I would even have a snowball's chance in heck of entering Heaven,
You can't save yourself. That is why He came. Jesus is the Saviour. Just by you even believing in His name, you are saved.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
How is it that you are saved? Read this below, and think of Christ as that Passover Lamb where the wrath of God passed over the blood on the doorway in Egypt that forced the Pharoah to let His people go.
Colossians 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
it seems that I am a lost cause. I have committed terrible sins. I'm lustful and have used the Lord's name in vain far more times than I can count without cringing.
That is what you give to Jesus for in prayer to deliver you from it.
1 John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.....8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 2:1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 1:4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
The irony is that if you were beyond saving, you would not care about this at all, but you do which is why you are not beyond saving because you are saved when you first came to and believed in Jesus Christ.
I'm hopeless and can't do anything.
John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
If we could not save ourselves, then neither can we follow Him by our religious flesh of doing the best we can or keeping a commitment or a promise to follow Him.
Galatians 3:1O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
Galatians 5:1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage....5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
That's what it means that the just shall live by faith in the Son of God and all of His promises to us thus getting to know Him and the power of His resurrection when we see ourselves as able to follow Him by faith in Him.
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:...9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; 10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. 11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
We are to rest in Him as our Saviour that we are saved as promised: and we are called to continue in His love by continuing in His words as His disciples, looking to Him as our author & finisher of our faith to help us lay aside every weight & sin thus resting in Him as our Good Shepherd.
The laying aside of every weight & sin with His help does not stop until He brings us Home where we will be perfect and never sin to be seperated from God ever again.
Hebrews 12:1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
So in dealing with lust, put away all provisions for the flesh that would fulfill that lust.... whatever serves as an eyecandy for that lust. Ask Jesus for help to discern what that is .. be it television, magazines, music, passion romance novels.... and ask Jesus to help you set your mind on good things. I do. I had to get rid of comicbooks in the past to help me not to think about lust. Stop feeding it, and it will die. My body suffered with all of that stress that I went jogging to relieve the stress of it.
In dealing with the words of my mouth, I had to ask Jesus to set me free from my covenant not to cuss and rest in His Covenant that He will do it.
I can definitely say it has no dominion over me, but on occasion I will slip up but He reminds me just so I do not continue in it for it to have dominion over me.
So don't look to yourself in doing God's work in you at all. Look to Jesus Christ in doing God's work in you. You will have more reasons to thank Him than for just simply giving you eternal life.
We shall get to know Him as our Good Shepherd as well as our Saviour when we live that reconciled relationship with God THROUGH Jesus Christ.
So the fact that you are sorry and grieving over your sins means you are saved when you had believed in Him. Ask Jesus to help you trust Him as your Good Shepherd as well as your Saviour so that you can live that reconciled relationship through Him with His continual ever present help as you rest in Him that you are saved.