Have I exhausted God's grace

[moparnut]

Here is a link to my first post http://bibleforums.org/forum/showthread.php?p=2091527#post2091527

I am thankful to those that replied to my original post but I have to admit I still feel that I have been rejected by God and that there is nothing that I can do or say to make this any better.

I have cried out to God but feel that he no longer will hear me, I just want to know sometimes does God shut the door on someone permanently as if to say I have given them a gazillion chances to repent of their sin and I am tired of it, I don't care if they feel remorse for it and want to turn to me.

Is this possible? Could it be possible that I have exhausted God's grace towards me.

I truly wish that I would have never indulged in sin and sinful pleasures, then I would have never been at this point of hopelessness and despair that I feel that God is through with me regardless of how many times I tell him that I am sorry and asked to be forgiven.

Am I a modern day Saul? Who God will not forgive ever?

I would appreciate any help with this.

[-SEEKING-]

If you exhausted God's grace towards you, you wouldn't care either way. I'm thinking it's the Holy Spirit who's tugging at your heart. Just go and repent and ask him to take away all this guilt from your heart.

[DaniHansen]

1 John 1:9 (http://bibleforums.org/passage/?book_id=69&chapter=1&verse=9&version=50&context=verse)
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Matthew 11:28 (http://bibleforums.org/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=11&verse=28&version=50&context=verse)
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

John 3:16 (http://bibleforums.org/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=3&verse=16&version=50&context=verse)
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Lamentations 3:22-24 (http://bibleforums.org/passage/?book_id=31&chapter=3&verse=23&version=50&context=verse)
22 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “ The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,

Psalm 51 (http://bibleforums.org/passage/?book_id=31&chapter=3&verse=23&version=50&context=verse)

1 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,[a (http://bibleforums.org/forum/#fen-NKJV-14696a)]
And blameless when You judge.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.

[Twin2]

My pastor says our guilt can come between us and the Lord. The Lord forgives us, we have to forgive ourselves as well. We can't dwell on our past sins and doubt the Lord's forgiveness. That's where faith comes in.

Rom 10:10 KJV- For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Believe you are saved, hold onto faith, confess your salvation, not your doubt. Ask the Lord to take the doubt away. Develop your prayer life and study the word. Worship the Lord and thank him for salvation. Hold out when you don't feel anything. Just hold on. Maybe the Lord is waiting for your faith to take hold. Sing that hymn "I would not be denied" in your heart. Quote Romans 10:10 to yourself. Tell the Lord you believe in salvation and that you are saved. Sometimes we do feel dead, but we have to push through to reach the rejoicing. I know this from experience.

[jayne]

Here is a link to my first post http://bibleforums.org/forum/showthread.php?p=2091527#post2091527

I am thankful to those that replied to my original post but I have to admit I still feel that I have been rejected by God and that there is nothing that I can do or say to make this any better.

Hi, moparnut -

I went back to your original post and saw that the tripping mechanism for your grief in this area is Genesis 6:3.

This is NOT God's way of saying that He gets sick of people and that His grace is limited. This was God saying that He was not going to allow those pre-Flood people to keep fighting Him. They had approximately 120 years to exist and then He was going to send the Flood. Why 120 years? That's about, almost to the tee, how long it took Noah to get prepared from the time God first approached him to the closing of the door on the ark.


I have cried out to God but feel that he no longer will hear me, I just want to know sometimes does God shut the door on someone permanently as if to say I have given them a gazillion chances to repent of their sin and I am tired of it, I don't care if they feel remorse for it and want to turn to me.

Might I make a suggestion? You are crying out to God - which is a good thing. Perhaps you need to listen. The best way - for ME to listen is to fast from the computer, tv, magazines, books, radio, cd player, and all sorts of media for a 24-hour period. And to just sit down a few times that day and just listen for God's voice.


Is this possible? Could it be possible that I have exhausted God's grace towards me.

For a Christian, this is impossible.


I truly wish that I would have never indulged in sin and sinful pleasures, then I would have never been at this point of hopelessness and despair that I feel that God is through with me regardless of how many times I tell him that I am sorry and asked to be forgiven.

This is a lie from the Father of Lies! The devil wants to be be exactly where you are - fearful that God is so angry with you that He has cast you aside like yesterday's trash. The devil can't have you, because you are a Christian. But he can make you miserable. Don't take the bait. Ask God to rebuke the devil's lies for you.


Am I a modern day Saul? Who God will not forgive ever?

God washed his hands of King Saul, that's true. But Saul was NEVER repentant. He had an excuse for every sin he committed. He never called on God nor relied on Him. When Samuel finally told him that obedience is better than sacrifice, all he wanted was sacrifice. He never obeyed God. Even when he begged Samuel to make sacrifices on his part after he sinned his great sins of disobedience to God, he said, "please make sacrifices to YOUR God". He never claimed God to be his God.

You, on the other hand, desire repentance. You cannot compare yourself to King Saul.

From your other post, you said this....

I really appreciate all of your guy's encouragement and support, I forgot to mention in my original post that I have also battled OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) for about ten years as well, I think this is why I have broke a record on saying the sinners prayer, and I have in the past worried that I commited the unpardonable sin, worried that (because of my backslidding) I commited apostasy, and now my most recent worry is that God's spirit has left me and that I am now doomed with no chance.


That helps a little to understand your grief.

Reciting the sinner's prayer over and over is of no more value than reciting a nursery rhyme over and over. But don't beat yourself up over this. You aren't the only person who does this and one doesn't have to suffer from OCD to do this.

The unpardonable sin is denying and rejecting Jesus Christ. Pornography is not the unpardonable sin. "Returning like a dog to his own vomit" (Proverbs 26:11) is not the unpardonable sin.

Let me leave you with some scripture about how Christians will fail and fall and fail and fall time and time again, but they will get up and start over with God's help and through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ has already taken your punishment for you. He was bruised for OUR sins and the chastisement of OUR peace was upon Him and by HIS stripes we are healed. Allow the healing touch of Jesus Christ to allow the following verse to bring you peace.

Micah 7:8 - "Do not rejoice over me, o my enemy. For when I fall, I will get up and when I am in the darkness, the LORD is my light."

Proverbs 24:16 - "For a righteous man will fall seven times, yet he will get up...."

Galatians 6:9 - "Let's don't grow tired of doing what's right, for in due time we will reap, if we don't faint."

John 15:5 - "I (Jesus) am the vine and you are the branch; apart from Me, you can do nothing."

[Raphotai]

Dear Friend Moparnut,

Greetings in the Name of Jesus.

I have read your post of June 2, 2009 and your follow-up message of today.

No, you are not unsavable. No, you have not exhausted God's grace. No, you are not doomed to hell.

I have been preaching the gospel, teaching the Word and reading the Bible now for more than 30 years.

In those years, I have met people like you who feel so bad that they think they are simply no good for heaven. By the grace of God, they have been restored back to God and they are now enjoying the goodness of God as they serve Him.

Of course, this is what the devil wants you, and people like you, to believe: that you have stepped beyond the line of divine mercy... that you have had a glass of sin too much and so cannot hope to be forgiven again by the holy God... that your life has become so murky that endless torment in hell is the best you can hope for.

No, my friend. You can never exhaust the grace of God because Jesus has provided it on the cross of Calvary in inexhaustible measure. The Word of God says, 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' 1John 1:9.

Confess your sin to Him and believe the Word that He has forgiven you. When you do, the Lord - the good, merciful and loving Lord - will forgive you and cleanse you from your sin that makes you feel so terrible. '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.' 1John 1:7. The blood of Jesus Christ has power to cleanse from sin.

Only hypocrites are in the danger of being ignored by God.

I don't believe you are an hypocrite. Your cry for divine help seems so genuine. You really want to be forgiven, and He will not disappoint you.

David, the man God chose to take the place of Saul, the disqualified king of Israel, committed a horrible sin – sin so dark that it would make a mark on tar paper.

God had poured His goodness upon David and helped him to become great. Then, one day, he stepped across the boundary. He committed a sin that would have jolted even a hardened sinner.

The Lord sent His prophet to confront David with his sin. David repented genuinely, confessing, "I have sinned."

He cried to God, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." Psalm 51:1-2.

And God forgave him.

Call upon the Lord to forgive you and give you the grace to go and sin no more. HE WILL DO SO. Read Ezekiel 33:11, 15-19.

Friend, God is not interested in your destruction!

Let the Holy Spirit restores to you the joy of salvation. Stop agreeing with the enemy of your soul. Stand on the word of God and begin to enjoy the grace of the Loving Father.

God bless you.

Raphael O. Taiwo
www.ucevam.com

[Twin2]

Raphotai, David is a good example of someone who sinned and sinned and then went to God with a repentant heart. I wish I knew this twenty some years ago, when my husband's grandfather told me he wasn't worthy to serve the Lord. As a young Christian who was afraid of this man, I backed off. A short time later there was a tragedy and it was too late.

Moparnet, you've received some very good advice on this matter. I hope it is what you needed to hear and you will find peace on this matter soon. Keep praying and worshiping the Lord. Trust and believe. When the Lord is dealing with a person's heart, I believe there is a battle going on for that person's soul. I usually tell people if your conscience is still working, that's the Lord's conviction. As long as you feel that conviction, it's not to late. The purpose of conviction is to lead a person to repentance.

[moparnut]

Thank you all so much for the helpful advice. I have been praying about this matter and seeking God about it.

I really feel like I have been given victory in this, and really it all comes down to faith, The Lord, and what he did on the cross. I could sit around worry about it (like the enemy would like me to do) which will not get me anywhere but worried or scared or I can give it to the Lord which I choose to do.

Again thank you all so much you have been a blessing in my life.

[fuzzi]

Moparnut, you have been given good advice and appropriate Scripture. However, I would just like to add one thing that occurred to me, that I did not see addressed here.

You were quoted as saying that you were afraid that God's Spirit had left you. As a born again child of God, that is not possible.

You have been adopted into the family of God. You are His child:

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:15-17)

You are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, a member of His Body:

"For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." (Ephesians 5:30)

He will never leave nor forsake you:

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5)

And as far as the particulars about the Holy Spirit not leaving you, here are just a few verses to meditate upon:

"When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain." (Romans 15:28)

"Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." (2 Corinthians 1:22) an 'earnest' is a down payment

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise," (Ephesians 1:13)

"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30)

I hope that helps.