Page 39 - The Gospel Truth About Death and Dying_Neat

RULES. If you talk to a Old Testament law person about

repentance, you’ll be told they know how important confession

and repentance is, and how they repent to someone regularly.

They will quote First John on how God is faithful, and if we’ll
confess our wrongs, he will forgive us and cleanse from sin. But

you will notice they are totally sin-focused. Their whole spirit is

soaked in sin-consciousness. It’s like sin is their constant concern.

Of course they love God, but how much is he really involved?

RELATIONSHIP. If someone is rooted and grounded in the love

of God, they talk about repenting over wrong beliefs, that don’t

mesh with the gospel truth. This is what Paul says in II Timothy

2:25-26. They see repentance as something they need to ask

God for, so he will give them more revelation of the truth of the
gospel, so they can live better in God, not in self. They don’t see

repentance as dealing so much with behavior, because they know

Father dealt with sin on the cross of Christ. Thus, they know

repentance has more to do with belief than with behavior. They

think as God thinks: “Correct belief will eventually produce good

behavior, but that good behavior will never lead to correct
belief.” They know it is the LOVE of God, not the LAW of God

that controls and constrains us (II Cor 5:14).

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RULES. An Old Testament saint knows about forgiveness: you
MUST forgive, or God won’t forgive you. They just forget that

was Old Testament, not New Testament. Forgiveness is the fruit

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