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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 | 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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2 | 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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