Results 1 - 5 of 5
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | how can i overcome sin, and be forgiven? | John 3:16 | american_boomerang | 151953 | ||
What is repentance? how might I be saved with this? i have been reading the scriptures more, but i feel it is not enough, I have been praying and i have found that in proverbs a serious offense, An abomination to run to sin swiftly, i do this. it's certainly not my only sin but from what i can see so far, my biggest challenge i thought about memorizing scriptures that specifically apply to my weakness, but the bible sometimes is so hard to understand for me. so if anyone can help i would appreciate it. | ||||||
2 | how can i overcome sin, and be forgiven? | John 3:16 | DocTrinsograce | 151954 | ||
Dear American, If God has shown you your need, and you do want to be saved, then you must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. You must repent: This means a complete change regarding sin -- a 180 degree turn. There must be a change of mind. You must admit that you are a sinner, a rebel against a holy and loving God. There must be a change of heart -- genuine sorrow and shame at the vileness and filthiness of your sin. Then you must be willing to forsake that sin and change the direction of your life. God challenges people to prove their repentance by their deeds. God will not forgive any sin you are not willing to forsake. To repent is to go in a new direction, seeking wholeheartedly to live in a way pleasing to God. You must have faith in Christ. This means accepting that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and that Christ died for the ungodly. It also means believing that in His power and love Christ is able and willing to save you. Finally, it means actually putting your trust in Christ, relying upon Him and Him alone to make you right with God. Your proud, sinful nature will fight against abandoning trust in your own "goodness" or religion. Yet, I assure you, you have no alternative. You must stop trusting in any thing else and trust only in Christ, who is able to save completely those who come to God through Him. If God has shown you your need, and given you this desire, then turn to Christ -- and do it right now! Ideally, pray aloud to Him; this may help you to be clear about what you are doing. Confess that you are a guilty, lost and helpless sinner, and with all your heart ask Christ to save you, and to take His rightful place as the Lord of your life, enabling you to turn from sin and to live for Him. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved and that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. If you truly trust Christ as your Saviour and acknowledge Him as your Lord, you can claim these promises as your own. We will be praying for you. In Him, Doc |
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3 | how can i overcome sin, and be forgiven? | John 3:16 | Aixen7z4 | 152041 | ||
That is about as perfect a response as one might hope to see, and complete, to the question how a person can be saved. I like it. With your permission, I would copy it and use it myself the next time someone asks me that question. But of course, I will need to give credit, so you might tell us in what form one might do so. If anyone else uses that response, I would suggest that scripture references be added, to support the points that were made. Also, I would change one word; find “that sin” and change that to “all sin”. Surely we are not saved by repenting of particular sins, and the phrase “that sin“ might give that impression. This leads me to wonder whether the questioner might be a believer who is struggling with one or more specific sins. There is need for repentance in that case as well, I think (based on passages such as Psalm 51 and Revelation 2 and 3). Also, it may be said that in some sense we need to be saved from the hold that those sins can have on us. But why should we return to the word smithy to put that answer together again, when you have already done the work and produced such a fine account? If you grant permission to use it, then someone, maybe more than one, will thank you. |
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4 | how can i overcome sin, and be forgiven? | John 3:16 | DocTrinsograce | 152044 | ||
Dear Dr. Aixen, I thought about more properly annotating it, but I tend to remember the Scripture verbiage more readily than references. Consequently, I have to dig them out later. So, if I'm feeling lazy, sometimes I just write and leave out the references. :-) In regards to wondering "whether the questioner might be a believer," I always would rather err on the non-believer side. The way is broad to destruction, so, if you have nothing else to judge by, then simple statistics would be enough to cause us to lean in that direction. More importantly, if a person is a believer, and they are having doubts, the potential harm is minimal when compared to a lost person having false confidence! May we never find ourselves working contrary to the Holy Spirit! With regard to your suggested change, I could go either way. While your suggestion is probably much better, from a psychological standpoint the person to whom the post is written has a very specific set of sins in mind. (As we all do when we think about the sins that so easily beset us.) However, if I were really thinking along those lines I ought to have written "those sins" instead of "that sin" to more properly emphasize what repentance was all about. Please do not consider anything I write as proprietary. Honestly, I don't think about it that way, especially in this forum. What I have written is as close to Scriptural truth as I am able to write. If it is proprietary in any way then let it be Proprietary to Providence (with a capital P)! :-) I pray that the Lord Jesus is magnified and I am diminished. Thank you, Dr. Aixen, for your encouragement. In Him, Doc |
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5 | how can i overcome sin, and be forgiven? | John 3:16 | Aixen7z4 | 152046 | ||
It does seem likely that the person asking the question is unsaved. But it is often hard to tell. My comment was meant to suggest that you have another answer ready in case the person says they have already gone to the Lord with repentance and faith, and that he’s already saved. In that case, or otherwise, we may be needing an answer for a believer. There are times, as I’ll show in a moment, when a believer needs to repent as well. It is my observation that the Lord convicts the unsaved person of sin in general, of his sinful nature, if you will, of his destitute condition and his need for salvation. Thus, Jesus called upon all to repent, without reference to particular sins (Mark 1:15). He told us that repentance and remission of sins must be preached, and attached to the Gospel message that we proclaim in his name (Luke 24). The believer, on the other hand, is called upon to repent of particular sins. The church is to repent of having left her first love (Revelation 2) and one Jezebel is given space to repent of her fornication (v. Revelation 2). Simon is asked to repent “of this wickedness” (Acts 8) and a brother is to repent when he trespasses against his fellow-believer (Luke 17). It would be of concern that our message be clear. Otherwise an unbeliever might imagine he can overcome some particular sins and thereby gain a right standing with God. In that case, the response you gave would have corrected for that idea and steered him in the right direction. But say, would it not be good to hear from the person that they followed the directions and actually found salvation? Would it not be good to have them come back and testify to it? I have never seen that on a forum, but I say it would be good to see. |
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