“Why ask for forgiveness if you’re already forgiven?”

Steve Brown:
Why ask for forgiveness if you’re already forgiven? The answer to that and other questions on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you think laughter isn’t spiritual or that faithfulness to God means conformity to Christian stereotypes, then this program probably isn’t for you. But if you’re looking for honest, Biblical answers to honest questions, welcome to Key Life. Here’s our host, author and seminary professor Steve Brown, along with Pete Alwinson from ForgeBibleStudy.com.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hi Pete.

Pete Alwinson:
Hey man, I’m looking forward to seeing how you answer this

Steve Brown:
Well this is in the form of a criticism of my friends.

Pete Alwinson:
It is. I know.

Steve Brown:
And I get a lot of that, but I am godly and spiritual and I pray for those people regularly that God gives them the hives that they get. No, I don’t. I don’t, but it is a little bit, and it was a gentle criticism,

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Brown:
not an angry one. I get a lot of those too. That’s Pete Alwinson, by the way. And he gets a lot of criticism too. More than me because he’s wrong more than me. And he teaches more than I do. And by the way, if you’re in central Florida and you’re a guy and you’re not a part of Forge, you’re crazy. That’s a great organization. It’s open and it’s honest and you will feel comfortable. And there are a lot of religious meetings where you don’t, but this one you will. And if you’ll go to ForgeBibleStudy.com, you can get the places and the times, and you’ll be glad I told you about it. Pete comes in on Fridays and we spend the time answering questions and we take your question seriously. Only question we don’t take seriously is the one you don’t ask. So pick up the phone 24 seven dial 1-800-KEY-LIFE and record your question. And sometimes we put your voice on the air or you can write to

Key Life Network
P.O. Box 5000
Maitland, Florida 32794

If you live in Canada, it’s

Key Life Canada
P.O. Box 28060
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6J8

You can also send us an email at [email protected]. And listen, if you can help us financially, please do. You can charge it on a credit card, include it in your envelope. And, we are a not for profit organization and not only do we take your questions seriously, we take your gifts seriously too. And we squeeze every dime for the glory of God. We understand it when you can’t, or you’re not called to, but pray about it and help us as much as it can. And we’ll be so glad. Pete, lead us in prayer. We’ll get to some of these questions.

Pete Alwinson:
You got it. Father God, we thank you today, Friday, end of the week and an opportunity to stop for just a minute and remember that you are God that there is no other. One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And you’ve been in charge this whole week of all of our life. The good, the bad, the ugly, the sinful, you have been the author of the good and the overseer of the bad stuff even in our lives. And we pray that you would continue your work in our lives by grace. Thank you, that you love us because of what Jesus has done for us, that you’re not angry at us. And that you have a way to build us into great people who look like Jesus. And we ask that you continue that process Lord, in a big way. We need you. We make no claim to perfection. We, we want our relationships healed. Uh, we have anxieties and fears. Uh, some of us are downright fearful of life right now. We come to you. We ask this weekend that your worship would encourage us and lift us up and teach us and hit our heads, our hearts and our lives with truth. We pray for our pastors and priests, teachers, leaders. Thank you for the worship directors that spend their time leading us into your presence. And we pray that we would be open to what you have to say to us this weekend. Thanks for Steve for Key Life and all those who do great things behind the scenes. We just commit this ministry to you and pray that your grace would speak to us now, as we pray these things. In Jesus name. Amen.

Steve Brown:
This first question’s an email and you’d be surprised how often we get this question in one form or another. This person says, Steve, you don’t need to pray on the radio for God to forgive you your sins because they are many on Mondays. Don’t you know that you’re already forgiven?

Pete Alwinson:
Well?

Steve Brown:
Well, you gotta be careful here.

Pete Alwinson:
Why do you do that, Steve? Do you not really believe the gospel? Come on.

Steve Brown:
Jesus told me to, that’s why. Not for his sake. For my sake. If we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just, and that’s written to believers.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Repentance is taught throughout scripture. It’s not because God has shocked at my sin.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Or he says, I had such a high hope for you. That’s not it, I’m forgiven. I mean, it’s, I’m covered. I don’t ever stand before God without being perfect because I’m clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Pete Alwinson:
That is stunning.

Steve Brown:
Isn’t it really? I mean, it blows you away.

Pete Alwinson:
Stunning. Wow.

Steve Brown:
And then, but then God says, confess your sin. Come to me and tell me where it hurts. Tell me the places that you’ve gotten in serious trouble, because you were disobedient. I, you need to do that for your sake. And if you don’t do it, it’s gonna fester inside and it’s going to get worse.

Pete Alwinson:
Yep. Yep.

Steve Brown:
So, God says, and he says it always, trust me on this. So I appreciate what the person said. But I think I’ll listen to Jesus.

Pete Alwinson:
So really, I love that, because, you know, in the Lord’s prayer, which is really the disciple’s prayer,

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Pete Alwinson:
He says, forgive us our sins, as we forgive our debtors. I like how that is linked together. And sometimes I’ve got to confess that I don’t want forgive someone.

Steve Brown:
Oh. So true.

Pete Alwinson:
And so, so those are linked and it’s a good process for us to keep, to keep processing the gospel, the gospel keeps stirring stuff up and he wants to get the sin out of this, but until we face it, confess it and move on, it’s hard to see.

Steve Brown:
You know, forgiveness is the very heart of what this is all about.

Pete Alwinson:
Oh my goodness.

Steve Brown:
It’s the forgiveness that we need from God. And you can’t forgive until you’ve been forgiven. And not only that, you can’t forgive until, you know you need to be forgiven. And people who think they’re doing it right, man, you, you can’t do this thing. You don’t fit, go become a Buddhist or something. Don’t don’t call yourself a Christian. Because it’s an ongoing process. Repentance is not an act. It’s a lifestyle.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. I love that.

Steve Brown:
And if we do it and we’re forgiven, we can forgive.

Pete Alwinson:
Ah.

Steve Brown:
Process.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s so good. And then, you know what you said so many years, you can only forgive once you’ve been forgiven and then you can only forgive to the extent to which you’ve been forgiven.

Steve Brown:
True.

Pete Alwinson:
And that’s a powerful teaching. And, um, we, we forget that too. And that’s why it’s important for us to confess our sins and to see our sins. So that I can know how much I’ve been forgiven.

Steve Brown:
So true.

Pete Alwinson:
And that’s what I don’t do. Cause I tend to think, Hey, I, you know, God may love you, but I’m his favorite. You know.

Steve Brown:
You know, you know, one of the most radical passages in scripture is Luke 7, where the prostitute crashes the dinner party and

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
the Pharisee. And there’s so much in that text. I mean that text will blow you away, but Jesus says something that is so good. Um, he who is forgiven little, loves little.

Pete Alwinson:
Yes. That’s what I’m saying. That’s true. That’s the point.

Steve Brown:
That’s what reminded me of that.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
That’s so true. So.

Pete Alwinson:
I love that.

Steve Brown:
Okay.

Pete Alwinson:
Good stuff.

Steve Brown:
Uh, let’s go to our phone line.

Caller 1:
If God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And it says that in the Bible, then why does it also say in another place? That if you love the world or anything in the world, then love of the father is not in you. That’s my question.

Steve Brown:
Gosh, that’s a great question. I’ve never heard that before.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. I mean, I’m still processing it, so you could have to deal with it,

Steve Brown:
But then, you know, I’ve never heard that before. If we’re, if for God, so loved the world, he tells us not to love the world or anything in it.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Isn’t that kind of a contradiction do, as I say, not as I say do.

Pete Alwinson:
Well, isn’t it two different uses of the word? World. So it really gives us an exegetical opportunity here.

Steve Brown:
That’s true.

Pete Alwinson:
So, do not love the world is speaking of the world system allied against God.

Steve Brown:
That’s right. And, and it specifically means that.

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
Scriptures delineate that every place.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
But the world, in terms of the people who live in it,

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
the world in terms of the people for whom Christ died,

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
the World in terms of the object of God’s love. In fact, the reason for creation, we are to love where God loves. And hate where God hates.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Yeah. So, so in that John 3:16, for God, soul of the world, what he is talking about is he loves more than just Jews.

Steve Brown:
That’s right.

Pete Alwinson:
I mean, and really in

Steve Brown:
That’s right.

Pete Alwinson:
context, that’s what it was. Hey, he doesn’t just love you Jews. And this goes back to Abraham when he said, I’ll make you a no mighty nation. And all the peoples of the world will in you will be blessed

Steve Brown:
And that’s happened.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s happened.

Steve Brown:
And it’s happened in a wonderful way because for God so loved, not just Presbyterians or Jews or Baptists.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. Or Americans or whatever. He loves people of every ethnicity.

Pete Alwinson:
No, that’s right.

Steve Brown:
And we see it a lot of that in our time.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
And it’s a dead end road. I have been teaching and believe by the way, that we’re not far from revival and awakening.

Pete Alwinson:
I think we need it.

Steve Brown:
You know, you can, you can be suicidal, if you watch the news all the time. And these

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
people are saying things and doing vendors that are just crazy and it’s going to be a dead end road. And when you come to the dead end road, it’s either suicide or look for meaning

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
And at that point, and I’m seeing that happen. I’m seeing that happen with people who recognize that the world can’t provide answers.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. That’s right. We have a movement and insurgency that is trying to undercut the nation as it is.

Steve Brown:
That’s true.

Pete Alwinson:
And, um, and, and, and I call it cultural Marxism. But the reality is, is that has no hope attached to it.

Steve Brown:
No, it’s a destruction.

Pete Alwinson:
It’s a destruction. That’s all it is. No hope, no better future. They think it’s better, but it’s not. They’re angry, but they’re never going to be happy. Only the gospel provides that which is good.

Steve Brown:
That’s right

Pete Alwinson:
In the present and the future.

Steve Brown:
And, you know, they teach in AA that you don’t get sober till you get to the bottom.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
And that’s true of a culture and it’s true of a nation too.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s a really good point. We, we needed to hear that.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I keep saying that to myself. So cause man, I could be so discouraged if I keep looking at television and listening to the news and listening to the talking heads and the politicians. And the self righteous and the angry and the really crazy things that are being said.

Pete Alwinson:
You gotta, you gotta read the gospel more than you listen to the news and you can stay positive.

Steve Brown:
I’m going to do that. I’m going to give that up. I’ll be a much nicer person and easier to live with. Hey, we got to go. Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.