I think I'm unregnerate, reprobate, vessel of wrath, despairing, tried all I can think of

This scares me yet also gives me hope.

How Do I Repent? - Tim Conway | I'll Be Honest

The comment about someone with no godly sorrow worries me.

No godly sorrow means no repentance. No repentance means no forgiveness. No forgiveness, no relationship. No relationship, prayers not heard. Unless something gives, it's hopeless.

Techedtchr said:

This scares me yet also gives me hope.

How Do I Repent? - Tim Conway | I'll Be Honest

The comment about someone with no godly sorrow worries me.

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Tim Conway is talking about John the Baptist here but examine the verses closer and you will see it is not as Tim Conway makes it out to be.

Matthew 3:7,8 But when he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.

Who is John talking to? Pharisees and Sadducees, the people who kept the law better than anyone! So he is not talking about repenting of sin. He is saying believe on the one that comes after me, Jesus.

I think I understand repentance now. You trust Christ to free you from sin, and you stop sinning because you are empowered to do so by the Holy Spirit. To do that, you must have a desire to be freed from sin (godly sorrow). Hopeless again.

You must see your godless life as sin and turn from it with Christ's help. If you don't see your godless life as sinful, you won't want to repent of it. God won't have anything to do with you unless you reach that point. Yet it takes an act of the Holy Spirit to bring you to that point. Round and round it goes.

diana092086 said:

Again, i could be wrong, but you can still go to Him - godly sorrow or not. Tell Him you don't grieve over your sin. It might not seem like you're forgiven, it might not feel like you're forgiven but just trust that you're forgiven. Trust that He's working on you. It might seem like nothing has changed or is different, but trust anyway. I'm right there with you. Just keep going to Him - follow your own advice - you know what you're talking about! Just follow it whether you believe it or not, feel like it or not, whether it seems fake or not. These are things others have told me that have helped (maybe not right away, but things are coming together)

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Good advice, Diana, and this scripture supports that advice:
James 4:8 the Lord says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”

ldonjohn said:

Good advice, Diana, and this scripture supports that advice:
James 4:8 the Lord says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”

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I can't draw near. My heart won't allow it. It's over.

Techedtchr said:

I think I understand repentance now. You trust Christ to free you from sin, and you stop sinning because you are empowered to do so by the Holy Spirit. To do that, you must have a desire to be freed from sin (godly sorrow). Hopeless again.

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Repentance is a change of mind about your sin and God. When you repent your mind has been changed so that you realize you are a sinner who needs a savior. You turn from your unbelief to believe the gospel.

John

Techedtchr said:

You must see your godless life as sin and turn from it with Christ's help. If you don't see your godless life as sinful, you won't want to repent of it. God won't have anything to do with you unless you reach that point. Yet it takes an act of the Holy Spirit to bring you to that point. Round and round it goes.

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For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things


And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.

Techedtchr said:

You must see your godless life as sin and turn from it with Christ's help. If you don't see your godless life as sinful, you won't want to repent of it. God won't have anything to do with you unless you reach that point. Yet it takes an act of the Holy Spirit to bring you to that point. Round and round it goes.

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IOW, you realize that your sin has separated you from God. You see yourself in desperate need of a savior and that your refusal to trust the Gospel, your unbelief, is the real sin that will keep you separated from Him.
John

Chris35 said:

For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things


And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.

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You must want this from your heart though in order for God to grant it. I know that all my prayers are fake believe. My stony heart has to be capable of reaching out to God for a new heart. I've completely seared mine. There must be a godly sorrow for sin. Unless that happens, God won't listen.

ldonjohn said:

IOW, you realize that your sin has separated you from God. You see yourself in desperate need of a savior and that your refusal to trust the Gospel, your unbelief, is the real sin that will keep you separated from Him.
John

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Or that I am headed for hell (which even my view of that is godless) and wouldn't care if not for that. My prayer may as well be "Lord, let me remain in sin, yet save me from hell in the end that I may be happy". I sure didn't care when I was rolling around in sexual filth until I came across a John Piper piece that scared the filth right out of me. It cited Hebrews 10 and it was discussing habitual sin, and I still remember the words "acting like they did not know God", and those words did not know God sent a shudder through me because if I didn't know God, I was going to hell. So I canned the smut right there and have stayed away from it.

Techedtchr said:

I can't draw near. My heart won't allow it. It's over.

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Don't look at your feelings. This is not about feelings. God must be working on you or you wouldn't be on a Christian forum asking questions about God. You heart is the same as every person who has ever lived except for Jesus. According to the bible, your heart, my heart, everyone's' heart is desperately wicked. You can't trust your heart.
You draw near to God by reading His Word. Even if you don't feel anything while reading the bible you are still drawing near to Him. You will show God that you are earnestly seeking Him when you keep reading His word, you do not give up; never give up searching. If you give up then you certainly will not find Him.
God is not hiding from you, you can & will find Him in the bible when you become so desperate to know him that nothing will stop you from seeking Him.
John

Techedtchr said:

Or that I am headed for hell (which even my view of that is godless) and wouldn't care if not for that. My prayer may as well be "Lord, let me remain in sin, yet save me from hell in the end that I may be happy". I sure didn't care when I was rolling around in sexual filth until I came across a John Piper piece that scared the filth right out of me. It cited Hebrews 10 and it was discussing habitual sin, and I still remember the words "acting like they did not know God", and those words did not know God sent a shudder through me because if I didn't know God, I was going to hell. So I canned the smut right there and have stayed away from it.

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We are all sinners who deserve hell. Fear of hell is what God used to draw me to Him.
Jesus said in the Gospel of John "if you believe not on me, you will die in your sin" You do not have to pray that you will remain in your sin; that is automatic if you don't believe in Him.
The ONLY sin that sends anyone to hell is the sin of "unbelief."
Jesus paid the penalty for all of your sins at the cross, except for "unbelief." When you believe the Gospel you change from "unbelief" to being a "believer" and then the Holy Spirit indwells you giving you the ability to not let sin control your life. You will never be perfect; none of us, Christians, are ever perfect. We fight a daily battle over which nature, our old sinful nature or our new nature in Christ, controls us. We choose every day whether we walk in our flesh or walk in His Spirit. If we choose to walk in our flesh then we will fail in our Christian walk and then we will find ourselves needing to turn from sin; not to be saved again, but to walk in His Spirit.
Another thought about the Gospel of John, which is my favorite book of the bible because that is the book I was reading when I became a believer, IS that the words "turn from you sin" are not there. But, the word "believe" is found many times. Jesus emphasizes that God will teach unbelievers how to believe, He will draw unbelievers to believe, and those who do not resist His call He will give to Jesus. That won't happen if you continue to resits God's call, and yes He calls everyone, but not everyone responds to the call in John 6:37 "all the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will not turn away."
John

If your trying to deal with your sin, then its you trying to be justified through the law. It took me a long time to work this one out. You think you need to be right with God before he will listen to you ect. Its not at all how it works.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God loves you, always has, always will. There is nothing you can do to earn his love, God loves you anyway Chris. Thats why God sent his son to die for your sin. Jesus paid the price so you could be with God. Not that we deserve it, but because God loves us anyway.


Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.


Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

The question has nothing to do with your sin or your heart. The question is will you accept Gods love, as you are and let him pay the price of your sin?

If you do, then you need to go get baptized, baptism is apart of repentance.


After that.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

We abide in Jesus, Jesus abides in God, and we remain in his love if we love others as he has loved us.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Again, its not really about trying to give up sin, that is trying to be justified through the law, grow and walk in love and you will start fullfilling the law anyway. Its all about love.

Techedtchr said:

You must want this from your heart though in order for God to grant it. I know that all my prayers are fake believe. My stony heart has to be capable of reaching out to God for a new heart. I've completely seared mine. There must be a godly sorrow for sin. Unless that happens, God won't listen.

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Yes, God will listen. Change your mind about your unbelief and believe the Gospel, then God will give you Godly sorrow.
John