I'm afraid of being beyond salvation

[Glen06]

I'm really scared tonight. Someone today mentioned God turning away from judgment against people who are truly remorseful for their sin. I don't know if I am truly remorseful. I don't know how to know. I am just scared.

Are there others who struggle with this issue? I fear that there is something terribly wrong with me that I cannot be truly sorry for my sin. When I think of my sin and how God feels about it, I get really scared. But sorry? That's hard to tell. Maybe because there is so much fear. Anyway, how can you analyze remorse and know if it is real or not?

I just keep hoping that I am saved because of Jesus, and that if I am saved then I must be in the process of having my heart changed whether I know it or not.

 

[football5680]

If you cannot be remorseful for the sin you committed then you can at least be remorseful for the fact that your actions may have offended God.

 

[paul1149]

Turning to God is not necessarily emotionally driven. I know of one place in the Bible which talks about getting emotional about it - James 4.7-8. But there are dozens of places where the Bible tells us to repent, which simply means to sincerely rethink. God wants us to change our mind about sin and about the importance of our relationship with Him. And indeed, one can go too far with remorse, so that it has nothing to do with repentance and becomes a destructive distraction. 2Cor 7 strikes a healthy balance between grief and repentance.

 

[znr]

It's time for you to start taking a little more control of your thoughts. If this is impossible then you might want to consider consulting with a doctor to see if therapy or medication can help you through the transition with your anxiety. And then start working on taking control of your thoughts.

 

[Glen06]

But how can I know I'm not beyond salvation? I would have a hard time knowing it by anything inward (repentance, faith, belief, etc.). Anything depending on me I will probably doubt. I used to base my assurance on the idea that I was saved by what somebody else did, and therefore could not mess it up. But then I started worrying that maybe I wasn't really trusting in Jesus, but only in a concept in my own mind. So I'm back to trying to find assurance that it isn't too late for me.

 

[Jupiter Drops]

Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
If you do, then follow Him. That's all there is.

 

[paul1149]

Anything depending on me I will probably doubt.

That's exactly the point. Our salvation cannot rest on us because we don't have the spiritual wherewithal. It must rest on "someone else" - that is, on the only one upon whom it can rest, Jesus Christ.

Look at Romans 10:

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. -Rom 10:9-10​

The word "saved" there implies total salvation of spirit, soul and body. Salvation is not just about getting us to heaven, it's about getting heaven into us. Eternal life starts here and now. Therefore our faith has to be total. Jesus occupies and powers every aspect of our being.

There is an obedience of faith, but it is not our works done independently of God, as to a harsh taskmaster. It is in response to our loving God working in us, "to will and to do His good pleasure". We don't work for God, we co-labor with Him. That subtle relational difference is crucial, because it keeps God as captain of our salvation. It keeps the weight we weren't meant to bear, and can't bear, off of us. This is why Jesus can invite us to enter into His rest, where His yoke is easy and His burden light (Mt 11). It's why Romans 5 says we have peace with God, and why Hebrews 4 exhorts us to labor to enter His ongoing rest. And so much more.

As soon as we turn our focus off of Jesus and onto ourselves we get in trouble. Every time. Come back to the simplicity of faith, and let seasons of refreshing come upon you. It's never too late. Jesus paid far too great a price for it to be too late.

 

[BFine]

I'm really scared tonight. Someone today mentioned God turning away from judgment against people who are truly remorseful for their sin. I don't know if I am truly remorseful. I don't know how to know. I am just scared.

Are there others who struggle with this issue? I fear that there is something terribly wrong with me that I cannot be truly sorry for my sin. When I think of my sin and how God feels about it, I get really scared. But sorry? That's hard to tell. Maybe because there is so much fear. Anyway, how can you analyze remorse and know if it is real or not?

I just keep hoping that I am saved because of Jesus, and that if I am saved then I must be in the process of having my heart changed whether I know it or not.

* There are many on here who have OCD, are you also someone who
suffers from it?

You don't have to analyze how sorry you are, it's enough to realize one
is undone without Christ and put your faith in what Christ did for all mankind.
Lean on Him each day and trust the Lord for everything.


2 Peter 1:2
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord.

 

[GraceTruthLove]

Wow! There is some really good stuff posted here!

Repentance is agreeing with God that what you did was wrong. It it admitting it to God and allowing Him to purge you of it. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.

As for not being emotional enough when you repent......God is not impressed with emotional displays anyway. "The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7b.

Don't over think this. Just talk to your Father and receive the COMPLETE forgiveness HE has already given....."I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." Isaiah 43:25.