Ashville Road Church of Christ

The Sermon Encore is a new feature of the Ashville Road Church of Christ web site.  Every Monday, notes on Sunday’s sermons will be posted to promote further study.  Sermons typically have a short lifespan–they die on the Monday following the Sunday they were preached.  The Sermon Encore is a work that is intended make Sunday’s sermon last through Sunday, into the rest of the week, and hopefully for a long time after that.  We hope you benefit from this deeper study.

Last Sunday morning we discussed “When Forgiveness Is Impossible.”  It may not have been the most positive message, but God wants people to know that there are at least five situations in which forgiveness will not be granted:

• When there is no redemption (Heb. 9:11-15, 22)
• When there is no recognition (Psalm 32:1-5; 1 Jn. 1:9)
• When there is no repentance (Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38)
• When there is no restitution (Mt. 3:8; Acts 26:20)
• When there is no reciprocity (Mt. 6:14-15)

As you learn these important conditions for forgiveness, do a little self-examination.  How does this information make you feel?  Does it make sense?  Are you a little defensive?  Do you think God is being harsh?  If your reaction has been a negative one, why?  Could there be something in your life that makes hearing these points a little uncomfortable?

Sunday night we discussed “False Doctrines Refuted by 16:16 Passages.”  True, the lesson was organized using a bit of a novelty, but there are a lot of important passages located in the 16th verse of the 16th chapter of various New Testament books that expose false doctrine.  We must be alert to dangerous error.  If there is an approach that helps us to keep up our guard, however novel it may be, we should use it.

For further study and review, there are a number of encouraging passages in the 16th verse of the 3rd chapter (3:16) of many books of the New Testament.  John is an obvious example.  Also study Matthew, Mark, Luke, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, 2 Peter, 1 John, and Revelation.

There’s nothing magical about the number 16:16.  The fact is, every verse in the Bible contains marvelous truth (John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).  Never forget that.  The world is too complicated and confused for Christians to lose their compass.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 am and is filed under Sermon Encore.