• Ephesians 4:32 – Christians are to be forgiving people.

• God is willing to forgive.

  • II Peter 3:9

  • I John 1:9 – Because God is willing to forgive, we can count on His mercy.

• God is aggressive to forgive.

  • Ezekiel 3:18-19

  • James 5:19-20

• God forgives absolutely.

  • Psalms 103:11-12

• God forgives permanently.

  • Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:12

  • Forgiven sins are never brought up again!

• God forgives conditionally.

  • God’s promised salvation is conditional.

  • Acts 26:20; Matthew 3:6 – Repentance is always required for forgiveness.

  • John 8:32, 21

  • Luke 17:3 – “if he repent”

  • To ignore evil conduct and call it forgiveness is not how God forgave.

• Forgiveness does not cancel the earthly consequences of sin.

• Introduction

  • II Corinthians 13:5; 12:14, 21; 13:10

  • Lamentations 3:40

• What is self-evaluation?

  • James 1:21-27 – Don’t delude yourself. You must be a doer of the word!
    • Matthew 5:44
  • We must compare ourselves to the text!

• How to do this:

  • Use God’s standard

    • I Corinthians 4:3-5

    • II Corinthians 10:12, 18 – Other people are not the standard.

  • Use other people to help you.

    • II Samuel 12:7

    • Proverbs 12:15; 15:31-32

  • Think about yourself.

    • Matthew 7:1-5 – Fix yourself first!

  • Make it a deliberate practice.

    • Haggai 1:4-9

David’s list of self-evaluation flashcards: Download

• God wants us to be good thinkers! (continued)

  • Consider the dangers of not using logic (continued)

    • YouTube: “Why are some saved, and not others?”

      • Universal grace – II Peter 3:9

      • Grace alone – Ephesians 2:8-9

      • Hell – Matthew 8:12

      • Romans 9:20; 11:33

      • Is there really no answer? No, the answer is that man has a choice in the matter. Some act in such a way that they will not be saved.

• Equivocation (“bait-and-switch”)

  • What is it?

    • “When someone shifts from one meaning of a word to another within an argument, he or she has committed the fallacy of equivocation.”

    • A person may change a word’s meaning on purpose to make a point or to be humorous.

      • Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on first?” comedy routine.

    • II Corinthians 5:21

  • Spiritual importance

    • The word “evolution”

      • This is a common fallacy used to persuade people to believe in evolution. “Evolution can mean ‘change’ in a general sense, but it can also refer to the idea that organisms share a common ancestor…”

      • It helps to clarify our language. Micro-evolution (such as breeding dogs for certain traits) is true. Macro-evolution (the theory that all life evolved over millions of years from a common ancestor) has certainly not been proven true.

    • The word “baptism”

      • “I’ve been baptized, so I’m saved, because I Peter 3:21 says ‘baptism now saves you.’”

      • Which baptism are you talking about?

        • Matthew 3:11

        • Mark 10:38-39

        • Acts 1:5; 19:3

        • Romans 6:3; I Corinthians 10:2

        • Ephesians 4:4 – As far as salvation goes, there is only one baptism.

    • Greek Bible words

      • Romans 12:1 – “service of worship”

      • Some use this verse to show that all of life is worship.

      • Matthew 2:11; 14:33; 28:9, 17; John 9:38; 12:20; Acts 8:27; 24:11; Hebrews 11:21; Revelation 19:10 – uses of the word prokuneo (to make obeisance, do reverence)

      • Another example: various meanings of the word for church (ekklesia) – Acts 19:32; 7:38

• John 3:31-36

  • John 3:34 – The KJV supplies additional wording that confuses this passage. This is simply saying that those who were sent speaking God’s message had full truth – they didn’t only have partial truth to teach. If someone was filled with the Spirit, they were not filled to a certain degree. They were either filled or not. Ephesians 5:18-19

• When used figuratively, “filled with” speaks, not of quantity, but of motivation. It speaks of cause and effect.

  • Luke 4:28-29; 1:67

  • Acts 5:17-18

  • Acts 13:45

  • Acts 5:3

  • Acts 9:17-18 – Paul was filled with the Spirit (cause) and so was baptized (the effect).

  • Ephesians 5:18-20

  • Luke 1:15-17, 41-42, 67

  • Luke 6:11

  • Acts 13:9-10

• I Corinthians 6:15-18

  • I Corinthians 6:18 – See Matthew 15:19. All sin comes from the heart.

• In the Old Testament

  • Job 14:14; Psalms 17:15; 49:15; Hosea 13:14; II Samuel 12:23 – Those in the Old Testament had a hope of living in eternity.

• Jesus

  • Mark 16:6

  • Luke 24:5-6

  • John 20:25-28

  • Romans 1:4; 6:9, 4

  • I Corinthians 15:5-8, 20

• Focus of the apostles’ teaching

  • Acts 2:23-24, 31

  • I Thessalonians 5:23

  • Acts 3:15, 26

  • Acts 4:1-2, 10, 33

  • Acts 13:29-37

  • Acts 17:2-3, 18, 31-32

  • Acts 24:14-15

  • Acts 26:22-23

  • I Corinthians 15:1-4

• Mankind

  • John 5:28-29 – All mankind will be resurrected.

  • Matthew 25 – All nations will be judged.

  • John 6:40, 54

  • I Corinthians 6:14

  • I Corinthians 15:12-20

  • I John 3:2

  • Philippians 3:21 – We will have a glorious body in the resurrection.

  • II Corinthians 5:1