God Will Only Forgive If?

0:03 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Saturday, June twenty ninth, twenty twenty four. It is currently eleven twenty nine am Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. And the Theology Central Studio has become headquarters for great frustration, great irritation, great discouragement, great, I don't know, great, wanting to give up feelings. Okay, that's the feeling, that's the vibe in the studio is I'm just like, you know what, I'm just I'm done. I can't take this anymore. I just cannot take it anymore.

0:58 And I know that sounds hyperble. Some people say you're being over dramatic. You can think that, but you're not here. When I get done with some broadcasts and I walk downstairs from the studio and I begin to just kind of pace around the house talking to myself, like, you know what, why am I even trying? This is just ridiculous. Just just forget it. Just there's no point in even trying, because you're like, you know, you're out there trying to talk about these things, and obviously you are in the minority of the minority of the minority of the minority of the minority of the minority of the minority, because everything you listen to disagrees with you, and it has become extremely frustrating. And I hate that. I hate when I feel like I hate I hate when the when I feel like the podcast has taken a much more of a negative vibe. I hate that, right, because when when I started the you know sermons two point oh the Sermon's two point oh app sermon Challenge, right, the whole goal there was actually positive, right. I wanted everyone to download the sermons two point oh app because I wanted everyone to get the most out of it possible, right, and then me reviewing the sermons again, I don't listen to them first, so there was no desire to be negative. I wanted to, you know, like, I'm listening to these sermons, I'm gonna listen with you, and whatever happens happens. But there wasn't a desire to be negative.

2:23 In fact, the desire was hopefully to find some great sermons and to really benefit from it. And I'm not saying that that hasn't happened. But as we reached, as we have, as we have arrived, as we have reached the end of June, it has just become very, very negative. And I can go through the different parts that have become negative. First, the whole Psalm eighty three thing. That is just maddening that the original Sermons series, their original broadcast that sparked this entire discussion about PSAWM eighty three, has become extremely negative. And I don't want to be that way, but I mean, for crying out loud when you're when you're listening to messages on Saw eighty three, and part of the time you have no idea what's even being spoken of because it doesn't even come from Saw eighty three. It's just like, I don't even know what has this has to do with Saw eighty three. It's like someone read Saw eighty three and they just went and talked about just anything. Hey, we're gonna I'm gonna do a twenty part series on Saw eighty three, but I'm gonna spend eighty percent of the time talking about everything other than Saw eighty three. And then when they start talking about Saw eighty three, they make absolutely just incorrect. I mean, there's just no way to get around it, just absolute misrepresentation and just saying things that are that are absolutely false. And then when we listen to other sermons about Saw eighty three, next thing, you know, well, no, this, this is this happened during second Chronicles twenty where you know, the

3:54 king called in Asaph and you're like, no, Asaph was dead, just absolutely fradulent wrong information. And then yesterday when I was listening to some more of the original series on Saw eighty three, you know that sparked this entire discussion. Then they're making, you know, comments about Bible translations and just saying things that are just historically factually in error, making absolutely ridiculous claims that there is no historical support for. And it's like whenever you're listening to sermons and you just start hearing people saying things that are just factually in error, Like it's not an interpretive issue, they're just absolutely lies, misrepresentation, misinformation.

4:42 I mean, what do you do? I mean, like if you can't, I mean, I understand that there's always going to be differences in hermeneutical approaches. I know there's always going to be differences in interpretation. I know there's always going to be differences in philological standing and doctrinal understanding, but you think at the very least, you think, at the very least when you're listening to preaching, that you don't have to fact check every single thing. You don't have to go, oh wait, listen, pause, fact check, Okay, that was wrong, fact check that was wrong. Fact that's insane. At the very least, pastors should be able to least get the facts right now. They may interpret the facts differently, but I mean, you can't say this king called in this person when the person died decades before. You can't say that. You can't say, well, this is what happened when this translation was being made or when these manuscripts were being copied, and it's just absolutely fraudulent, like you just that's just I don't understand that. Like that just drives me absolutely crazy. So the PSAW eighty three thing, oh so frustrating. And then what happened with Joshua one eight, Ladies and gentlemen, what happened with Joshua one eight? I have yet to find a sermon that even bothers to try to connect Joshua one eight with Deuteronomy twenty eight. It's like, I don't even think I've found one night even

6:15 even entertains the thought, and everyone just takes Joshua one eight completely, just throws Israel out almost instantaneously, and even if they pay lip service to them, it immediately becomes us us us us us us, and then a complete made up world, believing that people can actually obey the words in Joshua one eight. I just I'm at the the end of my rope there, and then I thought, I go to my mailbox and there's, you know, two issues of the sort of the Lord newspaper, and I get all excited. It's like Christmas in June. And then we start reading the article on revival, and then next thing you know, they're making their quoting verses in the Gospel of John saying that they were about us, and it's just no way it's about us. The whole concept that the Holy Spirit teaches us and leads us into all truth and is going to bring back to remembrance everything Jesus said, we know absolute factually that is not true, because if it's true, then all Christians would be in agreement. But yet there it is being taught, and it's just like, at some point You're like, all I'm doing is turning on the microphone and I'm offering the contrary perspective to everything.

7:29 Hey, we're gonna listen to this, and I'm offering a contrary perspective. We're gonna listen to this. I'm offering a contrary perspective. We're listening to this. I'm gonna offer a contrary perspective. At some point You're just like, no, I don't want to be offering the contrary perspective. I want to be I want to find agreement. That's what I want. So it's just been frustrating. So I came back here to the studio this morning. We're actually what I was doing in the studio was doing more prep for tomorrow, which was already frustrating because tomorrow we still have to be on Saw eighty three at Victory Baptist Church, because well, we've found I've walked, We've fallen into Saw eighty three and there's no way to get out until I make it to the end. Right, So I feel bad because now I've kind of lost. I hate to say it, I'm so discouraged and disgruntled.

8:16 I don't even really want to work on Saw eighty three anymore. I just want to scream, right. So I'm like, okay, well, well I've got to work on So I'm working on, you know, Saw eighty three, and I'm We're down to the part where there's going to be all these references to the Book of Judges. And then I'm like, well, how much of these chapters and the Book of Judges do I read from? And I got to make sure I can say these names, you know, relatively close to the way they're pronounced. And I just kind of looking at that and just going, man, I don't I don't want to do this. But on the other hand, I'm like, you know, I need to, and I hate to. I hate to admit that, but it's just being honest. So I'm sitting there working on that, working on that, and I'm like, okay, well, I got a broadcast. So then I grabbed the sort of Lord newspaper. I'm like, do I want to try to finish this article on revival? I want to I need to be revived to finish the article on revival, because it's it's gonna only get worse. I know it's only gonna get worse. Why did I do this?

9:09 I should have read it in the first place. I don't know. So then I'm like, okay, well, I don't know. I'm not just kind of sitting here, you know, when you're just kind of sitting here looking into space, contemplating your life decisions. And all of a sudden I get a notification on my iPad for one of my podcast apps. I'm like, oh, open Open I think it's called Open Bible or Open the Bible podcast, right. I'm like, well, I haven't listened to that in like forever. Let me hit play. I hit play. I think it's like five seconds, maybe ten seconds. I think it's probably close en to I immediately hit paused, like no, what in the world. I'm like, okay, well, it may be negative, but it is a conversation I think Christians need to have. Right, So let's talk about forgiveness and will God forgive you or will he not forgive you? And what is the basis on him forgiving you. Let's listen to the beginning of this and then we'll just we're just going to kind of use the beginning of this.

10:16 I think for a conversation. I don't know where this is going to go. I think it should be interesting. I think we're going to probably get lots of different perspectives in the email and comments. But I think it's worth having the conversation because I know throughout church history no one has agreed on this subject. I know, shocker, right. I guess on one hand, you know, should I be discouraged by the fact that if you're going to talk about the Bible, talk about theology, you're just going to have to realize that no matter what perspective you put forth, there's always going to be disagreement. It's been that way for two thousand years. We have never agreed literally on anything, So I guess I shouldn't be shocked by that. It just I hate I hate when it feels negative, right, and I know this is probably about to feel negative. I'm gonna try to make it more positive because I want us to have a very serious conversation about this. I mean, we're dealing about We're gonna be dealing with the subject of God's forgiveness.

11:09 That's pretty significant, right. I mean, I don't know about you. If there is a God, I want to be forgiven by that God, especially if there's a place called hell. All right, Okay, so then forgiveness is pretty pretty important, right, So how do you understand forgiveness? Well, let's listen to the beginning of this. It's it's gonna be fast. You got to you got to make sure. Tell everyone to be quiet around you right now, because this is going to happen fast. All right. I mean I'm telling you. I literally stopped out like you gotta be kidding me. You gotta be kidding me. So here we go. I've got it cueued up. It's going to be fast. It's going to be fast. Are you ready? Are you listening? Okay, tell everyone to be quiet. Sh everyone, shhh, be quiet. Here we go.

12:01 God has never promised to forgive one sin that you are not willing to foresee. God has never promised to forgive one sin that you aren't willing to forsake. So there is no forgiveness if you are not willing to forsake the sin you are seeking forgiveness for. So whatever sin it is, Lord, I need to be forgiven today for these seven sins? Are you willing to forsake it? Now? Do you just have to be willing I'm willing to forsake it. I mean, I'm never I haven't forsaken it in fifty seven years, but I'm willing to forsake it. Like, how does this work?

12:48 This brings up some serious questions, right, because let me just give you a couple of scriptures. Love the Lord Thy God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. That's a command. If you haven't obeyed that command, you're in sin. If you ask God forgiveness for that, are you going to forsake your lack of love for God? Are you? Are you willing to forsake it? Or you've probably have been willing to forsake that forever, but you probably still don't love God with all your heart, mind, body and soul. Is do you not get forgiveness? Love your neighbor as yourself? Are you willing to forsake the sin of not loving your neighbor? Well? Wait a minute, be ye, holy as God is holy? That means be perfect as God is perfect. Oh wait, you can't accomplish. You've got to be willing to forsake that. You may be willing to forsake all three of those failures, but you're never going to do that, so is God. So I don't understand. Is it just so? Is it just something we say I'm willing to forsake it? I mean I'm not, but I'm willing to forsake it. Is that how it works? And then God's like, sorry, I'm not gonna bring forgiveness to you. Let's let's play this one more time. Let's play this one more time. I'll let it play out a little bit more. Now. I don't know exactly what he means by that, but I've heard things like this, Hey, God will not forgive you unless you're You've gotta be You've got

14:20 to be willing to forsake it. And then some will go so far to say you must forsake it. God will not forgive the sin you will not forsake. Well, I I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. I think we're all in serious, serious, serious, serious, serious trouble of no one being forgiven? Like, how does that work? If you get really? If you really again, this is the idea where you take the concepts. Okay, I will agree with that, take it to its logical conclusion. I don't know where you end up if you take that to his logical conclusion I think you end up in a train wreck as where I think. But let's listen to well, let the that's all I've heard, right, What you just heard is all I've heard. I stopped it right, then downloaded the audio, and like, Okay, this is a podcast discussion, ladies and gentlemen. So I'll let it play out a little bit more where you can hear their introduction. I think they'll probably tell you about the podcast so that you can go find a podcast and subscribe to it yourself. But we'll let this play out a little bit and then we'll just do a little bit of discussion about this and kind of see where you kind of where you fit in here and and whatever whatever position you hold to, you do have to try to make sure it makes some sense if you take it to its logical conclusion. Let's see what they have to say. Gaunt has never promised to forgive one sin that you are not willing to foresee. See. Well, I can think of some sins I've fallen into many times. Yeah, well,

15:54 are you willing to foreseek it? Now? Welcome to open the Bible Weekend with Pain Smith. I'm Steve Hiller and Colin That is quite the statement God has never promised to forgive one sin that you're not willing to forsake. I'll never forget the time that I heard it. It was Dr Alan Redpath, who at one time was the positive of the Moody Church here in Chicago, and he said that at a conference in Britain. I was seventeen years old when I heard him say that, and it hit me between the eyes and brought me up short. And you know, it's important to listen carefully to what the great man said. He didn't say that God has never promised to forgive one sin that you haven't forsaken, because it is true that we sometimes fall into a sin repeatedly and many, many times. What he said was that God is not ready to forgive one sin that you're not willing to forsake. In other words, I can't say I'm going to press right ahead and carry on doing the same thing again and at the same time repent and expect that God is going to forgive me. And Doctor Redpath was touching the great truth of Isaiah five, where God says let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And so this speaks into the heart of repentance that in coming to God and asking for his forgiveness, I've got to bring what I've done. I've got to place it into his hands, and I've got to say, by your grace, I am not going there again.

17:21 And God has wonderful grace for us, even if we've come with the same sin that's been committed many times. But you can't come and let go of what you're not willing to forsake. Well, we're gonna be in Matthew chapter two. That sounds so pious, and many Christians will hear that be like, ammen, Unless you're willing to forsake it, God will not forgive it. Okay, But what does that look like? Okay? You may keep falling into it over and over and over and over. So God, he did not say. God will not forgive what you will not forsake. God will not forgive unless you are willing to. He will not forgive what you're not willing to forsake. You may not forsake it. You just must be willing to forsake it. I don't understand what that means. Hey, I'm willing to forsake it. I mean I'm gonna keep committing Well, no no, no, no, no no no, that doesn't mean you're really willing. But but you said that I could keep committing it and God would forgive if I'm willing. God would not withhold forgiveness if I keep doing it.

18:22 God would only withhold forgiveness if I'm not willing to forsake it. I mean, come on, ladies and gentlemen, that I don't even know how you measure that. Like that seems like an absolutely ridiculous concept to even mention. Yeah, I would be convicting on first, you'd like, wait a minute, am I really willing to forsake my sin? And it says there's some sins that we fall into over and over and over and over. I am always baffled by the evangelical Christian mind because if you read the Bible, the commands sermon on them, ount, what does Jesus say, be eee perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. You're in a perpetual sin to that You're never going to fulfill that be ye holy as God is holy. That's mentioned in Leviticus and in Peter. You're never going to fulfill that. Guess what you are in a perpetual state of sin. Love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. You're never going to do that.

19:21 You're in a perpetual state of sin. Desire the Word of God more than gold and food. You're never going to accomplish that. You're in a perpetual status sin. I condemn in James, we going if you are guilty of one point of the law, you're guilty of all of it. You are in a forever perpetual state of sin. So when it says there's some sins we continually fall into, you don't continually fall into sin. You live in sin perpetually unless you're going to utterly minimize and water down the law so it's no longer stee it no longer kills, it, no longer destroys.

20:03 But it's like, Okay, I think I can accomplish that. No, you can't. The whole point of the law is to so break you that you're like, I cannot do this. You can be What does it mean to be willing to forsake it? What does it mean? I'm willing to forsake it, But I'm gonna bet I'm gonna continue to live in a perpetual state of sin. I don't. That just seems like it's something I'm supposed to say. Okay, well, God, I need your forgiveness now, hey, just so that you know I'm really willing to forsake this, because I know if I don't say those words, you won't forgive me. I mean, I really am willing. And some people say, well, if you're really willing, then you'll stop. Okay, Well, then if we're really willing to forsake our sin, then why don't we just stop sinning?

20:49 And everyone is perfect? Oh wait, nobody can be perfect. So that means there's a part of you that never truly wants to forsake all sin is called your sinful nature. Like I don't even understand that. Con Hey, God will God? God did not say, or you know, or this pastor, famous pastor. He did not say that God will not forgive you. That God will not forgive you unless you forsake your sin. God will only not forgive you if you're not willing to forsake your sin. What a This seemed like a meaningless distinction. So this raises the question will God forgive you or will he not? Will God forgive you if you lay out the conditions or will God forgive you because of what Christ has done? Now, and I think we talk about forgiveness. I think there's a couple of concepts we have to consider. Right. This is very important from the non Catholic perspective coming out of the Reformation. Remember the major difference there was between the idea of imputed righteousness versus infused righteousness. Catholicism held to an infused righteous idea of justification. Luther very much put forth the eydea of an imputed righteousness.

22:22 Now, the way this is supposed to work, right, This is typically how this is articulated. Right, And this is weird. This is that Christian double speak again. But this is I'm going to try to make it pretty simple. You are when you look to God's law, you see that you are a failure. You see that you cannot keep it. You cannot keep it in thought, word, deed, by what you do or by what you don't do. You will never obey God's law. It shows you your inability, It breaks you, It condemns you. The law does nothing but absolutely totally destroy you. So then you realize you're hopeless and helpless. So the only thing you can do is not try harder, not be willing to try harder, not to do more, not to try to do more.

23:03 Your only hope is to run to someone who can take care of the entire problem for you, and that is the person of Jesus Christ, second person of the Trinity, the eternal son of God. God sent forth his son. His son came first and foremost to keep the law perfectly for those of us who can never keep it. Not only did he keep it, then he went to the cross, where my breaking of the law and my sin is imputed accredited to his account. God the Father poured out his wrath on his son, and Christ propitiated the wrath of God. He satisfied the wrath of God for me. All all of God's wrath has been taken care of. It has been satisfied. He dranked the last drop of God's wrath for me. When I put my faith in him, then all of God's wrath has already been taking care of. There's no more wrath left for me.

24:02 It's been taken care of. My sins have been paid for because Christ paid for them. My sins have been covered in the blood of Christ. There is perfect forgiveness of all my sins. Oh, but there's more. Not only did Christ die pay satisfy the wrath of God on my part, all my sins are forgiven. All my sins are washed away in Christ Jesus. Guess what, His obedience to the law is now imputed to my account. So in my position before God, I am one hundred percent forgiven. I am one hundred percent washed clean. I am one hundred percent free from God's wrath because Jesus took all of it for me, and I am now declared to be perfect, holy in righteousness, righteous in Christ. I am forgiven. It's finished, It's done. As far as salvation is concerned.

24:53 There is no more forgiveness needed. I am perfectly forgiven. So it's not like, well, God's like, hey, I'm not I'm going to forgive you now unless you do this or this and this. No, I'm already forgiven. All my sins have been paid for, They've been removed. As far as the east from the west. God does not impute any sin to my account because I'm in Christ Jesus. There is no sin to impute to my account because I stand in the perfect obedience of Christ. There is no sin for me because I'm in Christ. So in that case, you can't look to a Christian go, well, God won't forgive you unless you do this or this. No, I'm already forgiven as far as salvation is concerned, I'm already forgiven. I'm already forgiven. Let me stak that again.

25:45 I am perfectly forgiven. I am perfectly clean, I am perfectly righteous and obedient in Christ Jesus. So there's not like, well, God will forgive you if there's no if you put your faith in Christ. Now what some people say is well, that initial salvation you can only obtain that if then they could put the condition if you're willing to forsake your sin, if you repent of your sin. No, wait a minute, so then we have to look at this. We'll call this the initial forgiveness in salvation or salvation? How do I get the forgiveness of salvation? And a lot of people will put if so they put repentance there. Now, I got no problem if you put repentance there, if you state repentance is what I believe it truly is. It is a change of mind. Now people say a change of mind that leads to a change of action. That no, it's a change of mind. So what how does this happen? When I look to the law, I change my mind and I go I admit, Lord, I'm a sinner. I have broken all of these laws. I acknowledge.

26:45 I have changed my mind and acknowledged these are all sins. That's a change of mind. I change my mind that Christ, Jesus died for me as a substitutionary sacrifice, and that in him there is forgiveness. I repent and changeange my mind about sin, about God and about Jesus, and about salvation, and about realizing I'm saved by apart from works. That is the repentance that is required for initial salvation. It is a change of mind. That is what the word primarily means. Well, I know in a modern day evangelical isn't like no, no, no, no. It's got to be a change of action. It's got to be a change of action. I am saved by an imputed righteousness. And imputed righteousness does not lead to a change of action. It declares someone to be a saint when they are still very much a sinner by nature and by action. But some people want to put forth the idea that you have to Basically, well, you're got to be at least willing to change. You got to now. And then what people will say, Well, if you don't change enough, you know, six months or a year into your so called salvation, Well then you really weren't willing, So therefore your repentance was not genuine. Therefore you were never saved. Well, then you live in a perpetual state of going, what do I have to do to prove that I was saved? No, I am safe because of what Christ did, not because of what I do.

28:03 I'm not saved by the quality of the change in my life. I am saved by the perfection of Christ's life. That's that's the way it's supposed to work. So I believe that repentance there is and that so called it's not a willingness to change, it's a willingness to confess I'm a sinner. I can't do anything, and I trust in Christ. That's the willingness. Well, God will forgive you if you're willing to forsake you. What does it even mean? How do you even know if you're willing if you just become a Christian, you don't even know what, if you're willing to forsake, you're not willing to forsake. You may not even even understand all of the of God's standards as you when you first become a Christian. Once you become a Christian, you're gonna go, wait a minute, Okay, I'm supposed to forsake this. I'm supposed to forsake that. This can be difficult.

28:53 Well, you're never going to ultimately forsake sin because you live in a perpetual state of it. So I think that that's very important to understand, is that even the initial forgiveness that we find in salvation, that comes through faith and whatever repentance there, it's a change of mind. Don't make it a change of action. Don't even make any willingness to change action. So it's a willingness to change your mind about sin, about God, about Jesus, and about salvation. That's what it's referring to. And of course it obviously has to require a change of mind, right because before salvation, you were not believing in Jesus, you were not believing things to be a sin. Now you're simply changing your mind agreeing with all of that. That's where salvation is found in the finished work of Christ. Now, what about forgiveness after salvation. Well, on one hand, let's make it very clear, you're already forgiven. So from a from a positional Salvafic point of view, from a salvation point of view, you're you're already forgiven. There's no more forgiveness needed. You're perfect in Christ Jesus in your position. But when we talk about our practical life, do we need forgiveness? Now this is where this is what impacts our fellowship, our walk with God. All right, our salvation is already secure, we say, by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christler. But when it comes to our fellowship, our followship, our walking with God, there's going to constantly be sin. So does

30:26 God withhold that forgiveness for your fellowship unless you do this or this, or unless you're willing to do this and this. I think he forgives when we confess and acknowledge. Hey, Lord, based off my positional standing in Christ, based on what Christ has done for me, I petition, I ask for that forgiveness to be to be present in my walking with You as I fall fall here or there or there or there or sin here, sin here, sin here, because you're a perpetual state. Now, why do you confess it when it comes to your fellowship or your followship. I'm confessing it in my daily life because i want to continue to show God. I'm acknowledging that I acknowledge that this is sin. I know I shouldn't be doing it, and I'm I'm battling it and struggling against it. But I need your forgiveness as far as my fellowship is concerned. And I don't think that once again is some conditional thing. Hey, God will only forgive you if, if, if, if you're willing to forsake it again. That's that's such a game. So because because this is how the game is played, well, if you're truly willing to forsake it, then ultimately you will forsake it.

31:47 But I'm telling you you're never going to forsake all sin. No one's going to be perfect. So then does that mean God then withholds forgiveness for your fellowship. If the whole thing is we live by faith alone, by grace alone, then faith then grace has to be the key element here, not my willingness to forsake. And how do you even know if you're sincere and claiming you're willing to forsake, you don't even know how sincere you are, because you have a sinful nature. And I tell you, I can tell you this about your sinful nature. Your sinful nature is never willing to forsake. So even if part of you is willing to forsake, your nature will never be willing to forsake. Now, I know some Christians believe in the entire eradication of the old nature, but if the old nature is gone, then all Christians should just be perfect. I think this whole thing becomes majorly complicated. I'm gonna back it up, play that begin intro again, and then let him just get into a little bit to see which direction he goes. And then we're just gonna look at some things from church history and some different concepts about this. But I think I've drawn a clear distinction.

33:02 There is the forgiveness of salvation that's clearly by imputed righteousness Christ, propitiation, propitiating the wrath of God on your behalf, all of those things that we've discussed. And then there's the forgiveness for fellowship. But it's really the basis of that forgiveness is what Christ has done. I just need that forgiveness to be applied now to this particular instant instance. And if you start putting conditions on that, well, then I guess then nobody's going to be in fellowship with God because you're always going to be in some sin to some level. I know Christians love to pretend that that's not the case, but then you have to lower the standards of God. And what we always do is reduce sin to very specific acts. But while we say well, I have forsaken that sin, but you may not have forsaken the sin internally. I don't know why never can wrap their minds around this. But let's play this part again. We'll see where he goes. I'm going to play the intro again and then we'll just kind of I'll throw out some more thoughts here. All right, here we go. God has never promised to forgive one sin that you are not willing to forsake. Say well, I can think of some sins I've fallen into many times. Yeah, well, are you willing to forsake it? Now? Welcome to open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith.

34:34 I'm Steve Hiller and Colin. That is quite the statement. God has never promised to forgive one sin that you're not willing to forsake. I'll never forget the time that I heard it. It was doctor Allan Redpath, who at one time was the positive of the Moody Church here in Chicago, and he said that at a conference in Britain. I was seventeen years old when I heard him say that, and it hit me between the eyes and brought me up short. And you know, it's important to listen carefully to what the great men said. Yes, he didn't say that God has never promised to forgive one sin that you haven't forsaken, because it is true that we sometimes fall into a sin repeatedly. Again, so it's not that sometimes we fall into sin repeatedly. I cannot stress this enough. We live in a perpetual state of sin. Jesus in the Sermon them Mount tells you to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. You will never accomplish that. You never will. You're in a perpetual state of sin. Leviticus and Peter tells us to be holy as He is holy. You will never accomplish that.

35:38 You're in a perpetual state of sin. Jesus says on the Sermon on Them Mount to love, or Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, and other gospels record it, love the Lord that God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. You will never accomplish that. Love your neighbor as yourself. You will never accomplish that. Those are just a few. You're in a perpetual state of sin. Oh, you don't just fall the sin. You live in. Sin. Sin is any failure to conform to the perfect holiness of God. You do not conform to God's holiness and thought, word, deed, desire, feeling, emotion. You're in a perpetual state of sin. That's why my only hope is the imputed, not infused, imputed righteousness. So I stand perfect in Christ. In my position, in my life, it's sin sin sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin sin. It's not that you're going to fall into it. You're always in it. It's just a matter of it's not necessarily that. Look, I fell into this sin. Well, it's it's just a manifestation, most likely of the sin already inside of you. You're already in sin in some way, shape or form, even right now today.

36:46 You may not want to admit it, but you are. That's why the whole forgiveness thing has to be based off the imputed righteousness by faith in Christ. As I've already outlined in this episode. I'm not going to repeat it again. I mean I could repeat it a thousand times, because I think evangelical Christianity has completely lost its mind and in so many ways, I know evangelical Christians don't Evangelical even fundamentalists Christians don't like to acknowledge this. They have reverted back to a Roman Catholic perspective almost of an infused righteousness, and have rejected the imputed righteousness concept that is so was so critical to the Reformation. Imputed Christ propitiated your sins. He satisfied the wrath of God for your sins.

37:30 I mean, everything Christ did, it's perfect, it's finished, it's done right. The law shows me what I'm supposed to do, and it demonstrates I can never do it. Therefore I'm in a perpetual state of sin. But when I go to Christ by grace alone, through faith alone, then it's not like, well, you've got to do this, or you've got to do this. No, Chris, it's all based on what Christ did, not what I can or can't do because I will never do it. So I don't like that idea. Well, you know, well there's gonna be some sense we continue to fall into. We're always in sin. That's we've got to start from that perspective. And again I don't know what it means. Well, God won't forgive you if you're not willing to forsake.

38:14 What does that even mean? Willing to forsake? Is it just what? But hey, he never said that he won't forgive you if you don't forsake, just that you have to be willing to forsake. And I it's such a like he just seems like just something you're supposed to say. And many, many times what he said was that God is not ready to forgive one sin that you're not willing to foreseek. In other words, I can't say I'm going to press right ahead and carry on doing the same thing again and at the same time repent and expect that God is going to forgive me. And doctor Redpath was touching the great truth of Isaiah chapter fifty five, where God says, let the wicked for seek his way and the righteous man his thoughts. And so this speaks into the heart of repentance that in coming to God and asking for his forgiveness, I've got to bring what I've done, I've got to place it into his hands, and I've got to say, by your grace, i am not going there again. Well, if by your grace I'm not going to go there again, well, then God's grace should then allow all Christians to be perfect. Oh wait, no one will be perfect. I don't know how this works. Then now I've got to be willing to come to God with a change mind, acknowledging that these are sins, place it in his hands, and then realize that my salvation

39:44 is based off in imputed righteousness and what I am in Christ's positionally, but in practice, I'm going to continue to sin in some way, shape or form, And if God wanted to, he could rem move the sinful nature and we could be perfect. But every almost other than some holiness movements, almost every form of Christianity and every stream of theology acknowledges we continue to sin and we cannot be perfect. If I can't be perfect, then I'm in a perpetual state of sin by definition, because God demands perfection. Any shortcoming of forget of perfection is sin because God's standard, I fall short of his standard perpetually. Okay, I don't understand why that's so complicated for the Christian mind. It's like we've got to we've turned Christianity in such into such a moralistic system instead of being a philological system or theistic. It's moralistic. Just morality, morality, morality, morality. Now, God's law is morality, which demonstrates we cannot keep it. Therefore, that's when we need well imputed righteousness. That's what Luther understood. Luther understood, I can't I confess a thousand times and I have a thousand more sins to confess fifteen minutes later.

41:16 That's why Luther was losing his mind, and that's why he finally had to come to the understanding it's by faith alone, grace alone. It's not by what I do or don't do. If God's forgiveness, it's dependent on my willingness to do the right thing. Well, I'm in trouble because there's always a part of me that's not willing. Look if I was one hundred percent willing to always do the right thing. You think at some point all that willingness and God's grace and all the supposed help and strength we supposedly have would get all Christians to perfection. But nobody gets to perfection. I wonder why. Well, we have a sinful nature that's never willing, So there's always a part of me that's not willing. Therefore, then God doesn't withhold all forgiveness from me. Is he only withholding forgiveness in my fellowship with him?

42:05 Or is he withholding forgiveness in my salvation? Well, then everyone's going to hell. God has wonderful grace for us, even if we've come with the sem sin that's been committed many times. But you can't come and let go of what you're not willing to forsake. Well, we're going to be in Matthew chapter twenty one to day. Grab a Bible. Join us there as we continue this message finding the hidden path to a transform life. Here's Pastor Gollin. We start with this story in Matthew and chapter twenty one, where Jesus speaks specifically about repentance. Hope you have it open in front of you.

42:46 What do you think? Jesus says, there was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, son, go and worked today in the vineyard. I will not, he answered, But later he changed his mind. Now literally the word that is repented. Later he repented once again. Repentance is a change of mind. I look, it's crazy. Two thousand years into church history there's still no agreement on repentance. It well, it's a change of mind, but it's a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior. So you haven't really repented unless you change your behavior. Okay, Well, then if if I'm going to judge my repentance based off my change of behavior, and I continue sin because everyone continues to sin and nobody gets to perfection, then do we call everyone's repentance into question. No, it's a change of mind. Where I now acknowledge, Lord, I am a sinner. These are sins. I do not justify them, I do not excuse them. I acknowledge, and I know.

43:55 My only hope is in what you have done for me. Because I cannot do it. I have to stand in an imputed righteousness, not an confused one. Imputed meaning I'm declared to be that which I will never be. All right, so I repentance. It is a change of mind, but everybody people will acknowledge it to change of mind, but then they immediately want to add more to it. But it will do this, and it will do this, and it will do this, and it will do this. There was a change of mind, but that change of mind comes inside a person who still has a sinful nature, meaning you're still going to sin.

44:36 That's why nobody can be perfect, even though you've changed your mind. He changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing, and he answered, I will, sir, but he did not go. Jesus asks verse thirty one, which of the two did what his father wanted first? They answered, And Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth. The tax collectors and the prostitutes, that is, people who would be perceived to be miles away from God and the things of God. These people are entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you. Jesus says, for John Kim to you to show you the way of righteousness. And you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes did, and even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. See who's going into the kingdom first, the tax collectors, the harlots enter the Kingdom of God before you. Why because the tax collectors and the harlots changed their mind acknowledge that they were sinners and believed in Christ, because they knew they needed some help, because they were in trouble.

46:00 Meaning and I know what people say, well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no no. See they were tax collectors and heartless, but then they stopped everything and they were all then perfect. No, no, no, it doesn't ever work that way. You're still going to be a sinner. Your salvation is not based on your stopping sinning or lack of sinning or doing better. Your salvation is dependent on the perfection of Christ and how he obeyed everything for you. Now, I know. Immediately people like, but there's got to be a change, There's got to be a change, there's got to be a change. Well, then you start you start judging the change on some weird, slippery scale where you're pointing out certain sins but ignoring other sins, and you're forgetting the fact that even if you stop doing these certain sins, you're still in a perpetual state of sin that the whole concept gets so confused. Now, we may come back and review more of this, but we're already at forty seven minutes.

47:01 So what I want to do is just kind of break this discussion down from the entry. I just want to use that introduction more than anything, right, and you can look at the rest of that passage, and we can I know we the debate will go on forever. It's been going on for two thousand years. But let's just look at some things, all right. When we talk about forgiveness, all right, the early Church definitely had an idea of forgiveness by works and conditions, and at certain times in the Early Church and the Early Church, baptism was considered a means by which sins were forgiven. Acts two thirty eight, where Peter encourages repentance and baptism for the remissions of sins, influenced this view. So Acts two thirty eight became very influential, and they're like, Okay, how do I get forgiveness?

47:46 Well, you have to bab you have to be baptized, and then repentance, and then in many cases, repentance became to be not so much a change of mind, but a change of action. So then so then that becomes of course, you know, then the genuine again I reviewed if you go listen to our series on the Sermon on the Mount I reviewed in a part of a sermon series from a church in Nebratno church in Iowa. One of the pastor's entire thesis was, the genuineness of your repentance is dependent on your obedience to the Sermon on the Mount. If you don't obey the Sermon on the Mount, you did not repent. Therefore you were not saved. So the way you know you're saved is based off your obedience to the Sermon on the Mount. That is the most like none. That is so Catholic, it's not even funny. That's not salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. That's not a salvation based off imputed righteousness.

48:39 So that's kind of was the early church's perspective. They developed a system over time that was over successive generations that added more works such as penance, alms giving, and other rituals to atone for sins. The system applied that human effort played a role in forgiveness. So over time, the early church began to develop a system what forgiveness. You gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, then maybe God will forgive you over time. Over time, the whole system becomes corrupted, and the system led to a view where the atonement of Christ was seen as symbolic and almost irrelevant, where man's works overshadowed the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice.

49:21 And it became a very works based system, very works based, and much of evangelicalism has followed very much into a very works based system. Now, now the difference is we play this semantics game, right, Hey, you don't have to work to be saved, but if you don't work, you prove you were never saved. Meaning I have to do the work in order to be safe. No no, no, no, you have to work to do the work to prove you're safe. But if I don't do the work, then I'm not safe. Right, So I have to do the work to be safe. No no, no, no no. You just have to do the work to prove you're safe. So how much work do I have to do to prove I'm safe? Well, then you get the John MacArthur test or the Jonathan Edwards test. Wretched radio. They have a test that everyone has their twelve thirteen point tests. You look at the test and then it's always like, well, you have to do this, but but but but no one's going to do it perfectly. Well you have to do this, but but but but no one's going to do this perfectly.

50:13 You have to do this, but but no one's going to do it perfectly. So wait a minute, have to end perfectly pass this test in order to prove I'm saved? Why do I have to look to a test that I'm not going to perfectly pass in order to prove that I'm saved When everything in the Reformation would tell me I look to Christ, who whatever tests you give me, he passed it perfectly for me. So if you want the proof of my salvation and you say works, prove salvation, Christ works, prove my salvation, not my works, Because whatever works you show me, I'm going to fall short of in some way, shape or form.

50:53 You tell me to love God, I'm never going to love him perfectly, because that would require a perfect love that's externally shown and internally real. I'm gonna fall short. I'm not gonna love my neighbor the way I'm supposed to. I'm not going to be holy as God is holy. I'm not gonna love God's word more than gold and silver and food, on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. So that was kind of the early Church, and I believe many of those ideas are still prevalent even within evangelicalism. Who will say that we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. But then there's almost a but, however, you've got to do ABCDEFG. Well, no Christ did a B C D E FG for me, all right. Then there's the idea of forgiveness and faith alone and an imputed righteousness. During the Reformation in the fifteen hundreds, Martin Luther emphasized justification by faith alone. This view asserts that forgiveness as a gift of God's grace received through faith in Christ.

51:57 How do I receive forgiveness faith in Christ. I don't have to do anything for it. I just believe in Christ and then we believe that that faith is a gift from God. God gives me the faith and I receive forgiveness through that faith. That faith is not even of me, It's all a work of God. And I believe that when it comes to forgiveness and my fellowship, it's simply me acknowledging to God that I'm sinning in this area. But I believe in Jesus Christ, and based off His finished work, I need you to forgive me and this fellowship issue. My salvation is already done, but in my daily life it's still based off that imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness is the view God forgives sins and imputes christ righteousness to believers. This means that Christ's perfect obedience and sacrifice cover our sins and we are declared righteous before God. All right. I mean, that's to me, is what the issue we're supposed to focus on, not these other ideas. Now, I'm just from other sources. Many conditions for forgiveness. This is the conditional view. Advocates of this view believe that individuals must meet specific conditions such as repentance, confession of sins, asking for forgiveness, and seeking reconciliation with God and others in order to be forgiven. You've got to do this. You've got to do this. You've got to do this. You've got to do this. You've got to do this. And I will say no, I have to believe in Christ. You say, well, you've got to repent.

53:29 That's simply changing my mind about sin and about God believing in him, and there is forgiveness. So that's the condition view. There's the emphasis on personal responsibility. This perspective in church history places a strong emphasis on personal responsibility and accountability for one's actions. It highlights the needs for individuals to actively participate and the process of seeking forgiveness. There's the human effort view. There is an acknowledgment of the role of human effort and the process of forgiveness. Individuals are expected to take certain actions or fulfill certain requirements to receive forgiveness from God. So there's conditions human responsibility, human effort. That's what many in the evangelical world. Hey, you got to do this, you got to do this. You've got to be willing to do this. You got to and no, I've got to put my I've got to focus on what Christ did, because whatever I do will be completely inadequate. Faith alone view. Proponents of this view emphasized that forgiveness is received by faith alone, apart from any works or conditions that individuals must fulfill. They believe that faith in Christ is the sole requirement for forgiveness, and I don't know how you If you reject that, I don't know where you end up. Imputed righteousness. This perspective emphasizes the concept of imputed righteousness, where believers are considered righteous in the eyes of God, not based on their own actions or merits, but on the righteousness of Christ credited to them. Grace and unconditional. The focus is on

55:00 the grace and unconditional love of God, who freely forgives and accepts believers solely on the basis of their faith in Christ. There is an emphasis on the unmerited nature of forgiveness. Both perspectives acknowledge the importance of forgiveness in Christian faith and the need for reconciliation with God. Right, and then you have the many conditions views may stress the need for sacrifice specific actions, and we've already talked about the many conditions views. That's some of that's repetitive of what I've already said, are from two different sources. So how do you understand it? Because I think a lot of Christians like, Okay, I know God will forgive me, But what if I do this, or what if I do this? Or what if I do that? Or what if I do this? Or what if I keep doing this? What if I keep doing that? Or what if I keep doing this? I think people, I think it's always weird within Christiandom. This is what I've always seen, all right, this is my view. I think what happens, This is my own personal feelings. There are many within christiendom, and this seems to have always been true. Luther encountered the same thing. They're always Those within Christiandom who seem not to be very sensitive are willing to acknowledge just how far they fall short daily and their thoughts, their words, their minds, their actions, their desires. For some reason, they convince themselves that they reach some

56:32 level of godliness and righteousness that not only proves their safe but they don't even question it because of their actions. They almost live I hate I'm going to acknowledge. I'm going to just say it. They live in a sense of denial. They tend to be very self righteous. They tend to look down on everyone else. They want to talk about everyone else, they want to condemn everyone else, and they always seem to perceive somehow that they are better than everyone else. To someone. They may not say those words, but it comes across in their attitudes, their action, their condemnation, their judgment, their arrogance. It's just it's just all through them, because they and they have they almost have to convince themselves that they reach a certain level of righteousness because somehow that proves that they're saved. They will look to their life to prove that they're saved, which is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of in my life. Why would you look to your imperfect life to prove salvation when you could better off look to the perfection of Christ to prove your salvation, which is where we're supposed to look in the first place. But when you start looking to your own life convincing yourself of how good you are, you become phariseical. You become like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, looking down on everyone else, perceiving your righteousness, and you can't even perceive how unrighteous you are. And if someone comes along and says he, I want you to know the tax collectors and the harlots are getting into the Kingdom of God before you, you'll be like, no, that's cheap grace. Oh absolutely not. That's that's that's easy believism. There's no way. Well,

58:07 I'm getting in first because look at how godly I am. You get in because of what Christ did, not because of what you do. But people have a heart. No no, no, no, no no no. I may get in because of what Christ did, but if Christ did it, then I'm going to be this, this, this and this, and then it's always about self. There's just those who cannot acknowledge just how messed up they are. When I did not watch it, but I saw a lot of the clips about the debate, but the debate between Trump and Joe Biden, I did not watch it. Can't stand politics, hate politics, you know my view on that. But I saw the clips and I was sad first just because of the way both of them acted. It's just like our country is doomed. But I was really broken and sad for just how Joe Biden like my goodness, Just how how age just utterly eats you away and destroys you and and you're not what you were, right, I mean he was. He just looked like the shell of a man that he was.

59:16 I mean, it was just, oh, forget, forget what you think about anyone's politics. Just from a human perspective, it's just so sad to see his frailty, his weakness, his confusion. He seemed like it was just he just looked like a broken man. And I think, what, But at the same time, it's hard for our probably now. I think the next day he did acknowledge, Hey, I'm getting old and I'm not as good as I used to be. He did acknowledge it to some level, but he's still not willing to step down. And I think in many cases that that's kind of like what a lot of a lot of Christians we were kind of like this broken Joe Biden. But we won't We don't want to admit it. We don't want to ignowl. We don't want to admit our weakness, our frailty, our sin, cover it up in robes of self righteousness, thinking that we don't need anything and that we are good.

1:00:04 That is detrimental to one's spiritual life. I think there's always been those in Christianity who just can't acknowledge how messed up they are. They always want to look at how good they are. You're not as good as you think you are. You're worse than you even know that you are. Because God judges not just the external, but the internal. You may look all great externally, but man internally, you know that things are so are far worse. And if forgiveness is based on what you do or willing to do, forgiveness is based on what Christ did. It's better to acknowledge how sinful you are and run to the grace of Christ and focus on his imputed righteousness.

1:00:45 Then pretend to be something you're not and focus on your very messed up righteousness. So I think that there's some in Christianity who just can't seem to acknowledge it. I think the others in Christianity who are so sensitive to their sin. Now, they may keep sinning, but they're very sensitive to it. They know it. They know how messed up they are. They know that they're messed up in thought, word, deed. They know that they're messed up internally. Externally. They know they are sinners. They know. Now you may argue, well they should do better, maybe they should, but they're very broken over it. They do know that they are sinners, and I think for them, they constantly live in fear of like, well, then am I ever going to be forgiven? Because I don't know if I'm really willing to stop sinning because I keep sinning and I don't know if.

1:01:38 And they're a constant state of fear. It's like some no fear thinking they're great because they look at their own actions. And then others are so broken, constantly state of fear that they're never going to be forgiven, They're never going to go to heaven, and how could they truly be saved because they do this and they think this, and they desire this and they want this they and they're like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. Look both, you know what, both sides need both types of people. The one needs to be broken and see their sin and be driven to Christ and finally realize it's based off imputed righteousness, not infused righteousness, really embrace the Gospel of grace. And then those who are so aware of their sin they need to find peace and comfort in what Christ has done. I don't think is I don't think it's God will forgive you. If God forgives you in Christ Jesus by faith alone, you can add repentance as long as you say repentance is a change of mind, and God has to give you the change of mind. So really, forgiveness is all the work of God because it's based off what Christ has done, and then God gives us the faith and the repentance. We believe it's all the work God. I know that's a more monegistic view, and I know others are more synergistic, but then well then that becomes then well, that can become a whole issue we can get into.

1:03:08 So I just I just reject this idea that God will only forgive you if you're willing to forsake. I don't even know what that means. God forgives me done period. Should I be willing to forsake, yes? Should I want to do the right thing, yes? Should I desire to do the right thing, yes, But if we're painfully honest, there's times I don't want to do the right thing. There's times I don't desire to do the right thing, and there's times I'm going to continue to well, well, I'm just almost messed up. It's not that times I'm going to continue and sin. I'm always in sin to some level. Now, maybe we'll review that more, or we'll do it just a full review of it.

1:04:01 Maybe at some point we're already a sixty four minutes, so I can't go back to the audio. So love to get your thoughts. I know there's going to be massive disagreements. I know there's going to be massive disagreements, but that's okay. You can email me your disagreement to news I F at yahoo dot com. NEWSI F at Yahoo dot com. You can tell me how much you disagree, and that's perfectly okay. But I'm just going to be very blunt with you. You can argue with me all day. By all means, you live your life focused on your righteousness and how good you are, and proving your righteousness by what you do, proving your salvation by what you do. By all means, you just live that way. I don't know how you pull that off, because you must either truly be better than you think you are, or maybe you're just living a lot. I don't know. But as for me, I'm not gonna I'm gonna focus on what Christ did. My hope is in what Christ did. My forgiveness is not based on what I will do, can do, willing to do.

1:05:01 My forgiveness is based on what Christ did perfectly. My hope, assurance, and peace is in the finished work of Christ, and in his righteousness and in his obedience, not in mind. Whatever tests you give me to prove that I'm saved, you can just take that test right up to Jesus and hand it to him, and I will get a passing grade because He did it all for me. All right, Thanks for listening. You can email me at newsif at yahoo dot com. That's NEWSI f at yahoo dot com. Everyone have a great Saturday. God bless