Must We Be Contrite and Productive to Prove We Are Saved?

Summary

Podcast Summary: “Must We Be Contrite and Productive to Prove We Are Saved?”

Podcast: Grace in Focus
Host: Grace Evangelical Society
Episode Date: January 21, 2026
Guests/Speakers: Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr
Length: ~13 minutes

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Episode Overview

This episode addresses two intertwined questions about Christian assurance, conviction of sin, and how “productive” a believer must be to prove salvation. Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr examine popular ideas around contrition, Christian productivity, and eternal security—each grounded in Free Grace Theology. The discussion aims to distinguish between issues of justification (being saved) and sanctification (growing spiritually), answering key concerns about assurance, consequences for spiritual idleness, and the motivations for holy living.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Does Lack of Conviction or Sorrow for Sin Mean You Are Not Saved?

• Listener Question: If a believer doesn’t feel convicted or sorry for their sin, should they doubt their salvation?
• Wilkin’s Response:
  • Assurance is not based on feelings of sorrow or conviction. Assurance is based solely on believing God's promise (1 John 5:9, 13; John 3:16).
  • Confession is not the same as sorrow; “Confession is admitting that we have sinned." (03:00)
  • The Holy Spirit reveals sin gradually to believers as they “walk in the light”—no one is conscious of all their sins at once.
  • “If we are walking in the darkness, then we’re going to stumble...but that does not mean we’re not born again.” (04:21)
• Memorable Quote:
  • Bob Wilkin: “We don't base our assurance on our confession of sins. We don't base our assurance on our works. We base our assurance solely on the promise of God.” (02:54)

2. Consequences for Spiritual Idleness and Not Doing “Enough”

• Listener Question: Are there consequences for being idle or not doing enough for God, and how can someone know if they are “doing enough”?
• Wilkin’s Response:
  • Assurance of salvation isn’t based on the quantity of Christian activity. Rather, lack of spiritual productivity may lead to missing out on God’s blessings, discipline, or eternal rewards—but not to losing salvation.
  • “What they should be fearful of is not that they’re not born again. They should fear that God is going to discipline them.” (05:18)
  • Example: Wilkin shares a story about a friend who died unexpectedly. The friend’s pastor believed this was “the sin unto death,” referencing 1 John 5 and James 5, yet affirmed the man’s salvation: “He’s still born again, still has everlasting life, but he lost his physical life.” (05:04)
• Memorable Quote:
  • “We can’t really quantify our works for Christ...the question is not have I done enough? The question should be, am I doing my best?” (07:29)

3. Motivation for Growth: Security, Not Fear

• Encouragement for Believers:
  • The proper response to spiritual inertia or conviction isn’t self-condemnation or fear for one’s salvation, but pursuing spiritual formation—continuing in “Bible reading, church attendance, prayer, and Christian community.” (05:35)
  • “There’s nothing I can do, there’s nothing anyone else can do to snatch me out of the palm of God’s hand.” (05:48)
• Parable Reference:
  • The Prodigal Son (Luke 15): All three parables in this chapter reinforce returning to a place of blessing, not questioning one’s child-status with God. (06:00)

4. How do We Measure Spiritual Productivity?

• No Fixed Standard:
  • “Paul says, ‘I don't judge myself before the time’...the time refers to the judgment seat of Christ.” (07:06)
  • “We can't really quantify our works for Christ...much of what we do isn’t going to result in eternal reward, and that's okay.” (07:29)
  • Earthly activities like recreation are not inherently sinful nor do they earn eternal rewards, but they are necessary for well-being. (09:08)
• Seek Wise Counsel:
  • “We can get some help there by seeking counsel: your pastor can help you…your spouse…your friends. But at the end of the day, you’re still just doing the best you can.” (10:59)

5. Final Thoughts: The Empowerment of the Holy Spirit

• Spirit-Led Living:
  • “Ultimately what we accomplish is going to be related to our submission to the Lord and to our submission to His Word.” (12:07)
  • Wilkin references Galatians 2:20 and Romans 12:2 regarding living by faith and being transformed by God’s Word.

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Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• “It's not a matter of how sorry we need to be for sin. It's a matter of...if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us…and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confession is not sorrow.”
  — Bob Wilkin (03:02)

• "Assurance is based solely on the promise of God."
  — Bob Wilkin (02:54)

• “If we are walking in the darkness, then we're going to stumble. And when we stumble, we hurt ourselves. That can snowball...ultimately, He can take us home prematurely.”
  — Bob Wilkin (04:23)

• “The aim in life is to please Him. We can't quantify our works...the question is not have I done enough? The question should be, am I doing my best?”
  — Bob Wilkin (07:25)

• “If you’re idle, that’s the consequence: you don’t benefit from any of that.”
  — Sam Marr (11:28)

• “We’re only able to do the best we can because the Holy Spirit empowers us...as we walk by faith in Christ.”
  — Bob Wilkin (12:05)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:56 — Introduction of listener questions
• 01:37—03:20 — On confession, sorrow, and assurance
• 04:23 — Consequences of walking in darkness
• 05:00 — Story of the believer who died under discipline
• 05:35 — How to respond if you feel spiritually cold
• 06:00 — Parables of Luke 15 as illustration
• 07:06—09:38 — On being “productive,” striving, and balance
• 10:59 — The role of wise counsel
• 11:28—12:58 — The consequences of idleness and the role of the Holy Spirit

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Conclusion

Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr clarify that neither deep ongoing contrition nor impressive productivity are requirements to prove or preserve salvation, according to Free Grace Theology. Instead, assurance is rooted in faith in Christ’s promise, and Christian motivation should flow from security in that promise—not fear. Productivity and confession matter for growth, rewards, and a flourishing life, but not for assurance of salvation. Listeners are encouraged to “do your best, trust God with the results, and let assurance rest squarely on the finished work of Jesus.”

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Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. How do we know that we're doing enough for God? If a believer is not convicted of sin, should they question their salvation? A couple of questions we will be dealing with today and we're glad you're with us. Friend for Grace in Focus this is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Lots to learn about [e-mail] we hope you'll go there. Find out about our online free seminary and our annual national conference coming up May 18th through 21st. Come and share three days with us around the topics Believe in Jesus for Life and Discipleship. All the registration and other details are [e-mail] events. And now with today's question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr.

[B]

Bob, We've got two really good questions and they're related, so I think we can do them together. First question is from Simon. He is asking basically, if a believer doesn't feel convicted of sin, do they need to question whether they're really a believer or not? He brings this up because he's heard other people say this. If you're not convicted, if you don't feel sorry for your sin, that's probably because you weren't saved in the first place. And then the second question is from Nick and he asks, are there consequences for being idle or for not doing enough for God? Basically, how do you know if you're doing enough for God? And that would be a question for believers, of course.

[C]

Okay, so let's begin with Simon's question. First of all, it's not a matter of how sorry we need to be for sin. It's a matter of Simply according to First John 1:9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confession is not sorrow. Confession is admitting that we have sinned. So when the Holy Spirit reveals to us some sin, we acknowledge that sin and then we're cleansed from all the sins we didn't acknowledge because we only are aware of the tip of the iceberg. We're not aware of most of our sins because the Holy Spirit doesn't drop it all on us at once, or else we'd probably have nervous breakdowns if we knew all the sins that we have. So the Holy Spirit changes us incrementally as we're walking in the light first John 1:7 and as we acknowledge our sins 1 John 1:9. But Simon's question is broader than that. And that is, if we're not convicted of our sins, does that mean we're not born again? Right. Wasn't that what he was asking?

[B]

Yeah. If I'm a believer, I've been born again, but I just don't feel bad about sinning or I don't feel convicted, then does that mean I wasn't born again in the first place?

[C]

The answer would be no. We don't base our assurance on our confession of sins. We don't base our assurance on our works. We base our assurance solely on the promise of God. That's what First John 5, 9, 13 says. We believe the testimony of God, and then we have assurance of our eternal destiny. And as long as we continue to believe the testimony of God concerning his Son, we continue to be sure of our eternal destiny. Our that's the message of John 3:16. Whoever believes in him, it has nothing to do with whoever is contrite, whoever is confessing, whoever is convicted. None of that. Now, if you were to ask, however, what if someone has been a believer for, let's say, a few years, like your illustration, and they're walking in the darkness? They're not going to church. They're not someone who's seeking to please God. Which is moving into the second question, the one by Nick. Should that person doubt their eternal destiny? The answer would be no. What they should be fearful of is losing their life. Because if we are walking in the darkness, then we're going to stumble. And when we stumble, we hurt ourselves. And that can snowball to where small things become bigger. Discipline from God. And ultimately he can take us home prematurely. I have a quick example for you. Early on in Grace Evangelical Society, I started this in 1986, 40 years ago. And around 1990, I had a friend who was helping me with the mailing list, and this guy died in a motorcycle accident. And I remember talking to his pastor, and he said he was convinced that this was the sin unto death. That's first John, chapter five. It's also James 5, 19 and 20. And he said he was convinced that this person died under God's hand of discipline because unbeknownst to me, he had some secret sins that evidently the pastor had been counseling him about and he had not repented of. And so he died. And the pastor was convinced he was now with the Lord. He's still born again, still has everlasting life, but he lost his physical life. So I would say to Simon, what the person should fear is not that they're not born again. They should fear that God is going to discipline them. And they should also fear they're going to not only miss out on his blessings in this life, but they're going to miss out on eternal rewards they could have had.

[B]

And the response shouldn't be feel sorry for yourself, get scared, get afraid. It should be read your Bible, go to church, be around like minded believers, pray thoughtfully because you have the assurance that I'm secure. There's nothing I can do, there's nothing anyone else can do to snatch me out of the palm of God's hand, right? But that doesn't mean you can't wind up like the prodigal son I love.

[C]

Luke 15 all three parables give that message. The lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. And in all three cases, when they return, they're returning to the place of.

[A]

Blessing Just jumping in here to make you aware of our magazine Grace in Focus. It is a bimonthly, six issues per year, 48 page magazine, full color, and we want you to subscribe by emailing your name and your snail mail address to gesaithalone.org the subscription is free. It can be accessed electronically or it can be actually physically sent to you. If you live in the lower 48 United States, that's our Grace and Focus magazine. Send your name and snail mail address to gesaithalone.org and in terms of Nick's.

[C]

Question, Nick's asking, what about consequences for being idle and for not doing all that we can? And what was the other part of it? How do we know we're doing enough? My answer would be we don't. Paul says, I don't judge myself before the time, and the time refers to the judgment seat of Christ. So all that we can do is the best we can do using the minds God has given us and the abilities God has given us and and leaves the results up to God. In other words, I can't say, you know what? I'm sure that every decision I make is the best decision. There's no guarantee that if I'm trying to please God, all my decisions are going to be the best. I may make decisions that don't work out so well, and I have done that and we've all done that. The question is not have I done enough? The question should be, am I doing my best? I don't go back and say, remember, Paul says, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward lies ahead. I don't rest on my past accomplishments, nor do I get blown away by past failures. Both of those I put aside and I say I'm pressing on toward the goal of the prize, of the call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14. We're pressing ahead, and I'm not worried about, have I done enough in the past? I'm not even worried if I'm doing enough now. What I'm concerned about is, am I pleasing God? 2nd Corinthians 5, 9, 10 says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. And verse nine says that we are seeking to please him, because we're all going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. So our aim in life is to please him. I would say we can't really quantify our works for Christ. I think there was a time early on when I came to believe in the doctrine of rewards that I thought it would be kind of cool to write down some of my accomplishments and say, well, I think I'm going to be eternally rewarded for this, and I think I'm going to be eternally rewarded for that. I didn't do that for very long before I realized that's not the right thing to do. I am not to catalog the things I do and somehow say, well, you know, I'm gonna get rewarded for that. I'm gonna get rewarded for that which I've done. Nick and Simon will get rewarded for that which they've done. As long as our motives are correct. Yeah, a lot of the stuff we do is gonna burn, right? First Corinthians 3, 10 through 15. The things we that don't have eternal value are going to burn. Like, for example, I like to watch some football. I don't think that's going to give me eternal rewards. I think that's going to burn up. But it's kind of recreation for me. I like to do race walking and power walking, and I've done 12 marathons, and I've done a number of half marathons and things, and I think that helps me physically, and I think that maybe extends my longevity at being able to do this. But I don't think that somehow I'm laying up eternal rewards by doing marathons. There's lots of things we do in life that are more recreation, and we need a certain amount of recreation. I would argue, Nick, if all you do is work some job, let's say eight hours a day, and then you're serving the Lord the rest of the time, and you have as little sleep as possible, eventually you're going to burn out. You need some time to be with your spouse. You need time to be with your kids. You need time for recreation, you need time for vacation. Pastors need time for sabbaticals, time out to kind of get yourself back on track. And so I would say, Nick, let's do the best we can for Christ with the minds he's given us, with the abilities he's given us, the spiritual gifts he's given us. Just do the best we can.

[A]

But.

[C]

But we leave the results to God. We don't say, I'm the arbiter. No, Jesus is the one that's going to judge us. All we can do is do our best. And by the way, we can get some help there by seeking counsel. Right? We can talk to our pastor, we can talk to our spouse, we can talk to our friends and say, where do you see my giftedness? What can I be doing that might be more effective for Christ? Your pastor can help you with that, your friends can help you, your spouse can help you with that. But at the end of the day, you're still just doing the best you can.

[B]

And to answer Nick's the first part of his question, what's the consequence of being idle? Everything you just said, if you're idle, that's the consequences. You don't benefit from any of that.

[C]

Right.

[B]

If you're not seeking the counsel, if you're not striving forward, you're not running the race. If you're idle, then none of that benefits you. So it's not necessarily that you're living an act of rebellion or sin or you've strayed and. But if you're not idle, then you're going to miss opportunities. You're going to miss all those things. And that could lead to what Simon was talking about, could lead to a point where you start feeling less convicted for your sin.

[C]

Absolutely. Well, let me throw one other thing out. As you were talking about that, I was thinking about the fact that we're only able to do the best we can because the Holy Spirit empowers us. I Think of Galatians 2:20, where Paul says, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered himself up through. So the Holy Spirit empowers us as we walk by faith in Christ. But ultimately what we accomplish is going to be related to our submission to the Lord and to our submission to His Word. We need to hear His Word being taught, and that has a transformative impact on us. Romans 12:2. We need God to change us through his word. And as he does, we change. We become more productive. We're out of time, but I hope that helps. And saying Keep Grace in Focus we.

[A]

Invite you to check out our Monday, Wednesday and Friday five minute YouTube videos at YouTube Grace Evangelical Society. You will love the content and learn a lot. Maybe you've got a question or comment or feedback. If so, please send us a message. Here's our email address. It's radioaithalone.org that's radioaithalone.org Please make sure your question is as succinct and clear as possible. That would be a great big help on our next episode. What is the only thing that keeps one from eternal life? Please join us. And until then, let's keep grace in focus. The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.