Want to be saved/am saved but I don't feel bad about sin

[RobertZ]

here is the deal, wheathor or not you feel bad about sin, you merely have to stop doing it to please God! and do the other things he requires of you as in the bible! then your all good, you'll make it in in no time!

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO FEEL BAD ABOUT SIN TO STOP SINNING.

If one must stop sinning in order to be saved then Christ died in vain and no one will be saved because no one has truly ever ceased from sinning.

 

[faceofbear]

Paul said he was blameless to the law, and I believe, many Pharisees were blameless to the law, OUTWARDLY. So why did Christ tell them that they would die in their sins? In fact, what you said couldn't be further from the truth. God cares about the heart, not the outward. In fact, I would say that the one who feels their sinnership, bewails it, and begs to God for mercy for their sins, is more justified than the one who just abstains. If it possible to be "more" justified.

 

[ashout]

If one must stop sinning in order to be saved then Christ died in vain and no one will be saved because no one has truly ever ceased from sinning.

when i say stop sinning, i don't mean stop sinning completely. i mean repent of the desire to do evil in your heart. so your right, but i'm right as well, you just misunderstood me. Jesus himself has told people to stop sinning, i think that's what he meant.

 

[RobertZ]

when i say stop sinning, i don't mean stop sinning completely. i mean repent of the desire to do evil in your heart. so your right, but i'm right as well, you just misunderstood me. Jesus himself has told people to stop sinning, i think that's what he meant.

Yes I misunderstood you, sorry about that and I agree with what you just said.

 

[blacksheep78]

I struggle with assurance, and am currently struggling with it, but I will tell you what I've learned.

First of all, the Gospel is not a prayer. You won't ever be saved through a prayer, ever. You'll only walk away with no assurance, or you'll be deceiving yourself into thinking you've "accepted Christ as" your "Savior." But in reality, you've accepted nothing.

The Gospel saves. Not your prayers. The Gospel is that God demonstrated His righteousness, His justice, and His love towards us, that He sent His only Son into the world to be a propitiation for our sins. All while we were and are helpless to save ourselves. Christ was put over for our sins, and raised on the third day of His death for the justification of His people. Christ is our wisdom, our sanctification, our righteousness, and our justification. It's not a matter of you performing a righteous act before God in order for Him to accept you. You either are accepted in Christ, or you aren't. How are you accepted? Through believing.

But don't mistake belief. Belief is not the Gospel. The Gospel is that God demonstrated His righteousness, His justice, and His love towards us, that He sent His only Son into the world to be a propitiation for our sins. All while we were and are helpless to save ourselves. Christ was put over for our sins, and raised on the third day of His death for the justification of His people. Christ is our wisdom, our sanctification, our righteousness, and our justification.

Belief is not a righteous act which you perform to commend yourself to God. Belief is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In other words, faith rests on what you cannot see. Faith hopes in God. Faith rests on the finished work of Christ. It's not a work. It's a resting on the finished work of the Savior.

It's not a matter of whether you sorrow enough. In fact, who sorrows enough over their sin? No one. Yet if this was a pre-requisite to be saved, then it is no longer Christ who saves, but your penitence for sin. A righteous act. A blaspheme to the Savior. Christ must save and Christ alone, and Christ does not depend on your penitence. But on His sovereign will to save those who believe.

But is not your impenitence a reason to trust on the Savior? Is not your impenitence proof that you cannot save yourself? Isn't this impenitence pointing you to Christ? Thou must save, and Thou alone.

You say that you understand everything about salvation. That's great. But I hate to tell you this, you don't. If you think you're saved by prayer, you don't understand the basics of the Gospel. I say this not to anger you, but to reconsider your stance and to really study the Gospel. Again, it is the Gospel that saves, not your penitence, not your prayer, not your faith. Why? Well, the Gospel is the power of God, not the power of man, unto Salvation, for everyone who believes.

So what do you do? Nothing. You "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." But isn't that doing something? No. It's resting on the facts of a risen Savior for your sins. If you do not rest on this, and insist you must work, or must have some remorse, or must repent, or must believe, and make a work out of that which are graces, you blaspheme the Savior. You say, "Your work was not finished, I must add to Calvary." You call God a liar, and spit on the blood of Christ. Yet Christ, what did He say, "It is finished." So if God said, "It is finished." What can you, a human, do to add to that? What can you, a human, do but trust that God meant what He said before He bowed His head in death for sinful men, to justify them before His Father, and to spend life eternal with them?

You refuse to come to Him that you may have life. You are like a Pharisee, you wish to justify yourself. Yet don't take my word for it. Open your Bible and you'll see what I am saying is not just my opinion, but a fact of all mankind. Not just some specific people, but all of us. We are all haters of God, and cannot be reconciled to Him but by the Savior.

Don't rest on anything this self-righteous generation tells you. Test it with scripture. You'll see that all who say, "You MUST do this," or, "You MUST do that," are just as self-righteous as the Pharisees and are essentially saying, "But LORD, did I not have enough FAITH in YOUR NAME? Did I not work enough in Your name? Didn't I repent in Your name? Didn't I cast out demons, didn't I have fruits?" Yet none of these people, not one, said, "But Lord, did your Son not die in my stead?" Because that is salvation, and anyone who trusts in Him will not be put to shame.

This thread is evidence enough that people want input in their salvation. Test what they say. Test what I say. But I can assure you, anything that points you to yourself, the disease, and not to Christ, the Physician, is a lie straight from the pit of Hell and will not save you, but only eternally damn you.

Repentance and faith are evidences. Not roots. Christ is the Root. But even the disciples, while they knew Christ, lacked faith. Christ even asked, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it ye have no faith?" Yet were they not loved by the Son of God and chosen by Him?

I'm glad I found this. I am struggling SO much with the same thing. I keep thinking that if I do not have a real sense of the horror of sin, a real sorrow at having offended God, and a real heartfelt agreement that I deserve hell, then I cannot be saved. I know that I have pride, and self-righteousness, and callousness - but I am POWERLESS to change it. Believe me, I have tried. Some people say that a person cannot truly come to Christ until they have an experience of brokeness over sin, feeling themselves to be hell-deserving. But I don't recall the apostles ever saying "Believe that you deserve hell and you will be saved" or "Feel sorry for offending God and you will be saved". I get so confused. One day I rest on Christ's work, and the next I am doubting my salvation again because I think "No born again person would think the way I do, or have the heart attitudes that I have" I keep expecting my thoughts/feelings/attitudes to change as soon as I believe, but they don't, and it scares me. I wish everyone could agree on what it means to be saved. If I am constantly questioning this, does it mean I am not saved? Shouldn't I just "know that I know that I know"? Shouldn't I have a sense of Christ Himself living in my heart? Or is that trying to live by sight/feelings/experience rather than faith?

 

[blacksheep78]

Pretty sure I just answered my own question. It would be awesome to have an "experience" but of course many believers never get that, and Paul never told anyone in the churches to look for that or to rely on that.

 

[twin1954]

I'm glad I found this. I am struggling SO much with the same thing. I keep thinking that if I do not have a real sense of the horror of sin, a real sorrow at having offended God, and a real heartfelt agreement that I deserve hell, then I cannot be saved. I know that I have pride, and self-righteousness, and callousness - but I am POWERLESS to change it. Believe me, I have tried. Some people say that a person cannot truly come to Christ until they have an experience of brokeness over sin, feeling themselves to be hell-deserving. But I don't recall the apostles ever saying "Believe that you deserve hell and you will be saved" or "Feel sorry for offending God and you will be saved". I get so confused. One day I rest on Christ's work, and the next I am doubting my salvation again because I think "No born again person would think the way I do, or have the heart attitudes that I have" I keep expecting my thoughts/feelings/attitudes to change as soon as I believe, but they don't, and it scares me. I wish everyone could agree on what it means to be saved. If I am constantly questioning this, does it mean I am not saved? Shouldn't I just "know that I know that I know"? Shouldn't I have a sense of Christ Himself living in my heart? Or is that trying to live by sight/feelings/experience rather than faith?

As I believe I told the original poster assurance doesn't come by looking at yourself but in looking to Christ alone.

When you look at yourself all you will see is sin. That drives you to despair and fear. Fear will drive you away from God. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance.

Simply look to Christ alone, learn of Him and quit looking at your failures. Learn of who He is and what He did and who He did it for. The more you learn of Him the more you will desire Him and the more you will want to please Him.

Find something of the Gosel of Christ when you read the Bible. Quit doing what "religion" teaches you to do, that is concentrate on yourself and how you "feel", and seek to know Him.

If you are able to do that your assurance will come on it own. Assurance doesn't come from our obedience or feelings but from knowing Him who promised. From He who loved us and gave Himself for us.

 

[royal priest]

I don't think the "prayer" saved me at all...I know the prayer cannot save me...it is my belief that saves me right?
I just don't feel bad about my sin...I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins, rose again, etc. I believe all that. I know that I'm sinner...I just don't feel bad about my sin...and I wonder if that's a problem. I just don't want to mess around with someting so important as my eternity.

Would you mind sharing with us what your sins are?

 

[twin1954]

Would you mind sharing with us what your sins are?

May I ask why? Her sins are no ones business but hers and the Lord's. Do you want to air your dirty laundry publically? Would you wish to have us know your thoughts much less your acts?

It is never a matter of which sins but that we are sinners in need of mercy.

 

[royal priest]

It's a rhetorical question

 

[twin1954]

It's a rhetorical question

Ok.

 

[ToBeLoved]

I want to be saved and go to heaven but I don't feel bad about my sins. I know I am a sinner and according to the Bible I deserve to go to hell. But I don't feel bad about my sins. I heard that if you do not feel bad about your sins you cannot be saved. I understand everything about salvation and I've prayed it before but I only did it because I want to go to heaven and not hell. Am I saved? Can I be saved if I don't feel bad about my sin?

Can you give say 3 examples of the situation, sin and how you look at it as far as your Christianity?

Maybe you don't understand sin and how it relates back to God.

I know if you decide to do this, it may get you some harsh comments, but if you really want to get advice or other Christians perspective, that is best with a little more details. I like to know what people are thinking in depth in each situation rather than just a blanket statement. Sometimes it's lack of knowledge about why God wants us to do a specific thing and once understood better it makes more sense.

 

[BeCarefulHowYouHear.Com]

I want to be saved and go to heaven but I don't feel bad about my sins. I know I am a sinner and according to the Bible I deserve to go to hell. But I don't feel bad about my sins. I heard that if you do not feel bad about your sins you cannot be saved. I understand everything about salvation and I've prayed it before but I only did it because I want to go to heaven and not hell. Am I saved? Can I be saved if I don't feel bad about my sin?

What kinds of sins are we talking about?

 

[2win]

What kinds of sins are we talking about?

I think what is needed here is a Definition of repent, then go to a good concordance and all the places in the new testament you find repent, read it, and see what conclusion you come to; no one but God can convict a person of the need to change, and God does that through His Holy Word.

 

[SakraNomoko]

You don't really need a prayer to be saved. As it is written, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved (Romans 10:9-10).

You don't need to feel sorry for your sins to be saved. This will come naturally through your walk with the Lord. As it is written, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Death doesn't always come quickly. It can take time, and it comes in many forms.

The death of relationships, the death of purpose, the death of clarity--all these are the wages of sin. You might not see any real consequences now, but further on down the road, there's chaos. Some people can see where that road leads, and they are horrified of the thought of going that way. They can see the pain and suffering that lifestyle will cause.

Other people don't go that way because of how much they love God. They don't necessarily understand the ultimate reason God calls something sin, but they avoid it anyway because they trust God and God says so.

And yet even others are of the mindset that they won't learn whats down that road until they take it. To them, the way seems pretty good, and there doesn't seem to be any real reason why God would forbid them taking it, other than to stop them from having a good time.

Now, with most sin, taking that path, living this lifestyle, won't stop you from making heaven your home. But when you reach the end of that path, and if you're honest with yourself, you will acknowledge it was your actions and your actions alone that got you where you are. And you will know why other Christians wouldn't dare take that road.

Yet here's the catch. Most people at the end of those roads won't own up to the reason why they're there. They'll blame others for their misery and misfortune, turning bitter to the world and to God. The world, for causing them pain, and God, for letting the world do that.

It's your life, live it how you want. Just know that if you don't want to live it God's way, it's gonna hurt.

 

[BeCarefulHowYouHear.Com]

I think what is needed here is a Definition of repent, then go to a good concordance and all the places in the new testament you find repent, read it, and see what conclusion you come to; no one but God can convict a person of the need to change, and God does that through His Holy Word.

Biblical repentance is an attitude of humility before God which starts in recognizing one's need for a Savior (Jesus) to atone for their sin, and proceeds with a workable attitude to turn from one's own, selfish ways of living and learn to live as Jesus taught us to live. This is life in Christ.

You need not be perfect, as Jesus already did that for us and won us access to Father God through faith in His work of the cross. But you do need to recognize that you cannot simply continue on living your own way. Stumbling into gross sins such as fornication and idolatry, among other sins Paul mentions, doesn't disqualify you from the "inheritence" every believe has in Christ, but "practicing" them willfully as if God endorses such things will.

If the original poster is stumbling in their faith because of every little thing, this is not Biblical. They need to overcome the condemnation of their heart and recognize God doesn't want them walking on eggshells. He is working in and through us as we grow in the knowledge of the Lord.

If someone is willfully engaging in adultery, theft, or idolatry as a regular practice, and it's part of their lifestyle, that is an issue. They need to repent and turn from such practices calling on the name of Jesus to set them free from such things. He is faithful to make the way of escape and cleanse us of such unrighteousness.

 

[twin1954]

Biblical repentance is an attitude of humility before God which starts in recognizing one's need for a Savior (Jesus) to atone for their sin, and proceeds with a workable attitude to turn from one's own, selfish ways of living and learn to live as Jesus taught us to live. This is life in Christ.

You need not be perfect, as Jesus already did that for us and won us access to Father God through faith in His work of the cross. But you do need to recognize that you cannot simply continue on living your own way. Stumbling into gross sins such as fornication and idolatry, among other sins Paul mentions, doesn't disqualify you from the "inheritence" every believe has in Christ, but "practicing" them willfully as if God endorses such things will.

If the original poster is stumbling in their faith because of every little thing, this is not Biblical. They need to overcome the condemnation of their heart and recognize God doesn't want them walking on eggshells. He is working in and through us as we grow in the knowledge of the Lord.

If someone is willfully engaging in adultery, theft, or idolatry as a regular practice, and it's part of their lifestyle, that is an issue. They need to repent and turn from such practices calling on the name of Jesus to set them free from such things. He is faithful to make the way of escape and cleanse us of such unrighteousness.

That sounds an awful lot like "shake and bake" Christianity. I can do it and God helped.
The truth is that all believers are born again as new creatures. That means that we are now people with two natures. All believers turn from their sin because it is their nature to do so but the old man still lives in us and desires control. But sin shall no have dominion over us. The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that we fight a daily battle with ourselves. Some of us are weaker than others and the struggle is difficult. The simple truth is that when we look at ourselves all we can see is sin and failure if we are honest.

Instead of looking at ourselves and continually ask if this thing or that thing is sin, because it certainly is if you have to ask, we must look to and at Christ Jesus the Lord. Learning about Him and His work will free you from the bondage of sin and self righteousness. Focus on Him not on you.