Should Christians Continue Repenting for Past Sins?

Should Christians continue repenting for past sins? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. 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 at 833-THE-CORE.

843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up, let's go to Rose calling in from Arkansas. Rose, welcome to the program. Thank you, and thank you for taking my call. Welcome to Core Christianity.

Rose, what's your question? My question is, I need an explanation of how it makes sense that Christ was in the tomb three days and three nights. Because, depending on when you say he was taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb and then rose again, I've never been able to calculate out how that is three days and three nights.

I can, like, see three days, but I can't see three nights. And to me, personally, it doesn't matter because Jesus is Lord, and that's all there is to it. But other people ask me, and then when I don't have a reasonable answer, I feel like, you know, study to show yourself a workman rightly able to divide the Word of God.

And I feel like I can't on that. Well, hey, Rose, thank you so much for that question. I mean, part of it just gets at how the Hebrews sort of thought about the day. The night, the previous night, was the beginning of the next day. And so you have this idea of, you know, Christ being crucified.

We might say Good Friday on that Friday. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, rising again. And there's that prophecy that Jesus gives, you know, when he's talking to the religious leaders in the Gospel of Matthew. He says, Matthew chapter 12, beginning in verse 38, some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.

But he answered them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights. And so, yeah, I mean, that's typically, I think, the approach that I would have there and just sort of thinking about the way in which they thought about it. A lot of times people say, well, was it exactly 72 hours that Jesus was in the tomb?

That kind of a thing. And I think that's not really how we're supposed to approach that question in particular. But really what you have there, well, Jesus is entombed, it's a part of his humiliation, his body still being there in the grave, continuing, if you will, under the power of death. And then you have all these other prophecies in the scriptures that talk about, you know, his body not seeing corruption, that kind of a thing.

So, one, I think what it shows us is that Christ truly died, the eternal Son of God died in his humanity, continued under the power of death for those three days, judged by the way in which they understood days at that time, and then rose again on the third day on the first day of the week on Sunday. So, Rose, I appreciate that question. I also appreciate that you want to study to show yourself approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, and may the Lord continue to bless you as you do that and encourage you as well. Thanks, Rose. Appreciate so much you listening to Core Christianity, and we appreciate your commitment to God's truth.

A good Berean. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and I want to mention that we have Jen on the phone from Wesher, Massachusetts. Jen, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi, how are you? Thanks so much for having me. I have a question about John 3, 36. In that verse, it says, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. So I've seen people that point to this verse as evidence that obedience is part of essentially what saves us, and obviously I know that that's not the case, but it's kind of hard when you look even at the Greek, it's the word for obedience.

So I was just wondering how to kind of discuss that with people when they bring that up as an example of what to, of a verse that kind of proves that. Yeah, of a verse that proves that we're saved by obedience. Well, first, what I'd say is in John's writings and in the Gospel of John in particular, I think you see this here and I think you also see this in the Book of Revelation, but you sometimes have faith and obedience contrasted with each other. And what you have here in particular, let me just read the verse, John 3, 36, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. And sometimes what John does is he contrasts their belief in the Son with disobedience, not obeying the Son. Now, that certainly cannot mean that what saves us is our obedience, because even in that very verse, Jen, what we're told by John here, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, that is presently is in possession of eternal life. It's not something that you're going to get on the basis of your obedience, but it's something that you have on the basis of faith. And in fact, Jesus makes this absolutely clear just two chapters later when he talks about the fact that we as believers, Jen, don't come into the judgment, we've already passed from death to life. John 5, verse 24, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Now, on the basis of what? On the basis of your obedience? No, Jesus makes it absolutely clear there. It's on the basis of the fact that you believe. And so I think people who would look at John 3.36 and say, look, you've not obeyed, therefore you don't have eternal life.

What's being focused on there is belief. I mean, what does it mean to obey? What does it mean to do the works of God? Jesus answers this question even later in John's gospel. It means to believe in the one who he sent. And so if we're taking obedience there in particular, in that text, and then throughout the context of John to suggest to us that we have to essentially do a list of things in order for God to accept us, in order for us to be finally saved, that kind of a thing, well, then we're completely misreading what John is saying.

And here's another really important thing that we have to understand when we're looking at words, Greek words in particular, is the context helps us to determine what they mean and how they're being used by a particular writer. And so John is not using that word there, obedience, to suggest or to hint at this idea that we need to obey a number of rules before the Lord in order for us to be justified or in order for us to be saved. We do obey, right, as those who are justified and filled with the Holy Spirit. We grow day by day in the grace and the knowledge of Christ and in obedience to his word, but that's not what saves us.

No, we already have eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ, and John makes that clear throughout his gospel. Jen, thanks for your question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, one of the ways that you can listen and watch this program is by going to our YouTube channel.

Just check out Core Christianity on YouTube. And we actually have a couple of people watching right now in the Philippines. Adriel, how cool is that? That is very cool. I'm excited to hear that. Hello from San Diego, where I'm at.

We have listeners around the world, and it's so exciting to have them join us. Let's go to Addison, a little closer to home in Nashville, Tennessee. Addison, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? In Luke 4, verse 28 through 30, Jesus was driven to the edge of a cliff by an angry mob, but walks right through to go on his way. How did Jesus simply walk through the crowd of people who wanted to kill him?

Hi, Addison. Thank you so much for that question. It's so funny. I remember years ago talking to someone who was reading that passage of scripture, and it said that Jesus passed through the midst of the crowd. They didn't end up being able to kill him, as you say, and this person was misreading the word midst. He read it as mist. When he was talking about it, he said, read that passage in Luke chapter 4, where it says that Jesus passed through the crowd like mist. I said, no, actually, he passed through the midst of them.

It was sort of funny. How is it that Jesus was able to escape the crowd here in Luke chapter 4? Again, just read that verse that you brought up. Verse 16, he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

He stood up to read, and he read the scroll of the prophet. He reads from the prophet Isaiah, and the people reject him. What's really interesting about this, Addison, is these are the people in Jesus' own hometown who reject him. They had this familiarity with Jesus, but they didn't embrace the fact that he was who he claimed to be, the Savior, the Messiah, the Son of God. When he made those claims, they were offended. They stumbled at his words. We read in verse 29, they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff, but passing through their midst, he went away.

Now, we're not told anything besides that, Addison. It just seems to me like, however it was that it happened, Jesus was able essentially to just get past them. Now, we know ultimately, and I think that this is really important, that Jesus had a particular destination, and it was ultimately to die for our sins, but that wasn't going to be the manner of his death, Addison. Throughout the Scriptures in the Old Testament, it was prophesied that the Messiah would be crucified, that he would essentially die on the cross. You see this in places like the book of Psalms, Psalm chapter 22. In fact, Jesus quoted from that Psalm when he was on the cross. We know according to what the Scriptures teach that Jesus was destined to die, but that was not the place where he was destined to die. I would say in God's providence, Christ, the eternal Son of God, was able to pass through the crowd and to continue teaching and preaching and healing until he got to that hour of his death and he climbed up Calvary and bore our sins on the cross. I am so thankful that you're studying the Bible, Addison.

You keep on reading the Scriptures, and may the Lord bless you. Addison, thank you so much for calling in to CORE Christianity. Well, we want to go to a voicemail that came in. By the way, you can leave a voicemail for us 24 hours a day by calling our number. It's 833-843-2673.

833-the-core. Yes, hello. I have a question. Like, if part of a church and the pastor came out and said that he had an affair, was the biblical backing behind whether or not he should return to the pulpit? And if he was to return to the pulpit, is there a timeframe on whether that should happen with him? Thank you very much. Yeah, I'm sorry to hear about this situation. It really is heartbreaking when things like this happen, and every case is different. I think that sometimes one of the issues that we see is people returning to the pulpit and to ministry too quickly.

So I think you have to just gauge this. If this pastor came forward and confessed to having an affair, one, they're clearly disqualified from preaching and teaching right now. Paul gives the qualifications for ministry in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1. And so there really needs to be a sort of removal, I think, a focus on caring for all the people who are involved. You think of the pastor's family, you also think of this other person who was involved in this, and the pastor needs to step aside, focus on his family, and get help. And the reality is the question of should they and could they return to the ministry at some point later, I'm not of those who think that that's impossible.

I've seen that happen. On one occasion in particular, I saw where the pastor had an affair, stepped out of ministry for about a decade, maybe even more time than that, and was able to be restored. It was something that the church was able to get behind, the family was able to get behind, but there were a lot of questions that were asked.

And so I think we just need to err on the side of taking things slowly. We need to consider the hearts and the minds of the people who are going to be listening to this person preach. And if there hasn't been enough time, and I think there really does need to be a significant amount of time that needs to go by, if there hasn't been enough time, you run the risk of, I think, communicating all the wrong things to the people and minimizing basically the sin that has taken place, downplaying it. If a pastor has been caught or they've confessed, but they're sort of saying, you know, look, it was not that big of a deal, I was just really stressed, sort of making excuses, downplaying, saying I really think I'm ready to get back at it.

Now, those are all red flags in my mind. I think that if a pastor engages in this kind of behavior, they should be the one to remove themselves and say, look, I'm done. And if the Lord ever calls me back to ministry, He's going to have to make that very clear, but it's not something that I'm actively trying to get back into. I need to focus on my family and caring for them and walking with Jesus and walking the path of repentance.

So I can't give you, brother, a specific timeline. I don't know the exact situation there at your church, but I think it's going to take a significant amount of time for there to be healing for this pastor and for the church. And that you shouldn't, especially if it just happened, you shouldn't even think about it, you know, happening anytime soon. And so that's my perspective, and I pray that the Lord gives you guys wisdom as you navigate this really difficult time. Those are tough situations, Adriel, and often the congregation feels torn by it, feels betrayed, and they have a hard time trusting the pastor again. Yeah, and so like I said, that's why there needs to be a ton of healing. I mean, you have to gauge once again whether or not an individual is qualified.

You have to go back and sort of, you know, there needs to be trust that's rebuilt. I mean, 1 Timothy, you have to be able to say, I meet the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1, and after something like this has happened, you certainly can't say that. And so, yeah, and it really is heartbreaking, and we've seen a lot of really prominent pastors in recent days who have engaged in this kind of behavior and the effect that that has on the witness of the church.

And so we really have to be careful. We have to take these things seriously, not just for the people involved, but also for the way in which the outside world perceives us as we're proclaiming the gospel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Easter coming up in just a couple of weeks, and we have a great offer we'd like to tell you about today. Yeah, we are giving out our Easter devotional. It's called Sang's from the Cross. It's a special devotional with seven lessons focusing on what Jesus said on the cross and also focusing on his resurrection.

We had that question earlier about, you know, the three days that Jesus was in the tomb and then his resurrection. I think this is what's on everybody's minds right now, and it's something that we really want to encourage you with. And so head over to our website corechristianity.com to get ahold of this free Easter devotional. All you have to do go to corechristianity.com forward slash Easter.

You can also call us for that offer 833-843-2673 for help getting that or any one of our offers. Let's go to a voicemail that came in yesterday at 833 the core. Hi, my name is Jillian, and I have this habit of repeatedly asking for forgiveness for a specific sin in my life. I had a public affair years ago and every time anything comes up about adultery anything around that subject. My heart just is grieved and my husband and I have had restoration and healing in our marriage. But the severity of my sin still weighs on me and I know that God is so good and that he has paid for that sin. I believe God's grace is sufficient, but I find myself continually asking for forgiveness.

And I was wondering, is that a sin? Is it a sin to continually ask God to forgive something that he already forgave you for when you repented the first time? Is it good to be reminded of our sin? So is it wrong to continually go to God for something he's already forgiven you for?

Hey Jillian, thank you so much for that question, sister. I definitely want to pray for you when I'm done giving this answer. I wouldn't say that it's a sin. When we think about our past and the things that we've done, and even though we might know that we're forgiven, or at least we know according to scripture that God says that we're forgiven, we still feel this sense of grief, this sense of weight because of our failures, because of the things that we've done. Now I think that if we question God's goodness, if we just think, you know, I don't really believe that you forgive me, God, I think that that could be a serious problem. But I understand and I think a lot of people who are listening to your question right now need to understand what it is to think back on things that you've done, on sins that you've engaged in, and just to say, God, man, have mercy. And in one sense that very prayer is, I think, just saying, Lord, keep us from ever doing anything like that again. But you also need to understand that the forgiveness that is found in Jesus Christ is a sure thing, that you truly are forgiven.

And I'm so grateful to hear that there's been healing between you and your husband, that there's been growth and progress in your marriage. I think of this beautiful passage in the Book of Micah, the prophet Micah, in chapter 7, verses 18 and 19, it says this, Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgressions for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us, he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Jillian, your sin has been cast by the Lord into the depths of the sea, through Jesus Christ. The promise of the new covenant really is this beautiful promise of the forgiveness that we experience. In the context of the promise of the new covenant, the covenant that was instituted through the blood of Jesus Christ, God said this, this is Hebrews 8, verse 12, I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. Jillian, I just want you to meditate on that last part there, what God says.

I will remember your sins no more. Because we're perfect? No. Because we don't make mistakes anymore?

No. Through the blood of Jesus, through what he's done, when we turn to him by faith, we're forgiven, and God can say, the God who knows all things, the God who doesn't forget anything we might say, is able to use this language and say, I don't remember your sins anymore. We remember them, and they grieve us, and they weigh heavily on our hearts, but you just need to know and rest in the fact that you are forgiven, that God forgives you. When we remember our past, instead of letting it beat us up and just be gripped by shame and guilt, sometimes we'll just sort of do the self-flagellation thing, because we feel like we have to do something in order to atone for our sins.

You don't have to do that, Jillian. Jesus has already paid the full price for your sins. But I think the memory of our sin, what it can do, is it can help us to continue to pray. As I said already, Lord, be merciful to me.

Keep me. Lead me not into temptation, as our Lord Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew chapter 6. That's a prayer that we all need to be saying day by day, saying, Lord, forgive me, and Lord, keep me. I know my own heart.

I know my own heart. I think of the words of that great hymn, Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love, Here's my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for thy courts above. Each of us can say amen to that. We daily need God's forgiveness, but He has forgiven you, and you can rest in that, dear sister. Let me pray for you. Father, thank you for Jillian, thank you for her question, and thank you for the ways that you've worked in her, in her life, in her marriage. I pray, Lord, that you would continue to keep her, that you would continue to bless her, that you would fill her with your spirit, and that you would give her an overwhelming sense of your love, of your forgiveness, of that promise of the new covenant, the promise of the gospel where you say, I will remember your sins no more. O Lord, would you bless my sister, and would you help her to rest in that forgiveness, to rejoice in it even, and to walk with you day by day, knowing that and freed, really, from that past guilt and shame. Lord, keep us, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.

Jillian, thank you for that question. You know, you mentioned the words of that old hymn, Come Thou Fount, and what does it mean, Adriel, when the hymn writer says, Take my heart and seal it. Does it mean that it's sealed by Christ's death and sacrifice on the cross? Because I think some people feel like, well, it's not really sealed, because I keep thinking about these sins I've committed. Yeah, you know, the prophet Jeremiah, he said, you know, The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can know it?

I think it's, we're realizing, our hearts are broken. You know, from the heart proceeds all sorts of evil things, and we recognize that as Christians. And so we say to God, God, take my heart, guard me, seal it, protect me, so that I might serve and love you.

And you know what? The Lord answers that prayer. He forgives us, and He keeps us. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar, or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. 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.