by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
I. We must each face death<\/p>\n
A. But most of us have already experienced death.<\/p>\n
B. Death is a separation.<\/p>\n
1. Physical death is a separation of the spirit from the body.<\/p>\n
2. When our sins separate us from God, this is spiritual death – Isa. 59:1-3<\/p>\n
C. Spiritual death is not permanent. To return, we must be forgiven of our sins.<\/p>\n
II. What is forgiveness?<\/p>\n
A. To grant as a favor, pardon, rescue, deliver, relieve, release, or to free fully.<\/p>\n
B. Isa. 38:17 – God casts our sins behind his back<\/p>\n
1. No longer sees our sins, as if they are not longer there<\/p>\n
C. Heb. 8:12 – When God forgives, he no longer remembers our sins.<\/p>\n
III. God’s forgiveness<\/p>\n
A. Why do we need God’s forgiveness?<\/p>\n
1. Our sins separate us from God and we all sin – Rom. 3:23<\/p>\n
2. The result is we deserve eternal punishment<\/p>\n
3. But God wishes to forgive us – II Pet. 3:9<\/p>\n
a. God went so far as to send His only Son to die for us – Acts 5:30-31<\/p>\n
b. Through Jesus’ blood, we receive forgiveness – Eph. 1:7<\/p>\n
B. But our forgiveness is conditional<\/p>\n
1. It is based on our own actions<\/p>\n
a. Not someone else, such as father or mother – Ezek. 18:20<\/p>\n
2. It is based on our repentance – Ezek. 18:21<\/p>\n
a. Isa. 55:7 – Turn from sin and be pardoned<\/p>\n
b. Acts 2:38 – Repentance and baptism is necessary<\/p>\n
3. Conditional on our confession of wrong – I John 1:9<\/p>\n
a. II Sam. 12:13 – David confessed his wrong and God forgave him<\/p>\n
4. Conditional on our continued obedience – Ezek 18:21<\/p>\n
a. Mt. 7:21 – Obedience allows us to enter heaven<\/p>\n
b. I John 3:24 – God then dwells in us.<\/p>\n
c. In other words, sin no longer separates us from God<\/p>\n
5. Conditional on our willingness to forgive others – Mt. 6:14-15<\/p>\n a. Eph. 4:32 – Be kind to each other, forgiving as God has forgiven\nus.\n
b. Col. 3:13 – Forbearing and forgiving<\/p>\n
(1) Putting up with, enduring hardships<\/p>\n c. Ps 78:34-39 – God forgave, not requiring full-payment, out of\ncompassion for man\n
IV. Our forgiveness<\/p>\n
A. Here is where the objections start to roll in<\/p>\n
B. “Oh, I’ll forgive him, but I won’t ever forget what he did to me!”<\/p>\n
1. Would you like God to act this way towards your sins?<\/p>\n 2. If you can’t put it behind you, never bringing it up again, then you haven’t\nforgiven\n 3. Where would Paul be, if Christians never forgave him of his early actions\nagainst the church?\n
4. If you can’t forgive, then God won’t forgive you – Mt. 18:21-35<\/p>\n
C. “But he keeps doing it again”<\/p>\n 1. How often do we sin? How often would we like God to forgive us? 100\ntimes? 1000 times? Would we be comfortable with any limit?\n
2. As often as he turns from his sins, forgive him – Luke 17:3-4<\/p>\n
D. “He didn’t ask”<\/p>\n
1. It is true, the offender must ask for forgiveness. <\/p>\n
a. God doesn’t forgive everyone automatically. <\/p>\n (1) Though, He does forgive some of our debt. This world is\nstill here.\n
b. He expects us to confess our faults before him.<\/p>\n 2. But notice, we don’t sit back and do nothing. God actively works to get us\nto see our condition and to smooth the way.\n 3. We must rebuke our brethren for wrong doing and work towards\nconvincing him to return – Lk 17:3\n
4. The proper way to handle problems: Mt. 18:15-17<\/p>\n 5. Forgiving a person without restoration to the Lord isn’t profitable for\neither person.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I. We must each face death A. But most of us have already experienced death. B. Death is a separation. 1. Physical death is a separation of the spirit from the body. 2. When our sins separate us from God, this is spiritual death – Isa. 59:1-3 C. Spiritual death is not permanent. To return, we must be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1571],"class_list":["post-16007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-forgiveness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25021,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-spiritual-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":16007,"position":0},"title":"What is spiritual death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What exactly is spiritual death? Some say that spiritual death is a separation from God. But what exactly is being separated? A physical separation, personal separation, or soul separation after physical death? If it was a physical separation, then why did God continue to have a relationship with Adam\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63483,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-sin-leading-to-death-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":16007,"position":1},"title":"A Sin Leading to Death (Sermon)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I John 5:16-17 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some sins lead to death, but others do not \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We should pray for those who sin which does not lead to death. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We are not to pray for those whose sin leads to death II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do we tell which sin leads to death?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47056,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-get-forgiveness-of-my-sins-before-i-am-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":16007,"position":2},"title":"Can I get forgiveness of my sins before I am baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have accepted Jesus as my Savior but there is this little detail: I am not baptized. My family is not Catholic, so I wasn't baptized, but I truly believe in God and have been praying a lot lately for His forgivenesses. Is it okay if I'm not baptized?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23732,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-be-forgiven-of-abortion-and-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":16007,"position":3},"title":"Can I be forgiven of abortion and adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have had an abortion and committed adultery as a Christian.\u00a0 My understanding, while reading your information on\u00a0the sins that lead to death, is that I see no way I could be forgiven. Am I reading it right?\u00a0 Please help me with this. Answer: No, you are not reading\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84412,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/unwritten-pains\/","url_meta":{"origin":16007,"position":4},"title":"Unwritten Pains","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer \"And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets\" (Mark 1:19). In Scripture, there is not much exploration of the bond between James and John. That is not to say that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59046,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/reflections-on-a-funeral-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":16007,"position":5},"title":"Reflections on a Funeral Service","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Several years ago I had the unpleasant task of attending and participating in the funeral service of a relative. It was not difficult from the standpoint that the deceased was an evil person, for such was not the case. Rather, the distressing aspect was due simply\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Grief.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}