Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / When You Get Accused

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When You Get Accused · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: When someone accuses you of sin, what do you do?
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  Speaker 1: What do you do if the accusation is true? What
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: do you do when that accusation isn't true? Do you
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  Speaker 1: accuse back? Do you fight back? Is it possible to
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  Speaker 1: receive criticism, fair criticism or not with grace? That's the
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  Speaker 1: question up today on Ask Pastor John, as John Piper
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  Speaker 1: looks at one of our frequent techs when we talk
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  Speaker 1: about a lot, but before we get there, Like all
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  Speaker 1: this podcast and get a biblical answer to one of
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  Speaker 1: life's tough questions right at the moment that they needed.
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  Speaker 1: I've experienced that even myself, of hearing an episode and
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  Speaker 1: being met in a moment. So Micah is seven verses
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  Speaker 1: eight and nine is where we're headed today, our old
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  Speaker 1: friend Micah seven, eight and nine. It's a profound text,
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  Speaker 1: one we have hardly exhausted, even though we've talked a
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  Speaker 1: lot about it center reading tomorrow, which is why it's
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  Speaker 1: on my mind today, and it's also in our question
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  Speaker 1: today from Ava, a twenty five year old woman in Vancouver.
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, thank you for frequently teaching on gutsy guilt
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  Speaker 1: here on the podcast. From Micah seven verses eight to nine.
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  Speaker 1: The prophet's response to his own sin shows a profound
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  Speaker 1: balance between owning his guilt before God and trusting in
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  Speaker 1: God's ultimate vindication. Yeah, I mean, that's what makes it
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  Speaker 1: so profound when others point out our sin, especially when
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  Speaker 1: it feels harsh or humbling, How should we respond? Micah's
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  Speaker 1: gutsy guilt seems to model a response that refuses to
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  Speaker 1: hide or deflect blame. Yet it can be difficult to
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  Speaker 1: maintain this posture when others confront us, particularly when their
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  Speaker 1: judgment feels less merciful than God's. How can we humbly
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  Speaker 1: receive correction from others in the spirit of gutsy guilt
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  Speaker 1: in a setting that feels like a personal attack.
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  Speaker 2: You know, this is a pretty insightful question, But I
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  Speaker 2: don't think our listeners will be able to see that
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  Speaker 2: until they hear the text. So let me refresh everybody's memory.
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  Speaker 2: I've often described as Ava points out that this text
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  Speaker 2: describes something that seems to me best called gutsy guilt.
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  Speaker 2: She comes at it, then, from a unique angle. So
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  Speaker 2: let me give the text. This is micas seven eight
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  Speaker 2: and nine. Rejoice not over me, oh my enemy. When
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  Speaker 2: 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 just
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  Speaker 2: judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light.
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  Speaker 2: I shall look upon his vindication. That's one of the
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  Speaker 2: most amazing passages about our sinfulness and God's merciful justification.
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  Speaker 2: So a complete and honest admission of guilt. That's the
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  Speaker 2: first thing I have sinned against the Lord, and alongside
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  Speaker 2: it amazingly complete confidence that God is for him and
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  Speaker 2: not against him, and will only leave him in the
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  Speaker 2: darkness as long as it's good for him, and then
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  Speaker 2: he'll bring him out and vindicate him. I call that
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  Speaker 2: amazing gutsy guilt, and I think it's the way justified
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  Speaker 2: sinners in Christ should deal with all of our sins
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  Speaker 2: that we commit as Christians. One acknowledge it, to bear
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  Speaker 2: the darkness of discipline willingly. Three defy the accusations of
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  Speaker 2: the devil. Four hold on to your imputed righteousness in Christ,
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  Speaker 2: and then five walk out into the light of your
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  Speaker 2: vindication through the blood of Jesus. Amazing, it's great to
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  Speaker 2: be a Christian.
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  Speaker 1: Now.
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  Speaker 2: So what Ava has done is notice that this is
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  Speaker 2: how we deal with our own self accusation, because we
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  Speaker 2: have really sinned, we're aware of it. And she wonders
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  Speaker 2: what it looks like when others are accusing us of
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  Speaker 2: sin or correcting us, and how we might apply this
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  Speaker 2: text in those situations. And I say those situations because
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  Speaker 2: there are just so many different ways that we can
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  Speaker 2: be corrected or criticized. We might be corrected when the
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  Speaker 2: correction is warranted, we really did make a mistake, we
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  Speaker 2: really did sin grievously or not so grievously, or we
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  Speaker 2: had a bad attitude, or the correction might be unwarranted.
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  Speaker 2: We didn't make any mistake, we didn't have a bad attitude.
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  Speaker 2: We're being accused wrongly, or the correction might come in
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  Speaker 2: the form of sheer ridicule. They're not really correcting us,
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  Speaker 2: they're just mocking us. They're just shaming us, putting us down,
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  Speaker 2: even in public. So they're all kinds of degrees of
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  Speaker 2: seriousness and degrees of legitimacy, and degrees of hurtfulness. And
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  Speaker 2: in every one of these different circumstances, what it takes
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  Speaker 2: to respond is a Christian is going to be slightly different.
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  Speaker 2: So I can't respond to every one of those circumstances.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know what they are. Let me see if
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  Speaker 2: I can say something more general that might be helpful
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  Speaker 2: in all those circumstances. Micah. This passage in Micah seven
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  Speaker 2: is really relevant not just when we are aware of
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  Speaker 2: our own accusations, but also as is asking when we're
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  Speaker 2: aware of corrections or accusations from others. And there are
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  Speaker 2: two key things that produce gutsy guilt in either case,
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  Speaker 2: in all the cases in this text. One is humility
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  Speaker 2: that freely admits that even in a believing soul, our
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  Speaker 2: own soul, there is indwelling sin that feels and says
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  Speaker 2: and does things that are wrong, sinful, out of character.
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  Speaker 2: For a Christian, that's one thing we should be humble,
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  Speaker 2: because we know sin can sometimes get the upper hand
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  Speaker 2: in our lives. And the other is, alongside humility, deep
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  Speaker 2: confidence that in our union with Christ, I am counted
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  Speaker 2: righteous before God, forgiven, except did, adopted, loved, with a
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  Speaker 2: certain and glorious future. And it's this confidence I think
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  Speaker 2: that undergirds the humility. It frees us from needing to
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  Speaker 2: be self defensive, and it enables us to be humbly
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  Speaker 2: accepting of correction or even criticism, even unwarranted criticism. So
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  Speaker 2: those are the first two suggestions. It seems to me
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  Speaker 2: that this text helps us with in receiving warranted or
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  Speaker 2: even unwarranted criticism, Humility before others, confidence before God. And
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  Speaker 2: I see at least four other helpful encouragements embedded in
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  Speaker 2: Micah seven for our help in patiently bearing the corrections
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  Speaker 2: or even the ridicule of others. One is that we
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  Speaker 2: should always keep in mind the past grace of our
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  Speaker 2: totally undeserved forgiveness. In fact, ten verses later, coming near
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  Speaker 2: the end of the book, Micah says, who is a
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  Speaker 2: God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for
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  Speaker 2: the remnant of his inheritance. We haven't sung this hymn
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  Speaker 2: for a bazillion years at our church, but we used
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  Speaker 2: to sing it a lot. Who is a pardoning God
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  Speaker 2: like you, and who has grace so rich and free?
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  Speaker 2: I love that song, and we don't ever sing it,
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  Speaker 2: but it comes from this text in Micah seven at
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  Speaker 2: the end. And of course Ephesians four thirty two says,
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  Speaker 2: forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you, so
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  Speaker 2: keeping an eye on your massive debt that you have
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  Speaker 2: been forgiven goes a long way to helping receive correction
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  Speaker 2: even mistreatment patiently and graciously. Second, don't only look back
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  Speaker 2: on the past grace of forgiveness, but keep an eye
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  Speaker 2: on keep your mind on the future grace of eternal
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  Speaker 2: life and joy. Michah says, he will bring me out
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  Speaker 2: to the light. I shall look upon his vindication. That's
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  Speaker 2: a glorious future of acceptance with God. Jesus said, when
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  Speaker 2: you're criticized for his sake, rejoice and be glad, for
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  Speaker 2: your reward is great in heaven. When God's about to
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  Speaker 2: welcome you into perfect happiness, personal slights lose their power. Third,
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  Speaker 2: keep in mind that God sees everything spoken to you
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  Speaker 2: spoken against you. If anything is spoken wrongly against you
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  Speaker 2: or to you falsely hurtfully, God is going to make
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  Speaker 2: it right, and you don't have to. He doesn't miss anything.
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  Speaker 2: You don't need to return evil for evil Romans twelve seventeen.
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  Speaker 2: Even the tiniest slight from your spouse, say he sees that.
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  Speaker 2: He knows that you don't need to take a dig
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  Speaker 2: at her or him, because it's got to be made right.
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  Speaker 2: No God can make things right. So by grace you
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  Speaker 2: really can let it go. You can let it go
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  Speaker 2: a thousand times. That's how ma just work. Look, if
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  Speaker 2: you want to be happy, you got to just let
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  Speaker 2: it go. Don't matter how it bothers you or whether
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  Speaker 2: you think it ought to be fixed. Just let it go.
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  Speaker 2: There's grace for that, and God will deal with whatever
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  Speaker 2: needs to be dealt with, handed over to him who
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  Speaker 2: judges justly. As first Peter Chapter two, God will put
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  Speaker 2: everything right in due time. We don't need to play
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  Speaker 2: the judge when we're being corrected or criticized or ridiculed,
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  Speaker 2: whether properly or improperly. And lastly, one last thing. The
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  Speaker 2: verse before this in Micah seven is quoted by Jesus
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  Speaker 2: to his followers in Matthew ten thirty five, and it
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  Speaker 2: says the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter
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  Speaker 2: rises up against her mother, the daughter in law against
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  Speaker 2: her mother in law. A man's enemies are those of
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  Speaker 2: his own house. In other words, some of your closest
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  Speaker 2: relations will try to correct you or say hurtful things
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  Speaker 2: about you, and it helps, it really helps. Jesus believed
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  Speaker 2: it helped. Micaeh believed it helped not to be totally
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  Speaker 2: surprised when that happens. Jesus said, it's coming. So I
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  Speaker 2: think Ava is right to draw attention to Micaeh seven,
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  Speaker 2: eight and nine, not only because gutsy guilt applies to
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  Speaker 2: our own self accusations proper ones, but also to corrections
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  Speaker 2: and criticisms and even ridicule that we receive from others,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm sure that there is more here than I've seen,
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  Speaker 2: and I would just encourage all of us, everybody who's
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  Speaker 2: listening to me right now, to linger long over these
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  Speaker 2: very precious verses.
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  Speaker 1: I think, Pastor John, the gutsy guilt of Micah seven
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  Speaker 1: versus eight nine is a text worthy of a lot
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  Speaker 1: of reflection. We have not exhausted it, not in the least,
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, You're exactly right. But it's one of those
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  Speaker 1: texts that Pastor Down you use on the podcast a lot,
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  Speaker 1: use it over and over again, and it's been used
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  Speaker 1: several times in these past thirteen years. And my job
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  Speaker 1: is try and collect those key texts like this one
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  Speaker 1: that prove unusually useful and addressing many different life challenges
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  Speaker 1: that we look at on the podcast, and I try
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  Speaker 1: to collect all those in the APJ book, as Pestor
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  Speaker 1: John books, specifically on the many uses of Micah seven.
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  Speaker 1: You can see my digest on pages three ninety seven
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  Speaker 1: to three ninety nine if you want to see that digest.
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  Speaker 1: Do you ever feel like God has faded into the
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  Speaker 1: background of your busy life? Next time, Pastor John sounds
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: a wake up call against a silent killer spiritual complacency.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: The silent killer of spiritual complacency. That's up next again.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for considering a one time gift or a monthly
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  Speaker 1: gift to help support this podcast and everything else that
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: we do at give dot desiring good dot org. My
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: name is Swiny Rinki. I'll see you on Thursday.