Does God give second chances, or does He remember your sins forever? If He is the Father, and we are as children, surely He must expect us to mess up, even intentionally sometimes. If a person were to commit one big sin, and spend the rest of his life paying back for that sin, it would make for one long miserable life, I would think.
love,
Sopranette
Does God give second chances?
Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Sopranette, Apr 17, 2008.
-
-
-
second chances and thirds and fourths and so on and so on.
The bible tells us we can not out sin God's grace!
:godisgood: -
My favorite verse about this is in Judges 16:22 where the Bible says that the hair of Samson's head began to grow again. God gave himn another chance.
It's only people who don't give you another chance. :laugh: -
But what about Saul, and Moses, and David, and so many others? Didn't they pay for their sins for a lifetime?
love,
Sopranette -
How about the New Testament Saul? Did he get a second chance.
Yes there can come a time when if we continue to resist God's spirit it will depart from us. That happened to Saul in the OT, but not the first time he sinned.
How about Moses, didn't he fail when he was 40 then get a second chance when he was 80?
What about David? Some of his kids did not turn out to good (Absolom, Amnon) and he did not get to build the temple. But he also got to raise a son named Solomon. (And he was born after the murder of Uriah) -
Hebrews 10:10-14 "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which he can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy."
-
But if you are thinking of people who are saved (and I think you are, since you talk about people for whom God is their Father) we know at least these three things about their sins:
1. If they confess them, God will forgive them.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)2. If He forgives a sinner, He forgets their sins.
16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," 17 then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." 18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin." (Hebrews 10:16-18)3. No one can ever pay God back for the sins they have committed. It would be a miserable life indeed if spent trying to do so. But, praise God, the Saviour was sent, and was given the name Jesus "for He will save His people from their sins".
He paid the price! Hallelujah! -
Alcoholics may still have liver issues
Smokers may still have ling cancer
Criminals may still have to do time
These folks have received forgivness if they have repented, but they still have consequences for their sins.
Saul and Moses and David they all messed up and they all sought forgiveness and received forgiveness from God. But yet still had the consequences to go through.
I think this is what ou were asking if so great if not then it is free of charge!
:laugh: -
And for Sopranette, we, too often, attempt to burden God down with our sins. And in that sense, even He, once, got tired of it. These days, God voluntarily suffers from amnesia, after the sin-debt was paid, once for all time, at the cross, and in the institution of the new covenant. And I would suggest many Christians could learn something, here. My emphases, in the Scriptures, below.
Confess our sins, and keep moving. (I Jn. 1:5-10)
Ed -
BTW, I'll toss this one in (yet once again, on the BB), for free. :D
Scripture never says David "repented of his sin", either here, or anywhere else, for that matter, regardless of how many times you may have heard someone preach his 'canned' message (Doesn't virtually every preacher have a couple of these sermons, in their files somewhere?) on this wonderful, 'spiritual-sounding' topic. :rolleyes:
[In fact, aside from Job (Job 42:6), one cannot find a single reference in Scripture to any human individual ever saying 'I repent', anywhere in Scripture, at least as far as I have ever found. And yes, that includes Peter, Paul, Thomas, Solomon, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and all the rest in Scripture.]
But Scripture does show David 'acknowedging', i.e. confessing the sin (Ps.51:3-4), and requesting the Lord to deliver Him from the guilt; restore "the joy of his salvation"; and to 'cleanse' him; among other benefits, on the basis of his confession. (Ps. 51: 7, 10, 12, 14) :thumbs:
Ed -
If God didn't give us second (and third and fourth and 99th) chances we would all be up a creek without a paddle.
-
Ed -
Of course! Jesus is the answer. How could I have ever forgotten that, even for a moment. I am ashamed.
love,
Sopranette -
I've always believed that if we rejected Christ's offer of salvation enough times our hearts would be hardened to the extent that we could no longer be responsive to the gospel. How many times? I don't know.
Hbr 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Hbr 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Hbr 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
Hbr 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Hbr 3:16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
Hbr 3:17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? [was it] not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Hbr 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Hbr 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. -
Once forgiven, God doesn't remember our sins.
Isa 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.
Psa 51:7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Hbr 8:12 "FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE."
Hbr 10:17 "AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."
Isa 43:25 "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.