Silas
Beloved of All
Your honesty about being tempted and about doubting where you stand with God is important to bring into the light, and God wants to meet you right there.
Temptation itself is not sin. It is common to everyone, and even Jesus was tempted and understands what it is like to live in a body of flesh, to be hungry, to be weary, and to face real solicitation to evil. The enemy solicits to evil, God never does. What you are feeling is being drawn by your own desires, and every temptation presents a choice about whether you will walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. The sin is not in being tempted, the sin is when desire is allowed to conceive and you yield to it. Scripture says lust when it has conceived brings forth sin, and sin when it is finished brings death. That is why a decision made beforehand to give in is so serious, it is choosing a path that cannot satisfy, it can only be indulged for a moment and never truly fulfilled. The only thing that helps with lust is to starve it, not to feed it.
Every temptation to turn aside from God's path comes with the lie of immediate fulfillment. Satan will always suggest that you can have what you want right now if you will just step off God's way. His attacks always fall in the same three areas, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. All that is in the world in this sense is not of the Father, and the world and its lust are passing away. Those fleshly lusts war against your soul and would destroy you, and that is why God calls you to abstain from them. For those who are in Christ, you are not at home in that system, you are a stranger and a pilgrim passing through.
There is a way to stand against this, and it is the power of the Word hidden in your heart. When Jesus was tempted He answered, It is written. You can do the same. When the suggestion comes, answer it with what God has said. Choosing to walk in the Spirit in that moment, calling on the Lord, opening the Scriptures, turning away from the place or image or thought that feeds the desire, and bringing your struggle honestly to God and to a trusted mature believer will help you not to yield.
Your question about heaven goes to assurance, and assurance does not come from your own works or efforts. Salvation cannot be bought, earned, or deserved, it is a gift of grace. Jesus, through His obedience and His suffering on the cross, became the author of eternal salvation and the author and finisher of faith for all who trust in Him. There is salvation in no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. When you put your trust in Him alone, you can have full assurance of hope to the end, not because you are holding on perfectly, but because He holds you. His Word is settled forever, and He has confirmed His promise with an oath, so you have two unchangeable things to anchor your hope.
Heaven does not respond to a repentant heart with bitterness. Jesus taught that there is joy in heaven when one sinner turns back, just as a father rejoices when a lost son comes home and restores him to the place of a son, not a slave. If you have turned to Christ for salvation, you are His, and He is able to deliver you from evil and lead you out of temptation as you ask Him daily. If you are not sure you have ever truly trusted Him, today you can come to Him just as you are, confess your sin, and receive forgiveness and cleansing. He receives sinners who seek Him.
Do not follow through on the decision to give in. In this moment, while the choice is still before you, turn to the Lord. Tell Him honestly that you are tempted and that you want His way more than immediate fulfillment. Ask Him to forgive you, to cleanse you, and to fill you with His Spirit so you can walk in His strength and not your own. Choose to starve what wars against your soul and to feed your heart with His Word. God is able to keep you, and He desires to give you peace and full assurance as you keep your eyes on Jesus, the captain of your salvation.
Temptation itself is not sin. It is common to everyone, and even Jesus was tempted and understands what it is like to live in a body of flesh, to be hungry, to be weary, and to face real solicitation to evil. The enemy solicits to evil, God never does. What you are feeling is being drawn by your own desires, and every temptation presents a choice about whether you will walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. The sin is not in being tempted, the sin is when desire is allowed to conceive and you yield to it. Scripture says lust when it has conceived brings forth sin, and sin when it is finished brings death. That is why a decision made beforehand to give in is so serious, it is choosing a path that cannot satisfy, it can only be indulged for a moment and never truly fulfilled. The only thing that helps with lust is to starve it, not to feed it.
Every temptation to turn aside from God's path comes with the lie of immediate fulfillment. Satan will always suggest that you can have what you want right now if you will just step off God's way. His attacks always fall in the same three areas, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. All that is in the world in this sense is not of the Father, and the world and its lust are passing away. Those fleshly lusts war against your soul and would destroy you, and that is why God calls you to abstain from them. For those who are in Christ, you are not at home in that system, you are a stranger and a pilgrim passing through.
There is a way to stand against this, and it is the power of the Word hidden in your heart. When Jesus was tempted He answered, It is written. You can do the same. When the suggestion comes, answer it with what God has said. Choosing to walk in the Spirit in that moment, calling on the Lord, opening the Scriptures, turning away from the place or image or thought that feeds the desire, and bringing your struggle honestly to God and to a trusted mature believer will help you not to yield.
Your question about heaven goes to assurance, and assurance does not come from your own works or efforts. Salvation cannot be bought, earned, or deserved, it is a gift of grace. Jesus, through His obedience and His suffering on the cross, became the author of eternal salvation and the author and finisher of faith for all who trust in Him. There is salvation in no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. When you put your trust in Him alone, you can have full assurance of hope to the end, not because you are holding on perfectly, but because He holds you. His Word is settled forever, and He has confirmed His promise with an oath, so you have two unchangeable things to anchor your hope.
Heaven does not respond to a repentant heart with bitterness. Jesus taught that there is joy in heaven when one sinner turns back, just as a father rejoices when a lost son comes home and restores him to the place of a son, not a slave. If you have turned to Christ for salvation, you are His, and He is able to deliver you from evil and lead you out of temptation as you ask Him daily. If you are not sure you have ever truly trusted Him, today you can come to Him just as you are, confess your sin, and receive forgiveness and cleansing. He receives sinners who seek Him.
Do not follow through on the decision to give in. In this moment, while the choice is still before you, turn to the Lord. Tell Him honestly that you are tempted and that you want His way more than immediate fulfillment. Ask Him to forgive you, to cleanse you, and to fill you with His Spirit so you can walk in His strength and not your own. Choose to starve what wars against your soul and to feed your heart with His Word. God is able to keep you, and He desires to give you peace and full assurance as you keep your eyes on Jesus, the captain of your salvation.
