Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Tonight is our final installment of the three part series, “Can I Ask That?” and tonight we are going to be seeking to answer the question:

Can I do something so bad God won't forgive me?

Introduction

So I recently read the story of Jesse Jacobs.

If you don’t know who he is don’t, don’t worry, neither did I until I read this story.

Jesse Jacobs became popular because made it possible to apologize without actually talking to the person you hurt, without actually talking to the person you may have taken something from, without actually talking to someone that you promised you would bring them a blanket for Vespers and never did.

Cultural Story

Jacobs decided to create an apology hotline.

Each week, 30- 50 calls are logged, as people apologize for things from things like lying, embezzlement and even adultery .

"The hot line offers participants a chance to alleviate their guilt and, to some degree, to own up to their misdeeds," said Jacobs.

"I'm just hoping that these people will feel better themselves, just by getting whatever's been bothering them off their chest."

One caller to the hot line remarked, "I hope this apology will cleanse me and basically purify my soul...God knows, I need it."

It is amazing how people people deal with the shame and guilt.

Even those that don’t believe in God feel a need to make up for the wrongs they’ve done.

Personal Story

Trading basketball cards as a teenager

Chris told me my card was only worth $1.50 but it ended being worth $15.

TRANSITION

I could blame Chris Laughlin but the reality is, I made a bad trade.

I did not realize the value of what I had in my possession.

APPLICATION

Some of us right now are about to make a bad trade:

Do you realize the value of what you have

Do not realize the value of growing up in church

Do not realize the value of committing to someone that loves Jesus, yes even more that you, because if they love Jesus they will know how to love you better

Some of you don’t realize the value of being a Seventh-day Adventist and you are going to make a trade

Some of you don’t realize the blessing of being at Southern, and you are about to make a trade

Some of you don’t realize the value YOU are to God, you think who you are is not worth much.

But if God himself left heaven to shed his blood on calvary for you - YOU MUST BE VALUABLE.

TYN: DON’T MAKE THAT TRADE - YOU’RE TOO VALUABLE!

So I made a trade with Chris Laughlin that I was not proud of!

Transition

Can you think of a time you did something that you were not proud of?

Maybe you felt ashamed about who you were becoming, maybe you were scared about what would happen if someone found out.

Maybe you were afraid of what people would think if the found out.

And maybe you are thinking, "God can never forgive me for what I have done.”

Teaching

What is the sin that Jesus says will not be forgiven?

Background/Tension

Jesus said that whatever blasphemies, Whatever the sin, if the soul repents and believes, the guilt is washed away in the blood of Christ;

People have often wondered what the sin is that God will not forgive:

Is it adultery?

King David committed adultery and was forgiven.

Is it murder?

Kind David, same dude again, killed the husband of the women he committed adultery with and was forgiven.

Is it committing the same over and over again?

Peter denied Jesus not once, not twice but three times and he was forgiven.

Is it suicide?

Well how did Samson died, he moved two of a temple to a pagan God and it not only killed the Philistines but it also killed him.

We never know what the last thought of someone is just before they die.

What Jesus is saying sounds a lot like

So how is it that in the same sentence Jesus can say all sins can be forgiven but then says sinning against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven?

It almost sounds like a contradiction.

Need to look at the context:

People are witnessing the miracles of Jesus.

Jesus must be supernatural.

There is a battle going on around you.

The supernatural realm does exist.

Even demons are acknowledging who Jesus, they are confessing that Jesus is the son of God.

Point: The unforgivable sin is not a KIND or CATEGORY of SIN.

Rather it is the persistent rejection of the Holy Spirit to the point where we can no longer here the Holy Spirit and there is no more that God can do for that soul.

How does someone get to that point?

A Kingdom Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

Background

Who had come down from Jerusalem.

They went to great lengths to say what they said.

Evidence is right in front of them but they go to great lengths to arrive at the conclusions they did.

Beelzebub means the keeper of the house.

The Bible says, “It is what they said.”

Are you careful about the words you choose?

Because words are powerful.

They can transform a nation.

ILLUS: When I was living near DC, I went to the Lincoln memorial the memorial and at the memorial there are a number of steps leading up to the statue of Abraham Lincolns.

It was my first time there but thankfully I had an amazing and attractive tour guide with me, and I saw people just gathering around one spot on the steps taking photos.

And Tina says to me, “Do you know why they are all gathering one that one step?”

and I said, “I said no, but I was wondering.”

She said that step as a medallion and that is the exact spot that Martin Luther King gave his I have a Dream speech.

And I was amazed that decades later, people from all over the world come to take a picture at they very spot because words have power.

The power of words.

The Bible has power because of its’ words.

This word changed my life and for many of you it has changed your life as well.

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.

It all started with a word.

It all begins with a word.

Every decision you make starts with a word.

It can be a word said or an internal monologue you have with yourself.

Here is the power of words.

And I love the way the Desire of Ages puts this:

Desire of Ages (Chapter 33—Who Are My Brethren?)

Men are influenced by their own words.

Often under a momentary impulse, prompted by Satan, they give utterance to jealousy or evil surmising, expressing that which they do not really believe; but the expression reacts on the thoughts.

They are deceived by their words, and come to believe that true which was spoken at Satan’s instigation.

You and I are influenced by our own words.

If we do not believe what we are saying, the very utterance of the words we choose influences our thoughts.

The words that the scribes were using were the very things chaining them and leading them to reject the Holy Spirit.

Our mouths can get us into trouble.

Has your mouth ever got you in trouble?

One of the first things we need to learn how to listen.

But we live in a world where everyone wants to say something, even if it doesn’t make any sense, even if it means misrepresenting the other person, even if we don’t actually believe it we will say it to fit in, we will say it because we do not want to admit that we are wrong.