Here is an important question which I received from a web visitor who is worried that he is too sinful to be saved. He said that a preacher told him that Romans chapter one says he cannot be saved...

QUESTION:

I am worried am i really saved. I Keep going through a prayer where I keep saying Lord i think i am saved but i am really not sure Jesus i believe that you shed all of your blood and died on the cross for my sins and you physically rose from the grave to approve it was finished Jesus i do not understand it all but even if i doubt i believe if i am not saved then please save me now and give me eternal security that i can never lose amen. A preacher told me that i am beyond hope that i am a reprobate that it is too late is this true he gave me a heart attack when he said that He said just because i have lustful thoughts against children then i am a reprobate please help i am worried sick? he keeps telling me this from Romans 1 saying god gave them over to those sin.
 

MY BIBLICAL RESPONSE:

Hello ******,

Thank you for regularly visiting my website ministry.

You are not beyond hope of salvation. If there is one great truth in the Bible, it is that "WHOSOEVER" may be saved. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I went through a 7 year period of doubt myself, after I was saved at age 13, because I didn't fully understand how salvation works.

I was like you, praying umpteen times, yet still "feeling" worried that I might not be saved. I kept asking myself, "What if?" What if I'm not saved? What if I go to Hell? I was so scared. I had never heard a clear Gospel presentation. I was saved, but confused about exactly what was required to be saved. I was lied to, told that I should pray to be saved, but that confused me. I kept wondering, "Did I pray right?" But I learned that you don't have to pray to be saved, you simply need to BELIEVE the Good News (Gospel) of Christ crucified on the cross, buried and bodily resurrected three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). I have written a couple articles about my testimony, which I think will help you...

https://www.soulwinning.info/fd/praying_to_be_saved.htm

https://www.soulwinning.info/articles/doubting_salvation.htm

The sins that you commit cannot prevent you from being saved. God will save the vilest sinner who comes to Jesus Christ by faith to be saved. Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Romans 4:5 says that God only saves "THE UNGODLY." So, yes, God will gladly save you ******, no matter how sinful you are, and then once you are His child, He will start convicting you about sin and things that He wants to help you overcome. God saves a man by faith alone, and then the indwelling Holy Spirit changes that man if he yields to the Spirit's leading in obedience to the Word of God. A changed life is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and not a requirement to receive the free "gift" (Romans 6:23) of eternal life.

Here is a helpful MP3 sermon my friend, preached by Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, called, "Why Grace Can Save The Worst Man"...

http://www.lovethetruth.com/preachers/ralph_yankee_arnold/why_grace_can_save_the_worst_man.mp3

God's grace can wash away all your sins by the precious blood of Jesus Christ! 1st John 1:7b-8, "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." God only saves sinners!

Romans chapter one says that God gives rebellious men (idolaters) over to their SINS. It doesn't say that God gives up on them ever getting saved. When men continually reject Christ as their Savior, God gives them over to their sins, which Romans chapter 2 says is for the purpose of treasuring up God's wrath against them for judgment day. So the meaning of Romans chapter one is not that God rejects the worst of sinners; but rather, the worst of sinners reject God, and God will not be mocked and is preparing them for damnation.

Here is a wonderful 24-part Bible study series called, "SO GREAT SALVATION," by Pastor Max D. Younce, which I am sharing with all my web visitors. It has been a big blessing to me to hear these studies and I hope you'll also listen to them. I know they will further help you...

http://www.soulwinning.info/sermons/dr_younce/so_great_salvation.htm

Thank you for allowing my website ministry to be a part of your life, I don't take it lightly.

Psalms 90:9b and 12, "...we spend our years as a tale that is told. ... So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."

Proverbs 4:18, "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

Ephesians 3:19, "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."

I hope that helps.

Kindest regards,

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       The man wrote back, clearly upset at the Baptist pastor who told him he is a “reprobate” beyond salvation. I have learned in my years as a believer that oftentimes people just need to know that someone cares about them. Most of what I do in my ministry, besides preaching the Gospel and contending for the Christian faith, is to assure everyone that I love them, notice them, care about them, pray for them and watch for their souls. That is what pastoring is all about... LOVING PEOPLE! SO I wrote this man back, trying to help him as well as address his frustrations regarding the pastor. ...

A Second Reply, With Some Helpful Resources

Hey ******,

I've learned to simply love everyone. Just love that pastor  in his imperfections. God is the one, the only one, whom you must give account to one day (Romans 14:10-12), not Brother Anderson nor anyone else. God loves you ******. He created you (Psalms 100:3), died for you on the cross (Romans 5:8-9), and cares about you very much (1st Peter 5:7). I can assure you of that my friend.

Here is living "proof" that there is hope for homosexuals. This dear man and his wife, Frank and Anita Worthen, were both formerly active in the homosexual deathstyle as adults. Through the saving-power of the Gospel of free grace, Frank and Anita got saved, and over time were delivered from the enslavement of sin. ...

http://www.newhope123.org

The grace of God can restore the worst criminal to a place of goodness, respect and trust again, which nothing else can do. The apostle Paul was a murderer of Christians, kicking down their doors, dragging them into the streets back to Rome to be stoned. But In Acts 9:1-5 God miraculously saved Paul by faith. Although Paul addressed Jesus as "Lord," this does not create a doctrinal precedent to make Christ one's Boss to be saved.

The salvaging of a man's life begins with the salvation of his soul from Hell. It all begins with the gift of the new birth (John 3:1-7). I believe that a preacher can say anything that he feels led by God to say. So I won't say what the pastor should or shouldn't say, I love the pastor that you mentioned and his fervent style of preaching. Whether or not I agree with what he says is an entirely different matter. David did pray what we call "imprecatory prayers" in the Old Testament, asking God not to let his enemies get saved. David wanted the wicked to burn in hell. David prayed for God to bash their teeth out! David hated them with a perfect hatred, those who hated the Lord. I can love flowers and hate weeds, but that doesn't mean that I want weeds to go away forever. Weeds serve an important ecological purpose. Hatred is a choice. We choose who and what to hate. I choose to hate evil. I choose to hate the companies and governing bodies that promote evil. But I choose to love everyone with God's love. I'm not saying that love looks the other way, leaving victims without justice. That is a crime in itself. Love is treating people the way God tells us to. A murderer should get the death sentence, which is love. It is love because obeying God maintains the peace in society.

It is important that we have enough understanding of God's nature, and truth, to grasp the truth that everything in life exists as a law of balances. For example: We could not appreciate beauty without having something ugly by which to compare it. We couldn't truly love the beautiful red roses without also hating the ugly green weeds that destroy them. No man can truly be righteous in his soul who doesn't equally hate the evil and sin that corrupt righteousness. So everything in life has a balance to it. David loved others, evidenced by his kindness and generosity in the Bible. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:27, "An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked."

David was a just man, a righteous man who loved the Lord. Psalms 97:10 says, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." David hated evil, as I do. I would like to see the wicked instigators in our society today made examples of. If I had my way, I'd have the CEO's on Wall Street tried, sentenced and punished. I'd dismantle the Justice Department and put them all on trial too, because they are corrupt, who don't give justice to victims, they cause more of it. I understand David's hatred against evil. So David hates the actions of the wicked, not the wicked. To hate anyone on a personal level goes against the nature of God. There are people that I hate, but I hate their name, soiled by sin, and their works, damned by sin, and their lives, contemptible by sin, and their prosperity, blood money from sin. I never hate the soul of a person.

From reading your e-mails I perceive that you are upset ****** at the pastor you mentioned. The best thing to do is leave that pastor alone on this issue, because he is set in his ways. Neither you, nor me, are going to straighten him out doctrinally. Only God can do that. I am confident that over time, as the brother interacts more with people, and his children grow older, that God will enlarge his heart, as He did Solomon's. The (unnamed) pastor has the makings of a mighty man of God, but he'll never move any higher on a spiritual plane until he first learns to love the unlovely. I don't like the homosexual community, but I love them with God's unconditional love. I don't support their perverse agenda, but I don't bash them either. I preach against homosexuality as a disgusting sin, but I also offer the hope of the Gospel of grace, through which deliverance from every sin may be found. Open homosexuals must never be permitted to tout their "gay pride" attitude in God's house. All sin is wickedness and perverse. But any repentant sinner is welcomed in the church. Obviously, two gay men kissing in church are disrespecting the house of God and should be asked to leave. Open sin is not allowed in the church (1st Corinthians 5:1-5).

Having said that, a person who is struggling with impure thoughts needs some help. 2nd Corinthians 10:5, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." A believer is taught to bring their wrong thoughts into line with the written Word of God. This is not brainwashing; but rather, walking in the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22-25). When you have those wrong thoughts ******, immediately think of 1st Peter 2:11, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." I just wrote this article last week, titled, "Jesus Died For Pedophiles, Rapists, And Murderers"...

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Truths/jesus_died_for_the_ungodly.htm

A dear man, one of my regular web visitors, asked me recently how to overcome a dirty mind as a man, struggling with lust and adulterous thoughts. I helped him with the following spiritual resources...

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Testimonies/help_quit_dirty_pictures.htm

Believers who fail to obey the Holy Bible, and instead choose to indulge in sin, often take great risks of eventually ending up destroyed: rotting in prison, divorce, broken families, financial ruin, et cetera. America's prisons are filled with ordinary everyday people, sinners, who simply lacked the character to control them self one time. The Word of God is our best friend.

I heard a wonderful MP3 sermon (link below) today by Pastor Jack Hyles, titled, "Where The Battle Is Really Won!" It is not what we do at the time of great temptation that keeps us from committing evil; but rather, what we were doing long before during all those mundane days, the quiet times when we were alone at home, the silent times in between life's crisis's and the times of seemingly unbearable temptation. In other words, we ought to live in the Word of God, listen to Bible-preaching regularly, and stay close to the things of God...

http://www.soulwinning.info/sermons/hp011418.mp3

We won't become in 5-years what we decide to be, we'll become what we decide to be around! That's why I want to hang around soul-winning believers. I avoid critical people. I avoids dirty-minded people. I avoid greedy people. I am careful what books I read. I avoid Joel Osteen. I want to read books authored by people whom I admire and want to become like, like my friend, Pastor Max D. Younce. I listen often to Pastor Jeff Owens (who was one of my teachers at Hyles-Anderson College, 1985-1993)...

http://www.twinriversbaptistchurch.com/sermons

http://feeds.feedburner.com/twinriversbaptistchurch

Here are tons more of solid, doctrinally-sound, awesome, Bible-preaching. You need this ****** to edify (build up) your mind. I listen to fundamental Baptist Bible-preaching every day and love it!

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Books,%20Tracts%20&%20Preaching/Audio%20Sermons/audio_sermons.htm

Since you appear to be a college student, you'd really like Pastor Ralph "Yankee" Arnold (they're non-denominational in their religious affiliation, which is fine with me), who shares his daily chapel services at Florida Bible College online for the world to listen in. I love this man, the ministry as a whole, and their precious emphasis on the clarity of the Gospel...

http://www.biblelineministries.org/av/audioarchive/listall.php3

Have a good day,

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Souls Are Dying!

Precious Christian Testimonies

Warning: How Did You Get Saved?

How Permanent Is Your Salvation?
(an excellent MP3 sermon by Pastor Hank Lindstrom, 1940-2008)

“The mark of the child of God is that he loves everybody!”
(a quote from Pastor Jack Hyles' classic MP3 sermon, “FORGIVENESS”)

Ye Must Be Born Again! | You Need HIS Righteousness!