Forgiveness: Part 2 One Goat or Two?

INTRO: Forgiveness, will that be one goat or two? Does the Bible teach unconditional forgiveness, or does it teach conditional forgiveness? That is our subject. In the first message we said that the major issue lies in the question; Can man truly forgive his fellow man without repentance first taking place? We know one thing for certain, God cannot and God will not. There can be no question about that. And I have said that if man can forgive without repentance taking place and it works, man is capable of something God is not capable of.

I want to make available to you a message done by Reg Kelly which you can also download from sermonaudio.com. It is called, “When Forgiveness Will Not Work.” As always, use discretion as you listen. There are a number of copies available after the service and if there are not enough we will make more. His view is that unconditional forgiveness is as bad as Catholicism's sale of indulgences. In other words, unconditional forgiveness encourages sin.

This morning we want to look at the two positions of unconditional or conditional forgiveness in a little more detail. We will begin by looking at the unconditional position first. This is what I call one sided or one goat forgiveness.