• How To Be Right With God
• Only when our sins are forgiven can we be right with God.
• How do we get that forgiveness?
• The Alien Sinner
• The terms of forgiveness for alien sinners.
(non Christians)
• They must have faith in Jesus Christ and God.
• "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if
you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."John 8:24 (NKJV)
• "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes
to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently
seek Him." Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
• "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
• They must repent of their sin and put it away forever.
• "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
Luke 13:3 (NKJV)
• "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands
all men everywhere to repent," Acts 17:30 (NKJV)
• The Alien Sinner
• After confession of this faith and repentance one must be baptized for
the removal of those sins.
• "And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away
your sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Acts 22:16 (NKJV)
• "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who
have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" And he commanded them to
be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days."
Acts 10:47-48 (NKJV)
• "And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. {16} "He who believes and is baptized will be
saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." Mark 16:15-16 (NKJV)
• "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God
has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." {37} Now
when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the
rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" {38} Then
Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:36-38 (NKJV)
• The Alien Sinner Becomes A Christian
• But still, sin is a part of their lives.
• They have been forgiven for their past sins.
• But what about the new sins they commit?
• Do they need to repeat the process they already went through to get
forgiveness?
• No.
• There are different terms for Christians, but still involves much the
same process.
• We learn from the Old Testament (Romans 15:4).
• So we will look at some examples showing the proper and correct attitude
in dealing with our sins.
• The terms of forgiveness for erring Christians.
• Forgiveness For The Christian
• They must confess and acknowledge their sins. We have many examples
of this in scripture.
• "And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them,
"I have sinned this time. The LORD is righteous, and my people and I are
wicked." Exodus 9:27 (NKJV)
• "And Balaam said to the Angel of the LORD, "I have sinned,
for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases
You, I will turn back." Numbers 22:34 (NKJV)
• Forgiveness For The Christian
• "Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed
the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and
obeyed their voice." 1 Samuel 15:24 (NKJV)
• "So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall
not die." 2 Samuel 12:13 (NKJV)
• "please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You
may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night,
for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children
of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have
sinned." Nehemiah 1:6 (NKJV)
• Forgiveness For The Christian
• "I said, "LORD, be merciful to me; Heal my soul, for I have
sinned against You." Psalms 41:4 (NKJV)
• "I will bear the indignation of the LORD, Because I have sinned
against Him, Until He pleads my case And executes justice for me. He will bring
me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness." Micah 7:9 (NKJV)
• "saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood."
And they said, "What is that to us? You see to it!" Matthew 27:4 (NKJV)
• "'I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father,
I have sinned against heaven and before you," Luke 15:18 (NKJV)
• Forgiveness For The Christian
• "Teach me what I do not see; If I have done iniquity, I will do
no more." Job 34:32 (NKJV)
• "So Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this
sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned."
Numbers 12:11 (NKJV)
• "And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the
mountain, saying, "Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the
LORD has promised, for we have sinned!" Numbers 14:40 (NKJV)
• Forgiveness For The Christian
• "Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned,
for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He
take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people."
Numbers 21:7 (NKJV)
• "And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, "We
have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the
Baals!" Judges 10:10 (NKJV)
• "And the children of Israel said to the LORD, "We have sinned!
Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray."
Judges 10:15 (NKJV)
• "So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it
out before the LORD. And they fasted that day, and said there, "We have
sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah."
1 Samuel 7:6 (NKJV)
• "Then they cried out to the LORD, and said, 'We have sinned, because
we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and Ashtoreths; but now deliver
us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve You.' 1 Samuel 12:10 (NKJV)
• "yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried
captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took
them captive, saying, 'We have sinned and done wrong, we have committed wickedness';"
1 Kings 8:47 (NKJV)
• "We have sinned with our fathers, We have committed iniquity, We
have done wickedly." Psalms 106:6 (NKJV)
• "You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers
You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned; In these ways we
continue; And we need to be saved." Isaiah 64:5 (NKJV)
• "We lie down in our shame, And our reproach covers us. For we have
sinned against the LORD our God, We and our fathers, From our youth even to
this day, And have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God." Jeremiah
3:25 (NKJV)
• Forgiveness For The Christian
• "O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, Do it for Your
name's sake; For our backslidings are many, We have sinned against You."
Jeremiah 14:7 (NKJV)
• "We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness And the iniquity of our
fathers, For we have sinned against You." Jeremiah 14:20 (NKJV)
• "The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!"
Lamentations 5:16 (NKJV)
• Forgiveness For The Christian
• "we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and
rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments." Daniel
9:5 (NKJV)
• "O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes,
and our fathers, because we have sinned against You." Daniel 9:8 (NKJV)
• "Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so
as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law
of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned
against Him." Daniel 9:11 (NKJV)
• "And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land
of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day; we
have sinned, we have done wickedly!" Daniel 9:15 (NKJV)
• "He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses
and forsakes them will have mercy." Proverbs 28:13 (NKJV)
• Forgiveness For The Christian
• "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 (NKJV)
• "So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall
not die." 2 Samuel 12:13 (NKJV)
• They must repent of their sins and ask forgiveness
• Forgiveness For The Christian
• "Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps
the thought of your heart may be forgiven you." Acts 8:22 (NKJV)
• "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another,
that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails
much." James 5:16 (NKJV)
• Conclusion
• Unless our sins are forgiven, we cannot have a relationship with God.
• We are responsible to God for our own actions.
• So if we have sin, we must confess and ask for forgiveness.
• Do you need to ask for forgiveness?
By Carey Scott
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