How Much Can God Forgive?

[Livingstones2020]

Hello and Greetings in Jesus name. I have a friend who is very distraught. He has been evangelizing with me for years. But now, he fell into deep sin. I have been talking and kind of counseling with him for about a month now.

He said that he is not sure if he has a desire to go on with God, and if he does decide to come back, he is not sure that God will forgive Him. I pointed to several verses that directly talks about God's forgiveness, but he always points to the unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He feels that he transgressed God in that way, so God cannot or would not forgive him. Any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tturt]

"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." Matt 18 Means as many times as needed. But the Lord forgives us when we repent - never ending. Psa 103:12, (Rev 3 shows Christians need to repent).

When someone blasphemes the Holy Spirit, do you think they have any concern about it?
Someone can't accidentally commit the unpardonable sin.

God is in the heart business. Someone who asks if they have committed this sin, shows in their heart, they are concerned, attentive, care and have reverance for Him. This is opposite of someone who has committed this sin.

 

[d taylor]

Hello and Greetings in Jesus name. I have a friend who is very distraught. He has been evangelizing with me for years. But now, he fell into deep sin. I have been talking and kind of counseling with him for about a month now.

He said that he is not sure if he has a desire to go on with God, and if he does decide to come back, he is not sure that God will forgive Him. I pointed to several verses that directly talks about God's forgiveness, but he always points to the unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He feels that he transgressed God in that way, so God cannot or would not forgive him. Any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated.

-​

The unforgivable sin is not a sin that an individual person can commit. That was a sin committed only by the nation of Israel in Matthew 12.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Hello and Greetings in Jesus name. I have a friend who is very distraught. He has been evangelizing with me for years. But now, he fell into deep sin. I have been talking and kind of counseling with him for about a month now.

He said that he is not sure if he has a desire to go on with God, and if he does decide to come back, he is not sure that God will forgive Him. I pointed to several verses that directly talks about God's forgiveness, but he always points to the unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He feels that he transgressed God in that way, so God cannot or would not forgive him. Any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated.

Apostasy is the very definition of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Doubters are on this path of destruction. He must find his First Love.
Blessings

 

[NBB]

David murdered a man to get his wife, but repented, i doubt your friend did something worse.

 

[sandman]

Sounds like your friend is born again.
The unforgivable sin can only be committed by those who are of body and soul....those not born. again.
It is not something that can be committed accidently. And for those who do commit it..... it is a willful deliberate decision which involves a commitment to the other side....just as we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ and get born again.

 

[Justaman0000]

Hello and Greetings in Jesus name. I have a friend who is very distraught. He has been evangelizing with me for years. But now, he fell into deep sin. I have been talking and kind of counseling with him for about a month now.

He said that he is not sure if he has a desire to go on with God, and if he does decide to come back, he is not sure that God will forgive Him. I pointed to several verses that directly talks about God's forgiveness, but he always points to the unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He feels that he transgressed God in that way, so God cannot or would not forgive him. Any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated.

As long as he fully repents, he will be forgiven. According to Jesus, the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

 

[DamianWarS]

Hello and Greetings in Jesus name. I have a friend who is very distraught. He has been evangelizing with me for years. But now, he fell into deep sin. I have been talking and kind of counseling with him for about a month now.

He said that he is not sure if he has a desire to go on with God, and if he does decide to come back, he is not sure that God will forgive Him. I pointed to several verses that directly talks about God's forgiveness, but he always points to the unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He feels that he transgressed God in that way, so God cannot or would not forgive him. Any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated.

there's no limit except his own pride. He may want to consider confessing the sin(s) to a leader that is over him and also if needed accepting any disciplinary action. no one likes getting in trouble but we like to feel like we can pay for our wrongdoings. spiritually speaking we can never pay for our sins but disciplinary actions can aid in the process of reconciliation as well as add increased accountability.

 

[Ivan Hlavanda]

Jesus' blood is sufficient enough to wipe out clean every sin of every sinner. There is no sin cannot be forgiven. When Israel sinned and God send deadly snakes as a punishment for their sin, God in His mercy also provided via Moses a bronze serpent that whoever would believe God would be forgiven.

Same in Exodus when the angel of death was killing all the first born, it did not matter how the person lived, or how rich he was or anything else, but whether his house was cover by the blood of lamb, so all that matter in person's life is whether they have been covered with Jesus' blood.

Few weeks after I was saved, I told God that I am a weak coward and I am not worthy saving, and I felt that way, that I will never be able to follow Him, because I am that bad. And it was true, I couldn't do all these things, but God could. It is a humbling experience and it is good to realise the seriousness of our sins.

John 10 'My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.' Jesus will never lose any of His sheep, salvation cannot be lost (despite many falsely claiming today that it can be lost, but they perhaps don't understand the cross), your friend has nothing to worry about. Perhaps, and I pray this is the case, that this sin he committed, he will hate it so much that he will hate to sin again and live a Godly life.

 

[Sophrosyne]

God is more than powerful enough to take on every sin there is and ever will be, you limit him to think he cannot forgive you and call into question that he loves you enough to forgive you when he paid the ultimate price for forgiveness of your sins. There is no greater price that can be paid than for God to die on the cross for your sins.
In other words it is a sin to doubt that he can forgive and even that sin is forgivable.

Truly the only unforgivable sin is to die without putting your faith in God to save you.

 

[BibleBeliever1611]

Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is impossible for a saved person to commit

 

[BobRyan]

Hello and Greetings in Jesus name. I have a friend who is very distraught. He has been evangelizing with me for years. But now, he fell into deep sin. I have been talking and kind of counseling with him for about a month now.

He said that he is not sure if he has a desire to go on with God, and if he does decide to come back, he is not sure that God will forgive Him. I pointed to several verses that directly talks about God's forgiveness, but he always points to the unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He feels that he transgressed God in that way, so God cannot or would not forgive him. Any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated.

the Holy Spirit "CONVICTs of SIN and righteousness and judgment" according to Christ in John 16. So ask him this "do you feel convicted that you have indeed sinned and that you need forgiveness of sins if you are to be saved?" - if the answer is "yes" then he already knows first hand the continued work of the Holy Spirit on his heart and conscience.

Ask him this - "what do you have to lose - by responding fully to the Holy Spirit's convicting voice right now"?

Ask him this - "between God and the devil - which one is coming up with arguments for why you should ignore the Holy Spirit's convicting and prompting work on your soul?"

 

[com7fy8]

he is not sure that God will forgive Him.

Well, God is more able to forgive, than he would know. But if he gets into forgiving, then he might start being satisfied that Jesus forgives him.

"Forgive, and you will be forgiven." (in Luke 6:37)

 

[Waymarker]

...I pointed to several verses that directly talks about God's forgiveness, but he always points to the unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He feels that he transgressed God in that way, so God cannot or would not forgive him..

As long as he doesn't make a continual habit of blaspheming I should imagine God will overlook it, he's very forgiving..
"In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent" (Acts of the Apostles 17:30)

PS- billions of nonchristians "blaspheme" every day of their lives year in year out by rejecting God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, so compared to them your pals one-off slip pales into insignificance..

 

[Brenda Blakely]

Hello and Greetings in Jesus name. I have a friend who is very distraught. He has been evangelizing with me for years. But now, he fell into deep sin. I have been talking and kind of counseling with him for about a month now.

He said that he is not sure if he has a desire to go on with God, and if he does decide to come back, he is not sure that God will forgive Him. I pointed to several verses that directly talks about God's forgiveness, but he always points to the unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He feels that he transgressed God in that way, so God cannot or would not forgive him. Any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dear Livingstones,

It sounds like you and your friend have had a very special relationship. I hear such love and concern in your post. This is precious. You said that your friend has spent a great deal of time evangelizing you. So it seems that he has been a successful witness to you. I don’t know what brought about his confusion at this point but I believe God may be allowing it to bring him into a fuller understanding and establishment of Truth in your friend’s life.

There were many people in the scriptures that struggled with their faith. Doubting Thomas, Nebuchadneszzar, even Peter had moments of weakness and doubt. My suggestion to you is first of all do not forsake the praying for your friend. Secondly, it might be a good thing for the two of you to do a Bible study together and let God lead you. The word of God is powerful and useful. A study of the book of James and/or the life of Jesus might be appropriate. I am praying for you as you live and witness to your friend that God will lead you and give you all that you need for each of you to grow. Hebrews says for us to “love one another and encourage one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10::24-26 and I Thessalonians 5:11) God bless you and grant you words of truth and love.

 

[EpicScore]

There's a difference between being forgiven by God and feeling forgiven, and sometimes we don't feel forgiven even after repenting of our sins because we don't trust in God's grace and mercy; we are so prone to work-based righteousness that we often the need to "earn" forgiveness by "repaying" for whatever sin or mistake we've made - and when the blunder is so great, the prospect of the cost of attempting to turn things right is so overwhelming that we might not even want to bother.

But as Tim Keller had preached, "The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope," and also, "When people say, “I know God forgives me, but I can’t forgive myself,” they mean that they have failed an idol, whose approval is more important than God’s."

I don't know what exactly your friend is struggling about, but I pray that he'd find enough faith to trust in God's promise of forgiveness.

 

[alan650]

Forgiveness is not about our feelings but about Jesus Christ and the FINISHED work on the cross. Satan is being devious and making your friend think there are limits to our omniscient Savior! He needs to study the book of Hebrews in depth which does amazing job of explaining how Jesus is the sin sacrifice ONCE AND FOR ALL. Jesus does not climb on and off the cross each time a child of his sins! Jesus died ONCE and it was PERFECT FOR ETERNITY. He must dust off his weary knees and keep his eyes on our Savior Jesus as we all must do. He is washed white as snow!