Have I Exhausted God’s Patience with My Sin?
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:04.000 | Kayla writes in to ask this, "Pastor John, my soul is in great distress.
00:00:10.000 | After living in disobedience and under conviction for a few months,
00:00:14.000 | my deep desire I once had for fellowship with God is now gone.
00:00:18.000 | I used to be so in love with Christ, and Hebrews 4 makes clear that
00:00:22.000 | sin hardens the heart, and I found it to be true. My question is this,
00:00:26.000 | does this mean I have fallen away from the faith? My biggest fear is being
00:00:30.000 | destined for destruction, as scripture says of Judas and others. Please help."
00:00:34.000 | Pastor John, what would you say to Kayla?
00:00:37.000 | I'm really thankful that Kayla is in distress.
00:00:42.000 | I'm thankful that she's fearful, because how much worse would it be
00:00:50.000 | if Kayla were careless right now? If she were cavalier, if she were just
00:00:55.000 | blowing off this coldness and saying, "Devil, my care, I don't give a rip
00:01:01.000 | how I feel, doesn't matter anymore, I tried that Christianity stuff,
00:01:04.000 | I'm done with it." That would be infinitely worse than fear and distress.
00:01:11.000 | The text that gives her fear, but also gives hope, is Hebrews 12 about Esau?
00:01:22.000 | "See to it," this is chapter 12, verse 15 from Hebrews, "See to it that no one
00:01:29.000 | fails to obtain the grace of God, that no one is sexually immoral or unholy
00:01:35.000 | like Esau," and maybe that's what she's done, is fallen into a season of sexual
00:01:42.000 | sin. I mean, those are the kinds of things that make us feel hopeless
00:01:46.000 | about our possible salvation. "Don't be like Esau, who sold his birthright
00:01:53.000 | for a single meal," just threw away his spiritual privileges for an immediate
00:02:00.000 | gratification. "For you know that afterwards, when he desired to inherit
00:02:06.000 | a blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place," that's the literal translation,
00:02:14.000 | "no place to repent, no occasion to repent, no repentance, though he sought it
00:02:20.000 | with tears." It's possible to backslide so long and so deeply that there's no
00:02:27.000 | return. Now, is that what's happened with you? It doesn't sound like it,
00:02:39.000 | because Esau was rejected not because he repented and wouldn't be accepted,
00:02:51.000 | but because he couldn't repent. That's what it says. He found no repentance.
00:02:58.000 | He found no place to repent, though he sought it with tears. He had become
00:03:03.000 | so callous, so hard, so distant, that there was no ability for him to see
00:03:10.000 | how horrible his sin is, to see how great the mercy is, to feel horrible and
00:03:16.000 | broken about his sin and turn away from it to the living God. He couldn't do it.
00:03:23.000 | It was all a sham as far as he was concerned. And the question then,
00:03:28.000 | Kayla, is do you see the horror of sin? That's a gift of God. That's an element
00:03:33.000 | of repentance. Do you see the gospel held out freely? So here's what Jesus said
00:03:42.000 | about the unforgivable sin, because my guess is that's lurking right there in
00:03:46.000 | the background of your concern, is have I committed the unforgivable sin?
00:03:51.000 | Here's what Jesus says in Matthew 12, 31. And listen to these initial words,
00:03:55.000 | because they are meant to give you hope. "Therefore I tell you, every sin and
00:04:01.000 | blasphemy will be forgiven, people." That's amazing! Every sin and blasphemy
00:04:10.000 | will be forgiven. And then he says, "But the blasphemy against the Spirit will
00:04:14.000 | not be forgiven." Now, what is that? They were calling him the devil. They were
00:04:21.000 | saying that he casts out demons by the power of Beelzebul, and therefore they
00:04:27.000 | had turned the world on its head. They were seeing Jesus as demonic, and they
00:04:33.000 | were no longer able to see Jesus as who he really was. Have you gotten to the
00:04:40.000 | demonic point that Jesus is the devil, and you now can pronounce judgment on
00:04:47.000 | him? Or can you repent? And if you can repent, there's hope. And here's one of
00:04:54.000 | the most beautiful statements of hope that I know of. It's from 1 Timothy 115,
00:04:59.000 | where Paul is talking to you, Gaila. "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of
00:05:04.000 | full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I
00:05:11.000 | am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me as the foremost,
00:05:21.000 | Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were
00:05:28.000 | to believe in him for eternal life." So here's what he's saying. I was a
00:05:35.000 | blasphemer, a murderer. He says this in Acts 9. A murderer, a persecutor, a hater.
00:05:43.000 | And let this sink in. Paul was a Pharisee. He believed in demons. There is no reason
00:05:51.000 | to believe that Paul disagreed with the Pharisees in the Gospels who said Jesus
00:05:55.000 | was casting out demons by the power of demons. Paul was a blasphemer. He had
00:06:03.000 | walked right up to the edge, evidently, of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. And God
00:06:11.000 | chose him, saved him. Why? Paul says it's so that in the 21st century, John Piper,
00:06:21.000 | on a podcast, could say to Gaila, "Christ is that patient with you." That's why he
00:06:30.000 | saved Paul. He saved Paul for Gaila. I really believe Gaila should read 1
00:06:36.000 | Timothy 1 15 to 16 that way. Paul wants to be read as giving encouragement to
00:06:45.000 | those who feel like the patience of God has run out. So in the name of Jesus and
00:06:51.000 | with the authority of Paul, Gaila, I think I can say to you, I do say to you, turn
00:06:57.000 | and come to Jesus and you will find his arms outstretched to a prodigal daughter.
00:07:07.000 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast. Email your
00:07:10.840 | questions to us at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. You can visit us
00:07:15.000 | online at desiringgod.org to find thousands of books, articles, sermons, and
00:07:18.720 | other resources from John Piper, all for free. I'm your host Tony Ranke. Thanks for
00:07:22.480 | listening.
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