"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy" (Matthew 5:7). Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father in Heaven, forgive us our sins in exactly the same way as we forgive others for their sins against us" (Matthew 6:12, Luke 11:4). What does that prayer mean? It means, if I don't forgive somebody for his sin against me, the Lord will not forgive me. What I am praying to God is, "Lord, forgive me in the same way that I have forgiven this other person." But if I have not forgiven this other person, I am really asking the Lord not to forgive me.

Do you realize that when you pray the Lord's prayer, you are asking God to forgive you in exactly the same way as you have forgiven others? When you refuse to forgive another, you are praying, "Forgive me in exactly the same way that I have forgiven this person; since I have not forgiven him, You do not forgive me." Or, "I have forgiven him but I have a terrible grudge against him because of what he did toward me, so Lord, when You forgive me, You too keep a grudge towards me."

Whenever people do us harm or hurt us in some way, there are two contradictory thoughts that arise in our mind. One is a thought of mercy and the other is the thought of judgment. The Holy Spirit tells us to forgive and to be merciful, but our flesh tells us to be hard on that person and to judge him, and to pray that God will judge him as well. But it says in James 2:13 , "For judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy to others." If I am merciless towards someone, God will be merciless to me. And in the day of judgment, we are going to get a big surprise when God imposes a very heavy judgment on believers who did not forgive others - they will not enter God's kingdom.

James 2:13 goes on to say, "Mercy must triumph over judgment." That means that when there is a conflict in my heart between judging someone and being merciful to him, let mercy triumph, and not judgment. That is the mark of a man of God. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Romans 12:19 says, "Never take your own revenge" because that is God's business. God says, "Taking revenge is My business. It is not your business." "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. So if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. We must not take revenge. We must be merciful and seek to do good wherever we can do good to others. We will discover on the day of the judgment that if we have not forgiven others, God will not forgive us. Jesus repeats that same instruction again in the Lord's Prayer.

"If you do not forgive others, then your heavenly Father will not forgive your transgressions" (Matthew 6:15). "Your heavenly Father" implies that He is already your Father and you are a child of God. He did not say, " God will not forgive you." If He had used the word "God," then we could say that this verse refers to unbelievers. But notice it says "Your Father" in Matthew 6:15 . Is God the Father of unbelievers? No! But if you are a born-again child of God, then God is your Father. And it says "Your Father will not forgive your transgressions." Why? Because you did not forgive somebody else.

If your transgressions are not forgiven, how in the world can you enter God's kingdom? Do you think they will be forgiven after you die? Is there a second chance after we die? If you die without forgiving someone, what is going to be your fate in eternity? I have no doubt in my mind that you will go to hell, because no one can enter heaven with their sins not forgiven on earth. There is no chance of sins being forgiven after we die. They must be forgiven now, and that is why it is so important to be merciful to others. That is not a kind act that you are doing to someone else. It is actually a kind act that you are doing to yourself, because you want God to be merciful to you.