WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.689 Well, amen. 00:00:00.839 --> 00:00:01.469 Good morning. 00:00:01.709 --> 00:00:02.189 Again. 00:00:02.370 --> 00:00:10.230 It's good to see you, and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your family and friends over the last several days. 00:00:10.230 --> 00:00:15.449 I don't know about you, but I know I ate way too much, and so I know you probably did as well. 00:00:15.449 --> 00:00:22.800 But this morning, we're going to continue our series on the book of Mark, the series Amazed by Jesus. 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:26.609 And so join me in turning your Bibles to Mark chapter 3. 00:00:27.239 --> 00:00:32.670 Mark chapter 3, and we're going to be starting with verse 20 and going through verse 30 this morning. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.780 As you turn there, I have a question I want to present to you this morning. 00:00:37.619 --> 00:00:45.289 The question is have you ever felt like you've committed a sin that God cannot forgive? 00:00:45.329 --> 00:00:45.990 Let me ask it again. 00:00:45.990 --> 00:00:52.679 Have you ever felt like you've committed a sin that God cannot forgive? 00:00:54.990 --> 00:01:07.469 There was a man growing up in my home church several years ago who didn't go to church for many, many years because of what he had done in his life, including some things that he had done in the Vietnam War. 00:01:07.829 --> 00:01:29.670 He felt like he was unworthy of God's forgiveness, and so for many years he did attend church and eventually began to come to church, my home church, but even for awhile as he was coming to church, you would go to the altar and he would pray and people would counsel with him, but he would continue just to have a hard time accepting the fact that God could forgive him for what he had done in his past. 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:45.060 And one particular Sunday, he finally believed that God was big enough to forgive him, and he came to Christ, and for many, many years, well actually just a few years actually, after he was saved, he lived out the rest of his life on fire for the Lord. 00:01:45.060 --> 00:01:49.109 And so it's an incredible story of God's forgiveness in his life. 00:01:49.530 --> 00:01:55.640 But if you would say that you've ever felt that way this morning, then I really believe this message will speak to you today. 00:01:55.670 --> 00:02:00.280 It has many things to say to all of us, but I think particularly those that have ever felt this way. 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:06.659 And if we were honest, all of us in this room have probably felt that way at one point or another in our life. 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:07.920 And so let's go ahead and begin. 00:02:08.189 --> 00:02:11.469 In Mark chapter 3, verse 20. 00:02:11.469 --> 00:02:18.960 It says,"He came home, and the crowd gathered again to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. 00:02:18.961 --> 00:02:42.419 When his own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of him, for they were saying,'He has lost his senses.' The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying,'He is possessed by Beelzebub, and he casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.' And he called them to himself and began speaking to them in parables. 00:02:42.420 --> 00:02:45.000 'How can Satan cast out Satan? 00:02:45.001 --> 00:02:49.889 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 00:02:50.430 --> 00:02:55.379 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 00:02:55.381 --> 00:03:01.939 If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished. 00:03:03.430 --> 00:03:11.590 "'But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. 00:03:12.069 --> 00:03:20.259 Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven, the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter. 00:03:21.219 --> 00:03:34.479 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin,' because they were saying he has an unclean spirit." Let's pray together this morning. 00:03:35.050 --> 00:03:46.210 Dear God, we thank you for your word, Lord, and even though this was a very difficult passage this morning to grasp, Lord, I pray that you would open our hearts to what you have to say, and you can speak clearly to us, Lord. 00:03:46.210 --> 00:03:48.669 I pray that you would forgive me of my sin, Lord. 00:03:48.670 --> 00:03:55.659 Lord, I'm a sinner saved only by your grace, and I pray that you would make me a clean vessel to deliver your word this morning. 00:03:56.349 --> 00:04:01.270 That your Holy Spirit would speak through me, Lord, that it wouldn't be my words, but it would be your words, Lord. 00:04:01.270 --> 00:04:11.650 And I pray that everyone in this room, Lord, that their hearts would be open to what you have to say through your word, that we will be quick to listen, Lord, and that we would be willing to act on what we hear. 00:04:11.651 --> 00:04:14.229 And we just ask it all in Jesus' name. 00:04:15.310 --> 00:04:15.430 Amen. 00:04:15.460 --> 00:04:28.870 So this morning, we're going to look back at these verses and kind of go through together this passage, and there's some difficult parts that we'll get to in a little bit, but I want to give you a little bit of background this morning on what's going on right before this passage. 00:04:28.870 --> 00:04:36.339 The book of Matthew also has this passage recorded, this story recorded, and we get a little bit more information in Matthew. 00:04:36.341 --> 00:04:44.949 And one of the things that we know in Matthew is that Jesus has just healed a man who is-- who cannot speak or hear. 00:04:45.730 --> 00:04:51.129 And we see that not only has he healed them of that, but he's driven out a demon who is possessing this man. 00:04:51.490 --> 00:05:00.790 And so we'll see later on in the passage as we get there, we need to know this important background information as we get to where we're going in just a few minutes. 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:01.329 Excuse me. 00:05:01.331 --> 00:05:13.000 But we'll see: the first amazing act in this passage is that we see in Matthew, actually it's not recorded in Mark, but we know it's there for Matthew, right before the first amazing act is Jesus driving out a demon and healing a man. 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:22.579 And so in verse 20, it starts out and says that he came home and the crowd gathered again to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. 00:05:22.581 --> 00:05:32.029 And so I think the point here is that if you think about times in your life where you haven't had time to eat, usually it means you're pretty busy, right? 00:05:32.779 --> 00:05:37.519 I don't know about you, but if I don't have time to eat, as much as I like to eat, then I must be pretty busy. 00:05:37.850 --> 00:05:43.069 But not only are you pretty busy, but you also must be doing something pretty important to skip a meal. 00:05:43.269 --> 00:05:52.189 And we can see that I'm sure the same thing is true here with Jesus, is that Jesus was willing to sacrifice his most basic needs to put others first. 00:05:54.310 --> 00:05:55.810 These people were important to him. 00:05:55.930 --> 00:05:56.980 It was an important thing. 00:05:57.089 --> 00:06:03.839 He was willing to skip a meal to minister to these people and to love these people, and really that's the second amazing act that we see. 00:06:03.841 --> 00:06:05.370 So the first one is he heals this man. 00:06:05.370 --> 00:06:16.259 We know about that from the book of Matthew chapter 12:22 through 24, but then we also see the second amazing act that he performs, and that's just putting people above himself. 00:06:16.261 --> 00:06:19.980 This was a radical thing in that day that he would do such a thing. 00:06:19.980 --> 00:06:23.430 And a lot of times when people live radical lives for God, what happens? 00:06:23.430 --> 00:06:24.870 They begin to get accused. 00:06:24.870 --> 00:06:37.110 And we see the critics of Jesus in this passage come out, and we see the accusations begin in verses 21 and 22, and unfortunately the first critics we see are those of his own family. 00:06:37.110 --> 00:06:38.819 Look at what it says in verse 21. 00:06:38.819 --> 00:06:52.500 It says,"When his own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of him, for they were saying,'He has lost his senses.'" We know"his own people" is translated"people from the side of him", which literally means his family. 00:06:52.500 --> 00:06:55.050 His own family was criticizing him. 00:06:55.050 --> 00:07:01.949 They were saying that he had lost his senses, that he was out of his mind, that he was crazy, that he had gone mad. 00:07:03.139 --> 00:07:15.060 So I don't know about you, but one of the thoughts that comes to my mind when I read this was,"Why in the world did his family think this?" I think there are two probable reasons why his family thought this. 00:07:15.060 --> 00:07:19.470 The first one would be that they were concerned about his physical and mental health. 00:07:19.550 --> 00:07:27.720 Think about it: based on all they had heard, what Jesus was doing, that he was healing people, that he was driving out demons. 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:33.730 If you heard that one of your family members was doing that, would you be a little bit concerned, maybe? 00:07:33.730 --> 00:07:38.339 If you think about it, if you think about somebody you know, that you care about, that maybe has become unhinged? 00:07:38.341 --> 00:07:45.550 Maybe they seem like they've gone off the rails, and they're doing some very odd things, and they have some very abnormal behavior. 00:07:45.550 --> 00:07:54.329 Maybe you, too, would be caring enough about this person to try to go to them to protect them from the people that were pressing in on him, that were keeping him from eating. 00:07:54.420 --> 00:07:56.129 For the religious leaders who they had heard were accusing him. 00:07:57.529 --> 00:08:04.550 From neglecting his basic needs of eating to make sure that he got the care and attention that he needed to become normal again. 00:08:04.550 --> 00:08:13.129 I think all of us would probably do that for a family member or someone we loved, so that's probably one of the reasons that they thought he had lost his mind. 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:38.210 But I think the other thing is very clear to us in scripture is that they did not believe he was really the Messiah, and you might think,"Well, surely his own family believed that he was the Messiah," but we know in John chapter 7, verse 5, we know it says very clearly that even his own brothers did not believe in him as the Messiah while he was still on this earth, before he had died on the cross and rose from the dead. 00:08:41.860 --> 00:08:43.899 And so they might've been afraid. 00:08:44.740 --> 00:08:52.809 And how his radical life would affect them and how that would affect them with the powers that be, with the religious leaders, with the political leaders. 00:08:53.409 --> 00:09:01.159 I'm sure they were thinking, if they didn't really believe he was the messiah,"Well man, what he's doing, his radical lifestyle...how's that going to affect me? 00:09:01.160 --> 00:09:10.320 Am I going to be persecuted by these religious leaders as well?" So what can we learn from Jesus in this beginning part of the passage? 00:09:10.350 --> 00:09:21.110 Well, I think one of the first things we see is that those closest to us may not understand our passion for Christ, but we must always put obedience to God first. 00:09:21.110 --> 00:09:22.309 What did Jesus do? 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:24.620 He continued to minister to the people. 00:09:24.769 --> 00:09:25.870 He didn't let it phase him. 00:09:25.970 --> 00:09:31.009 He continued to put God first and what God had called him to do as his first priority. 00:09:32.340 --> 00:09:51.129 So many times in life, the more radical that we are for Jesus Christ, the more others, even our own family, even sometimes other Christians, will often criticize us because they see us as abnormal, as someone who has lost our mind, who is too radical. 00:09:51.139 --> 00:10:01.190 You know, when you think about this Thanksgiving break that we just had, many of you were around family members, I'm sure, that maybe do not believe in Jesus Christ, and maybe they see you as a radical person. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:03.799 "Well, he or she is one of those radical Christians. 00:10:03.801 --> 00:10:05.750 I don't want to hear what they have to say. 00:10:05.750 --> 00:10:06.440 They're crazy. 00:10:06.441 --> 00:10:07.299 They've lost their mind. 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:10.850 They've gone mad." And maybe you've experienced that in your own family. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:27.870 But there's hope, because God will often use our faithfulness-- and actually, I should say it this way: God will always use our faithfulness to produce fruit, because the Bible says that God's word never returns void, and that includes our witness for Jesus Christ. 00:10:28.379 --> 00:10:29.639 Even in our family. 00:10:29.940 --> 00:10:37.080 We know from Acts chapter 1, verse 14, that later on, after the ascension, Mary, and guess who else? 00:10:37.690 --> 00:10:40.710 Jesus's brothers were among the believers who were left. 00:10:42.470 --> 00:11:18.230 And not only that, but we know that his brother James went on to be one of the major leaders of the early Jerusalem Church, and most historians believe that his brother James wrote the book of James, that we know of in the New Testament, and others believe that his brother Judas wrote the book of Jude in the New Testament, and so not only did his family come to Christ because of his obedience and putting God first and continuing to fulfill God's plan that Jesus had for his life, but we see that not only do they become believers, but they became incredible, passionate leaders for the cause of Christ later on. 00:11:18.230 --> 00:11:23.889 So God will use our faithfulness to produce fruit, even in our family. 00:11:23.890 --> 00:11:25.029 So we see critics. 00:11:25.030 --> 00:11:32.649 The critics come out, and we see criticism from his family, but we also see criticism from his foes, don't we? 00:11:32.860 --> 00:11:52.419 In verse 22, it says,"The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying,'He is possessed by Beelzebub, and he casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.'" So the second accusation that we see is from his foes, and we see that they're accusing him of being possessed by Satan himself. 00:11:55.470 --> 00:11:58.500 We know these scribes came from Jerusalem. 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:04.830 A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the man with the withered hand, and the man with the withered hand had been healed by Jesus. 00:12:04.831 --> 00:12:08.279 And these religious leaders were furious. 00:12:08.280 --> 00:12:12.179 And now we see them call in the big guns from Jerusalem. 00:12:12.181 --> 00:12:29.970 Not only is it the scribes out in the countryside, but the big-time guys from Jerusalem, the guys that were the most influential, come down to Galilee to see what Jesus is saying, to confront Jesus and what he is doing. 00:12:29.971 --> 00:12:43.049 And we see that these scribes from Jerusalem, these religious leaders from Jerusalem, they were, like I said, the most influential of all the scribes, the highest-up of all. 00:12:43.051 --> 00:12:49.590 And I think that tells us this morning, there must've been something incredibly amazing about the authority of Christ. 00:12:49.591 --> 00:13:05.440 And scripture speaks of this, that they would be willing to come all the way from Jerusalem to try to stop what Jesus was doing and saying, because Jesus was an incredible threat, because of his authority, to the power that they had, to their own power. 00:13:05.441 --> 00:13:11.250 So we see that these scribes came from Jerusalem, but we also see that they did not even deny that he cast out demons. 00:13:12.409 --> 00:13:18.179 You know, you would think that that would be where they would start: they'd just try to pretend like it didn't happen, but they didn't do that. 00:13:18.181 --> 00:13:21.850 It's because there was no question about it. 00:13:21.850 --> 00:13:39.350 It was a fact that he had driven out demons, and we see that in last week's message, in Mark chapter 3, verse 11, we see that when he would drive out demons, they would even call him the son of God as they were being driven out of these people. 00:13:39.350 --> 00:13:42.470 So because they couldn't deny that he cast out demons, what do they do? 00:13:42.679 --> 00:13:45.230 They chose to go further than his family. 00:13:45.230 --> 00:13:53.029 They chose to go further than calling him crazy, and they claimed that he was possessed by Satan. 00:13:53.030 --> 00:13:57.740 What was holy and good, they called evil. 00:13:57.740 --> 00:14:00.440 Does that sound familiar today to you? 00:14:00.441 --> 00:14:03.379 In our world today, we see that everywhere, don't we? 00:14:03.380 --> 00:14:23.000 We see people all over the news, all over the TV, whether that's in their actions or their words, we see people calling what is good evil and what is evil good in our world today, and that is a very, very dangerous thing to be doing. 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:25.909 We must be very careful about calling what is good evil. 00:14:28.269 --> 00:14:32.340 So in verses 23 through 30, the rest of the passage, we see Jesus respond. 00:14:33.330 --> 00:14:36.210 We see that his answer is truly amazing. 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:43.919 Look at verse 23:"And he called them to himself and began speaking to them in parables. 00:14:44.490 --> 00:14:55.720 'How can Satan cast out Satan?'" So we see that Jesus uses three parables in the next few verses to show that Satan absolutely would not cast out himself. 00:14:57.029 --> 00:15:00.659 So before we get to the answer, I want to look at this word"parable". 00:15:01.110 --> 00:15:07.740 A parable is a short saying or figure placed alongside a teaching to help us understand its meaning. 00:15:07.740 --> 00:15:08.700 Let me say that one more time. 00:15:08.701 --> 00:15:16.769 A parable is a short saying or figure placed alongside a teaching to help us understand its meaning. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:22.519 So we see the parables were used to reveal and hide truth. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:23.840 Let me explain that. 00:15:23.841 --> 00:15:27.679 This is important for us to know this morning, as we listen ourselves to the parables. 00:15:29.470 --> 00:15:41.529 Parables were used, like I said, to reveal or hide truth, but we see that a careful listener-- or, I'm sorry, a careless listener would not understand, and consequently, that careless listener would be judged. 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:47.549 But a careful listener would be enlightened by God's truth and benefit. 00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:53.909 So for us today, we must be careful listeners so that we can benefit for what is being said in this passage. 00:15:54.750 --> 00:16:03.210 As we study the parable, it becomes a mirror of how we see ourselves in light of the parable; but not only that, and this is very heavy right here. 00:16:03.211 --> 00:16:09.990 The next thing is that the crowd did not judge the parable, but the parable judged the crowd. 00:16:10.769 --> 00:16:11.580 Think about that. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:29.370 These people were looking at Jesus, trying to find something to accuse him of, trying to find something to convict him of, but all along, the parable, all along, we see the crowd did not judge the parable, but the parable actually judged the crowd. 00:16:31.809 --> 00:16:32.830 So we look at these parables. 00:16:32.831 --> 00:16:35.919 The first two: the parable of the divided kingdom and the divided house. 00:16:36.429 --> 00:16:43.450 Look at verses 24 through 26 again:"If a Kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 00:16:43.451 --> 00:16:48.009 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 00:16:48.010 --> 00:17:05.069 If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished." We see Jesus's words of wisdom in these parables, and the first thing that he does is he begins with logic and common sense to refute their accusations. 00:17:07.430 --> 00:17:09.890 He used some common examples of a kingdom and a house. 00:17:09.891 --> 00:17:14.930 We all know that these people, they can all relate to what it was like to be a part of a kingdom. 00:17:14.931 --> 00:17:16.009 They were all part of a kingdom. 00:17:16.579 --> 00:17:20.869 We know that they can relate to what it was like to be a part of a house or part of a family. 00:17:20.871 --> 00:17:23.119 They were all part of a family and part of a house. 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:34.460 So Jesus uses some common things that they can relate to to speak logically to them: that of course, a divided kingdom, a divided house will not stand. 00:17:34.670 --> 00:17:35.450 We all know that. 00:17:35.451 --> 00:17:36.619 That's common sense. 00:17:38.059 --> 00:17:52.099 But we also see that because Satan would never work against himself, there must be a stronger power at work, and he goes further to show us what that power is in verse 27, with the parable of a strong man. 00:17:53.930 --> 00:18:09.710 Look what he says in 27:"But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house." We see more words of wisdom from Jesus in verse 27, and we kind of have to unpack this a little bit to understand it. 00:18:09.711 --> 00:18:19.160 We see that first, the strong man was Satan himself, or Beelzebub, which literally means"master of the house". 00:18:19.161 --> 00:18:25.069 It was another name for Satan, but its actual, specific interpretation is"master of the house". 00:18:25.070 --> 00:18:34.309 And so Jesus uses the very name that they're calling him, referring to Satan, to speak to them with a parable of the master of the house. 00:18:34.310 --> 00:18:41.480 So we see the strong man, but then we see the stronger man in this parable is Jesus himself. 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:46.549 The house in the parable is the demonic man who was healed that we talked about earlier. 00:18:46.550 --> 00:18:58.450 That was from Matthew chapter 12, 22 through 24, but it's also a general, broader representation of Satan's kingdom. 00:18:58.451 --> 00:19:01.059 The house is Satan's kingdom, in a broader sense. 00:19:01.060 --> 00:19:07.660 So we see that Jesus is stronger than Satan, and therefore, he has the power to bind Satan and any of his demons. 00:19:09.970 --> 00:19:11.470 Aren't you glad for that this morning? 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:21.390 Jesus is victorious in plundering Satan's house by setting free those who Satan controls and possesses. 00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:28.470 As I mentioned, in the book of Matthew, we see that right before this happened. 00:19:28.471 --> 00:19:42.390 Jesus points out that Satan would not-- of course, he would not destroy his own house; but yet Satan's house and kingdom was being destroyed by a greater power that we see in this parable. 00:19:42.391 --> 00:20:00.349 And so we see Jesus's words of wisdom, and we see that he explains that the scribes were wrong, and he uses logic, and he even goes a little deeper by this parable of the strong man, but he also addresses the seriousness of their accusation in verses 28 through 30. 00:20:00.351 --> 00:20:07.369 He gives some words of love, but he also gives some words of great warning. 00:20:07.371 --> 00:20:09.269 Look at what it says in verse 28. 00:20:09.269 --> 00:20:15.329 It says,"Truly I say to you--" by the way, when he says that in scripture, it's like saying,"You better pay attention. 00:20:15.330 --> 00:20:16.440 You better listen. 00:20:16.441 --> 00:20:27.190 This is a big deal, what I'm about to say." The original Hebrew language didn't have the same words that we have, so when you see this phrase, that's what that means. 00:20:27.191 --> 00:20:33.250 That's the way they explained that you better pay attention about what's going to be said next. 00:20:33.250 --> 00:20:52.450 He goes on, and he says,"'All sins shall be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin,' because they were saying he has an unclean spirit." Now this is where it gets tough. 00:20:52.451 --> 00:20:53.680 This is the difficult part. 00:20:53.710 --> 00:21:00.430 This is the part that a lot of people don't know how to interpret or understand, and so let's start with the definition of"blaspheme". 00:21:00.431 --> 00:21:03.089 What's the general definition of blasphemy? 00:21:03.090 --> 00:21:15.539 Well, if you looked at any dictionary, the world would say, the definition the world would give you would be"to speak or act in a way that shows irreverence for God or anything sacred". 00:21:15.970 --> 00:21:27.490 Key word there being"anything sacred", meaning that people from all over the world, all religions, all faith, all gods, would try to say that if you were to speak against their god, that you would be a blasphemer. 00:21:27.490 --> 00:21:28.569 But we believe different. 00:21:28.570 --> 00:21:50.200 We believe there's only one true God, and so we believe that blasphemy truly is only against the one God, the true God, and we see that the religious leaders in this story, their definition of blasphemy would be an act of insulting, reviling, or defaming God or the crime of assuming oneself, the right or qualities of God. 00:21:50.201 --> 00:21:59.369 And obviously when I say God, according to the religious leaders and according to us today, we're talking about the one true God, the Hebrew God, Yahweh, the God Yahweh. 00:22:01.769 --> 00:22:05.099 And so we see kind of what blasphemy is, but what about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? 00:22:05.430 --> 00:22:09.809 What specifically in this passage, what does"blasphemy of the Holy Spirit" actually mean? 00:22:12.950 --> 00:22:27.750 We see that this is maliciously and willfully misrepresenting God, refusal to accept obvious truth, or to intentionally claim that God's spirit was evil instead of holy. 00:22:28.380 --> 00:22:34.589 And we see that going on in this passage with these religious leaders who are calling the Holy Spirit evil. 00:22:37.589 --> 00:22:46.140 So I think now, the question becomes,"What did this mean for the religious leaders?" What Jesus says in these verses, what did it mean for the religious leaders? 00:22:46.141 --> 00:22:59.609 Well, it's important for us to remember this morning that this all happens-- this story takes place before the cross, before the resurrection, before the ascension and the giving of the Holy Spirit to the believers at the day of Pentecost. 00:22:59.611 --> 00:23:05.819 That's the context in which we are reading this passage, and so we must not ignore that. 00:23:05.820 --> 00:23:15.950 But we see the first thing that Jesus shows us is words of love, and when he says that, he makes it clear that all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven. 00:23:15.951 --> 00:23:22.369 Even in the midst of them calling him evil, Jesus says that they could be forgiven for that if they would repent. 00:23:23.559 --> 00:23:25.779 And not only that, but later on he goes on. 00:23:26.210 --> 00:23:28.369 When he's on the cross, what does he say? 00:23:28.371 --> 00:23:36.549 When he's dying in agony on the cross, when he's suffering on the cross, dying for the sins of the world, what does he say? 00:23:36.550 --> 00:23:59.009 He says,"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Even in the middle of Jesus Christ dying for the sins of the people that killed him, the people that were insulting him, even in the middle of it, he was willing to forgive and ask the Lord to forgive them if they would repent later on. 00:23:59.010 --> 00:24:00.569 I mean, this is the third amazing act. 00:24:00.570 --> 00:24:01.500 What an amazing act. 00:24:01.500 --> 00:24:04.349 We see him drive out demons, the first amazing act. 00:24:04.351 --> 00:24:13.529 We see him put others before himself, a radical thing for him to do, and not even eat so he could take care of these people. 00:24:13.529 --> 00:24:28.640 Then the third amazing act is his forgiveness, the depth of his forgiveness, that while he was being called evil, while he was dying on the cross later on, he was willing to ask these people to be forgiven and to forgive these people. 00:24:28.641 --> 00:24:37.220 You know what's interesting about this is, if you think about it, we know in Mark chapter 2, verse 7, they call him a blasphemer. 00:24:37.221 --> 00:24:46.279 They accuse him a blasphemy first, and then after this passage, later on, what is the crime that he is convicted or accused of, supposedly, to die on the cross? 00:24:46.280 --> 00:24:49.079 It was the crime of blasphemy that they accused him of. 00:24:50.269 --> 00:24:55.039 And even though they were accusing him of this very thing, he was willing to ask them to be forgiven for it. 00:24:55.900 --> 00:24:57.750 Forgiving for these things. 00:25:01.160 --> 00:25:02.630 What amazing forgiveness. 00:25:03.329 --> 00:25:18.369 We see in Matthew chapter 12, verse 32, in the passage I mentioned earlier, that Jesus even says then that even the sins against the Son of Man could be forgiven, but what about the next verse? 00:25:18.371 --> 00:25:21.670 What about verse 29? 00:25:21.671 --> 00:25:23.710 How do we reconcile that? 00:25:23.711 --> 00:25:26.059 Let's read it again. 00:25:26.059 --> 00:25:39.619 It says,"'For whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin,' because they were saying he has an unclean spirit." I think it's clear this morning. 00:25:39.621 --> 00:25:52.589 I'll get to why in just a second, but the point is that it is not that God is unwilling to forgive, but that the person concerned is unwilling to receive his forgiveness. 00:25:52.590 --> 00:25:55.920 We see that in verse 22 and 30. 00:25:55.921 --> 00:26:06.480 The verb in those verses is in the imperfect tense, which would be translated that they kept on saying, they kept on saying that he was evil instead of good. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:18.210 They kept on accusing him of having an unclean spirit, and what that tells us is that although they literally rejected Jesus in the flesh, even this could be forgiven. 00:26:19.690 --> 00:26:30.339 It was the continual attitude and desire to reject the Holy Spirit that would eventually be the unpardonable sin if they did not repent. 00:26:30.970 --> 00:26:32.079 It's an attitude. 00:26:32.170 --> 00:26:46.660 It's a state of being, of continually rejecting Jesus Christ, continually calling the spirit of God, which is good, evil, and being hardened and hostile toward the truth and toward the Gospel. 00:26:46.661 --> 00:26:57.539 Such a willful and deliberate twisting of the truth and rejection of the Holy Spirit makes repentance and salvation impossible. 00:26:57.700 --> 00:27:02.900 For it has shut the one gate to salvation that God has opened. 00:27:02.901 --> 00:27:08.509 God does not shut that gate; we do when we are resistant to the Holy Spirit. 00:27:08.510 --> 00:27:16.759 We know that God sent John the Baptist, and then he sent Jesus, and then he sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to call people to repentance. 00:27:19.650 --> 00:27:23.190 How did the Jewish religious leaders respond to all of those things? 00:27:24.789 --> 00:27:33.660 They responded by killing all of them, including many of the apostles, after the power of God was clearly seen at Pentecost and the Holy Spirit fell on the people. 00:27:34.019 --> 00:27:35.130 That's how they responded. 00:27:35.131 --> 00:27:43.829 So this morning, I want to read you a quote that I think puts this into perspective for us very well from Warren Wiersbe, the Bible exposition commentary. 00:27:43.829 --> 00:27:51.930 This is what it says: it says,"These leaders had sinned against the Father and Son, but God had forgiven them. 00:27:51.931 --> 00:27:58.799 When they sinned against the Holy Spirit, they had reached the end of the line, and there could be no more forgiveness. 00:27:58.800 --> 00:28:05.410 People today cannot commit the unpardonable sin in the same way the religious leaders did while Jesus was on Earth. 00:28:05.539 --> 00:28:11.190 The only sin that God cannot forgive is rejection of his son. 00:28:11.191 --> 00:28:18.750 Even when someone rejects the Holy Spirit and word of God, this does not forfeit future opportunities to be saved. 00:28:18.750 --> 00:28:24.150 There is still hope as long as there is life. 00:28:24.151 --> 00:28:27.779 Only God knows when the deadline has been crossed. 00:28:27.780 --> 00:28:37.400 Therefore, we must never give up on any sinner who has yet to follow Christ." So what does this mean for us today? 00:28:39.029 --> 00:28:40.789 Post-ascension? 00:28:41.099 --> 00:28:48.509 Now, after the Holy Spirit has come and the Son is ascended into heaven and is no longer here, physically in the flesh? 00:28:48.510 --> 00:28:49.500 What does it mean for us today? 00:28:49.500 --> 00:28:54.660 Well I want to reiterate that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is not an isolated act. 00:28:54.661 --> 00:29:08.730 It's not a one-time thing, but it's a continual state of defiant hostility toward God that rejects his saving power toward man, through the person and the work of Jesus. 00:29:08.730 --> 00:29:17.309 It is one's preference for darkness, even though he has been exposed to great light. 00:29:17.380 --> 00:29:28.150 So to reject the Holy Spirit means that we are automatically rejecting the Son, because the Holy Spirit is the one who draws us to the Son. 00:29:28.151 --> 00:29:40.150 The Son is not physically here for us to receive or reject like he was in the Bible, but the Holy Spirit has been sent in his place to reveal truth of salvation and lead us to the Son. 00:29:40.151 --> 00:29:46.440 So to reject the Holy Spirit means that we are automatically rejecting the Son. 00:29:46.441 --> 00:29:57.559 So if we die having rejected the Holy Spirit's called to receive the Son, that sin is what is the eternal sin: to die without Jesus Christ and to reject him as our Lord and Savior. 00:29:59.349 --> 00:30:06.910 The sad truth is that we will die and spend an eternity in Hell if we were to do this, and this is the horrible thing to think about. 00:30:07.269 --> 00:30:11.920 It's a horrible thing to think about anybody dying and going to Hell, but it's the truth of the scripture. 00:30:11.921 --> 00:30:15.069 In fact, the Bible mentions Hell more than it does Heaven. 00:30:15.910 --> 00:30:20.769 So for us to believe in Heaven, we must also believe in the reality of Hell. 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:37.430 So for those of you that are here this morning that would say,"You know, I've never received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior." I want to talk to you just for a couple of minutes this morning. 00:30:38.180 --> 00:30:40.099 You know, his family called him crazy. 00:30:40.470 --> 00:30:43.940 The religious leaders called Jesus possessed by Satan. 00:30:46.349 --> 00:30:49.049 After hearing his response today, what about you? 00:30:49.799 --> 00:30:52.859 The Bible says there is no middle ground with Jesus Christ. 00:30:53.450 --> 00:31:00.750 We are either for him and we follow him and we receive him and we know him as Lord and Savior, or we reject him just like the religious leaders did. 00:31:00.750 --> 00:31:03.839 There is no middle ground with Jesus Christ. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:07.609 Do you believe he is the savior of the world? 00:31:07.611 --> 00:31:10.099 Do you believe that he is God in the flesh? 00:31:10.101 --> 00:31:17.660 Someday, we will all stand before him, and we will all give an account of what we did with Jesus Christ while on this earth. 00:31:20.069 --> 00:31:22.740 We will all have to answer what we did with Jesus. 00:31:23.650 --> 00:31:34.420 So will you put your trust in him this morning, or will you continue to reject him in light of obvious truth that is presented to you today, just like the religious leaders did? 00:31:36.619 --> 00:31:42.750 What will you do with Jesus, if you're here today and don't know Jesus Christ, what will you do with him today? 00:31:42.750 --> 00:31:45.930 There's a couple of things I would encourage you with this morning. 00:31:45.931 --> 00:31:50.519 The first is that his forgiveness is amazing. 00:31:50.520 --> 00:31:55.619 Even while he was dying in the middle of his suffering, he was willing to forgive. 00:31:55.621 --> 00:32:06.869 Even while they were calling him evil, he was willing to forgive, and there's nothing that you have ever done in your life that God cannot forgive. 00:32:06.871 --> 00:32:11.940 There is nothing from your past, no matter what you've done, that God is not big enough to forgive. 00:32:11.941 --> 00:32:17.730 And so if you're here this morning, the good news is that God's forgiveness is amazing. 00:32:17.730 --> 00:32:25.440 But not only that: the other good news is that there is still time left to receive his forgiveness. 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:27.900 Your deadline has not been crossed yet. 00:32:28.289 --> 00:32:32.170 Where there is life, there is always hope. 00:32:32.349 --> 00:32:34.390 Will you receive him today while you still have time? 00:32:37.869 --> 00:32:39.769 We're going to have an invitation in just a minute. 00:32:39.770 --> 00:32:41.089 There's going to be some people at the front. 00:32:41.090 --> 00:32:51.259 There's going to be some people at the back, some of our leaders that would love to pray with you this morning and help you understand and know and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior this morning. 00:32:51.260 --> 00:32:56.900 What better time to do it than today, to receive him today? 00:32:56.901 --> 00:33:00.799 Many of us in this room, probably the majority, over the majority, are believers. 00:33:00.800 --> 00:33:10.250 We've already made that commitment to follow Christ, and isn't it wonderful to know that there is no sin that's unforgivable, the grace that we have in Jesus Christ? 00:33:10.250 --> 00:33:15.480 But we must also see the forgiveness of Jesus, and so what is he saying in this passage to us today? 00:33:15.609 --> 00:33:19.910 Well, he's saying that we must forgive as Jesus forgave us. 00:33:19.911 --> 00:33:37.250 In the midst of all the things that I've mentioned, Jesus was willing to forgive, and if he's willing to forgive us in that way, if his forgiveness is that amazing, then we must, too, if we're going to follow him and be followers of Jesus Christ, to be like Jesus Christ, we must also forgive the way that Jesus forgave us. 00:33:39.660 --> 00:33:46.710 There is no sin that anyone could ever commit against us, that we should not be willing to forgive, because Jesus did the same for us. 00:33:49.069 --> 00:33:57.500 The other thing that I want you to see as believers this morning is that we must not give up on those who have yet to receive. 00:33:57.500 --> 00:33:59.660 As long as there is hope, there is life. 00:33:59.661 --> 00:34:01.759 As long as there's life, there's hope. 00:34:01.760 --> 00:34:04.160 We know that, right, from from this passage? 00:34:04.161 --> 00:34:12.170 We know that: that until someone's deadline has been crossed, and they pass to another life, the next life, there is always hope. 00:34:12.170 --> 00:34:19.639 And so we might share the Gospel of truth with as many people as we can, while we still have time. 00:34:19.641 --> 00:34:21.289 As a believer, are you doing that? 00:34:21.291 --> 00:34:33.860 Are you willing to put yourself out there, to sacrifice your own wants and needs and desires, as Jesus did, to tell other people about the hope that they have in Jesus? 00:34:33.860 --> 00:34:36.829 Eternity is at stake for each of those people that God has put in our life. 00:34:36.831 --> 00:34:43.760 Are we willing to truly put them first and share with them what God has for them in salvation? 00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:46.489 Let's pray together this morning. 00:34:46.490 --> 00:34:48.679 Dear God, we thank you so much for today. 00:34:48.681 --> 00:34:49.820 We thank you for your word. 00:34:50.369 --> 00:34:56.739 We thank you that your word speaks to all of us, God, those that have received you and those that haven't. 00:34:56.739 --> 00:35:00.690 Lord, those this morning that would say that they don't know you, they've never received you, Lord? 00:35:02.110 --> 00:35:05.219 Oh Lord, I pray that today would be their day, God. 00:35:05.219 --> 00:35:17.880 Lord, I pray that today would be the day that they follow you, they turn to you, God, and that you would bring a peace and a joy in their life that they've never experienced because of your what your Son gives us when we receive him, God. 00:35:17.880 --> 00:35:23.130 I pray for that, anyone here today, Lord, they would not leave while they still have time, that they would receive you. 00:35:23.909 --> 00:35:33.420 God, we also pray for believers in this room, that all of us would be willing to forgive as Jesus forgave, Lord, that all of us would not give up on those around us. 00:35:33.420 --> 00:35:36.659 Maybe it's people that we've seen recently over Thanksgiving break. 00:35:37.139 --> 00:35:41.380 They're the closest to us, our closest family and friends that don't know you, God. 00:35:41.380 --> 00:35:43.269 Maybe it's a coworker. 00:35:43.271 --> 00:35:45.929 Maybe it's somebody else in our life, God. 00:35:45.940 --> 00:35:51.469 Whoever it is, God, that we would not give up on them, Lord, but that you would use us to reach them for your kingdom. 00:35:51.469 --> 00:35:51.469 God. 00:35:53.230 --> 00:35:56.070 That they'll be able to experience that joy and the love that you've given us. 00:35:58.050 --> 00:36:07.260 Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would move and do what only it can do at this time, Lord, that you would help us be obedient to you and follow you, and we just ask it all in Jesus's name. 00:36:07.260 --> 00:36:07.260 Amen.