A podcast listener named Doug in Ohio writes us with a very common and incredibly important

question too.

We see it all the time in the inbox and for good reason.

Here it is.

If my repentance is genuine, why do I keep confessing the same sin?

Here's specifically how Doug put it, Dear Pastor John, hello, and thank you for APJ.

Your biblical responses have helped me in times when I needed guidance with handling circumstances

in life.

My own question has to do with repentance.

Does true repentance mean that we never ask for God's forgiveness for the same sin twice?

Numerous are the times that I have had to ask for forgiveness for all men or sin.

But how can I say that I've repented if I commit the same types of sin over and over?

This question plays me to such a degree that I am sometimes seized by depression when

I think of it.

Dear Pastor John, what would you say to Doug?

Doug's question is one of the most common questions that an honest and serious Christian has

to ask.

The question of repeated sinning in the light of the demand of the New Testament for holiness

and the warnings that faith without a changed life is dead, James 2.17, and that there

is a holiness without which we will not see the Lord.

He breathes 12.14.

And if you love me, Jesus said, you will keep my commandments, John 14.15.

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