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Is there a limit to God's forgiveness?

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Staff Member
Nothing is beyond God’s forgiveness. No sin is too great or too awful for God to forgive. No person is so deep in sin, so ingrained in a wicked lifestyle, or so steeped in evil that he or she cannot be saved. The only requirement is that you accept His forgiveness.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Do you ever ask yourself:

• Can I ever be free of the weight of my sin and guilt?
• Will God forgive my every sin?

I have good news for you! Your loving, heavenly Father will forgive you of all your sins. You can be released today from your sins if you will do what God says.

The apostle Paul dealt with an instance of gross sexual immorality in the Corinthian church: a man was sexually involved with his stepmother. Against that backdrop, Paul wrote, “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9–11).

This passage holds three great messages for us.

First, it tells us that sin is sin. God doesn’t differentiate between one type of sin and another. Most of us wouldn’t consider slanderers in the same “sin boat” as thieves, but sin is sin. There are, however, some sins that I believe are tremendously ensnaring. The effect of sexual sin reaches deep into the soul. It is so ensnaring that many find it difficult to shake free, but God’s love and ability to rescue, forgive, and restore is greater still. There is mercy at the Cross, and it is available to all who draw near to Christ.

Second, it tells us that sin is a lifestyle, a state of being. Paul declared that sin had been the identity of the Corinthians. Sin had been their all- consuming character. Paul called them former thieves—people who had stolen as a way of life. He didn’t say, “Some of you had one too many drinks on occasion.” He said some in the Corinthian church were drunkards. Sin isn’t just something you do. Rather, sinful is what you are.

Third, it tells us that all types of sin can be forgiven. Paul declared, “Such were some of you.” And then Paul reminded them that they were no longer who they had been, but they had been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. The Corinthians found a new life and a new identity in Christ Jesus. You can as well.

Nothing is beyond God’s forgiveness. No sin is too great or too awful for God to forgive. No person is so deep in sin, so ingrained in a wicked lifestyle, or so steeped in evil that he or she cannot be saved. The only requirement is that you accept His forgiveness. Will you?

Adapted from "The Charles F. Stanley’s Life Principles Bible," 2008.
 
Loyal
The only requirement is that you accept His forgiveness.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 Jn. 1:5-10

But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ Acts 26:16-18

Luke 13:3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Acts 3:19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out...

Romans 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Acts 11:17 "If God therefore gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" And when they heard this, they quieted down, and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life."

Based upon what I read in scripture, accepting God's forgiveness is not the only requirement for salvation. We must repent of (turn from) our sins and turn to follow Jesus Christ in obedience. It means we turn away from our lifestyles of sin and living for self, and we turn to God to walk in the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. If we say we have fellowship with God, but we still walk (in lifestyle) in darkness (sin), we lie and we do not live by the truth (1 Jn. 1:6). Jesus said if we hold on to our old lives (of living for sin and self), we will lose them for eternity, but if we lose our lives (die with Christ to sin), we will gain eternal life. Paul reiterated these words when he said if we walk in the flesh, we will die in our sins, but if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, we will live with Christ for eternity (See: Lu. 9:23-25; Ro. 8:1-14; cf. Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Pet. 2:24). Our salvation is not guaranteed based solely upon accepting God's forgiveness of our sins provided for us on the cross. We must die with Christ to sin so that we might be resurrected with Christ to newness of life, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And, we must walk in the Spirit and no longer according to our sinful flesh.
 
Active
I guess for many it seems crazy that all one has to do is simply sincerely repent and all your sins are forgiven. But those who think like that just don't grasp that it is not about our sins, but rather about how hatred or love for them. Nobody is without sin, without the need to repent. Only God is that good Mark 10:18.

Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil
.
 
Loyal
I guess for many it seems crazy that all one has to do is simply sincerely repent and all your sins are forgiven. But those who think like that just don't grasp that it is not about our sins, but rather about how hatred or love for them. Nobody is without sin, without the need to repent. Only God is that good Mark 10:18.

Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil
.

Hi KJ,

Let's look at it by another angle.
One can hate sin and yet still sin and their hatred for that sin does not cancel out that sin. They still need to repent. Because the sin is still there.

1John1:9 Tells us if we are faithful to confess our sins He is true and just and will forgive us of our sins AND clense us of ALL OUR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.

So let me ask you this, over the days have you sinned and acted in unrighteousness?

If so then, do you hate that?
Even though you hate it, it's still there.
And as long as it is there, your prayer life suffers and your faith suffers and love and Forgiveness and so forth all suffer from these sins and unrighteousness.

This also opens the door and gives our enemy the devil "the legal right by spiritual law" to steel, kill and destroy.

That's why he is looking for some one to devour. he needs us to allow him and he knows it and works 24/7/365 to get you in a place that he can.

So repenting which brings forgiveness and clensing is vital.

When we truly Love God and begin to grow in the new nature God has given us, then we sin less and less. We don't want to sin and we begin to stop wilfully sinning.
But we still miss the mark and sin. Far too many times we think ah man that's nothing to worry about and The Father just may have a different opinion on that.

The scripture you quoted where Paul was saying it's not him but the sin in Him that makes him do the things he does not want to do.

Hating that is a good step but does nothing about the sin.
Paul is saying.......get the sin out of you and then it can not control you or make you do the things you know you should not.

Again Brother @KingJ ,
I am just showing you something by another angle is all.
Blessings
W4F
 
Active
Hi KJ,

Let's look at it by another angle.
One can hate sin and yet still sin and their hatred for that sin does not cancel out that sin. They still need to repent. Because the sin is still there.

1John1:9 Tells us if we are faithful to confess our sins He is true and just and will forgive us of our sins AND clense us of ALL OUR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.

So let me ask you this, over the days have you sinned and acted in unrighteousness?

If so then, do you hate that?
Even though you hate it, it's still there.
And as long as it is there, your prayer life suffers and your faith suffers and love and Forgiveness and so forth all suffer from these sins and unrighteousness.

This also opens the door and gives our enemy the devil "the legal right by spiritual law" to steel, kill and destroy.

That's why he is looking for some one to devour. he needs us to allow him and he knows it and works 24/7/365 to get you in a place that he can.

So repenting which brings forgiveness and clensing is vital.

When we truly Love God and begin to grow in the new nature God has given us, then we sin less and less. We don't want to sin and we begin to stop wilfully sinning.
But we still miss the mark and sin. Far too many times we think ah man that's nothing to worry about and The Father just may have a different opinion on that.

The scripture you quoted where Paul was saying it's not him but the sin in Him that makes him do the things he does not want to do.

Hating that is a good step but does nothing about the sin.
Paul is saying.......get the sin out of you and then it can not control you or make you do the things you know you should not.

Again Brother @KingJ ,
I am just showing you something by another angle is all.
Blessings
W4F
It is Impossible to hate sin and not repent. The two go hand in hand. I choose to preach from this angle as many can just say they repent and go through the motions. Repenting can just be words we utter. God examines our hearts and minds Jer 17:9-10. We should do the same 1 Cor 11:31.
 
Loyal
It is Impossible to hate sin and not repent. The two go hand in hand. I choose to preach from this angle as many can just say they repent and go through the motions. Repenting can just be words we utter. God examines our hearts and minds Jer 17:9-10. We should do the same 1 Cor 11:31.

I agree for the most part.
There are those who hate what they do but do nothing about it. We both have seen people like this.

When I referred to repenting I see a true repentative heart for anything else is worth nothing.

As you mentioned God examines the heart and so should we. This is a powerful truth!!

That's why when some say things God moves and others He does not. He knows if the heart has really changed or if it is just talk.
This does include repenting and as you said, some is genuine and some is simply just going through the motions.
Blessings my Brother
W4F
 
Active
There are those who hate what they do but do nothing about it. We both have seen people like this.

Then they didn't hate it. They just grasped it was wrong. Wicked people will not be shocked when they land up in hell one-day.
 
Active
hmm thats true.
I just remember talking to a workmate one day and she smoked, and she knew it was wrong and going to kill her and stuff up her lungs but she still did it.
Do you think she didn't hate it enough and liked doing it that she kept on smoking. Cos if you truly hated it you would stop right? And if you found yourself doing it again even when you don't really want to, isn't this why we ask Jesus to set us free?

Will have to think more on this. I know that when some people commit a crime, like a serious one they probably going to end up in jail for, they do need to repent otherwise they just go out and do it again. What turns people around, is often they are confronted with the consequences of their sin not just on them but their victims, like the families they have hurt. Or they get shown the emergency ward and all the blood and guts and broken lives and then see well thats cos of my sinfulness - it hurts other people, it hurts God.

Sometimes God does show people what hell is like if they keep going down the wrong path. I suppose that's why we encouraged to take it to the cross. Jesus died for our sins, and he was not guilty of any. Jesus asked for our forgiveness and took it on himself. He paid the price.

The good news is he is raised to life which means, even though our sins are horrible they can be washed away and we can be forgiven and raised with him.
 
Active
Sin, what a perplexing thing, many will die in it no doubt. Sin is anything God is not; we can't escape it. All Christians are not worthy, not one but, with Christ truly in you, you don't pay the penalty and we have life eternal. I know that all Christians (24/7) are not sinless; I never have met a true Christian to not possess a repentant heart! Our world is changing and many don't feel this way any more and UN-repentant hearts call themselves Christian.
 
Loyal
Luke 13:3; "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Luke 13:5; "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Act 3:19; "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
Act 8:22; "Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.

As long as your sincerely making an effort to repent, He will forgive you. If you go on sinning willfully...

Heb 10:26; For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27; but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.
 
Loyal
There is a sin that leads to death, and the Apostle John says not to pray for those who practice this sin.

1John 5:16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.
1John 5:17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
1John 5:18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

The only sin I know of that will never be forgiven is "unbelief" Unbelief is when a person comes to the knowledge of the truth, but still decides NOT to believe what he knows is true.

Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

Someone might say, "I thought blaspheme against the Holy Spirit" was the sin that will never be forgiven!! The Holy Spirit is the agent in which all truth comes to man. If a person willfully sins continually after learning the truth (which comes by the Holy Spirit) that is "unbelief"!!

For the born again Christian this would not happen.

1John 5:18 "We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning,......"
 
Active
Someone might say, "I thought blaspheme against the Holy Spirit" was the sin that will never be forgiven!! The Holy Spirit is the agent in which all truth comes to man. If a person willfully sins continually after learning the truth (which comes by the Holy Spirit) that is "unbelief"!!
Jesus is spirit; when you are "Born Again" this is the true sign to God that you are saved....which means that you have received Jesus inside you. This is what Jesus meant when he told Nicodemus, you must be "Born Again"...Jesus has went on to explain born of the spirit, born anew...second birth! I truly believe that blaspheme of the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sin and the same as dying in unbelief!
 
Loyal
Jesus is spirit;

This is the second time you've said this, but it isn't really Biblical.

Luke 24:39; See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
Luke 24:40; And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.

Acts 1:11; They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

1 Jn 4:2; By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has risen in the flesh is from God;
1 Jn 4:3; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

John 20:26; After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
John 20:27; Then He *said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
 
Active
This is the second time you've said this, but it isn't really Biblical.
Stick around and you probably will see me saying it a few more times!
John 20:26; After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
I couldn't have said it" Biblically" any better... This was the second time that the "doors" where closed and Jesus just appeared.....how do you suppose he did that? We will have a resurrected body just like his, what a mystery and a wonderful gift God gives us!
 
Active
Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ......wonder how he gets in there?
 
Loyal
Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ......wonder how he gets in there?
2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
 
Active
2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
Christ in you equals your "Spiritual Birth!"
 
Active
I just remember talking to a workmate one day and she smoked, and she knew it was wrong and going to kill her and stuff up her lungs but she still did it.
Do you think she didn't hate it enough and liked doing it that she kept on smoking. Cos if you truly hated it you would stop right? And if you found yourself doing it again even when you don't really want to, isn't this why we ask Jesus to set us free?

It is for us to claim the kingdom of God and what it takes to be saved but we have no right or ability to determine who is acceptable to God; only he has the power to determine that! I have read that some doctor's say that being hook on Nicotine is the same as Cocaine for some....thank God I was able to give smoking up!
 
Active
I didnt say anyone had a right to determine who is acceptable to God I am just saying you make a decision to repent of sin and God grants it. I never said anything about WHO because everyone is or was a sinner no exceptions. Therefore we all can make a choice to hate sin by taking it to the cross. The option is there..take it and God will do a work in you.

This lady has a choice to do that and be forgiven just like we all can choose to do things or not. GOd doesnt want us doing things that are harmful to ourselves and others around us and polluting the environment.

I dont garden in public spaces but I can imagine it would be a dirty job if I had to clean cigarette butts out of roadside plantings everyday. People just flick their cigarettes everywhere, some people just drop needles...and not to mention condoms. Ugh. We had one guy once who thought it was funny to drop them in the library. I tell you, people can be gross.

If you work in A and E all you end up is seeing people affected by alcohol every friday night. I once interviewed for a prison..hotbed of sinners. But its the place where christians can go tell those in prison they CAN be forgiven if they repent. Some people think they have no option..well they do if they hear the gospel and believe.
 
Active
Yes unbelief basically the sin that wont be forgiven because think about it if you hear the gospel and dont believe how can you be forgiven then.

If you are say smoking which you CHOOSE to do ie. its not forced on you and dont believe that God can help you give it up you not likely give it up are you?! Jesus came to put sin to death and have victory over satan. He wasnt just there to be admired for himself. Hes here to make is holy and prepare us to meet the Father. We not going to enter heaven with a cigarette dangling from our lips and drugged out of our minds.

If people have a hard time believing..and its not hard..be like the guy who said Lord help me in my unbelief.

I think thats a funny episode in the bible showing that people find it hard to believe, even Jesus chastised his own disicples for not believing, but they came round. Its when your heart is totally rock hard like the Pharisees and given over to Satan..think its called consicence seared with a hot iron..that it becomes impossible. But then think of Paul who was a former Pharisee. What God cn do is give you a NEW heart. But you have to be at a point where you just say to God you believe for that exchange to happen.
 
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