Page 40 - The Gospel Truth About Death and Dying_Neat

of love, and the way we show love is first and foremost by

forgiving. Love and forgiveness is what makes the kingdom of

God work. If we don’t forgive, then the whole kingdom collapses

down around us. They think we can hinder everything God does
by not forgiving. If you listen to them, you would think that all of

God’s kingdom depends on whether or not we forgive.

RELATIONSHIP. A New Testament saint knows the truth of the
gospel: that we are forgiven: past, present, and future sins. It’s in

the covenant — the contract with God. Of course we should

forgive! By all means! We should forgive simply because we now

know how much we’ve been forgiven. We know Jesus died for

OUR sin. Forgiveness is born in relationship with the one who

founded it. It’s not something we do on our own, because of some
rule. Thus, forgiveness becomes a way of life to them because

they live in Jesus, and in his finished work on the cross. They know

it’s not due to us. They know the truth of Paul’s words, that Jesus

was a minister of the circumcision (Rom 15:8). They see the dual

role Jesus, and that fulfilling and finishing the law was part of

what he came to do.

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RULES. When you talk to an rules-groupie about sanctification,

you are wading in deep waters, especially if they are a Bible or

Seminary student. They believe it is all about our walking out the
redemption we have been given, like we just saw with regard to

forgiveness. They want to show that we’re worthy of redemption.

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