Am I Abusing God's Forgiveness?

Am I abusing God's forgiveness? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. Our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so.

1-833-843-2673. Now you can also email us your question anytime. Here's our email address.

It's questions at corechristianity.com. First up today, here's a voicemail from one of our callers. This is David. David, thank you so much for being here with us today. It's a pleasure to be here with you. I just want to hear something for the minority of dads out there that are struggling. God bless.

Thank you. Well, that there are dads who have stepped up and who are caring for their families, single dads who are raising children and seeking to honor the Lord. I know that that's very difficult. There's a brother in our church right now, and this is the case for him. I know that this is not an easy thing, David. First, let me just pray for you and ask the Lord to give you his strength and wisdom. Father, we pray for David, this single father seeking to raise three young children. Would you give him energy, strength, the filling of your Holy Spirit, Lord, that he would exhibit the fruit of your Holy Spirit as he seeks to raise these children in your nurture and admonition, that he would lead them, Lord God, to you every day? Bringing them to you in your word, and that they as a family would experience, Jesus, your blessing and your presence, your comfort and your care. Be with David and be with all those single dads and single moms who are listening right now, who have this additional burden. Lord, would you be with them and provide for their needs?

In Jesus' name, amen. Brother, the only thing I'll say is there are these strong exhortations, especially in the pastoral epistles, about caring for family. We're told that if a man doesn't provide for his own, he's worse than an unbeliever. He's denied the faith.

That's what Paul says. You are providing for your own. What you're doing is pleasing to the Lord.

I understand that it's very difficult. You're doing it alone, but may you take comfort in the fact that what you're doing is honoring to God and ultimately that you're investing, you're sowing seeds in these children that the Lord would work in their lives. So may God strengthen you for that purpose and bless you and appreciate what you're doing. David, God be with you. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine or theology, we'd love to hear from you.

Maybe you have some doubts about the Christian faith. Hey, we're open to your calls as well. Here's the number 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. We have a call from one of our listeners named Daryl who says this, under what law was David allowed to eat the bread from the altar? Yeah, a passage that has received quite a bit of question. In fact, Jesus himself brought this text up when he was being confronted by the religious leaders for his conduct on the Sabbath.

I'm going to just read some of Matthew chapter 12 beginning in verse 1. At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

He said to them, have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profaned the Sabbath and are guiltless? Of course, because the priests are there working in the temple. And then Jesus said, I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

So this is getting at the heart of Sabbath controversy. And Jesus says, look, David ate the showbread with some of his mighty men when he was on the run. He's hungry.

He's looking for food. And he seems to suggest that even though David did this, it was fine. Now, some people will say, well, David is here acting as he's a king, right?

But he's acting as a type of Christ in one sense, as this priestly figure, because only the priests were allowed to eat the showbread there in the temple. Others might appeal to the fact that, well, maybe this was just something done out of necessity. I mean, they didn't have anything to eat.

They're hungry. And so potentially that's one way to look at this. But Jesus is highlighting here the fact that the religious leaders had twisted the law of God, in particular the Sabbath. And they kept people in bondage, people who were in need of deliverance and of healing. I mean, remember all the times in the Gospels where Jesus healed someone and the religious leaders were upset that he healed the individual on the Sabbath. And Jesus says, you guys are crazy. Which of you, if you have an animal that falls into a ditch, are you just going to leave it there on the Sabbath?

How much more should I care for these people who are suffering and oppressed? And so it really gets at our understanding of the Sabbath and the fact that the Sabbath was made for man. It's a gift that God gives to us that we might experience the rest that God wants for each one of us. And this is why it's so important for us to recover this idea of Sabbath rest that we can have in Jesus. I appreciate your question. And again, that text is Matthew chapter 12, verses one through eight.

And I think it helps to shed light on that story you were talking about with King David. Thanks for that, Adriel. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Let's go to Kayla calling in from Nebraska. Kayla, what's your question for Adriel? Yeah, I just had a question in regards to letting go of past relationships that don't really serve you with your walk in Christ. I've been having like a very bad stronghold with constantly thinking about a past relationship, a guy that promised marriage and he ended up completely ghosting me and it makes me struggle with my walk with Christ and trusting him and being unmarried right now because it's a deep desire. So just how to navigate that biblically and to let go of these past relationships that God obviously said no to.

Kayla, I'm so sorry to hear about that and this difficulty that you're going through. You know, sometimes in our lives we experience difficult providences, something that we hoped would come to fruition, but it doesn't. And there is this pain and this brokenness that we, you know, frustration that we experience as a result of this thing not coming to fruition. In this case, you know, this relationship where this guy is promising you marriage and all of these things and then all of a sudden just disappears and, you know, that's got to be so difficult. But in one sense also seeing this as, you know, one of those providences of God because obviously you would not have wanted for this to go all the way through and you end up being married to this individual, maybe they claim to be a Christian, I don't know. But it's obvious, and this is what you've seen as things have unfolded, it's obvious that this was not the right person for you, that it probably would have been worse actually had things continued. So as difficult as it is now, entrusting yourself to the Lord and saying, God, you know all things, you know what's best for me, you know my needs even better than I know my needs.

And so help me to trust you, help me to trust that you're good. And Kayla, that's one thing that I would say in situations like these I think we're tempted to feel like God is just withholding something good from us. You think of the lie of Satan there in the garden towards Adam and Eve, you know, God doesn't want you to have this because he knows that the moment you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you're going to be like him and so God is stingy. He's withholding something good from you because he doesn't have your best interest in mind.

Well, that was a lie. And I think a lot of times when you're in this season of waiting, you have this desire, this longing for companionship, relationship. One of the lies that Satan will come and whisper into your ear is God doesn't care about you. He doesn't have your best interest in mind. He's withholding something good from you. And so instead of buying into that lie, just trusting what God has said about himself and the reality that God is good, that he gives good gifts to his children, and that he does in fact desire the very best for you and for your growth in Christ. And so when we lose these things, I think we mourn the loss, we're frustrated, but we can also move forward and press ahead towards what the Lord does have for you. And ultimately, I would say, this is a desire that you have, God has Jesus, his grace, his goodness, his love for you.

And beyond that, every good and perfect gift that you receive, according to James, comes from the Father of lights. I think of what Paul said. As Paul, the apostle, turning towards Christ, left behind his former life, which had a lot of prestige, his former life in Judaism, he says, Look, whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. That's Philippians 3, verse 7. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness from my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ. May God bless you, Kayla, as you continue to trust in the Lord, believing the truth of his word, that he has your best interest, and that you can continue to cling to him and to his promises. And I pray that the Lord just comforts you in this season of waiting, grants you contentment, and also his peace. God bless. Kayla, thanks so much for your call and for listening to Core Christianity.

We'll be praying for you in that whole situation. If you have a question for Adriel about the Bible or the Christian life, feel free to call us. 833-THE-CORE is the number.

That's 1-833-843-2673. I also want to tell you about a great resource we have by author Lee Strobel. Yeah, we're continuing to offer this book, The Case for Christ, which is an apologetics book. It's about defending the Christian faith. In particular, you're going to get into the resurrection of Jesus Christ and some of the evidence in favor of the resurrection of Jesus. But also, you know, the authority of scripture.

How can we know that we can trust the Bible? There's a lot of rich stuff in this book, and so we hope you get a hold of the resource again. It's by Lee Strobel, and it's called The Case for Christ. You can find that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers, and we know it will help you to both strengthen your faith and to answer some of the tough questions you might receive from friends or relatives, work associates, maybe who are skeptical about Christianity. Again, you can find it at corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

Well, we do receive voicemails here at the CORE, and here's one that came in from one of our listeners named Fabrice. So pretty much as Christians, you know, we believe the Lord died for our sins. And as long as we confess and repent, we're forgiven.

And I believe that. You know, and then we do daily repentance, we confess our sins and we're forgiven. But every once in a while, I'll have a time where like, I really just spend time in confessing and repenting, where I'm brought to tears. And whenever I have those moments, I always tell God that I will never sin again. And in that moment, I believe it like I'm done. I'm done with sinning. But of course, we're all fallen.

So that never lasts. So my concern is, I don't want God to think I'm taking forgiveness for granted. But yeah, thank you so much for taking my question. God bless both of you. Fabrice, man, God bless you. And I think each of us, you know, as believers in Jesus Christ, I think we can say, man, we know what that's like. That battle against sin and to go to the Lord brokenhearted and saying, God, never again, never again.

And yet finding ourselves in the same situation, you know, sometimes just a short time afterwards, we think, man, what is going on? It just highlights the power of indwelling sin and the fact that we really have to be vigilant and on guard to put to death the sinful deeds of the body, as the Apostle Paul said. And that only happens through the power of the Holy Spirit. So I think as believers in Jesus Christ, united to Christ, we have this new identity. Paul says in Romans chapter six, we've been raised, right? It's as if now we're called to walk in newness of life because we are dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ. And the implications of that are verse 12, Romans chapter six, verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness, for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law, but under grace. And so this is the great implication of the fact that you've been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, one of the great implications, united to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. You through faith and baptism, it's as if you died with Jesus and were raised with him now, called to walk in newness of life.

And as you do that, it's going to be a struggle. I don't think God is looking at you thinking you're taking his forgiveness for granted. What does it look like to actually take God's forgiveness for granted?

It looks like not to be in the struggle. It looks like saying, I've been forgiven, woohoo, I'm just going to go do whatever I want. There's no concern for holiness.

There's no concern for obeying God. That's taking forgiveness for granted. That's scary.

That's terrifying. And again, Paul says at the beginning of Romans 6, should we continue in sin that grace may abound? He says, no way, you're dead to it. And so may God help you, Fabrice, more and more every day. May God help each of us to see ourselves in that way. I'm dead to sin and I'm alive to God through Jesus Christ, freed by the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in newness of life. And so God, by your Spirit, daily put to death those sinful deeds, those sinful actions that draw me away from you and help me to walk with you, to walk by the Spirit so that I wouldn't fulfill the desires of the flesh. God bless. You know, that example you gave, Adriel, really is frightening the person that says, I'm forgiven, woohoo, now I'm going to go sin.

No, man, it is. And I think that there is a kind of sort of nominal Christianity out there that we really need to confront. This idea that, well, you know, I accepted Jesus into my heart, you know, when I was a little kid or, you know, I was baptized at this point, but I reject Jesus. And I really don't care to follow Jesus. I'm sort of treating this prayer that I prayed or having been baptized as kind of fire insurance, you know, God is just going to say, hey, come on in. And I think there are people who have deceived themselves. And so it's important for us to say, look, and this is why Paul's like, how could you even think this? I mean, if you've truly been forgiven, if you've experienced the mercy of God in Christ, should we continue in sin?

I mean, that's not even a question. No, you've experienced this great love, this great mercy. Your burden has been lifted. How could you go back and put yourself under it again is foolish. And so, you know, for some people, I think there are some people who are deceived.

I think there are other people who are just being foolish, really. And they experience the discipline of the Lord and need brothers and sisters to come alongside of them and encourage them and say, hey, we're called. You're called to live as becomes the followers of Christ, as someone who claims to have received God's forgiveness. Let's walk in the light of the gospel, in the light of God's love and mercy.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can call us 24 hours a day and leave a voicemail at this number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Tammy calling in. Tammy, what's your question for Adriel? My question is, how did the religion split like Catholic, Jewish, and Christianity? Was Jesus born a Jew? I'm kind of confused on that.

So Tammy, you're trying to figure out what's the difference between Catholicism, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, and Christianity? Yeah, how did that spread out? Was it Jesus born a Jew? Yeah. Great.

Thank you so much. Yes, Jesus was born a Jew, and God the Son assumed humanity was born under the law, under the law of Moses, so that he might perfectly obey God's law as the true Israelite, as the true Israel. You know, in the Old Testament, Tammy, God had promised that his son, Israel, would be a light to the nations. The goal was always that God was going to use his people to shine forth his word throughout the whole world. Now, of course, if you read the Old Testament, Tammy, one of the things that you see is that his people, instead of shining as a light, oftentimes embrace the idolatrous practices of the nations they were called to be a light to.

And so there was this great dilemma, this great problem. Hasn't God promised that his son, his servant, is going to be a light to the Gentiles? Well, Jesus came.

The true Israel, if you will, born of the Virgin Mary, perfectly fulfilling that vocation, that call to be God's beloved son, because indeed he is the only begotten son of the Father. And so Jesus came and brought truth and life and grace to mankind through his great work. And from that, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ spread throughout the whole world. Now, you asked about the origins of Roman Catholicism and the Christian Church.

Here's what I would say. The gospel is going out. You read books in the New Testament like the book of Acts. You see the spread of the gospel, the disciples going out talking about Jesus, preaching about his resurrection from the dead. And as others, non-Christians, hear this message, they're being converted. They're experiencing the forgiveness of their sins.

They're walking with God. And that message continues to grow. Churches are established throughout the world, but we still are dealing with sin and corruption. And so what I would say is over time in the Church, especially during the medieval period, what we've had in the West, at least, was a number of corruptions pertaining to worship, certainly pertaining to morality in the Church, among the leadership in the Church.

And so that's one of the things you see. When you look at the Roman Catholic Church today, I wouldn't say that the Roman Catholic Church today, oftentimes you'll hear Roman Catholic apologists say this. They'll say, well, we've been the same church for 2,000 years. No, there have been developments in doctrine and worship and these kinds of things. And so when you read the Book of Acts, it's not like that's where the Roman Catholic Church started, although that's the claim that they'll make. And so I would say with Roman Catholicism, you get the Church in the West progressing, growing, and embracing some of these traditions, some of these changes, frankly, I would say.

And that's where the Protestant Reformation came in, where you had a group of people who were saying, hey, things have gone far from the preaching and teaching of the apostles, the simplicity of the worship there. We need to get back to what the Word of God says. And above all else, Tammy, what I would just say is that's what we need. That's what you need is to hear God speaking to you through the Scriptures, hopefully in a solid church where the Word of God is being taught, where there's fellowship and encouragement with other believers.

That's what we need. And so Jesus was born a Jew, but he fulfilled all of those promises that we see in the Old Testament about the Messiah who is going to come, who is going to be a light to the nations, to the whole world. And we are the recipients of those great and glorious promises. We're the ones who receive that light through Jesus Christ. As brothers and sisters, we can't stress enough the unity of Holy Scripture, the promises that we see in the Old Testament of this coming salvation and the fulfillment in the New Testament in Jesus Christ. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.