I have been doing studying lately because I feel a conviction in my mind that I am guilty of sin and deserving of hellfire due to breaking the 10 commandments either in deed or in heart.

I can feel war wage within my spirit. One side proclaims the salvation of Jesus Christ. The other spirit, accuses me, and condemns me.

The devil is a liar, so I cannot believe him. I choose to put my faith in Jesus Christ. He is called the Christ because he is the lamb of God, the sacrifice that takes place, his blood is payment for the sins of those who fall short of the glory of God and believe on him to pay the price that is owed.

Life is hard. I have to watch out for false prophets, lying spirits, and I have to make sure in the end times I do not take the mark of the beast. No one knows when God will come back, but I feel in my spirit that time is coming soon, either for me, or for the whole world.

I hope that I make it to heaven, because I cannot stand the fires of hell. Eternal separation from God is the worst punishment and I fear the Lord.

As Paul says, your flesh is waging war against your spirit. Even in sin, he says "I do that which I do not want to do, and do not do that which I want to do"... and "if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it, but the sin living in me".

He gives those words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as you know. No matter how hard it seems the ruler of this world is coming after you, remember to resist the devil, and he will flee.

If you have placed your faith and hope in Jesus alone, repenting of your sin, you can know that you WILL be in heaven. You do not need to fear. Jesus says "I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand." And "my father who has given them to me is greater than all, no one can snatch them from my father's hand". Paul (in the spirit) again says he is "confident that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of christ Jesus". There are many other encouraging truths regarding this in the Bible, the last I will note is to read Roman's 8:29-30. He uses "glorified" in the past tense as if it has happened because it is assured that once you are saved you WILL be glorified in heaven.

You don't need to live in that fear. Try to resist the flesh and keep your mind on things above (though nobody can fully do this in our state). The best way is by staying in God's word. I'll pray that you find assurance and no longer have to fear hell.

Thank you, it seems you said exactly what I needed to hear, for that I am thankful.

Glad to hear it! Let me know if you need an ear or have any questions. God Bless!

The only questions I have now are about faith vs works salvation. I am leaning towards faith-only. Im trying to be perfect but I find that I fail everyday. I decided to just trust Jesus Christ for my payment of sins and forget trying to be perfect.

That's right, Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
It is very clear that we are saved by Grace alone by Faith in Christ alone and if you trust that he paid for your sin, no works one way or the other will impact your salvation!

With that said, genuine salvation tends to produce "good works" which were prepared beforehand that we may walk in them. These "works" might look different for everyone at any given time. The Lord sanctifies us (grows us more like Christ) over time until we are finally like Him in glory. One way the Holy Spirit sanctifies us is by staying in God's word. Jesus says in John 17:17 "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."
Everyone starts in a different place, and as long as the pattern of your life is to move away from sin and toward Christ, the works will come without "trying".

Just to add, I know how it can feel (convicting, condemning), especially after reading a book like James "But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds." As a new Christian, I was terrified i wasnt "doing" enough etc. but as I stay in the word (perhaps a good work in itself), the lord sanctifies me and i now do things i never would have before (share my faith etc.). It's important to remember you can do nothing for God. All you have is His, and at best, you're giving back what is His. Trying to do "good works" to try to build "credit" with God will do nothing. Good works (which God prepared beforehand for you) will be produced in you as a response for your love of God as long as you stay in your faith and in the Word.
Long story short, we do our best to follow Jesus' commands to love God and our neighbors (and we constantly fall short). As long as we trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit inside us will progressively help us to show that love to our God and neighbors as we grow.

This post was edited by birrdd123 on May 5 2023 06:51am

What is John 12:23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."
saying?

22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Revelation 22 makes me very happy reading that. It is my hope of eternal salvation that also wants me to do good works even if it is not necessary, and at the same time, not boast about it because the reward in heaven is far greater than vanity gained through pride.

It's saying that you'll lose your old life of unrighteousness (Born again as Gods child). To hate your life is to hate the current world systems and things of the flesh.
That is by way of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Once you're saved you're sanctified (set apart for god, what people call innitial sanctification among other things) and Jesus' righteousness is credited to you. God works in us throughout the rest of our lives to become more like Jesus until we're with Him in glory (what is usually called progressive sanctification).

The important thing is the pattern of a saved person's life is moving away from sin and toward holiness. There can be "backsliding" where the saved man begins to sin more or not act and speak in righteousness, but nobody will snatch us from His hand and God will discipline the ones he loves back into the way of righteousness.

The losing of life came to me by way of conviction from the Holy Spirit. I started hating things I was doing (drugs porn etc), though it was not easy to stop doing them as the flesh wages war with the spirit. The important thing is I finally realized they were wrong as I have the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ (see 1 Co below), so I started working to remove them from my life (and am still working on things, of course, as we'll not be perfect until He returns).

1 corinthians 2:14-16
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.

It sounds like you have a lot of the questions and anxieties I had, and the above (and similar verses) are actually quite comforting when you think about them. If you consider the things of God true and righteous rather than "foolishness", you can be sure you're on the right track and discerning things by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is our security!

2 corinthians 5:5
Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

The best way I've found to stay on track and participate in my sanctification is to stay in God's word. It helps me discern the things God wants and convicts me of my sin. I'm not sure if that is the part of the verse you were referring to. If not, let me know, but I hope this helped. You do not need to fear if you trust fully in what Christ did to save you. And as you understand more fully the magnitude of what He did, you begin to want to do things in love in return.

It was not an overnight thing for me, and when I was saved I was extremely happy and joyous, but as I continued to read the epistles I became terrified that I wasn't "good enough", but the "good" comes more and more as you stay in and trust God's word, often without even trying on our end. And if the saved person hasnt yet "cleaned everything up" in their life and were to die this moment, they will still have Christ's righteousness in God's eyes.

I replied to your prior post before reading this. THAT, THAT glorious feeling of wanting to do things for Christ simply because His love, sacrifice, rewards are so great is the essence of "showing faith by works". I'm glad to read that from you, Brother, and I rejoice with you! Only you and God know your salvation, but if you're responding in love to what Christ did and trusting him, I will see you in heaven one day.

This post was edited by birrdd123 on May 5 2023 08:42pm