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Friday, February 5, 2010

Q: Can a person ever sin too much or be too deep in sin that he/she cannot be forgiven and/or accepted by God?

A: The black and white answer to this question would be "no". You can never sin so much that God won't forgive you. God's grace and forgiveness extends till the day we die and as long as we ask for forgiveness, repent and make a decent effort to change our lives according to the teachings of the Bible, there is no sin in the world that God can't forgive.

Now, as I said, that's the black and white answer. But I'd like to go a little further and explain how a Christian should think regarding your question.

As Christians, we know that if we ask for forgiveness and repent of our sins, God will forgive us. That does not mean that we continue to live in sin, banking on the fact that if we ask for forgiveness one day, all those sins would be wiped away. We dont knowingly sin all our lives, and on our death bed, ask God to forgiveness; that is an irresponsible response to the Gospel.

We cannot perpetuate sin in our lives and then using God's grace as an insurance. The Bible has many passages about fleeing from sin (1 Cor 10:14 - flee from idolatry, 1 Tim 6:10 - 12 - flee from evil, 1 Cor 6:18 - flee from sexual immorality). What this says to me is that as Christians, we live in sin and then ask for forgiveness...we FLEE from sin and when we FAIL to do so, God will forgive us.

Also, the call to REPENT means to recognize the sin and learn from it. It means to pledge to avoid, to the best of your ability, the temptation of succumbing to that sin. Of course, we will fail sometimes, but that's where God's grace comes in. But we are never to abuse His love and grace.

[answered by Pastor KJT]