"Forgive Us Our Trespasses"

"God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood - to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus" ~ Romans 3:25-26

Those of us who have been Christians for a long time tend to minimize God's forgiveness of our sins. It's easy to think that forgiveness is just a free pass, but it's not, because it was never truly "free". Somebody had to pay for it, because it is not part of God's holy nature to merely overlook sin. In Christ, we were given the perfect sacrifice of atonement, so that those who have faith in Him could receive it at no cost to them. Therefore, we must never shy away from confessing our sins and asking God to forgive us. This week at Friendship, we'll talk about the phrase "Forgive Us Our Trespasses" in the Lord's Prayer. We'll look at the history of forgiveness for God's people which demonstrates the seriousness of our sin, and God's even greater desire to forgive it and maintain a relationship with us. If you have been ignoring your sin, or if you've been ignoring His forgiveness because you are so ashamed, you want to join us for this message.