Why can't I repent and be saved!?!

faceofbear

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I am so tired of hearing, "if you desire to change that's enough of a repentance and as long as you're sorry for sinning and trust Christ your saved." I know this isn't what repentance is so why do people keep comforting me and telling me I'm saved when I know I am not!

There is nothing I would love more than to serve God and to have genuine faith in Christ and be dead in my sins to bring glory to God and to serve Him in some kind of ministry and dedicate my life to Him... but I can't. I have been struggling with sin so much and I just can't repent of it. Of course I can say the words "Lord I know I'm a sinner and that Jesus Christ is Lord and died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead. I'm sorry and I trust in you for forgiveness, it's sufficient enough for me, and I will turn away and invite your spirit in me and submit to your will so that I can bring glory to you." Yet words are only empty words. I desire this, yet my heart seems to be deceiving me because I keep on sinning and am heavily addicted to sexual immorality and inappropriate contentography and self gratification. I have become lazy in my work because I am so despondent because I know I am going to hell and no matter what I do I can't repent. I say the words and I desire to AFTER I sin, but not during the sin, even though I know I should stop. I don't want to hurt the other persons feelings and I love the feeling myself so it is impossible for me just to turn from it. I'm afraid I might hurt them and then they won't want to come to Christ either. I'm so lost. These sins have consumed my life and I want to be free of them, yet I can't STOP. Every time I'm tempted I act on them, theres no fight, there's guilt but no fight. I'm come to the Lord so many times begging for forgiveness yet my heart must be deceiving itself and not truly repenting.

I no longer no what to do. In all honesty, I'm not suicidal so this isn't a threat because I'm not going to harm or kill myself, but I just feel like dying. I feel like hell would be sufficient because at least there wouldn't be this anxiety over my salvation. Or perhaps I am saved and will go to Heaven to be with Christ. I don't know what to do anymore, I can't seem to care. I just.. I've brought this up to many people and everyone just says "theres a struggle so you're saved." That's great people think this but anyone who habitual sins is an indication that they are not saved and this sexual immorality, inappropriate contentography, and self gratification is more than habitual it an addiction and I cannot be freed from it and I know that freedom is in Christ but I don't know how to rely on Him for it. It feels like my soul is in the wrong body. Someone please help... I don't know what to do. I don't want comfort, I just want honesty and truth.
 

LiveInSpirit

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Get yourself away from the opportunity to look at inappropriate contentography. Cancel your internet, let a friend hold on to your computer for a while, whatever you have to do. Separate yourself from the material and fast and pray. Your will is worthless. You must act and flee from this sin. Do this for at least a few weeks and assess your situation.

God is merciful and loving and is there for you. Call on Him.
 
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RobertZ

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Get yourself away from the opportunity to look at inappropriate contentography. Cancel your internet, let a friend hold on to your computer for a while, whatever you have to do. Separate yourself from the material and fast and pray. Your will is worthless. You must act and flee from this sin. Do this for at least a few weeks and assess your situation.

God is merciful and loving and is there for you. Call on Him.


Great advice, give up the computer and seek God with all of your heart.
 
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faceofbear

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I am living at home so I guess I can ask my parents to place a password on the desktop, but I also still need it for research for school papers. But regardless is this genuinely repenting? Isn't it a change of mind that leads to a change of action... I am so lost right now.. and its not just the computer its relationships with other girls as well..
 
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GrampaJeff

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"There is nothing I would love more than to serve God and to have genuine faith in Christ and be dead in my sins to bring glory to God and to serve Him in some kind of ministry and dedicate my life to Him..."

Paul wrote in Romans 7:
23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

And also:
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would , that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. Romans 7:15

Now I ask you this Brother, If Paul, who considered himself the chiefest of sinners, who are we to expect ourselves to be any better? Paul was one of the most loyal of Christians. God bless you brother. Jeff
 
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Searching_for_Christ

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Wow faceofbear..I feel like we share the same life...but the advice these guys are giving is good..especially Grampajeff..being someone that struggles with almost the same stuff as you..his post and those verses have spoken to me a bit.
 
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Ave Maria

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You might also try an accountability software program such as X3Watch. I heard about this program a while back and basically what it does is it records whether or not you're on a inappropriate content site and it then sends a report to an accountability partner that you choose which tells whether or not you've looked at any inappropriate content. If you have, your accountability partner can talk to you about it and lead you in a prayer of repentance or something.

God Bless,
Frosty One :wave:
 
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Searching_for_Christ

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There is nothing I would love more than to serve God and to have genuine faith in Christ and be dead in my sins to bring glory to God and to serve Him in some kind of ministry and dedicate my life to Him... but I can't. I have been struggling with sin so much and I just can't repent of it.
Fist step down bud:thumbsup: you desire to follow God..your farther than most of the world in this part.

Of course I can say the words "Lord I know I'm a sinner and that Jesus Christ is Lord and died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead. I'm sorry and I trust in you for forgiveness, it's sufficient enough for me, and I will turn away and invite your spirit in me and submit to your will so that I can bring glory to you." Yet words are only empty words. I desire this, yet my heart seems to be deceiving me because I keep on sinning and am heavily addicted to sexual immorality and inappropriate contentography and self gratification.
Saying it is one part..you also need to ACT, I can tell you that I am addicted to the same things you are man. There is strength in the Cross! you pray for forgiveness and guess what? YOUR FORGIVEN! that's whats awesome about God! he is faithful and WILL forgive us! But after you ask for forgiveness you need to REPENT! now you got the first part of repentance down..feeling sorry about it and asking for forgiveness, the second part is acting on it. You need to remove yourself physically from the areas of the sin! if the computer causes you to sin my friend CHUCK IT! just as the bible says if your hand causes you to sin chop it off! its better to enter heaven with no hand than to continue sinning! You have the ability..you are probably saved just based on your desire to follow God and the distress that sinning against him causes you! its very possible to be saved and lack self control, what you need to do is ask and pray for self control! one problem I noticed with myself and self control is I was relying on MYSELF for the self control, but how helpful is your flesh anyways? stop saying how can YOU repent..its how can GOD HELP you repent. So my friend..ditch this computer of yours! tell your parents about the problem! put yourself on purpose into a situation where this inappropriate content addiction, and sexual problems are more easily controlled, and that could include an accountability partner....someone you would have to face after every screw up. You can do it man.


BTW temptation isn't a sin! its how you deal with it that will make it a sin or not! if your tempted to look at inappropriate content..thats not a sin..the second you are tempted FLEE from the source! don't coddle it or go " I can resist this" no..you RUN from it! go find something else to do! read your bible! find SOMETHING that will purposefully take you away from the area of temptation.
[/quote]
 
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Jeffwhosoever

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Men,

There is a "Mens only" area of CF where you can go deeper into this discussion. I've read that men in general suffer from the temptation of lust more so than any other, so you are certainly not alone in your troubles, though you are ensnared more so at this point in time. Just as smokers use nicotine gum to quit smoking, you should use whatever resources you can find to run from this sin that is keeping you from the Lord Jesus Christ. If you had cancer, you would seek an Oncologist, right?
 
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Epiphoskei

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I am so tired of hearing, "if you desire to change that's enough of a repentance and as long as you're sorry for sinning and trust Christ your saved." I know this isn't what repentance is so why do people keep comforting me and telling me I'm saved when I know I am not!

You seem to be dangerously close to the teaching of sinless-perfectionism. And between sinless-perfectionism, the belief that salvation and repentance mean a cesassion of sin, and the definition you provided and rejected, "if you desire to change that's enough of a repentance and as long as you're sorry for sinning and trust Christ your saved," I have to tell you, the latter definition is much closer to the truth.

If you have believed upon Christ and his gospel, that He has been crucified and has risen, that He has borne our sins, that salvation is a matter of His mercy and not our works, you are in the faith. If so, then sanctification is something God is in the process of working within you, and will not be complete until you are dead, and the process of fighting and suffering you are going through is part of that very process of sanctification.

And if you have not believed upon Christ (and I'm not in a position to know or judge, but what you've written hardly qualifies as solid evidence that you haven't), then pursue His Gospel and learn of His salvation, not your own works.

I was in a similar place of doubting whether I was in the faith a few months ago. I needed to be re-grounded upon the gospel. Now I'm not in a position to tell you where you are, but either way, your answer will be found in the gospel. Try John 3, Isaiah 53, and all of Romans if you need a good place to start.
 
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Searching_for_Christ

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You know, if you really think of it show me one person who has perfect faith in their life man? You can't can you? Faith isnt a "done it once..never need to do it again" kind of thing, faith is a constant up hill struggle :) friend, you need only the faith the size of a mustard seed!

Those things are tiny!(google it if you doubt how small they are) most if not EVERYONE will spend their life in a constant state of needing to repent! daily repentance is a good thing! recognize your sin and daily repent from it! strive at breaking from it :)
 
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sealacamp

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Brother bear. I can not even begin to tell you how much I identify with your words. Not only I but most likely every true follower of Christ that has ever been. One peculiar thing that happens to all of us when we follow our Lord and become aware of Him is that we become acutely aware of how far away from being what we should be we are. Paul summed up our condition quite well when he said:

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
There is your truth. That truth is a reality in all of us to a greater or lesser degree. When a stronghold is established in your life, as it seems it is with you, and don't think I am not talking about myself as well, it is impossible for us to remove it. But God always has a way to do this think for us that we can not do for ourselves. Remain faithful and God will remain faithful as well and He will complete the work that He has begun in all of us in His time and in His way. We are not wrestling with flesh and blood and the wrestling match, for most of us, won't end in this life. From what you are saying it seems clear to me that Christ is bringing you through the process. And as an onion has many layers so too do we have many layers that need to be peeled away and expose the next layer that needs to be peeled away. So when you reach the end of this trial don't be surprised to find that you will be made aware of another one and as each layer is removed the next becomes more difficult, or that is how it has worked with me.

It is my prayer that the Lord will unite us all as one to Himself and to each other and in that oneness we will be remade in His image losing the garbage that adheres to us in this life. Therefore we will be ready to be with Him for eternity in the next life.

Thank you brother bear for your honest words. I needed to hear them. May we endure to the end. Bless you brother.

Those things are tiny!(google it if you doubt how small they are) most if not EVERYONE will spend their life in a constant state of needing to repent! daily repentance is a good thing! recognize your sin and daily repent from it! strive at breaking from it

AMEN!

Sealacamp
 
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Jeffwhosoever

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Read this article slowly and carefully, it explains what true Biblical repentance really is.

"Turn from Sin" to Be Saved?

Robert,

I see your mood is "Worried" again. Can I be of help? Also, did you talk to your Pastor about doing something for the Church yesterday?

Jeff
 
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RobertZ

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Robert,

I see your mood is "Worried" again. Can I be of help? Also, did you talk to your Pastor about doing something for the Church yesterday?

Jeff


No, I have not said anything to him just yet. I am going to email him today and set up a time where I can come in and speak with him about some things.
 
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N

nhisname

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I am so tired of hearing, "if you desire to change that's enough of a repentance and as long as you're sorry for sinning and trust Christ your saved." I know this isn't what repentance is so why do people keep comforting me and telling me I'm saved when I know I am not!

There is nothing I would love more than to serve God and to have genuine faith in Christ and be dead in my sins to bring glory to God and to serve Him in some kind of ministry and dedicate my life to Him... but I can't. I have been struggling with sin so much and I just can't repent of it. Of course I can say the words "Lord I know I'm a sinner and that Jesus Christ is Lord and died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead. I'm sorry and I trust in you for forgiveness, it's sufficient enough for me, and I will turn away and invite your spirit in me and submit to your will so that I can bring glory to you." Yet words are only empty words. I desire this, yet my heart seems to be deceiving me because I keep on sinning and am heavily addicted to sexual immorality and inappropriate contentography and self gratification. I have become lazy in my work because I am so despondent because I know I am going to hell and no matter what I do I can't repent. I say the words and I desire to AFTER I sin, but not during the sin, even though I know I should stop. I don't want to hurt the other persons feelings and I love the feeling myself so it is impossible for me just to turn from it. I'm afraid I might hurt them and then they won't want to come to Christ either. I'm so lost. These sins have consumed my life and I want to be free of them, yet I can't STOP. Every time I'm tempted I act on them, theres no fight, there's guilt but no fight. I'm come to the Lord so many times begging for forgiveness yet my heart must be deceiving itself and not truly repenting.

I no longer no what to do. In all honesty, I'm not suicidal so this isn't a threat because I'm not going to harm or kill myself, but I just feel like dying. I feel like hell would be sufficient because at least there wouldn't be this anxiety over my salvation. Or perhaps I am saved and will go to Heaven to be with Christ. I don't know what to do anymore, I can't seem to care. I just.. I've brought this up to many people and everyone just says "theres a struggle so you're saved." That's great people think this but anyone who habitual sins is an indication that they are not saved and this sexual immorality, inappropriate contentography, and self gratification is more than habitual it an addiction and I cannot be freed from it and I know that freedom is in Christ but I don't know how to rely on Him for it. It feels like my soul is in the wrong body. Someone please help... I don't know what to do. I don't want comfort, I just want honesty and truth.


Just by the way you are guilt ridden makes me believe that you are under conviction from the Holy Spirit. This is how the Lord disiplines his children when they are doing wrong. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12th chapter that we are to offer our bodies as a sacrifuce, holy and pleasing to God- this is our spiritual act of worship. We are not to conform to this world but be transformed by the renewing of the mind. This is the key. When you get tempted ask the Lord to renew your mind and the Lord will take the thoughts that are controling your urges. Get rid of all images in magazines, computers,dvds, whatever feeds your weaknesses. Get into God's word and study and pray. I'll pray too.
 
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