Grieving the Holy Spirit to the point that he Withdraws

[MoNiCa4316]

Guys, I stared this thread in the OCD forum and I need some more help with this question please.

From what I understand a person who is not saved can grieve the Holy Spirit enough that one day unless that person gets saved the Holy Spirit will finally withdraw from that person never to convict them to salvation ever again. Making that person condemned forever both before death and after death.


Here is my problem, I am 35yrs old, I grew up in church all my life. I went to a christian school and then off to Bible college, my privleges to get it right with the Lord were better than what most get.


The problem is that I think I was saved when I was 10 but im not really sure if it was real because I cant remember all the details. However I have lived a terrible life of sin with an addiction to Pornography and touching yourself (stayed this way for 8yrs with little concern over what I was doing). I, Like most people figured my days to repent were plenty and I had all the time in the world to get saved. Well one day, (after years of sitting in church with no conviction of my sins I started to think about the rapture,) I started thinking about it in a serious way and it bothered me a bit. I became afraid and then it dawned on me that I had never truly accepted Christ as my savior (even though I had known that for years) and I could get left behind while all my loved ones who are saved go to Heaven.

Then the horror really set in when I realized that years have passed me by since the last time I felt the Spirit drawing me. The next day I went to my father in laws house who is a decon at my church. I was afraid somewhat and numb feeling inside, I started crying and told him I had never been truly saved.

We talked about it for a minute and then I said the sinners prayer, It just felt like it was way to late for me even as I was praying, I was doubting that God even heard this prayer since I was doubting that the Holy Spirit was involved at all with this conversion.


This happened back in November, and here we are today in March and my doubts are still here, as well as the fear of being forever lost.

God never leaves us (only we walk away from Him), and trust is the vessel in which we receive His graces.. if you ask God for anything but don't believe that He even wants you to be with Him, that's distrust, and *that* is what blocks you from God. Not any of your sins. God's mercy is greater than all the sins of the world put together.
Do you think that after Christ has died in the Cross for you, He'd reject you if you come to Him? He said, He will not turn away anyone who comes to Him. Try to trust Him, that's the only way.
God bless.

 

[RobertZ]

Robert
I have never heard of someone being able to grieve away the holy spirit. I believe God stays with all the living and never forsakes us, no matter the sin. If you have confessed your sins, then they have been forgiven.

Its more of an issue of hardening your heart to the point that eventually one can no longer sense the Holy Spirits callings.

Eventually you can hit a point of hard heartedness that God will withdraw his spirit from trying to win that person to salvation, he has no other choice since they will no longer hear his call.

This is what im afraid that I have done.



This would be a form of the unpardonable sin because if the Holy Spirit ceases to strive with an individual then its impossible for that person to come to Christ and be saved.

 

[joshua41]

Hello, Robert

What brought me to these forums a year or two ago was my OCD on blasphemy. I would spend all day studying websites and reading the same verse over and over again. But, with God's grace and time, I can honestly say that I have no doubts now.

I have not had time to read the whole thread yet,but if you do still struggle with pornography(I struggle), then I would like to recommend you the pornography addiction support part of the forum. The people there are very useful and supportive, and they also provide great tools such as blockers.

Anyway, it is true that God wants us to take our faith and increase it and not leave it in the ground. Yet, no one is perfect. Peter, even after he had saw Jesus rejected him three times. After Peter saw Jesus rise from the dead, Peter still made a mistake when he was with the Jews and did not want to eat with the gentiles.

Temptations are difficult to overcome. Our faith is little, and we are not saved by our own will. Nothing is impossible for Jesus Christ--without him we would be able to do nothing. Just seek him and you will surely find him!

 

[JSGuitarist]

Hey Robert,

I don't think it is possible to commit a sin so grievous that the Holy Spirit will never come back, save for the unpardonable, which I do not see you having committed, and if you are a dedicated, genuine Christian, that you can commit it.

Think about Samson. Samson was blessed by God from birth, and had a Nazarite covenant, but he did everything in the book to make God leave. He broke all three statutes of his covenant, which included consuming the product of the grapevine, touching a dead body, and cutting his hair. He did much more, such as marrying a foreign woman, animal abuse, rebelling against his parents, and sleeping with prostitutes. All of those events that were recorded before the Holy Spirit said, "I've had enough, I will not give him the benefit of My Presence anymore." So then Samson wound up in jail for a time, and when he stood in the temple, even though he asked out of a selfish reason, the Holy Spirit came upon him. Although his heart was very wrong, I don't doubt that he had made time for redemption during his imprisonment.

The point being that Samson had learned his lesson, and the Holy Spirit came back to him. The only way you will get the Holy Spirit to never come back goes beyond just not recognizing His work and rebelling, but outright defilement of his name. For example, the pharisees accused Christ of allegiance with a demon whose name meant "lord of the flies/dunghill." They would not believe that Christ had the power of the Spirit, even though he had driven out a demon who left a man mute and blind. The pharisees had seen exorcisms before and never objected, but here Jesus was doing the very same thing, and it could not possibly be anybody else but the Holy Spirit, and it was as obvious as the sun at midnight by His character, His power, and everything else. By this point, it was so obvious that a person would not become saved is that they did not want to believe, and set themselves against Him.

You do not sound anything like that, because I see that you have a desire for repentance. The unpardonable sin is that you CANNOT believe because you just as much do not WANT to. I can see that you really want to please God and get back on track, and you are willing to sacrifice your sin just so that you can be close to him. And that is a work of the Holy Spirit! No one but the Spirit can make you want Christ more He runs counter to your flesh. Perhaps you don't "feel" it or "sense" it, but you don't need to. You're a prodigal son come home, and your Father rejoices that you've returned. Even though you feel like you have nothing He can use, He now has your willingness, which is more than the Pharisees or Pharaoh had.