What do I do after I fall into sin?

[acceptjesus]

I just watched porn. Yes some of you may know it is a problem for me and I doubt my salvation because of it. I suffer from OCD and while I refuse to blame the porn on that but I think I'm always doubting my salvation which leads to anxiety which causes me to want to relieve the anxiety somehow but I know it's sin and their is no excuse. My question is when I sin what am I to do? I read that sin is a turning away from God so I would assume after sinning I need to "repent" turn back to god? Also another question is when I turn back to god do I turn away from that sin thus repent of it? Thanks in advance for your answers I haven't been on here in awhile but the good old OCD still has me stuck on repentance especially the turning away from sin. I read about what the catholics call pennance I know it doesn't merit salvation but another question I have is when I resolve not to sin again is that turning away from that sin. I take resolving not to sin again as a desire not to do it/sin again is this correct? What does it mean to turn away from sin? When we turn back to god after sinning do we repent of that sin? Thank You.

 

[BryanW92]

If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign.

-Martin Luther (emphasis added)

 

[acceptjesus]

I'm grateful for your post, Can you answer my question though? Thanks for the response!

 

[acceptjesus]

when we turn back to God after sinning do we turn away from that sin?

 

[BryanW92]

when we turn back to God after sinning do we turn away from that sin?

God sets an impossible standard for us to follow and demands that we obey perfectly. I can sin, repent, and will be sinning again ten minutes later. The quote I gave you was Luther's response to a man who was torn up over his sins, as you are. He sinned, repented, and sinned again and it was making him be unable to function. He came to Luther for advice. That quote was Luther's advice to him, to me, and to you.

Just as God demands perfection, he gave us the means to enter into his grace without perfection. Everyone pretends to be perfect because they do not understand the magnitude of the gift of grace. This is a big thing!! It is the biggest thing. Your sins are nothing. Yes, try not to sin. Repent of your sins. But, if you are in a sin/repent/sin cycle, then just pray to have the desire removed from you. As Luther said, love Jesus more than you love your sin. Now, we can all say that we do, but then we push Jesus into a corner of our mind for a few minutes and go back to that sin. When we are done, we bring Jesus back out.

What I'm saying is forget the sin. You do it, it happens, you're going to do it again. But, work to reduce the time that you shove Jesus into the corner. I fyou had a smokin' hot woman at your side 24/7 that was willing to satisfy your every desire, would you shove her in a closet and go look at porn?? Of course not. You would desire her more than the porn.

So just love Jesus more than you love your sin. He already paid the price for your sin. He already led the perfect life that is required by God, because God knew that you and I sure couldn't do that.

That is the real good news of the gospel.

 

[Light hearted]

acceptjesus, did you truly do as your name says...Accept Jesus, if you did, what did he pay for.... your sins.

I ask, who in your past defined the word repent for you, it seems the definition is your hang up. Honestly, you know you'll back in a while with the same repentance spike in your heart again and again.

BryanW92 did a fine job in his post. Your looking for a yes or no answer but this won't help. You first need to get some scripture in your heart that can allow you to be human.

Quite frankly we all sin, no way around it, we will fight every day with the flesh that we live in, some days we win the battles but the war goes on til we die.

Staying focused on the fact that Jesus paid the price for our sins should bring forth true worship and the price He paid.

You realize every time you put your sinful nature ahead of your saved spiritual nature you are saying that the first Adam is greater than the second Adam (Jesus).

Let's go down a different road....First Adam's side, before you accepted Jesus you were lost. Then lets say you did a good deed, did you say you had to repent to get back to the lost (sinners) side? no, your deed didn't change your standing at that time.

So why is it that if you sin now that you are on the second Adam (Jesus) side and you sin why do you feel you have to repent to get back on the saved side?

If your good deed didn't save you, or remove you from the sin lost side, then why should your bad deed remove you from the saved found side.

Jesus says he came to remove your sin consciousness , it doesn't mean we won't be tempted to sin, but at least when we do fail we can still come boldly before God and thank His Son for covering that sin with His blood.

Back to your original question, "when we turn back to God after sinning do we turn away from that sin?"

Did you really turn away from God, did He leave you? Jesus says He will never leave you, then you'd be the one doing the turning away, He's always there waiting for you.

Do we turn away from that sin? Have you fully turned away from porn forever? Only you can answer that one. Know this, God knows how many times you have and will sin, just do your best to keep the number as low as possible.

Just some things to think about, I want to see you get in the right set.

 

[acceptjesus]

What does the sin repent sin repent cycle mean? Does it mean we sin and repent and by "repent" do you mean turning back to God?

 

[BryanW92]

What does the sin repent sin repent cycle mean? Does it mean we sin and repent and by "repent" do you mean turning back to God?

Yes it does. But remember that God never turned away from you.

 

[acceptjesus]

When we turn towards sin we turn away from God" when we repent "turn back to god" do we turn away from sin? Sorry if this is confusing this is basically what I was asking in the original post? So say I fall into pornography when I turn back to God do I turn away from that sin?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

yes. utterly, completely, once for all.

then, there's the 70 times 7 .......

 

[JLR1300]

In my opinion you need to do two things. 1. Realize that eternal life is a gift and do not be tempted to look to your success or lack thereof for assurance of salvation. We cannot look to our sanctification for our justification. Believe that Jesus saves you because He paid for your sin in spite of the fact that you are a terrible sinner. God blesses faith. Never doubt. If you are not sure if you are saved then be sure right now... by believing and trusting that Jesus saves you and gives you eternal life as a free gift by His grace and not by your works. Salvation comes by refusing to trust in your works or attempts at goodness and simply trusting Christ to save you. Rev.22 says "whoever desires let him take of the water of life (salvation) freely."

2. Although eternal life is a gift and cannot be taken from you, you need to realize that God never lets those who are His be happy in sin and will disipline us and make us miserable until we quit loving it. Life will get worse and worse for you. The sooner you realize that the presence of Jesus and His joy is a far greater reward than any momentary fleeting so-called pleasure that leaves you empty, lonely and full of guilt and shame, the better it will be. Sometimes if Christians don't learn their lesson God takes their physical life. He will do this because He will not allow a Christian to go on forever in a life of sin. Since God is either going to cure you or kill you anyway you might as well get serious about serving Him.

The worst thing you can do though is to trust in how much or how little you sin for your eternal salvation. If you look to the law for salvation you will fall into despair and then despair will lead to giving up. If you truly believe the gospel....namely, that although you are a terrible sinner and can do nothing to save yourself, you are nevertheless right with God because Christ's blood covers your sin...if you believe this and claim salvation by faith... then you will stop being in despair and you will start being thankful for your salvation... and only then will you have enough gratitude to Jesus that you will truly want to serve Him and stay away from that which displeases Him. Jesus said "he who is forgiven much loves much. Only the knowledge (faith) that we are forgiven causes sufficient love to motivate us to serve. Hebrews says..."without faith it is impossible to please God." Trust and believe that the Holy Spirit enables you to do the impossible. Jesus said, "without me you can do nothing" and He said "with God all things are possible."

 

[acceptjesus]

What does it mean to turn away from? Repentance is a turning from sin towards God but what does it mean. When I fall into sin I assume I'm facing sin so I need to turn away from that sin back to God. When I turn back to God do I turn away from sin. What does it mean to turn away from sin?

 

[JLR1300]

Although it is true that we are justified by faith alone, not by works .... nevertheless, after we are saved if we sin we lose God's fellowship (not our salvation) and He disciplines us and chastens us. At that point we have to forsake our sin (intend not to do it again) and confess it to God and commit ourselves to living for Him. Only then will God's closeness and fellowship return and He will discipline us much less and will begin to bless us more especially in spiritual ways.
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Proverbs 28:13

A Christian who covers his sins (tries to hide them from God) shall not prosper (spiritually and in some other ways) So he needs to both confess and forsake (purpose not to continue in them) so that God will be merciful and will stop chastening him and help him instead.

 

[acceptjesus]

Thanks JLR300 your post have been the most helpful so far! to turn from sin means to intend not to do it again Thank You! I know that doesn't mean we won't do it again. Thanks for the help it really cleared things up!

 

[acceptjesus]

by intending not to do it again do you mean a desire not to do it again/not wanting to do it again?

 

[JLR1300]

No I mean honestly intending not to do it again even if I have a desire. A desire is just a temptation and no one can live without ever being tempted

 

[acceptjesus]

Like Resolve? but one of the synonyms for resolve and intending is desire/wish so correct me if I'm wrong say I sin and tell the Lord I desire not to do that again that means I intend not to do it again am I wrong? I'm not trying to prove you wrong please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks!

 

[acceptjesus]

I tell the Lord "Lord I don't want to do this again" and I say it honestly is this turning from sin?

 

[PastorTeacher]

acceptjesus,
Scripture teaches we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us cf. Phil. 4:13. As far salvation goes, the Bible teaches eternal security or "once saved always saved" because our salvation relies on Christ not on our works. The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace not by works cf. Eph. 2:8. When dealing with the topic of sin, we need to understand that Christ died for all sin, past, present and future. When we commit post salvation sins, we fall out of communion (fellowship) with Christ (not to be confused with union with Christ). How we get back into fellowship with Christ is by confessing the sin according to 1 John 1:9. Confessing is not asking for forgiveness of sin-because Christ already dealt with that on the cross-but rather naming and siting the sins and moving on. Example: Lord I committed idolatry, I watched porn, I...whatever the sin was. Once that is done, you just move on. No guilt. No remorse. Why? Because guilt in itself is a sin! If repent means to "feel remorse or regret" which is different words that mean guilt, then no repenting is not turning away from sin and turning back to God. Confession of sin (1 John 1:9), is the only way to "turn back to God" after sinning. We confess it and move on. God has cleansed you from that unrighteousness! Why are you still "harping on it", letting Satan rob you of your joy of who you are in Christ and your eternal salvation? That is exactly what is happening. Your letting the devil convince you that your sin is greater than Christ.

 

[JLR1300]

What I am thinking is that in the Lord's Prayer or the model prayer Jesus said for us to pray "give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses even as we forgive those who trespass against us" So it is true that we don't pray for the eternal debt of sin to be removed because that was already removed by Jesus' death. But it seems that we should still confess our sins and forsake them and ask God to forgive us in the sense that we need God to remove us from His Fatherly displeasure and discipline and place us back into fellowship and blessings. Even in 1st John 1:9 it says that He will forgive us. So in the model prayer Jesus tells us to ask for forgiveness and 1st John 1:9 says that we will be forgiven. So I would see a difference between eternal guilt and eternal forgiveness and temporal guilt and temporal forgiveness. One has to do with eternal salvation the other has to do with temporal blessings and fellowship with God. Am I misunderstanding something?