Lesson 59 Luke 13 when a christian sins

When a Christian Sins

We’re on a little diversion from our Teachings of Jesus series. This diversion started two weeks ago when we came to Luke 13, and we stopped to do a word study on repentance.

Since that time the question on my mind has been this: what should a Christian do when he sins? If the Bible doesn’t often use the word repentance, what words does it use, how does the Bible describe what a Christian should do when he sins?

To be open with you, I did not realize that there was a debate out there about whether Christians must ask God to forgive them when they sin. I don’t know why I’ve never come across this before. But I’ve learned that there is an ongoing argument about whether Christians must or even should ask God for forgiveness when they sin.

We’ll talk about that particular issue some, but in general we just need to know what the Bible says about what a Christian should do when they know they have sinned. This is a really important, practical, every day issue.

So I’ve ended up spending a lot of time searching the Bible for what it says about these things. Over the next couple weeks we’ll work through a lot of Scripture together. It will take some time for this to unfold. Please be patient.

To start, I need to set the stage some more.

Here are some of the questions or issues involved:

Should a Christian ask for forgiveness?

Some Christians conclude that it is an offense to God for a Christian to ask him for forgiveness, when he’s already completely forgiven you in Christ. It’s kind of like doing the mass each week; it’s an unnecessary repetition. You are completely forgiven, so it’s not even appropriate to ask God to do again what he has already done?

Must a Christian ask for forgiveness?

On the other end of the spectrum, come Christians conclude that you won’t be forgiven unless you ask forgiveness. In other words, you must ask forgiveness for each new sin you commit, or at least those you are aware of.

If a Christian can or must ask for forgiveness, that raises new questions:

Do you ask God to forgive each specific sin you know you commit, or only your sins in general? “Please forgive me for the sins I committed today” or do you try to think through specifics?
Are you asking forgiveness for every known sin, and then God takes care of the ones you don’t realize you committed?
Or do you pray general prayers for forgiveness, like each night should you pray for God to forgive all the sins you prayed that day?
If the focus is on known sins, should you search your heart for sins you may have missed? Maybe if you thought about you would recall a bad attitude you had this morning, or a selfish decision you made. So should you spend time trying to think of things. And if so, how far back do you go?

What is the nature of this forgiveness that you are asking for? When you ask God to forgive you, what are you actually asking him to do?

Legal forgiveness: At salvation, all of your past sins were legally forgiven; but after salvation, you have to ask God for forgiveness of the sins you are aware of, and he then applies the death of Christ to those sins.
Restored relationship: “fellowship forgiveness,” like in a marriage
Cleansing or sanctification: John 13, “fatherly forgiveness of sanctification … to be continually washed from the presence and power of sin”
To receive mercy not discipline: “to mitigate against the circumstances we’ve created.”
That forgiveness might be applied to the conscience: Henry “that we might have the comfort of it” John Gill “a manifestation and application of pardon to the conscience of a sensible sinner.”

What does the Bible say?

This is definitely not an exhaustive study, especially within the Old Testament. But hopefully it is a good start.

The Key Old Testament passages

These passages are very important – but I think sometimes we’ve tried to hard to read our New Testament theological categories back into these texts. We have these tough theological questions, that we’ve just been suggesting, and now we want Psalm 32 and Psalm 52 and Proverbs 8 to give us precise theological answers to those questions. There is much to learn, but you can distort things trying to fit them into the theological categories we’re used to in the New Testament epistles.

I’ll illustrate that for you: Psalm 51 says “create in me a clean heart.” Well that sounds a lot like the new creation describe in II Cor. 5:17; or the new covenant and the new heart that God gives. So then does that mean that David isn’t saved and he’s praying to be saved? Or does that mean that after you are saved you can go back and need a new heart again? No – it doesn’t mean any of that. Create in me a clean heart is David’s way of expressing in song his desire for God to refresh his heart in love and purity.

So let’s just try to get some main themes from here.

Psalm 32:1-5

i. First let’s mention what is clear here: v.5 we all have a tendency to hide our sin and not acknowledge it. (and when I say that don’t think about others – think about yourself) You have that tendency. Verses 3-4 describe how sometimes we will drag this out, and though we’re miserable we will continue to keep silent about our sin.

ii. But instead of doing that, this text calls us to acknowledge and confess that sin. So here is a basic answer to the question what should you do when you sin: acknowledge and confess it. Confess means to stop being silent but instead agree with God about it.

iii. Now Psalm 32 does not say that you should ask for forgiveness, though it does say that God forgives when you acknowledge and confess. Some people might say that this proves that you aren’t legally forgiven until you acknowledge and confess. That’s a pretty big conclusion to extract from this text. I think it’s better to just say that now that David has been honest about his sin, he is rejoicing in the overall forgiveness he has as a child of God.

Psalm 51 i. We could spend weeks digging through the details of this Psalm. I just want to point out some highlights that relate to our study.

ii. First, again David doesn’t actually use the words “forgive me,” but he definitely says the same thing with other words: v.1 blot out my transgressions, v.9 hide your face from my sins. So this is an example of asking for forgiveness.

iii. I think it is very interesting to note the sense of uncleanness that David feels, and that we experience when we sin. He says wash me, purify me, cleanse me. I feel dirty, and I should. There’s a need for some kind of spiritual cleansing. In v.10 he says “create in me a clean heart.” What does that mean? I’m not sure we can fit that simply into a little theological category, but we all know what that feels like. That need for cleanness in our heart, and almost a fresh start, “create a clean heart.”

iv. V.11 communicates something else we experience: a sense of separation. Do not cast me away from your presence. Asking for a closeness to God, instead of the separation we deserve. We’ll talk a little bit more about that later.

v. Vv.10-13 requests related to sanctification and growth and usefulness. He is not content to just ask for forgiveness and be done with it – he wants change, he wants growth, he wants usefulness in his life.

vi. Just as a side note, it’s very interesting how Psalm 51 and James 4 combine to illustrate the dependence and diligence that are both part of sanctification. In Psalm 51 we have the prayer “cleanse me from my sin.” In James 4, the command “cleanse your hands, you sinners. In Psalm 51, the prayer “purify me.” In James 4 the command “purify yourselves.” In Psalm 51 the prayer “do not cast me away.” In James 4 the command “draw near to God.” Sanctification combines dependence and diligence.

Proverbs 28:13 This is a very well-known verse. The main thing I want you to realize about this verse, is that it is giving a general principle. Wicked people are characterized by concealing their sin – and they do not experience God’s blessed. God’s prospering. Godly people are characterized by confessing and forsaking sin and experiencing God’s compassion. This is a contrast between the wicked and the righteous. And so it teaches us that Christians should be known as people who are confessing and forsaking sin.
But most people think of this verse as a procedure for Christians to follow when they sin. That’s just not the main meaning here, and if that is the meaning it’s not good news, because it means that you don’t get God’s compassion until you’ve forsaken all your sin. That’s bologna. God has mercy and grace to help for those who are in time of need. He comes to the aid of those who are tempted. He doesn’t sit back and wait until we’ve gotten victory over our sin, and then give us a nice good job hug. #. Jeremiah 3:12-13 Acknowledge that you have not obeyed. Stop making excuses, stop rationalizing, stop using code language, just acknowledge it to Me, acknowledge your rebellion, face it honestly. And interestingly, God doesn’t say: “Ask me to forgive you.” The key thing isn’t asking for forgiveness; it’s honestly facing the sin. And we know that. This is the same thing in our relationships. We say “Please forgive me” or “I’m sorry” quite often when we’re not really asking forgiveness for anything. “Please forgive me” often means “Please get over it.” So God isn’t so interested in them saying the magic words. He’s interested in their hearts really facing their rebellion.
Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:1-2; Joshua 7:11-12

These passages teach the consequences when a person refuses to face their sin.

In Psalm 66:18, the word translated “regard” is the common word that literally means “to see.” Here it’s used in a figurative sense. The NASB says “regard,” some translations say “cherish.”

Isaiah prophesied during a time when the nation of Israel was deep in sin, and they were being oppressed by their enemies, and before long they would be defeated completely and taken away. So that’s the general context for his words “Can’t the Lord save you? Of course. But your sin is the reason for this oppression. So you can cry out to the Lord for deliverance, but it won’t happen because you’re still living in idolatry and injustice and immorality like you have been all along. Of course he’s not going to hear your cries for help.”

In Joshua 7, God had given a very specific command and stated a very clear consequence if they took these things from Ai. This is a critical time in Israel’s history, as they fight their first major battles in the promised land. And so when someone chooses to blatantly disregard such a clear command of God, God must keep his word and do what he said.

But beware: beware of taking these further than they should be taken. These things are teaching the general principle that people in rebellion against God should not expect God’s help or God’s blessing. But unfortunately many Christians have taken this way too far, to teach that if you have missed any sins that you should have confessed, God won’t answer your prayers. You missed one – sorry no answered prayer for you. And it becomes a very superstitious thing, where God isn’t answering any of your prayers, he isn’t listening to you, but you don’t even know it, because there was a sin two weeks ago you were supposed to confess and you missed it.

Or why haven’t more people gotten saved at our church – their must be sin in the camp. Who is it? Who has a sin their hiding? Get it out so the Lord can start blessing our church again.

That is a serious abuse of these passages. We are talking about sin that is clearly known by the person, clearly understood, and clearly there is a refusal to deal with that sin.

Let’s stop and overview the key principles from the OT passages:
We have a tendency to hide our sin, and even to be silent for a long time, and refuse to really face it. There can be serious consequences, even for the believer, if we do that. Instead we need to acknowledge it and agree with God about his perspective about it.

When we sin we feel a need for cleansing, and we should ask God for it. We feel a sense of separation, and we should pray for God to draw us back to Himself. We should pray for change. We can’t be satisfied to simply say some magic “please forgive me” words, but earnestly seek His grace to change.

That still leaves a lot of unanswered questions that we raised at the beginning. So the question I’ve really wanted to answer is this: what does the New Testament say a Christian should do when he sins. And I’m especially interested in the epistles, the portions of the New Testament written particularly about Christian living. Where do they talk about what a Christian should do after he sins?

Week 1 / 2 Break ------------------------------------------------------------------

Review. We finished last week looking at the principle that people in rebellion against God should not expect God’s help or God’s blessing. It doesn’t make any sense to be in rebellion against him and them expect him to answer your prayers. But I also cautioned against a superstitious view, that any time something goes wrong in your life, that must mean that there a sin you missed somewhere, so now you’re under some sort of a curse.

We’re ready now to move into the New Testament. I want us to begin with some general categories of passages, before we start looking at some specifics.

2. Key categories of passages

Passages that speak of forgiveness as being complete and accomplished: Col. 2:13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, Eph. 4:32, etc. It’s hard for me to be comfortable at all with any teaching that suggests that the forgiveness of the cross is actually applied when you ask God for forgiveness. It’s very difficult to reconcile that with the clear statement of Col. 2:13. So whatever forgiveness we are asking God for, I think you must say that it is something different from the legal forgiveness of the cross. #. Passages that speak of the necessity of being reconciled to others against whom you have sinned: I just wanted to make sure you know I’m not ignoring this principle. Matt. 5:24 and Matt. 18:15-35 especially speak of the importance of being reconciled to others when you have sinned against them. That’s not really our focus on this study, but it is part of the Bible answer to what a Christian should do when he or she sins.
Passages that speak of God’s displeasure when His people sin: If God has fully forgiven all of our sins; if He has removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west; if your sins and iniquities he will remember no more; if when God looks at you He sees the righteousness of Christ – then does God even notice when we sin? The biblical answer is clearly “Yes.” We saw in Exodus 4 that the anger of the Lord burned at Moses. Deut. 9:20 records that the Lord was angry enough with Moses to destroy him. I Ki. 11:9 the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord. Jesus at points rebuked the disciples. Hebrews 12 tells us so clearly that God disciplines His children. I Corinthians 11 speaks of weakness and sickness and even death as discipline from the Lord. Eph. 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Ample biblical evidence that God sees His people’s sin, God is displeased with His people’s sin, God acts in response to His people’s sin.
Passages that speak of an inseparable bond, yet possible distance between God and His people. The Bible speaks of this incredible bond, this union of the believer and Christ. You’re very familiar with Romans 8:39 Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But that is based on some other theological realities: like Ephesians 5:30 We are members of his body. And that amazing statement in Col. 3:3 Your life is hidden with Christ in God. There is an inseparable union between the believer and Christ. Yet, as I mentioned last week, in a relational sense, the Bible speaks of a possible distance between you and God. There are some passages we’ve mentioned previously that suggest this: Like Jesus’ words to Peter Luke 22:32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again [returned], strengthen your brothers. James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Heb. 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, There are many OT passages that say the same thing, like the words in Hos. 6:1 Come let us return to the Lord… Psalm 73:28 The nearness of God is my good, or as the ESV says It is good to be near God. In a legal sense there is an inseparable bond between the believer and Christ; in a relational sense you can be closer or farther away.

Key New Testament passages: This is really the heart of this study. I started in Romans 1 and went through Revelation 3, looking for any suggestion of what a Christian should do when he sins. There are many passages that talk about sanctification in general, obedience, and victory over sin – but I was trying to specifically look for passages that dealt with a Christian’s responsibility after he has sinned.

I decided to go through these in the order they appear, instead of organizing them topically. As we go through these, it would be good if you organized them for yourself topically. The references are listed in the NT order on the left side of your notes; on the right side you make a list of things a Christian should do when he sins, and then leave yourself a little bit of space under those things to add additional references. So, for example, here in Romans 6 we have this key idea: think differently, change your thinking. Write that over on the right, as one of the answers to our question; and write Rom. 6:11 beneath it; but then leave some space because there will be other references that we’ll want to put under the same heading.

· Romans 6:11 think a certain way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God

o To those who may be living in sin because of a misunderstanding of grace, Paul says “consider” this. Literally this work means “do the math – calculate.” Figuratively it means “to give careful thought to a matter.” You can think it like an accountant pouring over the books, scrutinizing the numbers, focusing all of his mental powers on that. You focus all your thinking, give careful thought to this: you are dead to sin and alive to God. This is a very common theme in the New Testament: how you think determines how you live! You’ve been sinning because of a misunderstanding of grace – now what do you need to do? Think a different way. Put some serious thought into some truths about God, about you, and about what happened when you were saved. He gives an example in verse 13:

· Romans 6:13 Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God…. now present your members as slaves to righteousness.

o Think long and hard about this: you used to be slaves of unrighteousness, and you gave your body to that. Now you are slaves of God, what does that mean about what you do with your body? Think about what has happened to you, think about your standing in Christ. Think about your new responsibility to God as your master. To steal a phrase from later on, renew your mind.

o There is also another answer here in the word present. There is an appropriate place for a renewal of your dedication. For a refreshing of your commitment to be the Lord’s, for your body to be His, for your mind to be His. Sometimes when we sin, we need to go back and refresh that commitment to Him. Same word in the familiar verse in Rom. 12:1, present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.

· Romans 13:12 lay aside the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light.

o Consider is a key word; present is a key word; here is another key word. Lay aside, the word that is literally used at Stephens’ stoning when they took off their outer robe so that they could more easily cast stones. Lay aside the deeds of darkness, take them off. We usually use the phrase “put off.” This is the same word in several other passages that we’ll see: Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, Hebrews 12, James 1. It’s the same word as this one. Put off the sin.

o Here we also have the word “put on,” or clothe yourself with the armor of light. God has provided armor for the believer. The full description is in Ephesians 6. When you sin, go back and examine whether you really had the armor on – and then put it on. Put off the deeds of darkness, put on the armor God has provided.

· I Corinthians 3:3 Since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

o He knows there is jealousy and strife among these Corinthians. He could say many things to them about that. What he chooses to focus on is changing their thinking. Think carefully about this: when you act that way, you are living fleshly, and walking as if you’re just a mere man. When actually – if we went back into chapter 2 – you have the blessing of the Spirit and understand the things of God and have the mind of Christ (like he says back in I Cor. 2). But you aren’t living like who you are. You’re living as if you are still just fleshly. Really I Cor. 3:3 fits under the “consider” or “renew your mind” heading. Think hard about this.

· I Corinthians 5:2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead.

o Here’s a new word: mourn. What should a Christian do when they sin? Mourn. That’s tricky – you can’t make yourself mourn. I think the basic principle here is: you will mourn if you are thinking correctly. If I’ve sinned and I don’t care, that means I desperately need God’s Word and God’s work in my heart. So you don’t sit in a room and try to make yourself feel badly about your sin – if you don’t feel badly about your sin, you run to God’s Word to get his perspective on your sin. God will help you mourn over your sin.

o You also see here what keeps us from mourning – arrogance. It’s usually our pride that gets in the way of seeing our sin as God sees it. In our pride we minimize our own sin and maximize the sins of others.

o So mourn is a key word: not so much something you can make yourself do, but an indicator about whether you are seeing your sin from God’s perspective or not.

o Actually I think mourn might fit under a larger category: when a Christian sins he should take his sin very seriously. We’ll come back to that theme in just a minute.

· I Cor. 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is a temple … you have been bought … therefore…”

o He’s writing to these people in the Corinthian church who had well-documented sin problems, including a tolerance for immorality. And he says “Don’t you know” some things? Don’t you realize what those things mean? Your body is a temple, you’ve been bought with a price. The implication is that they haven’t been thinking about those things – and so they haven’t been living in the reality of those things. I hope you can see that the biblical key to obedience centers around how you think. As the Spirit of God through the Word of God controls your thinking, it changes how you live. You will not live in victory over sin unless you live in diligent thinking upon the Word of God. That is the consistent biblical emphasis.

o What should a Christian do when he sins? Think carefully about some things.

· I Corinthians 11:28-32 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

o This is a complicated passage that will require our careful attention some other time. Remember that from verse 32 it is clear that the word judgment is clearly referring to the discipline of a Christian, not judgment in the ultimate legal sense. So in v.31 he says that if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged, we would not undergo God’s discipline.

o God uses discipline to get our attention, to draw our attention to sin we are not paying attention to. So if we were diligent and careful about paying attention to our sin, we wouldn’t have to undergo that kind of discipline to get our attention.

o So what should a Christian do when he sins? Don’t ignore, don’t just let it go, but pay careful attention it. Face it biblically, so that you won’t have to face God’s discipline to help you face it.

o I think this goes together with what we said a minute ago in regard to mourning: take your sin seriously. Maybe another way to say it is “Be active, not passive, about your own sin.” Take it seriously.

· II Corinthians 2:6-7 Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, 7 so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

o This was a church discipline situation; note that there is the possibility of excessive sorrow, an unhealthy sorrow. It is not unhealthy because he has too much understanding of the glory of God and the magnitude of sin. It’s an unhealthy sorrow because it is prompted by people around him who won’t move on by forgiving and comforting. His punishment has been sufficient, Paul says, so now move on. In v.8 it says they needed to reaffirm their love for this person so that he won’t experience this excessive sorrow.

· II Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

o I think this means the same thing as take off the old man, put off the unrighteousness. In dependence on God and the means of grace, cleanse yourselves from spiritual defilement.

o There is another important theme here, in the words “having these promises.” Nothing states this more clearly that II Peter 1:4, which says that by His precious and magnificent promises we become partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. When a Christian sins and then begins to aggressively renew their mind, a focus of that renewal must be the promises of God.

Because, when we sin, we have chosen to believe the promises of sin over the promises of God.

o Perfecting holiness = maturing in holiness

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· II Corinthians 7:8-12 For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it-- for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while-- 9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God.

o This is a little bit of a confusing passage, because the sin that they needed to repent of here was seems to be their handling of Paul’s opponents. There’s a chance this might have reference to their failure to correctly handle the immorality mentioned back in I Corinthians. So you see in verse 11 some unusual phrases like “vindication of yourselves” and “demonstrated yourselves to be innocent.”

o So it’s kind of a complex passage, but I think two things are clear: first, there is an appropriate sorrow for sin, a godly sorrow. Again, when a Christian sins they should mourn.

o The second thing that is clear from the phrases in verse 11 is that when we sin, we should respond aggressively. These are aggressive energetic action words. Earnestness and zeal and even indignation to right was is wrong. So again we are saying that we need a much more aggressive response to sin!

· Galatians 5:16f. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

o I decided to include this because the tone of Galatians is concerned. READ 5:7, 13, 15. If those concerns are legitimate, what should the Galatians do? Walk by the spirit. Depend on the Spirit, and live in the power of the Spirit through the Word of God.

o Notice also that verse 25 gives another one of those “think carefully about this” statements. If we live by the Spirit… Is it the Spirit who has given you spiritual life? Yes. Think carefully about that. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be obvious that you must continue to walk in the power of the life-giving Spirit? So Gal. 5:25 also fits under “renew your mind.” Think about it; do the math; consider carefully that you have to depend on the Spirit and live in the power of the Spirit if you are going to obey and please God.

· Ephesians 4:22-24 lay aside the old self, be renewed in the spirit of your mind, put on the new self

o The main thing I want us to notice here is the very important order of these three things. We often say put off / put on. But the putting on is not possible without the renewing of your mind. And frankly the putting off won’t happen consistently without the renewing of your mind either. So Eph. 4 fits under several categories, but I think the most significant category for this is renewing your mind. How do you renew your mind? Through the Word of God. Through the precious and magnificent promises of God. Which is the sword of the Spirit, so when you renew your mind through the word of God you are walking in the Spirit. It all fits together.

· Col. 3:5, 8, 12 Consider the members of your earthly body as dead… put them all aside … put on…

o Here we have four of our key words: consider, put off, put on, and in verse 10 renew. Lots in this passage, but just note that it reflects all four of those same themes.

· I Thes. 4:1, 10 Excel still more!

o This doesn’t reference a particular failure on their part, but it captures what seems to be a critical theme: press on! Grow! Mature!

o Christian growth is gradual, it’s progressive, it builds a step at a time, and you can always excel still more.

o In other words, a major biblical theme is this: keep growing!

o So what should you do when you sin? Grow. You don’t sit around saying “I hope I don’t do that again.” That kind of Christian is in trouble – the Christian who’s stagnant, not growing, and trying to grin and bear it and not sin. No. When you have sinned, you should move forward, grow. Excel still more.

o We’ll see that same theme come up again later in Hebrews.

· II Timothy 2:21-22 Cleanse yourself from the vessels of dishonor in your “house,” and verse 22 flee. Cliff brought that up last week, but if you haven’t written it down, please do it now. I think Romans 13:14 captures what it means to flee: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Your flesh is a big enough enemy without you providing for it! Flee those things that make it easy for your flesh to fulfill its lusts.

· Hebrews 6:1, 11-12 READ 5:11-12 first, then 6:1, 11-12 You’re shamefully immature … Press on! Don’t be sluggish, but show diligence. Make progress, move forward. What should you do when you sin? Grow! Press on.

· Hebrews 12:1-2 lay them aside – encumberances and sins which entangle you, and run with endurance, fixing your eyes on Jesus. You see the idea of putting off again. But it’s in the context of a race – it’s in the context of moving forward. Put them off so that you can run.

· Hebrews 12:12-13 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. These are the verses that immediately follow the well-known section about discipline, in verses 4-11. So when he speaks about “weak hands and feeble knees,” he’s figuratively expressing either the spiritual weakness that led to the discipline, or the pain of the discipline itself. Either way, we are talking about what a Christian should do when he has recently sinned. And the commands are strengthen and make straight paths. This is the same message we’re talking about: press on. You’re weak because of sin or because of discipline - don’t sit around moping. Focus your attention on strengthening the things that are weak and making progress on the right path.

· I Thes. 4, Hebrews 6, Hebrews 12 all communicate a similar theme: grow, press on, excel still more, strengthen, make straight paths, run. The Christian who is in trouble is the Christian who is not moving, who is not making progress. Who is sluggish and not pressing on. I Timothy 4:15 Be diligent with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

· James 1:21-22 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

o Here is the command to put off once again, combined with the command to humbly “receive the word implanted,” which is able to save. This does not mean that they need to be saved. This means that the life-giving Word of God, which is powerful to save, has been implanted within them. He’s reminding them that they have the powerful Word of God, already sown in their hearts when they were born again by the Word of God, and now they need to go back to that powerful Word. And they need to go back with a particular attitude: humility. Go to the word with a teachable spirit. We can go to the Word for other reasons. Out of duty, or discipline, or even trying to make up for our sin. James since now that you can see the filthiness and wickedness that remains in you, now you’re ready to go back to the powerful, life-giving word with a truly teachable spirit.

o Then of course in verse 22, he says be doers – when you go back to the word, get busy. Put it into action. Obey it.

o So what should a Christian do when he sins? Come with a teachable heart to the life-giving, powerful Word of God.

· James 4:6-10 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

o This reflects many of the themes we’ve already talked about: humility, draw near to God, cleansing and purifying yourself; mourning. Probably the main things that are new here are these commands to submit to God and resist the devil.

o What does it mean to submit to God? It means more than just “obey.” Remember that when we talked about repentance we said that repentance always has God at the center. And Psalm 51:4 “Against You, You only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight.” Put the emphasis on those last two words: Submit to God – recognize that the sin you committed is ultimately a matter of insubordination to God; rebellion against your master, your Father, your Savior, your God. And then submit to Him. Sometimes we can feel guilty like “I shouldn’t do that.” If the people at church found out about this, I’d be embarrassed. But is God in our thoughts? Are we recognizing our responsibility to live in submission to Him. So submit to God.

o Resist the devil. As we said last time, every time we sin we believe the promises of sin, and we yield to the lies of the devil. So how do you resist him? You fill your heart full of the precious and magnificent promises of God. You know what it is like when you leave a restaurant and you ate too much – and on the way home you pass a billboard that as a big picture of some food on it – and it almost makes you feel sick. You’re so full that just the thought of food makes you uncomfortable? When your heart is full of the promises of God, the promises of the devil will lose their appeal. With your heart full of the sword of the Spirit, the devil will flee. Because when his promises are stacked up against God’s, in the power of the Holy Spirit, he has no chance. He only wins when his promises are allowed to be the only candidate in the debate.

o So what should a Christian do when he sins: submit to God and resist the devil.

· James 5:16 Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

o Certainly this does not mean that every Christian must tell others about every sin they commit.

o Strictly in the context, this is speaking of a person who is sick because of God’s discipline, and elders come to visit him, and he confesses his sin to the elders who have come to pray for him.

o We can probably broaden it beyond that. Certainly when we have sinned against others we need to confess our sin to them. That’s probably not what James is referring to. Most likely he is referring to those times when we really need the intercession of others. And at those times we need the humility to go to others, confess our sin to them, so that, as the end of verse 16 says, their effective prayers can accomplish much on our behalf.

o If something is becoming a pattern; if you are repeatedly falling into the same sin; that is a good time to consider the possibility of confessing that sin to some others who can come alongside you in prayer

o So what should a Christian do when he sins? There are times when he should confess his sin to others so that they may pray for him.

· I Peter 2:1-2 Put off and long for the word. So this goes together with James 1. When a Christian has sinned, he must long for the word, recognizing that it is as important to his spiritual survival as milk is to a newborn baby’s survival.

----------------------------END WEEK 3

Technically we should go to I John 1 now – that’s what’s next in order – but instead I want us to go on to Revelation, and we’ll come back to I John 1. We’ll look at portions of four of the seven messages to the churches. All four of these will use the word: repent. It’s interesting to note that in this entire section on NT passages, the only other time we’ve seen the word “repent” was in II Cor. 7:9. That word itself was not used in any of the other 20 passages we talked about.

· Revelation 2:5 Remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first.

o Note that it starts with a reference to thinking: remember. They’ve got some things they should be thinking about. And grammatically the way this works here, repent and do are the results of the remembering. As they remember from where they have fallen, out of that will come repentance and action.

o Notice that repent and do go together. John is using the word repentance here to mean: “change what you are doing – return to the things you were doing before.”

· Revelation 2:16 Therefore repent.

o Again, repent means: change! Obey. For the church at Pergamum that meant deal with the unbiblical teaching and unbiblical living you have in your church. You haven’t been dealing with this – repent means “deal with it.”

· Revelation 3:3 So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

o Again the pattern is remember and then repent/obey. Also, wake up! Wake up goes back to your thinking again.

· Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

o Once again, from verse 18, it’s clear that repentance here is an action word: change.

Two central New Testament passages

The Lord’s prayer #. I John 1, 2

Pitfalls to Avoid

Making asking for forgiveness the centerpiece of sanctification (and ignoring so many other important things; magical words that suddenly change you)
A superstitious fear of a “curse” from unconfessed sin
Digging around in your past trying to find sins you’ve missed
Earning forgiveness through your confession.

Understand what asking for forgiveness does not mean…

Press on!

As part of conclusion, go back to intro questions

Beware of viewing “asking for forgiveness” as:

A quick fix to your sin problem

Etc.

Luke 15:21 “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

In Acts 8:22, Simon, whom 8:13 says “believed and was baptized,” is told to “repent and pray that if possible the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.”

Yet Bruce “the nature of his belief must remain uncertain.” You can make a pretty good argument that this was not saving faith.

Jim Elliff words it this way (saying that this is what he used to believe): “believers are under a necessity to confess every known sin to God as a vital ingredient of their sanctification.” Later: “to have unconfessed sin [is] to remain ‘in the flesh’.” “Not just some sins but every sin. Not just the big ones, but the smallest of them.” Someone online (padfield.com) said it like this: “repentance is required before God will grant forgiveness … confession of our sins is also required before Christians can be forgiven.” – but this same person clearly teaches that you can lose your salvation.

It seems like there are two separate issues here:

Do you have to ask for God’s forgiveness? (Challies vs. Giglio)
Every time you sin do you have to confess that specific sin to God? (or at least every specific sin you know you commit)?

It seems like the way I understood it growing up was that you weren’t in danger of punishment for sins you didn’t confess, but that your spiritual growth and usefulness to the Lord were minimized or completely halted if you had “unconfessed sin.”
“If you are refusing to deal with an area of rebellion, you’re in the flesh” is different from “if you have any unconfessed sin you’re in the flesh.”
I grew up hearing the phrase “keep short sin accounts.” That is still probably a good concept.

“Bob George” is the name MacArthur cites, as teaching that you don’t need to seek God’s forgiveness.

Certainly a stronger, clearly wrong belief, is that your past sins are forgiven at salvation; but any future sins you must ask for forgiveness in order for them to be forgiven.

Col. 2:13, etc. clearly teach that all of our sins have been forgiven

Arguments against asking for forgiveness:

God’s forgiveness has been extended once for all

Eph. 4:32
Col. 2:13
The believer has been justified and nothing can be added to this work of God.
Asking for forgiveness insults him because it has already been done

We all commit many sins that we don’t even realize we commit

To simply stop at the end of each day and try to think of every sin you committed that day would be a huge job. The smallest hint of a wrong attitude; the smallest bit of selfishness; the slightest attitude in your voice; each moment when you should have prayed but didn’t; the scripture you should have memorized but you didn’t; all the things you could have done that you didn’t do! etc.

“This teaching adds a layer of requirement for our forgiveness not intended by God.”

In other words, if you are using forgiveness to mean the same kind of forgiveness you received at salvation, this suggests that you were not forgiven of all sins when you were saved, but any sins you knowingly commit after that must be confessed or they won’t be forgiven?

No one perfectly confesses even every “known” sin. There are sins we are aware of and we put them off long enough that we eventually forget.
“It can lead those who are perfectionistic or overly sensitive by nature into a spiritual quagmire.”

One of the major things I’ve seen is the fear of having missed something. A desperate search to see if you have missed something in your past that you haven’t confessed.
Another thing is the superstition of connecting certain life events with unconfessed sin.

This is a little tricky because of the possibility, such as that raised in James 5 and I Cor. 11, that suffering could be discipline.
But that basic concept can be extended way too far, to the point where anytime something goes wrong, the assumption is that there must be some unconfessed sin that I’ve missed. (what if Joseph spent his time in Egypt trying to figure out what sin he missed that caused God to send him to Egypt like that?)

The Lord’s prayer “forgive us our debts” doesn’t really apply because…

Giglio: it preceded the death and resurrection of Christ
Elliff: Jesus is talking about whether you are saved or not (Matt 6:14-15). Those who will not forgive are not forgiven. That’s the same message John emphasizes in I John. “Christ is not talking in specifics about confessing every sin before God.”

It communicates that confession is the key to sanctification and fruitfulness. The way to be filled with the holy spirit? Make sure you confess every known sin. The key to being fruitful? Make sure you’ve confessed every known sin. Things like meditating on the word, prayer, dependence, abiding in Christ no longer get any attention: the only issue now is making sure you’ve confessed every known sin. Then you’re good.

“confession of every sin was at the heart of my perception of sanctification.”
It can also communicate the idea that walking in the Spirit and sanctification are either on or off. Either you are or you aren’t ay any given moment.
Here’s a big thing: there can be a lot of confessing without any real change, because of the assumption that there is some automatic result from confession. (again, superstitious) I.e., you confess your sin and ask God to forgive you, and immediately you are restored to the control of the Spirit and usefulness to God, etc. They key to sanctification becomes confession.

What should we do instead?

Giglio: “I sinned. Your spirit convicted me of that. I know it. I acknowledge what I did and I want to repent from it.”

Arguments in favor of asking for forgiveness:

The Lord’s Prayer

John Gill “what is here requested is a manifestation and application of pardon to the conscience of a sensible sinner; which, as it is daily needed, is daily to be asked for.”

Note that he only says this is to the conscience, not to the sin itself. So this doesn’t really end up being very different from the previous position, because it is essentially asking God to help us remember what has already been done. Or it is fellowship forgiveness. If Gill didn’t limit his statement to the conscience, his statement would be very dangerous. Forgiveness has to be daily asked for and daily applied to the sins of the believer??

Tim Challies cites favorably the illustration Hendricksen uses, that a father has a large inheritance but only bequeaths it to his son a little bit at a time. “So also when a person receives the grace of regeneration, this does not mean that all of that which Christ merited for him is immediately experienced by him. It if were, would it not overwhelm and crush his capacities?”

That seems really strange. God can’t forgive us all at once, because we couldn’t handle it! So we gradually “experience that which Christ merited” for us. Very strange.

In Acts 8:22, Simon, whom 8:13 says “believed and was baptized,” is told to “repent and pray that if possible the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.”
In psalm 32:5 David speaks of confessing sin and being forgiven.
Challies also quotes Matthew Henry, who basically says that every day we plead the blood of Jesus as the payment for our sins. “Our prayer every day should be that he would forgive us our debts.” But he says “that we may be discharged and have the comfort of it.”

It’s hard to know exactly what Henry means. “Discharged” suggests being relieved of the responsibility, which would be akin to salvation. But “comfort” suggests the personal experience of that. So is Henry really saying much more than Gill, that we need the forgiveness applied to our consciences, that we may believe and enjoy it?

Clarification: asking for forgiveness doesn’t affect our standing of being justified before God
Fellowship or relationship forgiveness

Challies “Humbling ourselves before God to ask his forgiveness will restore our day to day relationship with God…. Asking forgiveness of God is not asking Him to rejustify us, but to restore and renew our relationship.” Challies says that Giglios prayer (suggested above) misses the point of needing our relationship with God restored. But I’m not sure that ailing to use the word “forgive” means the relationship with God hasn’t been restored. He says that by asking God’s forgiveness “We invite God to renew his relationship with us and to restore us to walking closely with Him.”

Well then, if its so clearly different from the forgiveness we ask for at salvation, why insist that we call it “forgiveness”?

What’s wrong with the legal forgiveness / fellowship forgiveness dichotomy? Does that just solve all these problems?

It suggests that if you miss any sins, you aren’t in fellowship until you remember then and get them confessed. It tends again toward a superstitious, imbalanced view of sanctification.
There is a legitimate point here, I think, that “forgive” in the salvation sense is really quite different from “forgive” in the marriage sense (for one example). In the salvation sense, forgiveness is a condemned person speaking to the judge, and they are guilty awaiting the judge’s verdict. “Forgive” in the marriage sense also has to do with releasing an obligation, but it seems very different. It’s not a guilty person awaiting a verdict, but a person who has hurt another seeking to restore a healthy relationship.
Note that MacArthur teaches this “two kinds of forgiveness” view also. He uses John 13 to defend this: the bathing is the forgiveness of justification, the washing illustrates the “fatherly forgiveness of sanctification.” Judicial forgivenesss vs. paternal forgiveness.

Things we know are true, or what we should do:

When we have sinned against others, we often need to go and be reconciled to them.
Elliff “What God is after is not our naming our sins, but our turning from our sins in obedience…. Naming all of our sins may be therapeutic, certainly, but it can never said to be required…. Naming sins is normal for the believer.”

There’s a big difference between naming sins being normal and naming every sin being required.

There’s nothing wrong with asking for forgiveness, so long as you understand the proper meaning of “forgiveness” when you use that word.

Similarly, there’s nothing wrong with using the word repent – but the NT is gun-shy about using that word for believers, lest you misunderstand what that means.
Another possible misunderstanding (in the other direction) – since God sees Christ when he looks at me; since every sin is paid for and satisfied completely, and my sins are separated as far as the east is from the west, therefore God doesn’t even really see or care when I sin.

MacArthur does a good job of showing that God is displeased when His children sin, and he does do something about it. Hebrews 12, Deut. 1 the Lord angry with Moses, Deut 9:20 angry with Aaron, I Ki. 11:9 angry with Solomon, Peter: get behind me Satan, rebuke of James and John in Luke 9. “The idea that God is somehow indifferent to sin because His children are committing it is absolutely ridiculous.”

What does this confession/asking forgiveness accomplish?

In one section MacArthur says that we ask forgiveness “mitigate against the circumstances we’ve created.” In other words, to have God’s mercy toward us as we deal with the consequences of our sin, instead of his discipline.
In another section, MacArthur says that it is “to be continually washed from the presence of sin and the power of sin … you just need to be sanctified.” But “please forgive” is a very strange way to say “please sanctify me, was me from the presence and power of sin.”
Reimers seemed to say that it was to restore fellowship with the father – sin breaks fellowship with Him.
Hendriksen and others seem to be saying that we are asking him to apply the forgiveness we already have to our consciences.
The sins are actually not legally forgiven until we seek his forgiveness, and this must be done for any sins we know about.
We are primarily seeking to be restored to the control of the H.S. and usefulness for God. Asking his forgiveness is the key to that (doesn’t really define what exactly that forgiveness is, though, except maybe the removal of the consequences He had administered, namely no control of the Spirit and no fruitfulness).

I John 1

In general, it seems like constructing a core doctrine of sanctification from I John 1 is a little bit of a stretch, since I John 1 does not clearly teach such a doctrine. Especially when the rest of the NT is so quiet about this.

Does I John 1:9 command Christians to ask forgiveness for individual sins? The instruction (even that may be a strong word) is to confess. g

What is the rest of the NT not quiet about?? That’s a very important question – what does it say about what a Christian should do when they sin?
Jim Elliff

Citing 2:1, he says “the purpose of the confessionists’ use of 1:9 is to get the Christian into a place of being forgiven and cleansed by God and therefore in fellowship with Him and filled with the Spirit, but the purpose of John was obedience.”
On v.7 “Though our sins were taken care of in the cross of Christ, and by His blood being spilled for us, it is applied immediately in time to every sin we commit the nano-second we commit it.”

This is much easier for me to handle than the Hendriksen view that it is applied when we ask for it.

He notes 2:12 your sins have been forgiven you
He notes the importance of the word all in verse 9. If this verse is commanding a confession of individual sins that we might be forgiven, what is this “cleansing from all unrighteousness” that comes with this? He says this cleansing from all unrighteousness must be salvation.

I’ve heard it usually explained that this refers to all the sins we don’t know about. If we confess the sins we do know about, he’ll also cleanse us from the sins we aren’t aware of. But the passage doesn’t really say that: it says all unrighteousness, not all other unrighteousness.

He argues that nothing else in the NT epistles, in any of the other passages dealing with sanctification, every mentions the “confessionist” view. That would seem right to me, though I want to explore more of the OT connection (like Psalm 51), and what the NT does say about when a Christian sins.
Elliff is arguing that “if we confess our sins” is a description of every true believer. We are confessing people (people who have repented). In other words, this phrase describes every true believer, not some believers who are diligent to seek forgiveness for each sin they commit.

Even in his view the phrase may imply an ongoing confession for the believer; but it definitely doesn’t make a confession/forgiveness connection for each time you confess an individual sin.

The word “however” at the beginning of v.9 is important, as it shows a contrast with verse 8. But in the “confessionist” view, v.8 would need to be describing a Christian who refuses to confess a particular sin. Instead, it seems to be describing an unsaved person who won’t admit they have sin at all.
Overall, his view if this: “This characteristic admission of sins found in the person who has become a believer is that which obtains the result of his being totally forgiven and cleansed from every sin on the basis of the death of Christ.”

OT passages about dealing with sin:

Psalm 51

Interesting that he never actually uses the word “forgive.” (nasa, or caphar)
But they cry in vv.1-2, 9 sounds very much like a cry for forgiveness, not just a cry for future change. Esp. the phrase “blot out my transgressions.” This seems to indicate that it is not wrong for a believer to seek God’s forgiveness; it’s not an insult to God. But I still don’t that we mean that in the same sense. It is an accomplished reality, and so maybe it is primarily claiming what we already have, and asking God to help us know that forgiveness now.
Psalm 51 also captures the feeling of uncleanness that we experience when we have sinned. Wash me, purify, cleanse me. Yes the sin was paid for at calvary, but I still feel dirty, and I should. There is a need for some sort of spiritual cleansing – I’m not sure we can define that. V.10 create a clean heart. What does that mean? But I think “forgive” is the best word we know to use for that. That may be at the core of the problem / controversy.
V.11 is also important: cast me away – we also sense separation. We know there is not a legal separation, for nothing can separate from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Yet there is some sense in which we can be nearer to God or further from God. James 4:8 draw near to God and He will draw near to you. This is captured also in the language of returning, like we saw with Peter. When you have returned. Also Hos. 6:1-2, 14:1, etc. Heb. 10:22 let us draw near…
The prayer for the future, and for sanctification, is very important, in verses 10-13. This is more than “God’s forgiven me, now I’m going to do better.” In other words, there is a great need for sanctifying grace, and time spent specifically praying for that.
Interesting how Psalms 5 and James 4 shows both sides of the sanctification equation:

Ps. 51 cleanse me from my sin – yet James 4 cleanse your hands
Ps 51 purify me – James 4 purify yourselves
Ps 51 do not cast me away – James 4 draw near to God

Psalm 32:1-5

Obvious there is a clear connection between confession and forgiveness in v.5. However this is preceded by a section that would seem to describe salvation itself, esp. v.2 and imputing iniquity. In that context he speaks of confessing his sin and being forgiven. So do we really want to say that any sins we don’t confess is then imputed against us?
David may be enjoying, in the present, the reality of forgiveness for a present sin; but it’s hard to imagine that David’s point is that your sin will be imputed against you if you don’t confess it! It seems more like a present rejoicing in a past reality.
Vv.3-4 communicate something very important: we have a tendency to ignore our sin, to keep silent about it, i.e., to not want to talk to God about it. We would just rather it not even come up. And that is a very dangerous tendency. We need to deal with our sin in the right way, and not be silent about it. So what is the right way?

V.5 acknowledge, don’t hide, confess
Ps. 51:4 is the classic model for this

Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

In a way similar to I John 1, this seems best to be taken not as a description of some Christians but all Christians. In other words, he’s not comparing the Christians who conceal their sins with the Christians who confess and forsake them. All Christians are characterized by confessing and forsaking their sin. From the surrounding verses it’s pretty clear that he is talking about the righteous vs. the wicked. The wicked conceal their sin; the righteous confess and forsake.
If you take this as a description of what the Christian must do to obtain God’s forgiveness, then you cannot just pass over the word “forsake.” In order to get God’s compassion, you have to forsake it as well. Asking his forgiveness is not sufficient.
I.e. this is not a description of a little procedure a Christian follows when they sin; this is a general principle – wicked people are characterized by concealing and not experiencing God’s blessing; godly people are characterized by confessing and forsaking and experiencing God’s compassion.

Jeremiah 3:12-13 Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD; 'I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious,' declares the LORD; 'I will not be angry forever. 13 'Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God And have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,' declares the LORD.

Acknowledge … you have not obeyed. Stop making excuses, stop rationalizing, stop using code language, just to acknowledge to Me that you have been in rebellion, that you have chosen to be unfaithful.
This seems like a good time for him to say: “Ask me to forgive you.” Interesting that he doesn’t. The key things does not seem to be asking for forgiveness, but honestly facing the sin.
This is the same way in our relationships. Someone can ask our forgiveness, but it can mean very little to us if it seems like they aren’t really facing that they’ve done anything wrong against us. Frankly we use the words “please forgive me” and “I’m sorry” when we don’t mean it. Sometimes we even use those words and what we essentially mean is “Get over it.” “Hey, I did it. I’m sorry.” Means “Hey I did it, now get over it.”
You can ask God to forgive you without really acknowledging that you have rebelled and transgressed and you are guilty.

NT passages about dealing with sin (especially those passages talking about when you have sinned:

Luke 15:21 “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
In Acts 8:22, Simon, whom 8:13 says “believed and was baptized,” is told to “repent and pray that if possible the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.”

Yet Bruce “the nature of his belief must remain uncertain.” You can make a pretty good argument that this was not saving faith.

Romans 6:11 think a certain way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God
Romans 6:13 Do not go one presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God…. now present your members as slaves to righteousness.

Think like, live like a slave – like someone owned.

Romans 13:12 lay aside the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light.
I Corinthians 3:3 Since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

I.e., the Bible wants us to think differently. You’re not just a mere man anymore. You have the blessing of the spirit and understand the things of God and have the mind of Christ (chpt 2). But you aren’t living like it.
I Cor. 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple … you have been bought … therefore…”
I Cor. 14:20 Do not be children in your thinking … in your thinking be mature.
Col. 3:5, 8 Consider the members of your earthly body as dead… put them all aside

I Corinthians 5:2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead.
I Corinthians 11:28-32 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

Judge ourselves rightly, so that we will not be disciplined by the Lord.

II Corinthians 2:6-7 Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, 7 so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

This was a church discipline situation; note that there is the possibility of excessive sorrow, an unhealthy sorrow.

II Corinthians 7:1 Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit.
II Corinthians 7:8-12 For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it-- for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while-- 9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God.

o I’ve got to look into this passage more. It’s a little confusing because it brings together two issues: a sinful person in the church, and the failure of the Corinthinans to deal appropriately with this person. The confusion is highlighted by the words at the end of v.11 you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

· II Corinthians 12:20-21 For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances; 21 I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.

o But that leads to 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith.

· Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

o The whole tone has been that they are not living like they should. That also connects to 5:25 and thinking like you should, living in the reality of who you are, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

· Ephesians 4:22-24 lay aside the old self, be renewed in the spirit of your mind, put on the new self

o This doesn’t exactly say, but may imply, that the old self was showing itself (otherwise it wouldn’t need laid aside)

· I Thes. 4:1, 10 Excel still more!

o This doesn’t reference a particular failure on their part, but it captures what seems to be the heart of the NT message: press on! Grow! Mature!

o The Christian who is in trouble is not the Christian who missed a sin he should have gotten confessed; or failed to specifically ask God to forgive a sin he did confess; the Christian who is in trouble is the Christian who is not actively making forward progress!

o Hebrews 6:1, 11-12 You’re shamefully immature … Press on! And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

· I Tim. 6:11 flee from these things!

· II Timothy 2:21 cleanse yourself from the vessels of dishonor in your “house”

· Never do the pastoral epistles or other places exhort Christians to call sinning Christians to ask God to forgive them. It tells us to reprove them, and call them to obey (like Titus 1:13), but not to tell them to ask God to forgive them, except the Simon passage in Acts.

· Hebrews 4:16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

o Maybe not a clear implication that they had sinned, but may be addressing just our general sinful tendency. Don’t know.

· Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

o This passage really grabs my attention because of the connection with the sense of dirtiness that I mentioned earlier in Psalm 51. So what do these two phrases at the end of Heb. 10:22 mean?

· Hebrews 12:1-2 lay them aside, run with endurance, fixing your eyes on Jesus

· Hebrews 12:12-13 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

· James 1:21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

· James 4:6-10 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

· James 5:16 Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

· I John 1:6-9

· I John 2:1-2

o But it does not explain what we do to experience the work of that advocate. Do we have to ask him to forgive us?

· Revelation 2:5 Remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first.

o It seems like repent here is not its own thing (remember/repent/do), but that there are two things here: remember and return to doing the things you were before.

· Revelation 2:16 Therefore repent.

o Here again I think it’s unlikely that he means “ask me to forgive you.” It’s more likely that he means: change! Obey.

Revelation 3:3 So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

Again remember and repent/obey. Also, wake up!

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.