I am born again through the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I still sin. I find myself in a state of fornication and all kinds of sexual immoralities but each time I do pray I feel unworthy even to do so, despite the fact that I preach. Can God forgive me and what can I do to stop it? I have tried to do without it but I find myself in it more deeply. What can I do?<\/p>\n\t
My apologies if I misunderstood your message. It arrived with many odd character encodings, so there are spots where I had to guess what you intended to say.<\/p>\n
The core problem is that you never really repented of your sins. To become a Christian, a person must first recognize that he is in sin and turn away from it. “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” <\/em>” (Acts 2:38). Until you accept the fact that sex belongs only in marriage, you cannot be a Christian. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 6:9-10).<\/p>\n No one ever became a Christian through an appearance of Jesus. Even Saul, when he saw Jesus was not saved from his sins because three days later Ananias told him, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord<\/em>” (Acts 22:16). Until Saul obeyed the command of the Lord to be baptized, he remained in his sins.<\/p>\n Though you are preaching, that doesn’t save you either. Apollos preached about the Christ, but he wasn’t saved because he had not yet learned the full truth of the gospel. “This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately<\/em>” (Acts 18:25-26). He was accurate in what he knew, but he did not know enough.<\/p>\n A preacher’s job is to help people out of sin. You cannot help others until you first have dealt with your own problems. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye<\/em>” (Matthew 7:1-5). You need to turn from your own sins first, then you can help others with their sins.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I am born again through the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I still sin. I find myself in a state of fornication and all kinds of sexual immoralities but each time I do pray I feel unworthy even to do so, despite the fact that I preach. Can God forgive me and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1572,50],"class_list":["post-34914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-fornication","tag-repentance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40720,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-stop-committing-fornication-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":34914,"position":0},"title":"How do I stop committing fornication? (2)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good afternoon sir, I am a 26-year-old guy. Please, I have been having challenges with stopping fornication. Even after hearing the word, I still find myself misbehaving and this happens when I am really determined to set my heart spiritually before God. Sir, I also really want a true\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4811,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-want-to-become-a-christian-but-i-still-like-to-party\/","url_meta":{"origin":34914,"position":1},"title":"I want to become a Christian, but I still like to party","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I had a saving experienced with Jesus, but I have not been baptized to be forgiven for my sins. I find myself in a predicament. I was in an abusive relationship and there where acts of pure evil being committed. I came away from that turmoil into the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89588,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-have-material-on-restoring-young-people-who-had-committed-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":34914,"position":2},"title":"Do you have material on restoring young people who had committed fornication?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, I am looking for resources to restore young people who have fallen into the sin of fornication. Do you have any lessons? Do you know of any books or pages? Thanks a lot! Answer: There is a ton of material on the topic of fornication on this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50451,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-know-i-wont-fall-into-fornication-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":34914,"position":3},"title":"How do I know I won’t fall into fornication again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I seem to be struggling with my Christian life. I keep dabbling in fornication, which is always painful for me, so I don't even know why I do it. I also noticed I don't have a lot of Christian friends around. I can't seem to actually find any friends,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38070,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-return-to-god-after-committing-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":34914,"position":4},"title":"How do I return to God after committing fornication?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning, Thanks for all you do for singles all over the world -- taking questions and giving wisdom-filled answers. God will keep blessing you. I have a huge problem. I'm a leader in my local assembly, and I've been engaging in the sin of fornication with my wife-to-be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34076,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-have-to-break-off-my-engagement-because-we-committed-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":34914,"position":5},"title":"Do I have to break off my engagement because we committed fornication?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I need advice, please. I had been living as a born-again Christian for over a year before I fell into sin and committed fornication. I met the guy a year after my baptism and we were engaged a few months later; we are both in our thirties. 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