2023.03.19 Nope. That Ain't It

Nope. That Ain’t It.

Psalm 25:4-11 • Luke 12:8-10

Luke 12:8–10 NASB 2020

8 “Now I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before people, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God; 9 but the one who denies Me before people will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.

This passage really has two segments. The first, I’d like to look at for just a second because I think it indicates something we deal with still today.

Absent the context, Jesus’ statement in verses 8 & 9 sounds like we have a transactional faith. If I pay you $2 — you give me a Coke. If I tell people about Jesus — Jesus tells the Father and the angels about me.

Our faith is NOT transactional in nature, so let me set that context by drawing your attention back to verse 1:

Luke 12:1-3

Luke 12:1–3 NASB 2020

1 Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. 3 Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

Beware of the Pharisees’ leaven - the driving force behind their behavior - their MOTIVE. Because their motive is hypocrisy.

Halley’s Bible Handbook says this about Luke 12:

Halley’s Bible Handbook Luke 12:1–12. The Secret Motives of Life

Jesus dealt a good deal with our motives—that is, that quality within us that makes us do what we do and guides our conduct. To Him, what motivates us is who and what we are. Our one grand motive should be the desire for God’s approval and fear of God’s disapproval.

The religious people of Jesus’ day performed many of their religious practices for the sake of people’s approval (Matthew 6:1–18). It is still a part of our nature with which we have a constant struggle. When we are with irreligious people, we are tempted to be ashamed of our religion. But when we are with religious people, we want to be considered religious or spiritual, and this desire sometimes leads us to pretend to be more spiritual than we really are—which is hypocrisy. The desire for people’s approval, within proper bounds, is legitimate and laudable. But the most basic fact of existence is God. The one thing that really matters is our relation to Him.

Does that ring true with you?

“When we are with irreligious people, we are tempted to be ashamed or hide our religion. But when we are with religious people, we want to be considered religious or spiritual.”

In the next couple of verses, Jesus goes on to say that everything will be revealed some day. Everything you’ve ever done that brings embarrassment … it will be revealed. Everything you thought nobody knew about … everybody will know.

And if you deny Jesus before people, it reveals the motive of your heart - to be acceptable to other people. If you tell other people about Jesus, it reveals the motive of your heart - to be acceptable to your God.

And that brings us to our questions:

What do we learn about God from this story?

What do you learn about GOD from this story?

In context, we learn (again) that God is more interested in motive than conduct. He isn’t DISinterested in conduct. But He is MORE concerned with motive than conduct.

Jesus teaches in several places about the Law. And almost every teaching he provides about God’s law demonstrates that the HEART of the law is more important than the LETTER of the law.

That’s because, as Halley’s put it: “…what motivates us is who and what we are.”

God is more concerned about motives than conduct or behavior.

But I really want to spend most of our time today on verse 10.

Look at verse 10 with me, and tell me what you learn about God from Jesus’ statement.

God’s grace is extreme. He will forgive ALMOST anything! ALMOST!

Which means - We learn that God’ grace is extreme, but we also learn that God’s forgiveness does have a limit!

What sin will not be forgiven? [blasphemy of the Holy Spirit]

What is that?

For now, suffice it to say that GOD WILL NOT FORGIVE EVERY SIN! THERE IS ONE SIN THAT HE WILL NOT FORGIVE according to Jesus!

The title of the sermon today is a variation of something I say fairly often. There’s only one unforgivable sin, “and that ain’t it”.

So let me explain that saying before I talk about any definitions of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

What do you learn about HUMANS?

We’ve learned before that humans like behavioral laws because it helps us judge other people.

We’ve learned before that humans like to act as if God will ignore any of my issues, while holding other people accountable for theirs.

Humans often want to make one sin or category of sin higher or worse than the others. Comically, which one is more heinous changes with our circumstances and with the times, which demonstrates that it’s not the standard of our unchanging God.

In the 1960s and 1970s, divorce was the biggie! The Church did more harm to people experiencing divorce than we did good! We weren’t sure how to deal with divorce, so rather than teaching about the grace of God, we kicked people out. I would suggest that today, we ignore the sin of divorce and do even more harm by not offering the grace God wants divorcees to receive. You see, we spend so much time focused on the ailment, that we neglect the antidote that’s readily available!

What is today’s ‘biggie’ sin? You may not want to say it out loud, but we all know what it is, right? The elephant in the room isn’t escaping our vision even if we don’t want to say it out loud.

As we jump into this topic, let me tell you this sermon was planned months before we even had a date for yesterday’s vote. That demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is a master of planning ahead.

Today, some may say that homosexuality is the hot-button sin of the day. I would take a slight shift on that. Homosexual PRACTICE is the hot-button sin in today’s church. That may sound like a minor difference, but it is not. That slight difference shifts us from considering a person’s BEING sinful to recognizing a person’s BEHAVING sinfully.

Even if we believe homosexual practice is sinful, the BEING part isn’t really the bigger problem, because there isn’t one of us who can claim to BE sinless … right? Sure, we may BE sinners in different ways, but our nature has not fully become divine yet, has it? So, as for BEING … we are all sinful at our BEING … at our core.

Practice is the issue. We would likely agree that if a man is tempted to steal money from his work, that’s one thing … but actually doing it is another. And if that man repeatedly practices the sinful act of stealing money from his work, we would likely agree that he is in danger of walking down a path that leads to destruction, wouldn’t we?

Now, I’m not going to argue whether homosexual practice is sinful or not in today’s sermon. I have my opinion, and most of you likely know where I stand. But the topic of today is one particular sin, and That Ain’t It! Which means our desire to make any particular sin more offensive than another is hypocrisy, by Jesus’ standard. It’s us placing our standards on God rather than receiving his standards as our own. Because his standard only raises one sin above all the others.

Regardless of which sin you think is the worst of all, I would propose to you, “There’s only one unforgivable sin … and that ain’t it.”

If God’s desire is that our primary motive is to please him, does it say anything about us that he indicates one sin that is indeed unforgivable and most of us have likely never bothered to even consider what that sin might look like. I didn’t begin today’s message with the question, “What is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?” because I really don’t like looking at a room full of blank stares.

The unforgivable sin sounds kind of important, though, so let’s look at this a moment:

What is Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

There have been many attempts to define the so-called Unpardonable Sin.

I don’t think you’ll walk out of here today with a definition. Rather, I hope you walk out with a concept that empowers you to look at all other sins the same instead of trying to prioritize them in some false order of importance.

First, what is blasphemy? Blasphemy in itself is a pretty serious charge to lay on someone. In the truest sense, blasphemy is slandering something or someone sacred.

Lexham Bible Dictionary adds that blasphemy is an insult made intentionally and with malice against God, and that it reveals a person’s contempt for Him. This is not just simple disrespect. This is ripping up respect in order to express contempt for God.

In the Old Testament, we’re taught that misusing God’s name is a form of blasphemy. It made it into the 10 Commandments so it has to be important, right? Jesus says it’s forgivable.

The Pharisees and other religious rulers say all kinds of malicious things about Jesus, which we look at with wide eyes and fear in our hearts, right? Jesus says THAT’s forgivable.

What he says is NOT forgivable is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Now, here’s where I want to give you a concept rather than a definition. Has anyone accidently misused God’s name? Many a hammer has elicited blasphemy against God when it hits a thumb.

Some infractions against God are planned out ahead of time … but most aren’t. Most of our sins are driven by a lack of attention or thoughtlessness.

I believe what Jesus is teaching here is that the Unforgivable Sin is not one that we find ourselves committing accidentally. It is an intentional act … and only someone who knows the faith would likely insult the Holy Spirit. People today say all sorts of things about God. I’ve heard all sorts of insults hurled toward Jesus. But the average Joe doesn’t insult the Holy Spirit ignorantly. If someone is going to commit this sin, they know it … and they choose it. It is a willful act, and it is done especially in defiance and contempt.

So, I hope you can recognize that most sins that each generation shouts from the rooftops as being the most heinous fall into the category, “There’s only one unforgivable sin, and that ain’t it.”

And what I hope you learn about yourself

What do you learn about YOURSELF?

…is that you shouldn’t take yourself so seriously. Only someone who WANTS to commit the unpardonable sin is likely to commit the unpardonable sin.

One of my favorite movies is Stripes with Bill Murray. There’s a lot of crass in it, so I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it, but it’s still one of my favorites. When Murray’s character joins the Army, their drill sergeant is leading a get-to-know-you session. He comes to one new recruit who says, “My name’s Frances. Everybody calls me Psycho. Any of you calls me Frances … I kill ya.” When Psycho is done with his list of other threats, Sgt. Hulka says, “Lighten up, Frances.”

Don’t take yourself so seriously.

Whatever your pet sin is, is just that … YOUR. PET. SIN. I feel confident in telling you whatever your pet sin is ...

“There’s only one unforgivable sin … and THAT AIN’T IT!”

Nope. That Ain’t It.

So, lighten up, Frances.

Let us pray.