Is Desiring God and Feeling Sorry for Sin Enough?
Is Desiring God equivalent to living by faith as the Bible requires? Hebrews 11:24-29 says: “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.”
Imagine if Moses had continued to call himself the son of Pharaoh’s daughter for the rest of his life and had not actually done any of the things which he is said to have done by faith in the preceding verses. Would Moses still have been a man of faith in God’s grace as long as he felt sorry over his failure?
In spite of how foolish that question may sound, it is common now among Christians to hear the assertion that a person must be right with God as long as they have a desire to seek Him and they feel sorry over sinning.
Many very unhealthy people have desires to go to the gym regularly, improve their diet, and develop better habits in general so that they get in shape which they do not act upon. People can also have desires to pursue God and overcome sin which they do not act upon- at least not in line with what the Bible prescribes.
It is seen in the Book of Ruth how Orpah and Ruth each had a strong desire to be faithful to their mother-in-law Naomi and return with her back to the land of Israel (where the true God’s worship was centered at the time- see Ruth 1:10). Ruth was steadfast and acted upon that desire while Orpah did not (see Ruth 1:14-18). Orpah lived in idolatry in the country of Moab in spite of her obvious sorrow over her decision to do so while Ruth actually returned with Naomi and served the Lord.
The idea that anyone with any desire to seek the Lord who feels sorry over sinning must be right with Him comes from Calvinism (and Calvinism comes from Augustinianism). Calvinism wrongly assumes that a person being in a state of spiritual death means that they have no spiritual capacity. This error leads to the assumption that anyone who feels guilty or in any way experiences conviction over sinning must be in God’s grace. It is normal for a person to be told something along the lines of “If you were not a true Christian, you wouldn’t even be troubled over your sin.” This counsel is downright wrong and incredibly misleading.
King Herod is a clear example of how a person can desire to be right with God and feel sorry over sinning while remaining unrepentant and on track to go to hell.
Mark 6:17-28: “For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John (John the Baptist), and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not: For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee; And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.”
Many now would foolishly say that a man like Herod is in God’s grace. Herod had heard John the Baptist’s preaching gladly and even did many right things in response to John’s preaching. However, he still did not make a clean break from sin like the Lord requires. He did not do all that was necessary to cut sin out of his life. Herod still insisted on staying in his unlawful marriage (which was not sin because it involved remarriage; it was rather sin because the wife he took had been married to his still living brother), he had to have a birthday party for himself with ungodly guests, he permitted sensual dancing in his presence that he had the authority to stop, he refused to tell his wife no when righteousness demanded that he do so, and he chose to prioritize pleasing certain people over doing what is pleasing in the true God’s eyes. Nevertheless, Herod really was exceedingly sorry to have John the Baptist put to death despite being a lustful, people-pleasing murderer. Herod was even sorry over his decision to have John executed before the execution even occurred. It cannot even be rightfully said that this sorrow was over getting caught. From all that is known from the Bible, Herod was never arrested or in any way held accountable by men for his unlawful killing of John.
Another key ingredient in the prevalence of the lie that it is enough to desire to seek God and feel sorry over sinning is the lie that the Apostle Paul was describing his present experience as a faithful Christian when he described a carnal man defeated by sin in the first person within Romans chapter 7. It is no surprise at all that Calvinist Bible teachers adhere to this lie along with many others. Most Bible colleges and churches teach that the wretched man defeated by sin in Romans chapter 7 is a description of the Apostle Paul’s Christian experience as he wrote Romans.
Paul would go on in Romans chapter 8 to describe the present experience of one who is walking in a living faith in Christ. We see there that those in Christ Jesus who are not condemned do not walk after the flesh. They rather fulfill the righteousness of God’s law by Christ’s Spirit since they are freed from the law of sin and death as they abide in Him. That is a stark contrast to the Romans 7 man who is carnal, sold under sin, and is a captive to the law of sin and death. This contrast destroys the idea that the description of the man defeated by sin in Romans 7 is a description of Paul’s experience at the time he wrote Romans. Paul’s own testimony about his Christian life in the Bible, as well as his expectations of others to overcome sin as he was doing, are not compatible with the defeated man’s experience described in Romans chapter 7.
Galatians 5:16: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
1 Thessalonians 2:9-12: “For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”
Paul had already spoken in Romans chapter 5 of how those who have been reconciled to God through Christ are partakers of a salvation that is an actual remedy for all the damage caused by sin’s reign in them when they were enemies of God. Many who quote Romans 5:20 don’t go on to quote verse 21. It would be no surprise if that omission is deliberate when someone is using verse 20 to claim that people can be justified as they continue to live in sin.
Romans 5:20-21: “Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Paul would go on in Romans chapter 6 to warn that we cannot continue in sin that grace may abound. He would also give the following instruction.
Romans 6:10-13: “For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
A promise is then given for those who follow the preceding instruction.
Romans 6:14: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
Not being under law in the true Gospel sense means not being under the law’s condemnation. Someone is only not under the condemnation of the law when they are submitted to the law’s demands and look to Christ (whom the law of God points as the remedy for sin) to deliver them from sin’s guilt and power. While having a desire to seek God and being sorry over one’s sins are obviously necessary to cooperate here, they are simply not enough.
In contrast to the way of the wretched, defeated man whom Paul described in the first person in Romans chapter 7 in order to make his point more effective, one must actually die to self and suffer to deny themselves the pleasure of sin in order to walk in new life in Christ. This is the case with those who have never been born-again as well as with those who have been born-again. A real new birth only puts a person on the narrow way to life in Christ rather than at the finish line of the narrow way. Only those who endure to the end will be saved and inherit the fullness of eternal life.
When the Bible speaks of righteous Christians being saved in the present tense, it is speaking of them presently being in God’s grace on the narrow way to life. When the Bible speaks of them already having eternal life, it is speaking of a deposit of eternal life rather than eternal life in its fullness. There is free will after conversion as well as beforehand. Choices must still be made after conversion to die to self daily in order to continue abiding in Christ.
Luke 9:23-24: “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”
This is indeed a matter of ultimate salvation.
Continuing in Luke 9:25: “For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?”
There are conditions to being in God’s grace. While no one has earned the right to be justified before Him, all who are justified are meeting the conditions. Very often churches and preachers tell people to look for evidence that they are justified (which they frequently term “being saved”). However, it is more important to focus on presently doing what is necessary to demonstrate repentance and walk in a living faith in Christ.
Sadly, people are also often given very misleading criteria for discerning whether they are justified. The idea that having a desire to seek God and feeling sorry over sinning are enough is a chief example of such misleading criteria. This not only confuses those who have never really been born-again, it also confuses those who really have been. Such confusion can have numerous destructive consequences. People are taught to zero in on their feelings and/or past experiences rather than on what they ought to practically do now. People are also lulled into false security while they live in bondage to sin as they are given the impression that the guilt they feel as they sin is proof that they are on the right track. This guilt rather testifies that they have strayed from the narrow way and need to repent by actually forsaking their sins and returning to live under the authority of Christ.
On the other hand, focusing on feelings might also embolden sinning Christians if they feel no conviction and no feelings of sorrow for their evil deeds. Decreased guilt related to sinning might get labelled as something like “growing in confidence of God’s grace” while increased guilt related to sinning might get labelled as something like “obtaining a greater measure of holiness.” These labels are delusional. No one really grows in His grace or becomes more holy while they live as a slave to evil deeds. Yielding to these always leads to death (see Romans 6:15-23- many quote verse 23 while disregarding the previous verses).
What one actually does is what ultimately matters rather than how they feel.
Matthew 21:28-30: “But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.”
The second son might have really intended to go work in his father’s vineyard. He might have also felt good about the prospect of doing so. However, he did not go. The first son went. Only the first son did the will of his father. The Bible diagnoses the righteous and the wicked by what they actually do.
John 8:39: “They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”
Matthew 13:40-43: “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity (i.e. violation of God’s law- this word is anomia in the Greek text); And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Aaron’s email is: gospeltruth768@yahoo.com