Ok, I know my quoting John Piper might seem somewhat obsessive at this point but God is really using his insights and writings in my life right now. Last night, after writing in my blog, I came across an article Piper wrote. It made my blood run cold! It scared me so much that I called my sister at midnight to tell her what Satan was trying to accuse me of and the lies he was whispering in my ear. I had to talk to someone because I was so tortured. It was definately spiritual warfare. It was one of those meeting of the heart and mind moments that I referred to in my last entry. I was overwhelmingly aware of my sinfulness and my living on the verge of blasphemy. I got an up close and personal look at the horror of sin and it's unbelievable power to suffocate even the "strongest" of Christians. I thought I was in control but I'm a slave to whomever I obey. "What then, Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one who you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness?" Romans 6:6
The following is the part of what I read from Piper's writing that moved me so much. I could summarize but don't want to risk taking away the impact of his words. I share it with the hope that it moves you as well- either to your knees in repentance or in thanksgiving that you have been delivered from the hold that sin once had on you.
"The unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an act of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws for ever with his convicting power so that we are never able to repent and be forgiven.
Our final question is: How should we live in view of this possibility? The fact that there is an unforgivable sin—that there comes a point in a life of sin after which the Holy Spirit will no longer grant repentance—that fact should drive us from sin with fear and trembling. None of us knows when our toying with sin will pass over into irrevocable hardness of heart. Very few people feel how serious sin is. Very few people are on the same wavelength with Jesus when he said in Mark 9:43, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire." Instead, many professing Christians today have such a sentimental view of God's justice that they never feel terror and horror at the thought of being utterly forsaken by God because of their persistence in sin. They have the naive notion that God's patience has no end and that they can always return from any length and depth of sin, forgetting that there is a point of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power leaving them never able to repent and be forgiven.
They are like the buzzard who spots a carcass on a piece of ice floating in the river. He lands and begins to eat. He knows it is dangerous because the falls are just ahead. But he looks at his wings and says to himself, "I can fly to safety in an instant." And he goes on eating. Just before the ice goes over the falls he spreads his wings to fly but his claws are frozen in the ice and there is no escape—neither in this age nor the age to come. The Spirit of holiness has forsaken the arrogant sinner forever.
You have heard the warning. Now hear the offer of grace. "All sins will be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter." I urge you in the name of Christ: if by God's grace you can repent today of you sin, do it now, because you may not be able to tomorrow."
