Repentance

[Kansasdad]

Sorry I didn't respond to your question. I guess I did not see the true spirit of the question. It also hits very hard and close to home so it is rather difficult to respond in such a public way. But maybe God is calling me to respond so that others may recognize the struggle. I struggle immensely with sin, and I do not live up to the standards I speak of. I have experience it, the total relief of unbinding my sins, but that comes from a true repentance of what is in your heart, and I am having a very difficult time letting it go, I know I am clinging to the sin when it is the worst thing I could ever do. I guess I am in one of those testing phases God sends our way. I don't always learn very well so God has to hit me with a sledge hammer far to often. Please never feel that I am judging you in any way, I have felt that sting and it makes me cringe. I think some of my post are in reaction to that perception, people judging other people. You are beautiful and wonderful in Gods eyes and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I said that for my own benefit as well.

God Bless

Kansas Dad

This was a difficult post

[jmwhalen]

Confusing Justification with Service:

" ...I believe salvation is a journey; it is not a moment in time."

"...Which is what surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ...."

"If we refuse to open our mouth and call out to the Lord, because of His Sovereignty and His Lordship, we are destined for destruction. This is the ultimate recompense for pride."

"I question if this community of believers believes that repentance of our sins is even a necessary part of Gods plan and salvation. Say the words, believe in Jesus and go to heaven, end of message?????"

"I've seen lots of people on these boards alone , that think they are righteous but they continue to spew poisonous, hateful, prejudice, prideful remarks on a regular basis. Whether they repent or not I do not know. What I do know is that repentance doesn't always work as a cleaning agent."

The Irish's

"as was mentioned above, those that truely repent, are saved....

as it is wrritten, when we have Christ, we become a new creation....

this means that we are putting away the things or our previous life and life style..."

"...nothing we can do will ever cleanse us of our sins, except repenting and taking Christ as our Savior...."

"1. Repentance means being sorry enough to quit. Repentance begins by making a quality decision to live for God. It also involves sacrifice. If you have anything in your life that influences you, or entices you away from Christ you need to end its power over your life. Sometimes it means telling our friends and family that we are going to serve the Lord. We love them, but we love Jesus and we are goingn to follow him.

2. Repentance is not a "cleaning agent." It is not designed that way. Repentance is a 180% reversal. It makes the cleaning agent (the blood of Jesus) able to cleanse your conscience of all unrighteousness. When you remove those things that hinder your walk with Christ, you need to replace them with influences and associations that help you. It means taking your family to a good church, and getting involved with other Christians, in fellowship and ministry. It means enveloping your life with the Word of God and prayer."

" Ask your minister to pray with you for Gods forgiveness. I guarantee you God will forgive you of your sins....God will forgive you over, and over, and over again...

"...I also recall hearing the testimony of one man who in surrendering his life to the Lord spent a long time laying out everything that he knew he was doing that was sin - cursing, drinking, drugs, the whole works. He completely confessed them to the Lord, admitting he was guilty, admitting they were sin, not making excuses for his behavior, and genuinely grieved over his heart condition and asked the Lord for His forgiveness. When he was done praying, he testified that the desires for these things were completely gone."

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Failure to rightly divide the word of truth"(2 Tim. 2:15)-these posts evidence confuse forgiveness in this current "dispensation of the grace of God"Eph. 3:2), with the forgiveness in Mt.-John(and others confuse forgiveness in this dispensation with that in the Tribulation addressed to Jews-Hebrews-Revelation- The Jews will be on "short accounts" with the LORD at this time).

This is a prime example of failure to "rightly divide the word of truth"(2 Tim. 2:15: comparing forgiveness prior to the cross, and prior to the setting aside of Israel(temporarily) in Acts, and prior to the "dispensation of the grace of God"(Eph. 3:2), the "dispensation of God"(Col. 1:25) committed to Paul from the risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus Christ from heaven( And this includes comparing forgiveness in this dispensation with that in the Tribulation). Compare:

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness(emphasis mine-past tense)of sins

[dgolvach]

Sorry I didn't respond to your question. I guess I did not see the true spirit of the question. It also hits very hard and close to home so it is rather difficult to respond in such a public way. But maybe God is calling me to respond so that others may recognize the struggle. I struggle immensely with sin, and I do not live up to the standards I speak of. I have experience it, the total relief of unbinding my sins, but that comes from a true repentance of what is in your heart, and I am having a very difficult time letting it go, I know I am clinging to the sin when it is the worst thing I could ever do. I guess I am in one of those testing phases God sends our way. I don't always learn very well so God has to hit me with a sledge hammer far to often. Please never feel that I am judging you in any way, I have felt that sting and it makes me cringe. I think some of my post are in reaction to that perception, people judging other people. You are beautiful and wonderful in Gods eyes and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I said that for my own benefit as well.

God Bless

Kansas Dad

This was a difficult post

You know Kansas Dad...I agree with you that we should strive for holyness. I believe that our lives as Christians are a life long journey of growing to be more like Christ. It takes time. Some of the posts that I have seen on this board suggest that if you are struggling with sin, your not a true Christian. Before I became a Christian I did not struggle at all. Infact, I was dedicated to sin. The repentance is when I took a good look at my life and realized that I was going to be accountable to God one day and that my life did not measure up. I had to "turn away" from the way I was thinking and ask God to deliver me from the path I was on. I certainly could not deliver myself and still cant. He had to change my mind and my heart. But I still struggle as you do and the trip up the mountain is no less rocky than the decent was. Our direction has changed. The problem with some of these posts is they lack balance. Yes!!of course sin is wrong. But because you have not been delivered from every sin area in your life dosen't mean you aren't willing to be. If entrance into heaven can come only after a person has reached the point where they no longer have a sin area then I'll tell you this. There will not be multitudeds in Heaven. Also, I'm not trying to make the case that salvation is cheap and we can still remain dedicated to sin. I'm just saying that when we fall

and we will, it is not necessary to mope and feel defeated. We can get up and dust ourselfs off and keep walking with the knowledge that God died for our sins and be thankful. Amazing Grace!!! SAVED a wretch like me. I'll never deserve it.

God Bless

Dan

[Kansasdad]

Ok I waded through your dissertation. And I understand what you are saying. But let me ask you this. Then by your reasoning as long as I recognize Jesus Christ having die for my sins I can commit any atrocity (lets say molesting young boys or girls) and I still go to heaven because God does not see my sin anymore?

Kansas Dad

[Gerioke]

Ok I waded through your dissertation.  And I understand what you are saying.  But let me ask you this.  Then by your reasoning as long as I recognize Jesus Christ having die for my sins I can commit any atrocity (lets say molesting young boys or girls) and I still go to heaven because God does not see my sin anymore?

Kansas Dad

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't play God for a fool

[Kansasdad]

What do you mean by don't play God for a fool?

The Bible even says that demons know who Jesus is, but are the demons going to heaven. I don't think so. The problem is that people are trying to separate Faith, Works, and Grace, and they can't be separated. It is through Gods Grace that we are saved. We all sin and can never earn our way into heaven. It is because we have faith in Jesus Christ that God gives us his grace. But Faith with out works is DEAD. It is not faith at all. God will spit it our and cast it away. I don't care how many times you say the magic words if you don't have faith you will not receive his grace and you will not get into heaven. If you do not have "good works" you do not have faith. If you do not have faith you have not received his grace and you will not go to heaven. You can not pick and choose which part you want and ignore the rest. It all goes together. Just because you are a "Born again Christian" does not give you license to do whatever you want because you are going to heaven anyway, and if you follow the reasoning above that is exactly what it says. "God no longer sees the sin in me". Therefore with that reasoning sin doesn't matter. Then if sin doesn't matter then I can sin all I want and I still go to heaven.

I'm not buying it!

Kansas Dad

[Gerioke]

What do you mean by don't play God for a fool?

The Bible even says that demons know who Jesus is, but are the demons going to heaven.  I don't think so.  The problem is that people are trying to separate Faith, Works, and Grace, and they can't be separated.  It is through Gods Grace that we are saved.  We all sin and can never earn our way into heaven.  It is because we have faith in Jesus Christ that God gives us his grace.  But Faith with out works is DEAD.  It is not faith at all.  God will spit it our and cast it away.  I don't care how many times you say the magic words if you don't have faith you will not receive his grace and you will not get into heaven.  If you do not have "good works" you do not have faith.  If you do not have faith you have not received his grace and you will not go to heaven.  You can not pick and choose which part you want and ignore the rest.  It all goes together.  Just because you are a "Born again Christian" does not give you license to do whatever you want because you are going to heaven anyway, and if you follow the reasoning above that is exactly what it says.  "God no longer sees the sin in me".  Therefore with that reasoning sin doesn't matter.  Then if sin doesn't matter then I can sin all I want and I still go to heaven.

I'm not buying it!

Kansas Dad

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is pretty much what I meant by "Don't play God for a fool".

[dgolvach]

Ok I waded through your dissertation. And I understand what you are saying. But let me ask you this. Then by your reasoning as long as I recognize Jesus Christ having die for my sins I can commit any atrocity (lets say molesting young boys or girls) and I still go to heaven because God does not see my sin anymore?

Does such an atrocity signal that someone has truely asked God to come in to their life in the first place? I can't see it. Can someone who commits such a horrific act be saved? I think so. (and on death row where they should be at the same time) Actually I believe that you can kill a man and steal his wife and be labeled as the "man after God's own heart". Does that mean you should? Heavens no! why would someone want to? Or escape the death penalty here on earth? I pesonaly believe that a child molester should be beheaded. Saved or not! Do I believe you and I have habitual thought sins. Actually I do. All sorts. I just don't think it puts you in the lost catagory. My thought life will always need improving. Pride, greed, anger, lust, envy and on and on.

God Bless

Dan

[Kansasdad]

Thank you Dan for your thoughts and insights. Please keep in mind I was responding to Jmwhalen. I believe he has expressed a view held by some other posters here as well. I do think that there are some Christians who truly did except Christ as their savior but then "sliped" and continued slipping until they are committing grievous sins. by Jmwhalen line of reasoning though it doesn't matter.

Now about your post. are we now thinking about small sins (non salvation threatening) and larger sins (salvation threatening) Lets explore this.

Kansas Dad

[EricH]

I think it is also important to understand that we are living in a "now and not yet" time. At the moment of our new birth all of received a new nature with the law written on our hearts. This new nature is the one that is incapable of sin. Living within each one of us simultaneously is the old sin nature.

Thus were are in a battle that will last the rest of our lives. Ongoing confession and cleansing is important as is the ongoing sanctification process whereby our new nature comes to dominate more and more areas of our lives. We will never completely arrive while were are here on earth. But we can give it a good shot

By the way my old name was Pastor Eric. George asked me to change it due to forum policies which I am total agreement with.