Things That Accompany Salvation<\/a>” contains a list of what God says is needed to be saved from your sins.<\/p>\nA person who is a child of God has the right to approach God’s throne to ask for forgiveness of the sins he has committed. There are two things God says is needed to be forgiven. One is that you must acknowledge (or confess your sins) to God. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness<\/em>” (I John 1:9). God also expects us to change our ways so that we do not continue in sin. This is called repentance. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter<\/em>” (II Corinthians 7:10-11).<\/p>\nIn other words, you have to be willing to say that what you did was wrong and that you now live a life that is contrary to the sinful life you once lived. The fact that the opportunity to ask this particular man for the forgiveness of the wrong you did against him doesn’t matter. You can only be expected to do what you are able to do. A murderer can’t ask forgiveness of the one he killed, but he can still repent of his sin and live a new life.<\/p>\n
It appears you are having a harder time forgiving yourself than God has in forgiving you. ““But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?”<\/em>” (Ezekiel 18:21-23).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: A long time ago (15 years ago) when I was 20, I went to a party. While there, I made out with a guy who was 17 (I think). We did not have intercourse but did a lot of other things including showering in the nude. I have since changed my life and repented…<\/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_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1571,1572],"class_list":["post-9906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-forgiveness","tag-fornication"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9723,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-consequences-still-follow-after-forgiveness\/","url_meta":{"origin":9906,"position":0},"title":"Don’t consequences still follow after forgiveness?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Note: I think this one came in response to a point I made about whether a spouse can claim to have forgiven his or her adulterous spouse, and then divorce him or her at a later time and claim to have the right to remarry. See: \"If a woman accepts\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":39876,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-lied-to-my-preacher-about-having-committed-fornication-do-i-have-to-tell-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":9906,"position":1},"title":"I lied to my preacher about having committed fornication. Do I have to tell him?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I started a relationship with a man about a month ago. One thing led to another and we had sex. I felt bad about it and asked for God's forgiveness, but didn't break it off with him. A few days ago I got a call from my pastor\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":37764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ive-asked-for-forgiveness-for-my-fornication-but-today-i-did-it-again-im-not-convinced-god-will-forgive-me-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":9906,"position":2},"title":"I’ve asked for forgiveness for my fornication, but today I did it again. I’m not convinced God will forgive me again","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Calvary greetings to you, sir. I have been indulging in sexual sin (fornication) for a while. I am engaged, and I still have sexual affairs with my close female friend. I reported it to my pastor just because I don't want to indulge in such sin again. I've asked\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":8280,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-get-forgiveness-for-having-sex-with-a-prostitute\/","url_meta":{"origin":9906,"position":3},"title":"How do I get forgiveness for having sex with a prostitute?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you very much for your answer, I am glad to see your mail. I am thankful to you for that. I will give a brief introduction about me: I am basically from a Hindu family but started believing in Christ four years ago. As I started believing in\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":52645,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-need-your-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":9906,"position":4},"title":"I need your prayers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I would first of all like to say that I was not ignorant of what I was doing. I knew what I was doing and its consequences, but I did it anyway. I know the doctrines of the church and the Bible and I knew what great promises\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":31913,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/automatic-forgiveness\/","url_meta":{"origin":9906,"position":5},"title":"Automatic Forgiveness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert M Hartian Sentry Magazine, June 2002 Schoolmates hung a sign on a high school in West Paducah, Kentucky that read \"we forgive you Mike!\" Mike Carmeal, 14, the day before, had killed three of his classmates. Dennis Prager, a Jew, covered this story in the Wall Street Journal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}