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Will God Forgive My Worst Sin? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Someone recently asked me to venture an answer to this question.
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  Speaker 1: And here's the question, what's the most common question we
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  Speaker 1: get on the podcast? And I don't know the answer
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  Speaker 1: to that question exactly, so this is just a guess,
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  Speaker 1: my guess based on my experience, I would say this,
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  Speaker 1: our most often asked about question is about the unpardonable sin.
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  Speaker 1: And by that I mean in the broadest sense of
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  Speaker 1: the term, not only what is the unpardonable sin as
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  Speaker 1: defined in scripture? But have I committed a sin that
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  Speaker 1: is so ugly, so gross, so heinous, so premeditated, so repeated,
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  Speaker 1: so high handedly evil that God will surely not be
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  Speaker 1: able to forgive me for it? That was my answer. That's,
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  Speaker 1: in my best guess, the most common question that we
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  Speaker 1: get in the unbox certainly one of the dominant themes
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  Speaker 1: in APG over our first decade. As you can see
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  Speaker 1: in the APJ book on pages three thirty seven to
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  Speaker 1: three thirty nine, Will God forgive my very worst sin?
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  Speaker 1: That's the question from an anonymous young woman today who
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  Speaker 1: listens to the podcast. Dear Pastor John, I had an abortion.
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  Speaker 1: That is the one and only thing I knew I
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  Speaker 1: would never ever do. But I did it. I can't
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  Speaker 1: begin to detail here the grief and damage it has
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  Speaker 1: caused me, and I know I deserve every bit of it.
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  Speaker 1: I feel as though I will always be a low
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  Speaker 1: class Christian because of what I've done. I was a
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  Speaker 1: believer when I committed this sin. I did not do
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  Speaker 1: it to avoid disruption in my life, but because I
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  Speaker 1: had no confidence that I could offer any quality of
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  Speaker 1: life to a child. At the time, in my twisted mind,
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  Speaker 1: I felt that I was doing the child better by preventing
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  Speaker 1: him or her from having to suffer in a broken
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  Speaker 1: family or a foster home. I understand that way of
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  Speaker 1: thinking is absurd. I just didn't understand that at the time.
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  Speaker 1: I grew up in a family that was split before
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  Speaker 1: I was born, and I feared that my child would
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  Speaker 1: have had that kind of a life. I just couldn't
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  Speaker 1: handle the thought of this. Now I feel this is
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  Speaker 1: something I should always be punished for. I haven't been
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  Speaker 1: back to church in the years since this happened. I
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  Speaker 1: know I don't belong. I don't deserve to go. Does
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  Speaker 1: God even want to forgive me for this? Does he
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  Speaker 1: want me and still have the plans for me that
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  Speaker 1: he did before or are those plans gone. I'm disgusted
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  Speaker 1: with myself. I just hope that there's still hope for me,
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  Speaker 1: which I know that even wanting that is selfish and unwarranted.
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  Speaker 2: At this point, when I hear this question that's so
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  Speaker 2: filled with self recrimination and doubt and fear and guilt.
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  Speaker 2: I want very much to introduce this woman. I wish
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  Speaker 2: I knew her name. It's I could call her by name.
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  Speaker 2: I want to introduce this woman to what I have
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  Speaker 2: for many years called gutsy guilt. And I base that
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  Speaker 2: term gutze guilt on Micah, the prophet Micah chapter seven,
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  Speaker 2: verses eight and nine. Rejoice not over me, oh my enemy.
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  Speaker 2: When I fall, I shall rise. When I sit in darkness,
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  Speaker 2: the Lord will be a light to me. I will
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  Speaker 2: bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned
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  Speaker 2: against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment
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  Speaker 2: for me. He will bring me out to the light.
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  Speaker 2: I shall look upon his vindication. Micah owns his sin,
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  Speaker 2: he owns his guilt, and the fact that he's in darkness.
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  Speaker 2: He's sitting there. It's under the Lord. The Lord is
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  Speaker 2: disciplining him. He's under God's judgment. He knows it's because
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  Speaker 2: of his sin. He says, I sit in darkness. I
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  Speaker 2: will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sin.
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  Speaker 2: So he's not making any excuses, he's not pretending this
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  Speaker 2: is from the devil. He knows this is from the Lord,
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  Speaker 2: and it's awful. So he owns his sin. He owns
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  Speaker 2: his guilt, and then he says that I will sit
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  Speaker 2: in this darkness under the Lord's displeasure until he pleads
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  Speaker 2: my cause and executes judgment for me, not against me,
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  Speaker 2: for me. He will bring me out to the light.
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  Speaker 2: I shall look upon his vindication. Now that's amazing. This
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  Speaker 2: is incredibly gutsy. I am under the Lord's dark judgment,
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  Speaker 2: and I still trust him to be my God and
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  Speaker 2: vindicate me. So rejoice not over me, oh my enemy.
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  Speaker 2: When I fall, I shall rise. That's the only way
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  Speaker 2: I know how to survive as a saved sinner. Real guilt,
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  Speaker 2: real sorrow, real pain, real darkness under God's discipline, and
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  Speaker 2: real gutsy faith that the very God who is disciplining
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  Speaker 2: me and displeased with me is on my side and
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  Speaker 2: will vindicate me. So that's the basic truth. I'd love
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  Speaker 2: to build into her life. And with that as a background,
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  Speaker 2: what I'd like to do, and I think might be helpful,
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  Speaker 2: is to just take I don't know, maybe six or
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  Speaker 2: seven of her little her little statements about herself and
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  Speaker 2: make a comment about them. Number One, I feel this
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  Speaker 2: is something I should always be punished for. Well, yes,
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  Speaker 2: it is abortion, and every other sin is something we
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  Speaker 2: should always be punished for. And there is a universe
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  Speaker 2: of difference between should be punished for and will be
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  Speaker 2: punished for. Gutsy Gospel guilt says, I am guilty. I
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  Speaker 2: should be punished now and forever. That is the very
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  Speaker 2: meaning of sin and justice, and gutsy Gospel guilt says,
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  Speaker 2: but I will not be punished. I will not be
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  Speaker 2: punished because Jesus bore my punishment for me, and I
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  Speaker 2: have forsaken all my self reliance, and I throw myself
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  Speaker 2: wholly on his mercy. I think of Isaiah fifty three five.
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  Speaker 2: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by
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  Speaker 2: becoming a curse for us. No, that's Galatians three thirteen,
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  Speaker 2: And then here's here's Isaiah fifty three. He was pierced
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  Speaker 2: for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities upon him.
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  Speaker 2: Upon him was the punishment that brought us peace. And
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  Speaker 2: with his wounds, he'll so, yes, you should always be
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  Speaker 2: punished for your abortion. Own that guilt, and then be
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  Speaker 2: gutsy and embrace the gospel. And that Christ bore our
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  Speaker 2: sins on his body on the cross. And now in
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  Speaker 2: him God is for me, not against me. I should
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  Speaker 2: be punished and I won't be punished. That's my response
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  Speaker 2: to that first coming. Here's the second one. I know
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  Speaker 2: I don't belong at church. I don't deserve to go.
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  Speaker 2: If the only people who belong at church are those
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  Speaker 2: who deserve to be with God's people in his presence,
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  Speaker 2: worshiping and growing in him, nobody would belong to church.
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  Speaker 2: Nobody would go to church. When when Paul described the
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  Speaker 2: members of the church in krinth he listed their sins
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  Speaker 2: like this the section this is one Corinthian sixty nine.
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  Speaker 2: The sexually moral, the idolaters, adulterers, menuprec homosexuality, thieves, greedy, drunkards, revilers, swindlers.
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  Speaker 2: None of them will inherit the kingdom of God. And
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  Speaker 2: such were some of you. But you were washed, you
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  Speaker 2: were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the
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  Speaker 2: Lord Jesus. The only people who belong in church are
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  Speaker 2: sinners who are washed and justified by faith. So, no,
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  Speaker 2: you don't deserve to go to church. That's why you
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  Speaker 2: should go, because church is the one institution in the
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  Speaker 2: universe designed for people who don't deserve to be there.
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  Speaker 2: That's the meaning that the meaning of gospel churches. Number three,
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  Speaker 2: I'm disgusted with myself. Well, that's fine. To look back
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  Speaker 2: on abortion and not be disgusted would be a sign
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  Speaker 2: of sickness to see it. Disgust is a sign of health.
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  Speaker 2: Unless there is gutsy disgust, you'll collapse. Gutsy Gospel disgust
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  Speaker 2: is not paralyzed. It gives up on self and walks
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  Speaker 2: into the power of grace. All of us are disgusting,
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  Speaker 2: and we should not run from it, but threw it
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  Speaker 2: into God's grace. Number four. I just hope that there's
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  Speaker 2: still hope for me. Good because there is hope for you,
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  Speaker 2: Paul says in Romans fifteen to four. Everything in the
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  Speaker 2: scriptures is written so that sinners might have hope. Hope
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  Speaker 2: is the one thing you can always be sure pleases
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  Speaker 2: the Lord. I love someone forty seven eleven. The Lord
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  Speaker 2: takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who
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  Speaker 2: hope in his dead best love. He loves people. He
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  Speaker 2: delights in people who turn away from themselves and hoping
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  Speaker 2: in the strength of the horse, of the legs of
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  Speaker 2: a man and hope in him. Number five, Hoping that
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  Speaker 2: there is hope is selfish. Well, it would be selfish
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  Speaker 2: if you just wanted to use God to get a
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  Speaker 2: relieved conscience. But if you want forgiveness because you want God,
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  Speaker 2: that's not selfish. That's what you were made for. And
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  Speaker 2: it honors God, not you. It honors God. God is
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  Speaker 2: glorified when you want to be satisfied in God. Number six,
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  Speaker 2: Hoping that there's hope is unwarranted. No, that's false. That's
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  Speaker 2: just false. Hope is not on warranted. It is infinitely warranted,
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  Speaker 2: but not by your goodness, but by the blood of Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: If you stand before God and hope to get into
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  Speaker 2: His presence with joy forever, and he says this, what
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  Speaker 2: warrant can you have for hoping that I would receive you?
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  Speaker 2: The answer is the blood and righteousness of your son,
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  Speaker 2: My Savior is my only warrant. That's true. There is
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  Speaker 2: no warrant for hope in us. There is infinite warrant
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  Speaker 2: in the blood of Jesus. So that's a false statement
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  Speaker 2: that your hope is unwarranted. Is not unwarranted. And here's
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  Speaker 2: the last statement. Does God want me and have good
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  Speaker 2: plans for me? And the answer is in the last
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  Speaker 2: chapter of the Bible, as though God wanted it to
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  Speaker 2: be the last thing ringing in our ears. Last chapter
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  Speaker 2: of the Bible, Verse seventeen, Revelation twenty two. The Spirit
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  Speaker 2: and the Bride say to you, come and let the
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  Speaker 2: one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires
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  Speaker 2: take the water of life without price. So if you're
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  Speaker 2: thirsty for God, he invites you. He wants you, and
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  Speaker 2: when you come to him, he has plans for you.
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  Speaker 2: Your life will not be wasted if you come to him.
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  Speaker 2: I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,
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  Speaker 2: plans for welfare, not for evil, to give you a
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  Speaker 2: future and a hope.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, sober gospel hope here, thank you, Pastor John. The
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  Speaker 1: Gutsy Guilt of Micah seven verses eight to nine, one
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  Speaker 1: of those texts Pastor John uses a lot on the podcast.
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  Speaker 1: As you can see, have digested those mentions in the
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  Speaker 1: APJ Book on pages three ninety seven to three ninety
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  Speaker 1: nine for you to see. Another super important text in
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  Speaker 1: John Piper's life and ministry is found in Isaiah. Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: forty three verses six to seven, also featured in the
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  Speaker 1: APJ Book on pages eighty seven. In eighty eight. We
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  Speaker 1: read Isaiah forty three on Monday in our Bible reading,
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  Speaker 1: so it's a good time to drill down into those
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  Speaker 1: two verses. The Creator has explained to us why we exist.
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  Speaker 1: So we're going to look at this text more closely.
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah forty three, verses six and seven. Don't miss it.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Ranky. We'll see on Monday