What is a characteristic of false repentance?

Joel Beeke explains in this video that a person who demonstrates false repentance never truly repents. You often sense it in the language of people. They say things like, “If I have done anything wrong, please forgive me.” The problem is that they are not acknowledging that they have sinned. When there is false repentance, there is always some holding back or an excuse.

Repentance is unconditional. There are no excuses. People who truly repent acknowledge that they have sinned. In the Gospel of Mark, we read about the blind man, Bartimaeus. God had mercy on him and healed him. Just like him, we are blind – spiritually. We need God to heal us. 

Hebrews 10:26 (NKJV) - "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins."

There's one other thing to say about false repentance, and that is this, that false repentance never really repents. And you often sense it in the language of people. Here's what some people say. Oh brother, if I've done anything wrong, please forgive me. And they can sound very sincere.

But they haven't repented have they? Because they haven't acknowledged they've done anything wrong. They've actually saying if you think I've done something wrong, I'm sorry. That's not repentance. Repentance is unconditional.

There's no ifs, there's no ands, there's no excuses, there's no buts, there's no I could help it's. It's just I sinned. God be merciful to me, a sinner, period. No extras. You know, in the Gospel of Mark, you read about the blind man, Bartimaeus, pleading for mercy.

He didn't, God be merciful. He didn't, He didn't add, Lord I can't help it that I'm blind because you know the dust of Judea, I was out in the fields and it filled my eyes and so like so many other people I became blind, I can't help it. No, no, no, I'm blind and also blind spiritually. God have mercy on me, period. So no excuses added, no halfway repentance, No 90% I'm guilty.

When there's true repentance, you know it because the person is 100% guilty and pleads for mercy alone. And there's no rights to mercy. And when there's false repentance, there's always a little bit of an excuse, there's always a little holding back, there's always just a little bit I'm not totally wrong or you're wrong too. It's not totally sincere. You