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God does not unconditionally forgive sinners. While God wants none to perish, sinners must “come to repentance” to be saved (2 Pet 3:9; 1 Tim 2:4). God has given commandments to sinners in order to save them “by grace through faith” (Eph 2:8). The sinner does not earn or merit the gift of salvation by obeying God’s conditions; salvation is “not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph 2:9).

     The conditions of salvation are stated generally in Acts 10:34-35: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” The specific “conditions” of forgiveness sinners are called on to meet in order to be initially forgiven and become a Christian are:

     Hearing is a condition of salvation: “Faith comes by hearing…” (Rom 10:17, 14)

     Belief is a condition of salvation: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” (Rom 1:16)

     Confession of Faith is a condition of salvation: “...with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom 10:10)

     Repentance of Sins is a condition of salvation: God “now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30; cf. Lk 13:5).

     Baptism is a condition of salvation: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mk 16:16; cf. Acts 22:16; 1 Pet 3:21)

     Some have the mistaken notion that Christians unconditionally forgive those who sin against them, appealing to Matthew 6:12-15 for support. Yet, it is by remembering how God forgives sinners that we learn how we forgive those who sin against us.

     Remember, God does not unconditionally forgive sinners. Yet, God is always ready to forgive; He has a forgiving, merciful heart. This heart is seen in Jesus on the cross when He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Lk 23:34). Did God immediately and unconditionally forgive those who murdered Jesus? No, they had to meet God’s conditions to be actually forgiven of their sins. In Acts 2:36-41 about 3,000 souls were convicted of their sin and, by obeying God’s conditions, were then forgiven.

     Like God, Christians must have a heart of “tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” (Col 3:12-13). We must have a heart that is ready to forgive. Yet, when someone sins against us we are to “rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him” (Lk 17:3). While ready to forgive, we are commanded to rebuke the sinner so he will repent, not “unconditionally forgive” him as if the sin is not real and does not affect the sinner and how we treat him. Forgiveness is not overlooking and tolerating sin! The sinner must meet God’s conditions in order for us to actually forgive him. And, we must meet God’s condition (“rebuke him”) in order to help bring the sinner to repentance (Gal 6:1).

     The forgiveness we give to those who sin against us and repent must be limitless (Lk 17:4). This is how God forgives us; this is how we must forgive others.

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You can find the complete outline of this sermon plus PowerPoint and MP3 Audio files at BIBLE ANSWERS

1. The gospel calls all sinners, Acts 10:34-35.
2. God’s people must rise up and challenge the destruction of marriage that is taking place before our eyes. (Morally and legally)
3. Proponents of same-sex marriage (SSM) say there is “no difference” between heterosexual and homosexual marriages; Bible shows many.

I. BIBLE REVEALS GREAT AND INSUR-MOUNTABLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GOD-ARRANGED / APPROVED MARRIAGE VS. MAN ARRANGED / ENDORSED SSM.

  A. One is Properly Designated Marriage; the other is an Abomination, Gen 1:27; 2:18-25 (Gen 13:13; 19:4-7, 13; Lev 18:22; 20:13).
  B. One Honors God and Marriage as He Gave it, while the Other Dishonors God and Defiles Marriage, Heb 13:4; Gen 1:27; 2:22-23 (Rom 1:26-27).
  C. One Safeguards Moral Purity while the Other Flaunts Sin, 1 Cor 7:2-3; Prov 5:15-20; 6:27-29 (1 Cor 6:9-10;   1 Ths 4:3-7).
  D. One Provides a Balanced, Godly Environment for Rearing Children; the other Brings Sinful Imbalance, Psa 128:1-4.
  E. One has been the Bedrock of Society for Millennia, while the other is Society’s Undoing (Rom 1:27).
  F. One is the Pure Expression of True Love; the other Expresses Love’s Counterfeit, 1 Cor 13:4-8; Eph 5:25-29 (2 Tim 3:1-5).

Conclusion

1. Some will say we are intolerant; Was John a hatemonger? Was Paul? (Mk 6:17-18; Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:9)
2. Cannot call evil good / tolerant sin. Isa 5:20-23

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The Soul, the Spirit and Death

1. Question Box: Please give a lesson on the difference between soul and spirit”, and “Where does the soul go after death?”
2. 1 Ths 5:23: We possess spirit, soul and body. 3. Humans are immortal, possessing soul, spirit and body. Death is the separation of the human spirit from the body, and we continue to exist.

I. A HUMAN BEING IS A SOUL AND A HUMAN BEING HAS A SOUL.

  A. “Soul” (nephesh / psuche) is Broad, Covering a Wide Range of Usages.
Life-principle or essence, basis, (almost synonymous with spirit), Gen 2:7; 35:18; 1 Kgs 17:21-22 (Deut 10:22; Lev 17:11; Psa 103:1.
  B. Materialists Deny Immortal Soul.
    -Man is a soul and has a soul, Gen 2:7; 1:20, 30; 1 Sam 2:33.
  C. Soul is Life that Lives after Death, Matt 10:28; Lk 12:20; (Rev 6:9-10); Acts 2:27, 31.

II. THE SPIRIT: GOD-GIVEN, Zech 12:1; Eccl 12:7

  A. “Spirit” is also Applied to Different Things, Gen 8:1; Jno 3:6, 8; 4:24.
  B. Man is not Spirit, but Man has a Spirit, Zech 12:1; Num 16:22; Jas 2:26.
  C. The Spirit of Man Will Exist Apart from the Body, Acts 7:59; Heb 12:23; 1 Cor 2:11.

III. DEATH: SEPARATION OF THE SPIRIT FROM THE BODY, Jas 2:26.

  A. Death Ends Bodily Existence, but not the Soul and the Spirit, Matt 10:28.
  B. The Spirit Returns to God who Gave it, Eccl 12:7. (cf. Hades, Lk 16:22-24; 23:43)
  C. Resurrection: Hades will give up the Dead, 1 Cor 15:50-55.

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Now that’s not something you see every day! The last time I checked, sharks don’t live underground, much less in Western Kentucky. But, that’s where Jay Wright of Dixon, KY found an 18-inch long jawbone of a shark estimated to be about 20 feet long. Oh, by the way, he found the fossil four miles underground! (Shark Fossil Found in Western Kentucky Coal Mine, Brennan Angel).

     How did that shark get so far underground? Dr. Frank Ettensohn, a paleontologist in the UK Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences said, “Probably we just had just as far as you could see wet, swampy, mucky kind of conditions over Kentucky. And then very rapidly, the sea came in. And it’s in these shallow seas that kind of inundated these coal swamps where these sharks were living.” (Ibid.) I don’t know about any swampy conditions in Kentucky, but that sounds a lot like what would happen in a worldwide flood in which “the fountains of the great deep were broken up”, covering the earth “and all the high hills under the whole heaven” with water (Gen 7:11, 19). Finding shark remains at a depth of four miles begins to give us some measure of the cataclysm of the flood.

     Modern scientists have dated this shark bone to be over 300 million years old. How did they reach that conclusion? No doubt, by relying on the geologic timetable (which assigns ages to the earth’s strata and the fossils found therein). The geologic timetable assumes worldwide uniformity, not cataclysm. With universal upheaval, the dating would be greatly skewed and misleading. So, how did that shark get four miles underground? Noah’s flood – that’s how.

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