The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 90

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90 The Lutheran Pioneer.

The Lord’s Prayer.

Tue FirrH PETITION.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive

those who trespass against us.
What does this mean?

We pray in thts petition that our Father in
heaven would not look upon our sins, nor on their
account deny our prayer; for we are worthy of
none of the things for which we pray, neither have
we deserved them; but that He would grant them
all to us by grace; for we daily sin much, and in-
deed deserve nothing but punishment: so will we
also heartily forgive and-readily do good to those

who sin against us.

Through faith we have been justified before
God and have received forgiveness of sins; yet we
stand in daily need of forgiveness, for we, daily sin
much. We all offend in many things, in so many
things’ that no man can begin to understand his
errors, Ps. 19, 12. Not a day passes that we do
not transgress God’s commandments a countless
number of times.

But by all these sins, we have loaded great guilt
upon ourselves, a great debt which bears us down.
Christ compares us in one of His parables to a
servant that owed his master millions of dollars.
The debt we have brought upon ourselves by our
disobedience in thought, word, and deed during all
the years, months, weeks, and days of our life is
great indeed, so great that it is as impossible for
us to pay it, as it was impossible for the servant to
pay his debt amounting to millions. The wicked
servant was cast into prison, till he had paid all,
which, of course, means forever, since he could never
expect to pay what he owed his master; and so we

. could expect no other lot than eternal damnation

if God should charge up our debt against us,
Ps. 130, 3.

But, thank God! our good Lord does not wish
to mark our iniquities; He has told us to come

unto Him with our load of sin and guilt, and has.

promised to give us rest, to relieve us of it, Matt.
11, 28. Therefore we go to God with trusting
though contrite hearts, and ask Him not to look
upon our sins. With David we pray: “Hide Thy
face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities,”
Ps. 51, 9. We well know that because of our many

_ sins we are worthy of none of the things for which

we pray, neither have we deserved them; we know
that we are unworthy of the least of God’s mercies,

and yet we ask Him not to deny the prayers which
we bring before Him in the Lord’s Prayer. Fully
aware of our utter unworthiness, we yet ask God
with David: “Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not
away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy
Spirit from me,” Ps. 51, 10. 11.

And may we be really certain that our prayer
will be heard? O how wretched were our lot if we
could not be certain of forgiveness! But thank
God! we can have this certainty. How? Not by
presenting our supplications before God for our
righteousness, but for His great mercies, Dan. 9, 18.
Many’ think that because besides their sins they
also have some good deeds to show up, God ought
to be lenient with them; others think that the many
sorrows and trials they have had in life ought to
atone for their sins; some think the tears they
have shed because of their sins ought to wipe them
out; and yet others think they have merited for-
giveness by their deeds of charity and benevolence.
But all that think thus are not on the road to get
certainty of forgiveness. Those who think thus
will receive forgiveness as little as did the Pharisee
in the temple. Nay, certainty of forgiveness can
be had only by trusting in God’s mercy and grace,
by asking God to grant us all our petitions by grace.
This grace has been procured for us by Christ, and
if we trust in this grace merited by Christ’s blood,
and pray in the name of Jesus, who has paid our
debt, we may be sure that our prayer is heard. No
sooner do we pray, “Forgive us our sins and do
not impute them unto us,” than comfort and peace
will enter our hearts, and we shall receive the blessed
certainty that all our sins are forgiven and our debt
is canceled. —

In grateful acknowledgment of God’s gracious
forgiveness, we promise to forgive others the sins
they have done against us. By no means do we
make this promise to induce God to forgive us, for
a promise made under such conditions would be an
insult to God, who cannot be bought, but does what
He does alone by grace. Neither are these words
to be understood to mean that God is to give us
measure for measure, that is, forgive us to the
same extent that we forgive others. No; these
words make no comparison between our forgiveness
and the forgiveness of God, but they are a simple
promise that we will also forgive those who have
offended us. And we promise that our forgiveness
shall be hearty, that is, a sincere, ready, full, and
continuous forgiveness. To heartily forgive those