How can I know if my repentance is genuine?

I'm afraid I've committed the unpardonable sin how can I know if my repentance is genuine or if it's my wicked heart falsely assuring me that I'm in a right standing with God hmm well those feel like two questions to me and see if I can answer them separately and then trying to figure out the connection I'm afraid that I committed the unpardonable sin is is one thing to worry that our repentance is not genuine and that our hearts are falsely assuring us it that's a problem for lots of people without any reference to the unpardonable sin at all in other words any of us would ask at any given time am i real in my playing games die just inherit this for my parents is is my faith real and the answer to that question and I think it'll probably wind up answering the first one is that when that question arises is my faith authentic because the Bible says test yourself to see if you are in the faith is it genuine the answer is almost never found with the kind of soul satisfying certainty that you want by looking within and peeling the onion of your heart Jonathan Edwards just laid me bare in 1971-72 when I was reading his book religious affections and I can remember several nights where in his chapter on evangelical humiliation he began to peel back the onion layers of my soul and he would say so you think your humble what if you're boasting in your humility and you admit yes I probably am boasting in my humility well what if your confession that you're boasting in your humility is really a pose and you're not boasting in your humility at all and yet these question after question to realize that there's no center to this onion you peel and peel and peel and you get down and the last peel just disappears because you can always ask yourself how do you know you can always doubt yourself you there's no there's no way by mere self analysis to come to a point where you're looking at something that you can say definitely authentic because the capacity of the human brain to doubt that is always there so where in the world does assurance come from and the answer is that even though introspection is is commended and wise up to a point the bottom line of assurance comes when you stop analyzing and you look to Christ and you look and you look and you look until Christ himself in his glory and his sufficiency by reflex as it were awakens a self forgetful yes to him and your your best moments of assurance are not the moments when you're thinking about your shots because the very moment you're thinking about your assurance you have the capacity at that moment to doubt your assurance this little voice whether it's your conscience conscience and the devil is saying you think you have insurance but and so the answer comes look to the cross look to Christ and if you're able to look to the cross if you're able to see him as sufficient and satisfying and powerfully able to carry all your sins and you find yourself drawn out of yourself to say yes to him that's what you are you are assured he's your he is your assurance at that moment and the way that the way put it was besides telling us too we are being changed from one degree of glory as we behold the glory of the Lord and as Hebrews puts it looked looked to Christ the author and finisher of your faith the way Paul puts it in Romans 8 is that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God I deal with this problem probably more than any other problem in praying with people after services at Bethlehem and my bottom line answer to them is you know I can tell you lots of things about why Christ is sufficient for you and why your sins have not put you beyond the pale of forgiveness but in the end it will be the work of God in your life awakening you to see him as completely sufficient for you personally and I think that's the witness the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit doesn't whisper in your ear you're a Christian because you could doubt that voice good - I think that was my pizza last night or it was it was the devil or the witness and the Holy Spirit is not a whit is not a whispering in your ear the witness of the Holy Spirit is the the work of the Holy Spirit and they want you to look at Christ and feel him as your own seems precious and that you say Galatians 2:20 personally I am crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me it's that me that is the settling of our assurance now with regard to the unpardonable sin I think the unpardonable sin is any sin that puts you beyond the capacity to do that if you can look to Christ and know him as your own you haven't committed the unpardonable sin the unpardonable sin is a sin that makes you a nice aw it brings you to a point where according to Hebrews 12 Esau sought repentance and he couldn't find it he couldn't look away to Christ renounce his sins embrace Jesus and rest in him is sufficient and so my battle with somebody when they say they've committed the unpardonable look to Christ I press him to fly to Jesus and pray for their eyes to be opened and if God grants that prayer they have it that's the litmus test because the the unforgivable sins not in particular words like God debut holy spirit there are people who have said that it's there at thirteen year old when they got mad at their parents and they just went back to their bedroom and said those words listen that's not it it could be but I don't think so can you today renounce all the sins of your past and embrace Christ

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 55,153

Rating: 4.9602208 out of 5

Keywords: John Piper, Desiring God, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Christian, Christianity, Church, Bible, Jesus Christ, God, Scripture, Ask Pastor John, DGapj

Id: uvo5UuQ39aA

Length: 8min 6sec (486 seconds)

Published: Wed May 22 2013