See, I believe differently.
I accepted Christ as my Savior years ago, but I have not been without sin since that time.
I feel that anytime I commit a sin I need to ask God to forgive me for not living up to His expectations.
That certainly includes the big one, murder. If I commit suicide, how can I ask God’s forgiveness before I have to face him?
If I can say I believe in Christ, and go right on committing sins until I die, and then ask for forgiveness, what was the point of the Commandments?
Sorry, not trying to be a butthead, but I don’t understand your premise.
That is a "feeling" not found in Scripture. If we sin, we have an Advocate with the Father.... His name is Jesus. He promised us ETERNAL life, not CONDITIONAL life!
Paul tells it better in his letter to the Romans...
Romans 7: 14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
You have committed sins that you have never asked forgiveness for. Therefore, under your paradigm, none of us would make it to heaven, because we would have to ensure that we have asked for forgiveness for all sins we have committed, which is impossible.
That is the amazing grace of God. You ask once, you accept once, you are forgiven once.
For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Notice there is no requirement in there to continue asking forgiveness for salvation. That requirement would doom us to failure and Heaven would be an empty place indeed.
Wait, so if you commit a sin and die before you can ask for forgiveness, does that mean you’ll end up in Hell?
re: “I accepted Christ as my Savior years ago, but I have not been without sin since that time.”
No Christian is without sin, even after confession of Christ as one’s Savior. We all share in that failure. And, I think I can speak for others who have posted here, that as Believers in Christ, when we become aware of sin in our lives, we do need to confess that, agree with God that we have sinned, then accept His forgiveness and move on in obedience to Him.
Re: “I feel that anytime I commit a sin I need to ask God to forgive me for not living up to His expectations. That certainly includes the big one, murder. If I commit suicide, how can I ask God’s forgiveness before I have to face him?”
Ok, I do agree that suicide does not usually honor God. However, there are a few exceptions - for example soldiers who knowingly throw themselves on hand grenades to save their fellow brothers in arms, or family members who knowingly sacrifice themselves to protect their families. It can be technically suicide, but they do it for the cause of saving the lives of others. Not for a selfish reason.
Some have argued that Samson, when he prayed and asked God the return of his supernatural strength in order to topple the posts that held the building structure together, so that he could kill many of the enemy, even though he know he would also die himself, that God honored that prayer.
Now, of course this seminary teacher did not commit suicide to protect anyone. He did it out of a terrible sense of guilt and shame. Can he be forgiven of that? Yes, I believe so because no where in Scripture does it say that suicide is an unpardonable sin.
Your reasonable question is that, well, how can one be forgiven of suicide if you can’t ask forgiveness? Your dead, therefore wouldn’t you stand condemned to Hell?
The answer is that we are all condemned already before God, prior to our accepting Christ’s forgiveness. We are all completely helpless to “save” ourselves from God’s wrath. Only He could provide the way of salvation. Only He could provide the forgiveness because we could never, on our own, remove the guilt of our sin by being “good enough.”
So, if our salvation did not depend on our goodness prior to our salvation, then it stands to reason that once we have been saved, that we keep our salvation, not because we remember and confess every possible sin (and, how do we know we didn’t forget one?), not because we “earn” His salvation through works (though He certainly expects us to live as His Children) - no, the answer is we are still helplessly dependent on His mercy and forgiveness that is our through faith in Christ. In Hebrews 7:24-25 it says,
“But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
In other passages it says that God removes our sin as “far as east is from the west”. God forgives all of our sins of the past, He forgives our present sins, and all those in our future - otherwise, none of us would be able to enter His Heaven.
Now, this doesn’t mean we can live any way we want and still be a Christian. If someone claims to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, yet shows absolutely no change or difference in their life, they never quit their continual lifestyle of sin - that person is NOT one of Christ’s. Living a continual, habitual life of sin means that person has never really accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
We are saved from God’s condemnation by His grace, His unmerited favor toward us, when we receive His Son as our Lord and Savior. We are kept in His salvation forever by that same unmerited favor. We are totally unable to save ourselves. This is why our salvation rests with Him.
As to this man who committed suicide, we cannot know his heart. We do not know his relationship with God beyond what we can see. Only God knows his soul and heart and mind. We need to keep his family and friends in our prayers.
Re: “If I can say I believe in Christ, and go right on committing sins until I die, and then ask for forgiveness, what was the point of the Commandments?”
I think I answered your question in the preceding paragraphs. All good questions.
[[I accepted Christ as my Savior years ago, but I have not been without sin since that time.]]
If you accepted Christ- you have been FORGIVEN past present and future- You are not ‘without sin’ but you ARE forgiven for those sins-
We SHOULD try to live a ‘good life’ - however, even if we don’t, we will still be with Christ in heaven IF we’ve accepted Him as Savior- We will just forfeit many crowns and our position in heaven will not be what it could have been had we lived more for Christ and less for ourselves-
[[If I commit suicide, how can I ask God’s forgiveness before I have to face him?]]
You don’t have to- You ARE saved/forgiven already- Christ doesn’t keep saving us over and over and over again- His death was sufficient to pay the penalty of sin forever
If you have a minute, I’ll explain a little of old testament law-
in the old testament, men had to ‘keep the law’ as it were- they had to obey God’s laws- commands- if they didn’t they had to keep giving sacrifices to atone for their sins (They were still saved, and this is where it gets a bit complicated- but God commanded they be holy by keeping the law- (old testament people were eternally saved by believing on the coming Lord Jesus, even though they knew not who it would be- the prophets foretold of the Savior- and the OT people put their faith in His coming resurrection- they were born again- just like we are today-
It became apparent that man could NOT keep the laws totally- and ifnact fell very hard many times-
I believe the law was around to show man that he could NOT keep the law, and to show man he NEEDS a Savior to fulfill the law because we are such miserable failures
The law, and the sacrifices were a deal where blood from a perfect lamb or animal would ‘cover the sins’ of man- BUT would NOT be permanent (God required more obedience in Old Testament in order tro try to keep His people as pure and free from sin as possible, and so this system of sacrifices was tedious, and took a lot of work, but it was good In the sense that it reminded man what a miserable failure he was so that he could ‘try harder’ I n the future-
The SAvior’s death however, His shed blood could do what no animal’s blood could because He truly IS the spotless lamb- sinless, unblemished- His blood permanently covers sins- forever
No more need for us to ‘keep the law’ or to ‘atone for sins’ like they did in old testament-
We SHOULD however, regularly confess our sins, and strive to allow the Holy Spirit to keep and guide us, but In reality, many of us fall all the time
To wrap up- there are many many verses I n the bible that talk of eternal salvation- once saved always saved-
You should do a study on it sometime- You’ll be surprised at how many there are and at how much security it brings knowing we can’t/don’t have to carry the burden any longer-
Christ died to lift the heavy burden of the law from us- We no longer have to carry that millstone around our necks-
You sin in the flesh and the flesh is judged.
The eternal price for the sin has been paid for.
Christ’s death on the cross was sufficient for all of my sins, not just the ones I know about. I John 1:9 says that if I confess my [known] sins, He will forgive ALL my sin. It is based on His substitutionary death, not on my action of confession.
What good are the commandments? Why, good in every way! Specifically, the commandments are based on the personality of God Himself. They reveal to us the very nature of God.
Secondly, it shows us that we cannot by any means live up to the expected righteousness of God. We need a Savior! It shows us that we fall short; that we are sinners.
And thirdly, the commandments show us the behaviors which would please God. Although I cannot perfectly keep from calling on His name in vain, although I cannot perfectly keep the Sabbath Holy, although I cannot even NOT lie to myself and my neighbors, the commandments show me that God would like me to attempt to emulate these behaviors and that day by day, through the power of the Holy Spirit, I am emulating these behaviors and being more conformed to His image.
Forgiveness is the work of Christ only. Christian behavior is a response of love.