Untitled Sermon (6)

Intro:

We have come to probably one of the most talked about, one of the most misunderstood, and yet one of the most frightening passages in Scripture. Jesus stands before those opposing him and those following him and makes a chilling statement, jump down to verse 28

“Truly I say to you...” this phrase is found no where in the NT but only the mouth of Christ. “Truly I say to you,” It only appears in the lips of Jesus. It seems to have been a phrase that He used to identify something that had very significant meaning and was, in fact, a representation of divine truth that needed to be heard. “Truly I say to you, 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.”

Now it might strike you as strange that there would be a sin that would not be forgivable. Don't we say that God offers forgiveness to sinners? Doesn't the gospel promise that the Lord will forgive all our sins? That He'll pass by all our iniquities? Isn't He a pardoning God who overlooks sin? Doesn't He bury it in the depths of the sea, remove it as far as the east is from the west and remember it no more? Isn't God gracious and merciful as the prophet says, who is a pardoning God like You? When we preach the gospel, don't we say that God will forgive all your trespasses, all your sins? Doesn't this sort of contradict that?

It doesn’t contradict and I will show you why. With that said this passage should make those who are comfortable afraid because there are some who may have committed this sin and and are comfortable with no idea they are headed for eternal destruction. Yet at the same time there are those who are afraid they have committed this sin, terrified of the guilty verdict coming from heaven, they should be comforted.

My goal today is to make those who are comfortable, those who think they are ok,

As we have traveled the 3 and half chapters of Mark we have seen enough evidence to come to the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah the Old Testament has prophesied about, that he is the Son of God that Mark has proclaimed that he is.

HIs Baptism

His victory over temptation

the lame are walking

the deaf are hearing

the dead are rising

those filled with demons are liberated

CS Lewis says There are only 3 conclusions to come to when you Behold Jesus, “When Jesus claimed to be God, there were only three options. Either He is God or He is a lunatic, or He is a liar pulling off a very, very grand scheme of deception.”

Yet we have a world who wants to say that Jesus was a good person, a wise sage, a noble teacher… the problem with all that is Jesus claim to be God. I would say Creston Thomas is a good man, he is a wise person, he is a good teacher, but the second he stands up and says I am God, one of us is fixin to be gone. Why? because the moment he claims to be God it cancels out him being a good man, a wise person and a good teacher, unless it’s true! That is the deal with Jesus you cant say he was a good man a wise sage or a noble teacher because he claimed to be God. So either Christ is telling the truth or he is a liar. As we have seen throughout Mark he is backed up HIs claim with miracle after miracle.

The other option is that Jesus is a lunatic. Which is the conclusion his family came to. Jump back up to vs 20-21.

John7:5 “For not even his brothers believed in him.”

His brothers didn’t believe in him. They thought he was crazy. Which is what we would think again if Creston came up here and said I am God.

Where were his brothers? In Nazereth, where Jesus did no miracles, why? Because of their unbelief, so they are just hearing about everything that is going on, they are not witnesses to it. What conclusions do they make? We have to go take our brother by force, we have to arrest him and bring him back home before something happens to him and before he ruins our family name. They came to the conclusion that Jesus was going cray cray.

As word about Christ spread it spread to Jerusalem and what we see here is that Jerusalem sends an official delegation down to the region of Galilee, which we know is hostile opposition.

I. The Hardened Heart Calls Good Evil

A. The Scribes were saying

This isn’t a one time event. The Greek verb is written imperfect implying that they were continually saying this. This was there all out assault on Christ.

Mathew has a the same account recorded in Mathew 12

But if you go back to

and

has an account recorded which happens, not in Galilee but Judea, which is a separate event.

In Just the few chapters of Mark we have seen the religous leaders accuse him of blasphemy, questioned his association with sinners and tax collectors implying he was like them, quesitioned him about fasting because in other Gospels they accused him of being a glutton, on two separate occasions accuse him of breaking the Sabbath, which the last one in says they began to Counsel with the Herodians on how to destroy Jesus.

This state of unbelief was not a one time event, but it was a continual refusal, a continual hardening of their heart to the plain, full and obvious revelation of who Jesus is, the Son of God.

Isaiah 5:18–20 ESV

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!” Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

John 3:19 ESV

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Romans 1:32 ESV

Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

B. The Heinous, Blasphemous Acusation

Posessed by Beelzebul

Now Beelzebul had become a name for Satan. There was another one the Jews used, Belial, remember that? Beelzebul was a name for Satan. It was basically a name that meant what Mark says they said in the second statement, verse 22, He cast out the demons by the ruler of the demons. Beelzebul was a name to designate the ruler of the demons. And Luke says Beelzebul means the ruler of the demons in . By the way, that word Beelzebul is used five times in the Old Testament, so it had been around a long time. The Jews were familiar with it and used it.

Now where did it come from? Probably from Beelzebub which came from Baal. Baal means lord and the Ekronites...Ekron was a city in Philistia and according to 1 Kings, or rather 2 Kings chapter 1, the Ekronites had a god named Baalzebub which means the Baal of the high place, or Baal meaning lord, lord of the high place, lord of the dwelling, lord of the temple. That was Beelzebub, that was the Ekronite god.

Well the Jews purposefully corrupted Beelzebub into Beelzebul because when you change it from the B to t he L, it goes from being the lord of the high place, to being the lord of the manure...a very purposeful corruption showing Jewish disdain for the false Canaanitish god. So through the years, this Beelzebul, lord of the dung, or lord of the flies that collect on the dung, had become the name for Satan.

2. They are declaring the Lord of all, the Lord of Heaven and earth, the creator of all things and saying he is the servant of Satan, the lord of the sewer, the lord of the of the flies that collect on the sewer.

II. The Hardened Heart Reveals a Spiritual Blindness that is willful and intentional.

A. And He Called them to Himself...

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

I love this, Jesus says guys come here. He knew who they were, he knew what they were saying, he knew their hardened hearts. Jesus also knew exactly what He needed to say and what everyone needed to hear.

and He said to them in Parables.

What we find in Mark in most instances is that Jesus answers the religous leaders with Parables, , , and here.

What is a parable-it’s literal meaning is to lay something alongside. you take something difficult to understand and you use something you do understand to make it clear.

B. Jesus answers the absurdity of their claim with parables

but first a question, How can satan cast out satan?

the kingdom

a house

Satan

the positive reality Parable #2

The strong man - Satan

his goods- people possesed, people in bondage to their sin.

unless he first bind the strong man

then he indeed he may plunder his house

This is what Jesus was doing.

Jesus isn’t a lunatic. Which lunatic do you see doing what Jesus has done? He isn’t a liar. So who is he? The Son Of God!

III. The Hardened Heart Makes Continual Verbal Declaration That is Unforgivable (28-30)

Lets deal with first the sin in it’s historical context then the sin today.

A. The eternal sin was saying Jesus was demonic!

The eternal sin for them was this...Jesus is demonic. They went to hell for that. You say, “Wait a minute. What if I said that? Would I go to hell for that?” Not necessarily, if you said that without full information. That's a blasphemy that's forgivable, right? But if that's your final conclusion with full revelation, if that's your response to the full understanding of the gospel, the full revelation of Christ contained on the pages of Scripture, if that's your final conclusion, you could never be forgiven because you've had full revelation, you've had full light. What else is there? You can't get anymore if that's your final conclusion, that's an eternal sin.

That's what He's saying. Now this is what is called Apostasy. This is an apostate. Now I have to say, these are unusual people here. This is a very unusual circumstance. This is...you can't just catapult this into some universal category here. You will please notice that it is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit but it's not denying tongues, or denying a healing, or denying some power display, supposed power display of the Holy Spirit. It is blaspheming the Holy Spirit by saying Jesus is demonic.

How does that blaspheme the Holy Spirit? Because when Jesus came into the world, the New Testament says, He set aside the prerogatives of His own power. He said, “I only do what the Father shows Me to do, tells Me to do. And He did it by the power of the Spirit.” That's what the incarnation meant, that when He laid aside His glory, became a man, He restricted the independent use of His divine attributes and He left Himself to the will of the Father and the power of the Spirit. Whatever He did was the Father's will and was done through the Spirit's power. So if you say Jesus is satanic, you have just blasphemed the Holy Spirit cause the Holy Spirit doing His work through Him. The Holy Spirit came upon Him at His baptism, the Holy Spirit led Him from there into the wilderness to be tempted, was with Him through His temptation. The Holy Spirit then anointed Him to preach and away He went preaching and doing all His ministry.

If you were there and you saw it and you heard it and your final conclusion was He's demonic...you're damned, you can't be saved because that's your ultimate conclusion with full revelation. So this is unique to those people who had that full revelation.

B. Why is it unforgivable?

notice Jesus says all sins will be forgiven

but whoever Blasphemes against the HS never has forgiveness

If all sins are forgivable why does this sin hinder forgiveness?

B. What About today?

The unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an act of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power so that we are never able to repent and be forgiven.

The unpardonable sin is to knowingly, willingly, and persistently attribute to Satan the works of God done by and in Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, who testifies to these truths in your heart. (1) It is a sin of full knowledge. (2) It is an ongoing disposition of the heart that resists the conviction of the Holy Spirit. (3) It is a verbal act that attributes the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan. (4) It is a willful rejection of God’s grace in Jesus. (5) It is rooted in unbelief. (6) It is a sin a Christian cannot commit. (7) It is a sin not committed by one who is concerned that he may have committed it. Christ-Centered Exposition - Christ-Centered Exposition – Exalting Jesus in Mark.

What about today? Could somebody commit this? Right. He could? Look, we've all been forgiven for rejecting Christ, haven't we? We've all been forgiven for rejecting Christ because we weren't born saved. So we've all been forgiven for that. But the one who won't be forgiven is the one called the apostate who gets full exposure to the truth, full exposure to the gospel, full revelation and makes the final conclusion...it's not true, I reject Christ. It's a deception. If that's where you end up after full exposure, that's what's called apostasy...that's unforgivable. The Holy Spirit's testimony is that He is Lord. The Holy Spirit did this mighty work through Him to demonstrate that He is...He is Lord. Now look, there's a commentary on this that I want to show you, just briefly. Turn to the book of Hebrews, written to Jews, written to those Jews in the first century who were well aware of the ministry of Jesus, the miracles of Jesus, the teaching of Jesus, the power over demons, disease, death. But they hadn't come to Christ. They weren't believing. They knew the truth. They knew the gospel. And they were holding back.

So in comes the first of several warnings to them in this book, written to, obviously, Hebrews, Jews. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” If you come all the way to the full understanding of the greatness of this salvation and you walk away, how are you going to escape judgment? Because, “After it was at the first spoken through the Lord and confirmed to us by those who heard...namely the Apostles...who testified both by signs and wonders and miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.” He says, “Look, you knew about Christ. You knew about Christ's life and ministry. You knew about it from the eyewitnesses, namely the Apostles who had the signs and wonders and gifts of an Apostle and affirmation of all that they said. If you neglect after that kind of evidence, how you going to escape judgment?” Look at chapter 6, here's another warning to the same people. Chapter 6 verse 4, “In the case of those who have once been enlightened...that's knowledge, mental...you are enlightened, you had information, revelation, you tasted the heavenly gift...heavenly gift being the kingdom, Christ, the message of salvation, the gospel, you tasted it, you didn't eat and drink of it, but you tasted it and you were partaker of the Holy Spirit.” Maybe you got healed. Maybe somebody you know got healed. You were there when the miracles were poured out by the power of the Holy Spirit and you tasted the good word of God when Jesus taught it and you tasted the power of the age to come miracles. In other words, you were exposed to all of it and you've now fallen away...turn away, walk away. It's impossible to renew you to repentance because you crucified to yourself the Son of God and put Him to open shame. You say, “I reject full revelation and enlightenment, you tasted it, you touched it, you were there, you're exposed to it, your decision is to walk away...you join the crucifiers. You conclude He's not God. And with those supernatural powers, must be satanic. You're left with that. You say He has an unclean spirit after full revelation. You can't be saved. Verse 6, “It's impossible to renew them again to repentance. One final warning that I want to show you is in chapter 10, verse 26. “If we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” Look, if you just go on living your life of sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there's nothing else. There's no other sacrifice. If you reject Christ and His sacrifice, there's nothing waiting for you except verse 27, “A terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.” And then verse 29, “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and regarded as unclean the blood of the Covenant by which He was sanctified as insulted...whom?...the Spirit of grace who is the power behind the life and ministry of Jesus.” Look, all that's left for you if your final decision is with full knowledge to reject, fearful judgment, terrifying judgment, severer punishment, the hottest hell is for those who rejected with the most knowledge. There are perhaps some of you who have rejected Christ. Your knowledge is increased today. You are in danger of greater judgment if you conclude that He is not the Lord He claimed to be. You need to be frightened by this. Some of you perhaps have thought that you were guilty of some blasphemy that could never be forgiven. May I remind you in final comments that the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy, and I love this, said this, chapter 1, verse 12, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who strengthened me because He considered me faithful, putting me into ministry even though I was formerly a...what?...blasphemer.” All manner of blasphemy can be forgiven except that final blasphemy that says with full revelation, “I reject Christ.” And you're left with the fact of explaining His supernatural power as satanic. And you stand then with the crucifiers, crucifying Him again and putting Him to open shame. Much better to remember says, “You can speak a word against the Son of Man and be forgiven.” We're all blasphemers of a sort who have been forgiven if we've come to faith in Christ. Don't turn away, get the full revelation and respond in full trust.

The unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an act of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power so that we are never able to repent and be forgiven.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.