Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 8/24/2010

Question
Hi I am pentecostal and i accept god as my saviour its just i
am a teen and i masterbated 3 times and i felt guilty and my
mom and the internet says its natural because i wanna be with
a girl is it true and plus is this a sin and will god forgive
me and am i still saved?

Answer
Hi Goggles,

Thank you for this very honest and open question.  Let me start by answering your last question first.  

Salvation is forever.  When Jesus died on the cross, He paid for all your sins.  He became your sin, every sin you will ever commit.  Therefore, if you sin after you are saved, that sin has already been covered.

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Is masturbation a sin?  Jesus said that not only is the act of adultery wrong, but also the thought.  Masturbation is a physiological fantasy of sex before one is married, therefore it falls under what Jesus was talking about.

Mat 5:27  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Mat 5:29  And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30  And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.


So here is the thing... if you are already saved, your sins are already under the blood.  You now have to fight this.  If you just relax and give in to all your urges, you will be enslaved by this kind of lust.  Now to be sure that you will struggle, Paul tells us that we will struggle, but we know that we can have victory.

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

You need to read the Bible, pray and get to church every time the doors are open in order to use Spiritual weapons and take control of your thought life.

2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;


I hope that this helps you.

In Christ
Pastor Don