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NASB | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
Subject: how can i overcome sin, and be forgiven? |
Bible Note: 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. |