debt … We have seized a realm and exercised a right that belongs to him. We have violated God. We have committed a treasonous trespass, and we owe the debt of treason: death (Romans 6:23).[I]
One thing that this petition confirms for us is the ongoing reality of sin in the life of a Christian and the recurring need for forgiveness. More than likely, sin is a daily occurrence in our lives. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that because you have been saved or filled with the Spirit you are somehow immune to sin. John reminds us (1 John 1:8, 10) “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
This petition is an explicit prayer for forgiveness, “forgive us our debts,” and for a forgiving spirit, “as we forgive our debtors.”
1. Prayer For Forgiveness
Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.”
At least superficially men and women don’t seem to worry much about their sins. But deep down it is the most serious human need. Modern psychology may seek to help man dismiss his feeling of guilt but only Christianity helps man to be delivered from his true guilt, his debt to God. If we are sincere when we pray “forgive us our debts,” then we are openly admitting ourselves as guilty of wrongdoing, of sin.
Remember, this is a “family prayer,” a prayer for disciples of Jesus, for children of God. It is based on the fact that we already have been saved from our sins by faith in Jesus Christ. But that brings up another question, “Aren’t we already forgiven as the children of God?” Listen to God’s word:
Ephesians 1:7 – “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Colossians 1:14 – “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
Acts 2:38 – “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
Acts 10:43 — “To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
Hebrews 9:14, 22 – “14how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? … 22And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
1 John 2:2, 12 – “2And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. … 12I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.”
When we were saved, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, all our sins were forgiven. We are justified with God. All our sins were accounted to Christ and His righteousness was accounted to us (2 Cor. 5:21). In the words of David, we have the blessedness of knowing that our “transgression is forgiven,” our “sin is covered,” and “the LORD does not impute iniquity” (Psa. 32:1-2) to us because of what Christ has done for us on the cross. So, in one sense we are already forgiven. Paul writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1). If all that is true, then why must we pray for our sins to be forgiven?
Well one, if we are honest with ourselves and with God, we know we all still sin. So, we need it. And two, our sins hamper our fellowship with our heavenly Father. The point of this prayer is not that condemnation should be removed but that fellowship with God should be restored.[6] As children of God, it is our great joy and desire to walk closely with our Lord. A believer’s sin does not break the relationship we have with our heavenly Father through Christ, but it does strain that relationship. It hampers it. Sin harms the fellowship we enjoy with God.
In Psalm 32, David describes what it was like before he confessed his sin and sought forgiveness from God:
3When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
4For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. (Psa. 32:3-4)
Christ is our life, so any break in that fellowship because of sin feels like a deadly disease that drains the life from us. So, we need to daily seek forgiveness, as often as we sin. 1 John 1:9 tells us how: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” To “confess” literally means to “say the same” thing about your sin that God says about it. That means we don’t rationalize it away, or excuse our sin, or blame it on others. We own it, call it sin, repent, and ask forgiveness. God promises when we do that, He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Our fellowship with Him is restored.
What we find out from this prayer is that although we received full forgiveness of sins when we were saved, we will never be able to fully enjoy that forgiveness and cleansing in our Christian walk unless we first confess our sins daily and second extend forgiveness freely to those who offend us.
So the first part of this prayer is a prayer for forgiveness, the second is a:
2. Prayer For a Forgiving Spirit
Why does Jesus say that we should pray to be forgiven as we forgive others? It seems as if Jesus is saying, “The way you treat other people is the way God will treat you.” On one level that thought is puzzling; on another it is profoundly disturbing. On still another level it appears to present a major theological difficulty. Augustine called this text “a terrible petition” pointing out that if you pray these words while harboring an unforgiving spirit, you are actually asking God not to forgive you. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great English preacher, said that if you pray the Lord’s Prayer with an unforgiving spirit, you have virtually signed your own “death-warrant.”[7]
When Jesus teaches us to pray “And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors,” It does not mean that forgiving others is a work by which we earn God’s forgiveness. As I have already shown, the gospel proclaims that Christ has already paid the debt with His blood for our forgiveness. We cannot earn it by any act or obtain it by any forgiveness that we offer others. Rather, our forgiveness flows from a heart satisfied with the mercy of God and rejoicing in the cancellation of our sin debt (Matthew 18:24).
So what does it mean to pray this way? It means we must,
A. Forgive Because We Are Forgiven
When we understand how much God has forgiven us, we are set free to forgive others. Sometimes we excuse our lack of forgiveness on the grounds that the one who has wronged us does not deserve our forgiveness. But the truth is: No one ever wronged you as much as you have wronged God. You did not deserve God’s forgiveness. He gave it freely to you by grace because of the sacrificial death of His Son.
In Matthew 18:23-35, Jesus told the parable of Unforgiving Servant to explain this point. He tells the parable in response to Peter who asked Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (Matt. 18:21). Jesus said to Peter, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matt. 18:22). Then Jesus illustrates forgiveness with the parable:
23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, “Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, “Pay me what you owe!” 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.
The point of the parable is that those who are forgiven must forgive. After being forgiven a massively unpayable debt, how could the servant be so mean and cruel to others? The servant had been forgiven a great debt, and so he should have forgiven the debt of the other servant.
This is how forgiveness is passed on. If we had to forgive before we could be forgiven, then forgiveness would become a work, something we had to do to be saved. Yet salvation comes by grace alone. We cannot work off our debts, we can only ask for them to be cancelled. But now, having been forgiven, by the grace of God we are also able to forgive. Indeed, our ability to forgive is one of the surest signs of our having been forgiven. “There is no forgiveness for the one who does not forgive,” writes Don Carson. “How could it be otherwise? His unforgiving spirit bears strong witness to the fact that he has never repented.”[8]
When God’s grace comes into our heart it makes us forgiving. We demonstrate whether we have been forgiven by whether or not we will forgive. The bottom line is, if someone finally refuses to forgive, there can be only one reason, that is, that he has never received the grace of Christ.
B. Forgive Just as We Are Forgiven
Ephesians 4:32 says, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.” How did God forgive us? Unconditionally because of what Christ did for us. He forgave us freely.
The Greek term for “forgiveness” (aphiemi) comes from a word that means “to let go.” Forgiveness is a release, a letting go of self-destructive feelings like anger, bitterness, and revenge.
C. Forgive That We Might Be Forgiven
Does the Bible really teach that God’s forgiveness of us is somehow linked to our forgiveness of others? Yes, indeed it does.
Look again at Matthew’s account of the Lord’s prayer and what Jesus teaches about it in Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Unless you forgive you will not be forgiven. This is a hard word, isn’t it? But it is a hard word of grace. When we were saved God forgave all our sins in Christ. We have been declared righteous on account of Jesus Christ taking our sin debt in full. That is one kind of forgiveness. But there is also relational forgiveness. If we want to experience the daily sense of forgiveness in our walk with the Lord, then we must forgive those who have wronged us. When I forgive, I set the prisoner free, and I discover that the prisoner I set free is me. Jesus stresses that only those who grant forgiveness will receive it.
Ray Pritchard points out that as strange as it may sound, there is such a thing as an “unforgiven” Christian. This is not a statement about ultimate destinies. To be “unforgiven” in this sense means that the channel of God’s grace is blocked from the human side. In particular, it means that you have chosen to hang on to your bitterness and to forfeit joy your daily walk with the Lord. You would rather be angry than blessed. You have chosen resentment over peace. Your grudges have become more important to you than the daily blessing of God. If you are a Christian—a genuine believer in Jesus Christ—unless you forgive you will not be forgiven. You cannot enjoy the daily blessing of living as one who is forgiven.
Someone has said it this way, “Resentment is like drinking deadly poison and praying for the other guy to die.” Unforgiveness produces bitterness, becoming an infectious cancer of the heart, it begins to chew up and eat up your whole life.
In this life, we will never be free of sin. Therefore, we must daily repent of wrong thoughts and actions that offend God and others. By doing this, we maintain and increase our spiritual health and life. But also, because we live in a world full of sin, we will often get hurt by others and, in response, need to practice forgiveness. When we do this, we bring the blessing of God’s forgiveness in our lives.
Remember how much you have been forgiven in Christ. Then forgive everyone who has wronged you. We are never more like the Son of God than when we choose to forgive.
J I Packer quotes this hymn by Rosamond Herklots:[9]
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.
How can your pardon reach and bless
the unforgiving heart?
that broods on wrong, and will not let
old bitterness depart?
In blazing light Your cross reveals
the truth we dimly knew,
how small the debts men owe to us,
how great our debt to you.
Lord, cleanse the depths within our souls,
and bid resentment cease;
then, reconciled to God and man,
our lives will spread Your peace.[10]
In Genesis 45 we come to the climax of Joseph’s story. In this text, Joseph, who was hated by his brothers and sold by them into slavery (Gen 37), had been exalted to governor of Egypt (Gen 41). God had been using him to provide for Egypt during a severe famine. In Genesis 42, this same famine caused his own brothers to come from Canaan to Egypt for buy grain. Since Joseph’s brothers didn’t recognize him, he was able to test their character through both harsh treatment and kindness. In his last test when the brothers returned to Egypt with Jacob’s youngest son Benjamin, he prepared an elaborate feast for them and sent them home with great provisions (Gen 43). However, Joseph had his servant plant his silver cup in Benjamin’s luggage, accused him of stealing it, and was going to enslave him. Would the brothers take the resources and leave Benjamin, as they did twenty-two years previously when they sold Joseph into slavery? No, confessed their guilt before God. Judah then made an impassioned appeal for mercy on his aged father, offering himself in place of Benjamin (44:18-34). Speaking for the brothers, Judah poured out his soul evidencing an amazing change of heart. He ended his speech by saying, “Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?” (Gen. 44:33-34).
The brothers have shown true repentance. God has done a work in their hearts. They are no longer the same men who jealously hated Joseph and callously grieved their father. The stage is set for reconciliation. Now, it is Joseph’s turn to respond. We have witnessed the kindness of Joseph toward his brothers over the last few chapters. Joseph has forgiveness in his heart. Now that the brothers have demonstrated repentance, that forgiveness can be transacted. Reconciliation comes through repentance and forgiveness.
But I want you to notice that although the brothers’ repentance was the occasion for Joseph to express his forgiveness, the basis for Joseph’s forgiveness lies elsewhere. Genesis 45:5-9 Joseph makes one of the most astonishing faith statements found anywhere in the Bible. Joseph bases his forgiveness on the sovereignty of God and His good providence. The key to forgiveness and reconciliation is recognizing the providence of God and submitting ourselves to His sovereignty.
We are going to see that Joseph had a heart of forgiveness, a heart that promoted reconciliation because he had confidence in God. He trusted in God’s providence and submitted himself to God’s sovereign purposes.
Genesis 45 breaks into three parts. In Genesis 45:1-15 we see Joseph revealing himself to his brothers and their reconciliation. Genesis 45:16-24 gives us Pharoah’s response of generosity and Joseph’s instructions. Finally, Genesis 45:25-28 shows us the report of Joseph’s brothers to their father Jacob and his faith-filled response.
1. Reconciliation between brothers (Genesis 45:1-15)
In the first four verses of Genesis 45, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers.
1 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it. 3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. 4 And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
Now that it was time to reveal himself, Joseph made all the Egyptians leave the room. Why did Joseph wish this to be done alone? For one thing, this was a family matter. It was to be an intimate time between brothers, outsiders might be a distraction. Also, Joseph was overcome by his emotions and did not wish to be a spectacle in front of the Egyptians. Mainly, however, I believe that Joseph commanded everyone to leave except his brothers so that he could deal with the matter of the sin of his brothers in strictest privacy. Personal sin and forgiveness is best dealt with personally, not publicly.
To hear Joseph then command everyone to leave them alone must have struck terror into his brothers’ hearts. Perhaps they would all be thrown into prison or worse yet, sentenced to death. After all, they had been caught with the money and the silver cup. Joseph, powerful the Egyptian governor, then weeps aloud. Was this an expression of deep personal grief or pent-up anger? No—for Joseph, who had previously hidden his emotions from his brothers, these were tears of relief and joy at this long-awaited reconciliation and restoration of fellowship with his brothers.
Finally, Joseph reveals his identity. “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” (Gen. 45:3). They were so surprised and terrified by this revelation they were dumbstruck: “his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence” (Gen. 45:3). This word for “dismayed” describes a deep, visceral fear. How foolish and fearful they must be after having told Joseph several times that their brother (Joseph) was dead, only to see the dead man standing before them! No wonder he had been so interested in their younger brother and their father. No wonder he knew their ages when he seated them at the banquet in birth order. No wonder they had bowed down to him—his dreams that they had tried to prevent had shockingly come true!
“Fear and guilt were written on their ashen faces.”[1] It was bad enough to stand before a powerful Egyptian governor who was angered at the theft of a cup—but to realize that this same man was their brother whom they had mistreated and sold into slavery—that was too much! Before this, they might have hoped that the Egyptian would be impartial and show mercy. But now how could they hope for mercy from the one to whom they had been enemies? No wonder they were petrified. Their sin had found them out for sure.
Joseph eases their fears by initiating intimacy. Joseph says: “Please come near to me.” Now, no longer is Joseph the seemingly stern, demanding ruler of Egypt, but their brother. Suddenly they must have understood all the initially harsh treatment from Joseph, the tests he had put them through, the cross-examinations about their father and Benjamin, the money returned in their sacks, their royal luncheon in the governor’s mansion, and the trap of the silver cup.
When they came close enough to truly look at their lost brother, he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt” (Gen. 45:4). He does not remind them of their sin to rub it in or to hurt them, but to prove that he truly was their long-lost brother. He does not minimize their sin but forgives it.
In Genesis 45:5-8 we learn how Joseph was able to forgive the great evil his brothers had done against him, how he was able to look past all the affliction he endured from them, from Potiphar, in the prison—all his years of suffering—Joseph believed that God ordained all these things for good. Listen to Joseph’s faith:
5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
From verse 5 to verse 9, Joseph mentions God’s name four times: “God sent me before you to preserve life” (Gen. 45:5); “God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance,” (Gen. 45:7); “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God,” (Gen. 45:8); “God has made me lord of all Egypt,” (Gen. 45:9).
Joseph’s focus was on God, on God’s providence, God’s preservation, and God’s purposes. Joseph was a man who saw God in everything. Remember when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph? He immediately thought of God: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). When Joseph was in the dungeon and the cupbearer and baker had their dreams, Joseph’s response was, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Gen. 40:8). When he was called before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams, Joseph said, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” (Gen. 41:16). And in giving Pharaoh God’s interpretation, Joseph used God’s name four times to underscore that “the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass,” (Gen. 41:32; also 41:25, 28).
When Joseph’s wife bore him two sons, he gave them names that bore witness to God’s faithfulness. He named the first Manasseh, saying, “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house”; and he named the second Ephraim, saying, “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction,” (Gen. 41:51, 52). When Joseph’s brothers came to buy grain, even though Joseph wanted to disguise himself from them, he could not hide his relationship with God. He told them, “Do this and live, for I fear God” (Gen. 42:18). When they returned with Benjamin, Joseph, still disguising himself, said to his brother, “God be gracious to you, my son,” (Gen. 43:29). Joseph obviously instructed his steward to tell the worried brothers concerning the money returned to their sacks, “Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks,” (Gen. 43:23).
More than anything else, this was the secret of Joseph’s life: He saw God everywhere. He had such a profound sense of God’s presence that he understood that every event in his life must somehow be ascribed to the hand of God working behind the scenes. The sovereign God was at the center of Joseph’s life and now God is at the center of Joseph’s forgiveness.
When Joseph says, “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Gen. 45:8), he means to say more than simply “God was there” when all the bad things happened. That is true, of course, but it does not comprehend the full sense of his words. Joseph means to say, “God was in charge of the whole process.” It’s not as if the brothers sold him into slavery and then God intervened to bring about a good result. His words demand something more than that. Joseph means that everything that happened—the good and the bad—was part of God’s ultimate plan for his life. He was sent to Egypt to save the lives of his own family—the very brothers who had betrayed him. This was God’s plan from the beginning, and that fact alone explains all that happened to him. What a profound view this is of the sovereignty of God.[2]
Joseph says to his brothers, “But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” (Gen. 45:5). Though what the brothers did to Joseph was cruel (and they were fully responsible for what they did), nonetheless God was at work, using their wicked treatment of Joseph to accomplish His sovereign purposes. God was in control of his life, not the brothers. Nothing had happened by chance or coincidence. God ordained the brothers’ evil actions to achieve His good purposes. Joseph sees God’s good purpose worked out in three ways: to preserve life (Gen. 45:5); to preserve a posterity (Gen. 45:7), and to save by a great deliverance (Gen. 45:7).
If we believe in the sovereignty of God, we have a reason to forgive those who hurt us deeply. To forgive means to clear the record so that we no longer cling to the hurts of the past. This is only possible when we come to see that those who have hurt us, even our enemies, are agents of the Lord, sent by Him for reasons that we may never fully understand. These things have not happened just because of evil men—but because of a good God.
When we understand that God is sovereign over all things, even over the evil that men do, it frees us to forgive even as we have been forgiven in Christ. How do we do this? By faith. We choose to believe that God is at work in everything that happens to us. And we choose to believe that even when we see nothing at all that makes sense to us. Faith like that is made strong when it is based on the Word of God. And that’s why the story of Joseph is so important.
The unsaved have no hope in this world. To those who don’t know Christ, bad things happen with no ultimate purpose. Not so for those who know the Lord. As the Christian navigates a tempestuous ocean, he does so knowing that an All-wise, Almighty Pilot is at the helm. Even when the waves rise around him and threaten to cast him into the deep, he has no fear. Though he does not know what will happen in the short run, he is certain that in the long run God’s plan for his life will be worked out perfectly. Therefore, he is satisfied and has perfect peace in his soul.[3]
The Christian firmly believes that Romans 8:28 is true in every circumstance. He believes that all things work together for his good and for God’s glory because God has said it is so. Thus he walks by faith, not by sight. He firmly believes that someday he will see all the links in the chain of circumstances that led him from earth to heaven. And in that day he will bless the Lord for his sovereign wisdom displayed in every circumstance of life. With that confidence, he can rest in the Lord now, knowing all will be well later.
That’s the main point of this chapter. The rest of Genesis 45 just reinforces that point.
2. Pharoah’s blessing and charge to Joseph (Genesis 45:16-24)
16 Now the report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” So it pleased Pharaoh and his servants well. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, “Do this: Load your animals and depart; go to the land of Canaan. 18 Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land. 19 Now you are commanded–do this: Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives; bring your father and come. 20 Also do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.”‘
Can you see God at work here? By God’s providence when Pharaoh heard about Joseph’s family he welcomed them and provided for them for Joseph’s sake. This was an extravagant and abundant provision for their needs. This is the heart of God, who provides for us “abundantly above all that we could ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). This is the heart of God to those who are repentant, forgiven, and reconciled.[4]
21 Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them carts, according to the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey. 22 He gave to all of them, to each man, changes of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. 23 And he sent to his father these things: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and food for his father for the journey. 24 So he sent his brothers away, and they departed; and he said to them, “See that you do not become troubled along the way.”
Joseph’s forgiveness was expressed in his generosity and kindness to his brothers. He believed that God had a plan to bring his family, God’s covenant people, to Egypt for a time just as God had promised to Abraham many years before. By this God would make them a great nation and provide for them a great deliverance.
Joseph tells them, “See that you do not become troubled along the way” (Gen. 45:24). They would naturally be troubled about what to say to Jacob, for now, for the first time in all these years, they would have to tell him the truth about Joseph. Now they were caught in the lie that they had concealed so long and so well. Also, they might be troubled about returning to Egypt. How would they live among the Egyptians, people of different language, culture, and religion? How would they be treated when they returned? Would their relationship with Joseph be smooth and happy?
Joseph wanted them to trust in God as he did. That trust in God would keep them from becoming troubled.
Finally, we see,
3. Revival in the heart of Jacob (Genesis 45:25-28)
25 Then they went up out of Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. 26 And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob’s heart stood still, because he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. 28 Then Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Notice Jacob’s response is one of faith also, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” Jacob is convinced that Joseph is alive, and that realization breathes new life into him. Suddenly he has the courage to make the long trek to Egypt. Words of truth, words of good news bring Jacob comfort and courage. God has brought Jacob’s son back from the dead. He will trust in God’s providence.
God is sovereign over all the events in our lives. Therefore, nothing happens outside the good purposes of God. Sometimes God uses the evil deeds of evildoers to further His own plans in the world. When Christ was born, the Father used the paranoia of Herod the Great to guide the Magi to Bethlehem. Later He used Herod’s slaughter of the innocents to lead Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus to Egypt so that the Scripture could be fulfilled that says, “Out of Egypt I called my Son” (Matt. 2:13-15).
We see this even clearer in the events surrounding the death of Christ. Who killed Jesus? For 2,000 years men have argued that question. Did the Jews kill Jesus? Yes, plotted to have Him killed; they called for Him to be crucified and handed Him over to Pilate and asked for a murderer to be released instead of Jesus. What about the Pilate? He knew Jesus was not guilty and still handed Him over to be crucified. The Romans were the only ones with the legal power to put someone to death—and they put to death this innocent man. And in a larger sense, is not the whole sinful world of humanity guilty of His death? Did not our sins put Him on the cross? There is plenty of guilt to go around in the death of Jesus Christ.
But what about God? Though God cannot be “guilty” of the death of Christ, was not the death of Jesus part of the Father’s plan from the beginning? The answer is yes. Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). How do we reconcile the plan of God with human guilt in the death of Christ? Here is Peter’s answer as he preached in Jerusalem to some of the very men who participated in the death of our Lord: “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death” (Acts 2:23). Jesus’ death was not some afterthought with God, as if it happened because events suddenly spun out of control. He died according to the “definite plan and foreknowledge” of God, and He could not have died otherwise. But His death took place at the hands of “lawless men” who stand guilty before the Lord. Even though we may not fully see it, there is perfect harmony between God’s predestination and the free moral choices of sinful men. In the case of Christ, God used the wicked deeds of wicked men in crucifying the Son of God to bring salvation to the world.
