Blasphemy Part One

good things coming coming this way. Um those who come often uh this house is a little different. Um my plan was originally that I was going to you know have a casual thing. I was going to preach on the Sabbath, you know, about resting and everything.

And uh and then God just wouldn't allow that to happen and and what's um one of the neat things I've learned over the last 6 7 months doing this is that it's really not about me. All I have to do is obey what God tells me to do and everything's going to work out. So, we lose a music whatever happens, it's just going to work out cuz God's hand is on this this uh fellowship here and it's and it's really sweet. So, um I'm going to focus on one main passage today.

Um the title of this one, you know, instead of being something like rest, the title of this one is blasphemy. Okay? You know, a little little tickle the ears type of message that God wants me to preach, but um anyway, Matthew 12:31 and 32 is where we're going to start and and spend quite a bit of time there. And we're going to go deep into it.

And so, I'm going to read now. Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him either in this age or the age to come.

This is the unforgivable sin passage. Okay? And to fully understand it, we really need to understand the Holy Spirit's role, okay? And Jesus defines that role over in John 16 verses 7 through 11.

I'm going to read that. And and we're going to really try to to connect these dots. Nevertheless, this is Jesus now. So, was what I just talked about.

Um everything I'm quoting today is Jesus pretty much. Um nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper, capital H, will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you.

That's the Holy Spirit. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they do not believe in me. Of righteousness, because I go to my father and you see me no more.

Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. So, there's three roles of the Holy Spirit, according to Jesus Christ, okay? The first is to convict the world of sin. Now, notice that sin, singular.

It's not plural. He's not here to convict us of our sins, okay? It's sin, singular. What is that sin?

He says it right here, because they do not believe in me. Okay? So, the first role of the Holy Spirit is to reach unbelievers and tell them about Jesus. And he'll use us for that, okay?

We're here, we're we're we're to be used by that, but that's the first role of the Holy Spirit, it is to reach the unbelievers. That is the unforgivable sin. And the reason it's the unforgivable sin is you don't give God a choice, okay? God can't violate his word.

So, if Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." And then someone rejects Jesus. And then he lets them in anyway.

He just lied. Okay? Do you see that? He can't lie, he's holy, so you leave him no choice but to leave it you out of heaven.

And he doesn't want to do that, he doesn't want anyone to be lost, but if you choose to reject Jesus, he has no option, you are out. So, that's the first role of the Holy Spirit, is to the unbelievers. The second role is to convict believers of righteousness, okay? He says, "Convict the world of sin."

Then he says, "Of righteousness." Of righteousness, because I go to my father and you see me no more. So, this is his this is his uh his me- mis- mission to the believers, okay? It's to convict us of righteousness.

Now, that's not condemnation, okay? Condemnation is from the devil. Condemnation is "Oh, you did it again. See, you always do that.

You're this person. You're that. You're that." Okay?

Conviction is holding up the light of Jesus and then "Oh, man, I just fell short." Okay? Cuz once you get saved, you're no longer this wretched sinner. You've actually been saved.

Your sins are gone away. You're now a saint who sometimes sins, not a sinner who always is just still a sinner, okay? Jesus What Jesus did on the cross changes everything okay? And so, it's a conviction.

Give you an example. Um a waitress gives you too much change and you notice. Now, you've got you you get a little prick in there, you know, what am what Do I give the money back, okay? Or do you know, well, you know, they don't really need it as much as I need it and man, the exact change is what I wanted to buy that jujube later, you know?

And um you start making excuses for it and then you end up doing it. But the convic- That's the conviction of the Holy Sp- You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't give you They gave you wrong change. You didn't do anything wrong.

But there's a conviction there because there's something that you could do right, which is give the money back, right? And so, that's conviction to righteousness. He's holding up "Hey, if Jesus was with you, you probably would give it back, you know, rather than take it." And so, that's the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

We know that cuz in Romans 8:1, the Bible says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit." And that's the key. You've got to walk according to the spirit, okay? The conviction holds up that light.

Give you another example. You're reading, okay? the Bible and all of a sudden you realize something. Wow, gosh, I did that yesterday.

I I I did that to that person yesterday, you know? maybe you you raised your voice or something like that. And that's the conviction of the Holy Spirit, okay? So, what do you do?

You repent, you ask God to forgive you for it, and then if you harm someone, you go and you ask them to forgive you, okay? Now, you're clean, and there's no more condemnation. You're not going to hell because you blasphemed, okay? Jesus was very clear, all the sins will be forgiven except rejecting his son, okay?

Um If you obey the prompting of the spirit as it goes, you grow. And if you reject it, you stay stagnant, okay? But listen, God is growth, okay? He spoke the universe into existence, and do you know it's still expanding?

Like it's still expanding. Like it's not done. It's continuing to expand because he's an expansive God, all right? Which is amazing.

And so, if you're not growing, you're really dying. And so, the more you obey, the more you try to obey, the more your faith grows. The easier it is The easiest way to overcome sin is to grow your faith. If If you want to stop a sin, don't make the sin the stopping the sin the goal, okay?

Grow your faith, and the sin will fall away. When I first got saved um I just stopped swearing. It It just kind of fell away. It wasn't something that I sat there and said, all right, I got to be a better better at not swearing.

It just kind of fell away cuz all of a sudden it didn't fit with who I was, okay? And And that's the best way to do it. Continue to obedience to the Holy Spirit's promptings. The second job of the Holy Spirit will lead you to the fruits of the spirit spoken of in Galatians 5:22 and 23, okay?

Listen to these things, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, also um patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control. Against such, there is no law. Like who wouldn't want to be living in love, joy, and peace most of your day, right? That's That's And that's what the Holy Spirit will do as you continue to prompt him.

Over the last 2 weeks, I have never felt more at peace with in my life. I almost can't explain the feeling. It's It's like it It's It's a peace I've never had before. And you know, when I get first got saved, I was very committed to trying to One of the things I read early on that I really wanted to be said that was true of me was, you know, that Jesus would one day look at me and say, "Well done, you're my good and faithful servant."

You know what I mean? And as I sit here now, the way my life is and the way the way the Holy Spirit has grown me and changed me and everything, I feel like if I were to die today, I would hear those words. And that's the first time in my life. I've been saved 30 years.

First time in my life I really felt like at peace in in in who God made me and and where I'm at and and that's all the Holy Spirit. That's all obeying the Holy Spirit. The reason we don't need there needs to be no law for the believers if if they're in the spirit is because the spirit's standard is so much higher than the law, right? I'm driving if someone cuts me off, the the spirit's convicting me not to get upset over that.

Well, that guy who's trying not to even say something bad in his mind, let alone out loud, you don't have to worry about him going and killing someone because I mean, that law doesn't even need to be around for for that person because they're living by the spirit, right? So So God's standard's a lot higher. We don't need it. That doesn't mean because we're above the law, we we we get to break the law.

No, we should be above the law. Romans talks a lot about that, okay? So, the spirit's second role is to convict us to righteousness and guide us to or- all truth. John 16:13, um he says, "However, when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak of his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak."

Side note, this happened this week, um the Holy Spirit's job is to convict believers, okay? It's God's job to judge mankind, not us, okay? We need to be careful that we don't judge other people, okay? Um when we ourselves are not much better than them, okay?

I say that, however, we are called to build each other up, okay? I had an unbelievable experience that um is why this is going to end up being a two-part sermon because this came in and added to it, but so, as a single man, I don't have to be on a wait on in almost any restaurant in town, even if they're on a wait, cuz I can go up to the bar and sit down and and order, and I don't have to wait for a table, right? So, it's it's nice.

So, I'm up at the bar at the Italian place in uh here in Lawrenceville, and in comes this older guy. I don't know how old, but he's older than me, okay? He looks older than me, anyway. Um sits down, and he's obviously a regular cuz she comes in and brings him a salad, like, you know, he comes must come there all the time.

And uh after a little bit, he goes to me, he goes, "SO, you uh live around here, you know?" And I explained him yes, I I was living on Lake Lanier, but I moved here about a year ago. God told me to start a church. "OH, YOU STARTED A CHURCH, YOU KNOW?"

And then he goes, "Well, you know, you need a good preschool, you know? Our church has an organized preschool ministry. You need a good preschool." Now, we don't even have one preschool kid, right?

But, I'm listening to him because he's my elder and I am respecting him to to you know, for now. And and then and then and then I asked him, "What what church do you go to?" You know, he goes, "First United Methodist." Um and I said uh And and and then he says you know, and and I've been there a long time, you know, it's it's starting to change a little bit, you know, we have to marry and these are his words, not mine, okay?

We have to marry gays. Um if a gay person wants to to be in the the pulpit, you know, we have to do it. And uh you know, but but but they're good people. Do you know any gay people?

And I'm like, yes, I do and I invite them to church. They don't come, but I I mean I invite them to church. And uh he goes he goes, "Well, you know, they're all right." And I said, "Sure, man, we love the sinner, okay?

And hate the sin." He goes, "No, you can't hate the sin." So, what do you mean? He goes, "That's judging."

Wait. So, so and this is me now. I'm I said, "So, and this usually works." When someone says that, I this explanation that I'm about to do usually works, but it didn't this time.

I go, "Bro, I said, all right, you're married and you come to me and you say that girl over there is gorgeous and I'm going to sleep with her tonight and I tell you, no, dude, don't do that. That's adultery. That's judging." He said.

I said, "No, it's the act of adultery is a sin. It's it's not judging. Now, if I say you're a bad person or you're a sinner because of that, then I'm starting to cross over the line, but to say uh sleeping with a person who's not your wife is is uh adultery, that's what the Bible says." He goes, "No, that's that's judging.

Judging is the worst sin." He said that like seven times. "Judging is the worst sin." And I didn't think about it till afterwards.

I'm like, "Actually, the unforgivable sin is rejecting Jesus. So, that's got to be the worst sin, right? Cuz it's the one that's not you can't be forgiven of. But I I don't think smart on my feet.

And uh he goes um I got off track there. He uh That's Judging's the worst sin. I said, "Wait a second. So, if if I'm about to stab a person with a knife and kill him or you're about to stab a person with a knife and kill him, and I tell him, 'Don't do that.

That's murder.' That's judging," he says. I'm like, "Dude, you're And at that point I'm like, you're just wrong, okay? You're just wrong.

How about James 5:20? Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins." I didn't even get that out because he's like, "No. You're wrong."

And he skated out the door. Unbelievable, man. The 80-year-old guy just moved quick out the door. And at first at first I was like, "Okay, I stood my ground.

I brought scripture up. I I did okay." But as I was walking away, I was thinking, "What they've done in that church," and I'm not going to judge the entire Methodist community all over the world, but in that particular church, but they have convinced that guy and everyone in there is this. The worst thing you can do is say anything about someone else's sin, okay?

That that is the worst sin. So, that if I'm in that congregation, I say I want to sleep with the deacon's wife. Don't say anything. Let it happen, okay?

Because you don't want to be seen as judgmental, okay? That's just not scriptural, okay? It's absolutely not scriptural. So, he walked out, and then the bartender walks from around the thing cuz she was kind of hiding because we started raising our voice a little.

Um which I had to repent of. I'm supposed to gently teach and let God move, and I I didn't do it cuz he started getting in my face and you know. Oh God, I'm such a sinner. Anyway, the uh So, the waitress comes I mean, the bartender comes and I said, "So, here's what that was all about."

I said, "This is the deal. If let's say you're married and we're good friends and you come to me and you tell me that you're you want to sleep with this guy over there and I tell you, "No, don't do that. That's adultery, okay?" What do you feel like I'm judging you?

And she goes Now, she doesn't go to church, okay? Um she goes, "No, I think you would you'd be caring about me, okay? Because guess what? Sin hurts people, okay?

Adultery ruins marriages, children's generations, society. Society has fallen down because the family has fallen down, okay? And and so because sin hurts people and God loves people, sin is hated by God. And we have a responsibility to help each other out.

You guys we're we we for those who don't know, this is a rehab here and the people that come here are are fighting back from alcohol or drug addiction, etc. , okay? And one of the things that makes it magical is the way they all help each other, okay? There's chips that they get when they hit go 6 months, 9 months sober.

They they they they're encouraging each other. They pick each other up and bring them to church, you know? So, it's like it's like this beautiful thing. That's the way it's supposed to be, okay?

1 Peter 4:8, above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. That's love. When you see someone doing something and you you steer them away from doing that because it's going to hurt them and hurt whatever, you're you're you're being a loving, okay? That's the most loving thing you can do.

Afterwards, I was weeping about the fact that you're talking about an entire group of people who've been trained that the worst thing you can do is point out a sin and that if anyone wants to do anything they should be allowed without being told it's wrong because otherwise you're judging. That's so jacked up I can't even I can't even understand it. It's not judging to point out a sin, okay? It's quoting scripture.

Right? Thou shalt not. It's quoting scripture. When we judge character because of their sin, that's where we are because listen, we're all guilty of sin, right?

I should have been gentle when the guy was in my face. Um Technically, I got upset. I sinned. All right?

It's not my job to judge between heaven and hell for you, but sin hurts people and God hates sin and we should sharpen each other, support each other, keep each other from falling away and sinning and love each other, right? Love God, love others. That needs to be what this church and every church is about, not hiding and pretending that sin doesn't exist or being scared to to to turn a brother from doing something that's going to harm him and his family for generations to come. Okay?

So, let me recap this. The Holy Spirit is constantly at work bringing people to Christ. Bible says that God draws us to him. Okay?

So, you're here today because you were drawn here by some way, shape or form, okay? You're not here by accident, okay? And I was going to preach a totally different message and this is the message that I'm shared. So, so and and my my messages are generally not watered down.

So, if you come back more than once there's a reason, like God's moving in your heart or something, okay? You're growing. That's a good thing. Praise the Lord.

Jesus says in John 3:5, we must be born again of the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say that the Son of Man must be lifted up so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. That's John 3:14 and 15. So, when you accept Jesus into your heart, the Holy Spirit comes in.

It's God himself inside of you. How powerful is that? We we don't understand. We don't walk in our kingdom power because we don't really get it deep down, okay?

John 16:13 says he will lead us into all truth. If you listen and obey to the convictions of the Holy Spirit, you will grow more and more like Christ, okay? And you will you will have more love, joy, and peace. That's how it works, okay?

The God through the Holy Spirit and through this word will change you and grow you, okay? We're all works in progress. None of us are there, okay? Um so, he convicts unbelievers to the to the to their need for Jesus, okay?

That's the ministry to the lost. He convicts believers to righteousness. That's his ministry to us. Grows us up into love, joy, peace.

And then he judges the ruler of the world, who at that time, if we go back to John 16, I'm sorry about that, Karianne, but John 16, he says, "And of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged." At the time that Jesus said this, the ruler of the world was Satan, okay? But when Jesus rose again, he says in Matthew 28:18, if you can put that one up that's He says, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth." And then he tells them to go and make disciples, okay?

If Jesus has all authority, how much authority can the devil possibly have? None. The devil can only mess with you, okay? If you allow him to mess with you.

If you keep things hidden, keep things that where guilt and shame and all these things are there, then the devil has access to the spiritual realm. He still has access. You know, the devil doesn't get thrown out of heaven once and for all for good until Revelation 12. So like he still has to even as we speak can pop up there and talk to God.

Okay? So he has access. Okay, he can whisper just like God can whisper if you're not careful and you don't start following what he does. But the ruler of the world was judged.

The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. His time is done. Okay? He's done.

He just doesn't know it yet. But all authority's been given to God. All right? So the believer has to let Satan in to have Satan tripping them up.

And we give this guy way too much credit. Okay? If God is in us, as long as you bring all of your stuff into the light, Satan has no authority. But when you do something wrong and then you cut try to cover it up, then you have to do other sins on top of those sins to try to cover it all up.

It becomes a snowball effect, right? But if you just say, "You know what? Wow, I messed up. God, I'm so sorry.

Please forgive me. I messed up. Please forgive me." And then if you hurt someone, go and apologize to them.

You're clean. There's no condemnation. The devil can't point his finger at you. You're clean.

The cross took it all away. Okay? And you can be free. Free from from any of that.

The key though is we have to bring it all deep hurts, our sins, we have to bring it into the light. And if we bring it into the light, Satan must go away. He can't He has no authority in the light. He'll have to go and mess with somebody else.

So if you feel like devil's been messing with you, stop giving him and you're saved, stop giving him credence, man. Whatever it is that he's using to keep you in bondage cuz it's a form of bondage. Take it into the light. What's the first thing in Alcoholics Anonymous they do is they they have to say, "Hey, I'm Brian.

I'm a what? I'm an alcoholic, right?" You have to own the sin. All right?

And if you bring it into the light, it has no more power over you. At least the Satan Satan can't mess with you. Okay? So back to blasphemy, back to Matthew 12.

I'm going to bring this home quickly. I I promise you. Blasphemy is defined as an act showing contempt, disrespect, or irreverence to God and anything he calls holy. It's a great commandment, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

That's Exodus 27. In the Old Testament, the penalty for it was death by stoning. But in the New Testament, we see here Jesus says something radical. He says, "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit."

Then he says, "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him." Everything will be forgiven us if we repent and we ask him. That That's crazy. So, you can say um GD, okay?

And it doesn't mean you're going to hell. Now, most believers, once they get saved, it bothers them when they hear that, right? And you know what I'm talking about, that using the name of the Lord in vain. It It bothers you.

It You don't want to do it. But you're hammering and all of a sudden the hammer hits your nail, is it possible you scream it out, you know, one time in your anger or or or whatever and ah, you know? Man, I'm sorry, God. I screwed up again.

You know, and you take it down and you pray and you repent and you release it. And then you try not to slam your hammer, you know, your nail with a hammer again. You know? So, um every sin will be forgiven, but but um so you can blaspheme God, Jesus, still be forgiven.

But the Holy Spirit, you can't, okay? So, I want to make sure we're very clear on this. According to Jesus, if you say the GD word, if you do do here, if you do a sin there, and the spirit convicts you on it, and you go and you repent, okay? There's no condemnation.

You're still not going to go to hell. Okay? You can say GD, and it doesn't mean you're going to go to hell. Now, should you say it?

No, right? And the conviction will be there, probably, if you're if you're seeking for the light. The first priority of that um Holy Spirit is lifting Jesus up and pointing to the one sin that can't be forgiven, which is rejecting Jesus. And I already talked about why that's unforgivable.

Um so, we saw last week, even if you say a prayer, but spend the rest of your life living for you and rejecting Jesus, you may hear, "Get away from me. I never knew you." Okay? Rejecting Jesus, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, is the one thing that can end you up in hell.

Almost anything else, actually, according to Jesus, everything else can be forgiven you if you ask. All right? That's a beautiful truth. It doesn't matter what you've done in the past.

The cross forgives it, okay? It doesn't matter where you come from or what you did, okay? Jesus forgives you. All right?

And and it's free. You just can't reject that relationship with Jesus. We have to be careful not to reject him with our actions in our life, right? If I ask a girl out, and then I don't show up for the date, and then I never text or call her again, do we have any relationship?

No. No, not at all. If uh you asked Jesus into your heart 20 years ago at some youth camp, but you've never talked to him again since, do you have a relationship with him? No.

And it's possible, Matthew 7:23, you may hear in that day, and he is coming soon, "Get away from me. I never knew you. It's about knowing Jesus. It's not about your performance.

It's not about being a a set of religious rules. It's not about being a a goody-two-shoes. It's about the relationship with Jesus. And and and next week, which is going to be after my vacation, but we're going to talk about some of the ways that we blaspheme God that we don't even realize.

Because if God says that you are um fearfully and wonderfully made. And God says that you are his precious child. And God says that you're a co-heir of Christ. And you still think deep down that you're a nothing, that you're a piece of trash, and that you still clinging to the old you, okay?

You are putting what you think of yourself above what God says about you. And that's blasphemy. Okay? That's blasphemy when you put yourself above God.

That's the definition of it, really. Okay? So, we're going to explore that next week, expand on that or in in 2 weeks, whenever it is, okay? But for today, the only thing that matters, you guys can come up, band, is your relationship with Jesus.

If you've been um pulling back from Jesus because life has been busy. If you've been um uh hiding something and it's it's just got you in bondage and it's it's you're and you're torn up on it and you know it. Um it's time to put Jesus back on the throne of your life, okay? The question I have for you today is how's your relationship with Jesus?

Okay? That one question, how's your relationship with Jesus, determines whether you spend eternity in heaven or eternity in hell, okay? It's the most important question that anyone can ask themselves this day, okay? And and if you've been blowing him off because you were uh you just got sidetracked or whatever, man, he always is open for you coming back.

Okay? The prodigal son, the beauty was the father was just waiting for that son to come back. Okay? He was just sitting there.

He's waiting. He'll go after the 99. He is there for you and he will bring you back in, man. You just have to turn around to him.

It's the only thing you've got to do. And so, I'm going to ask today to stop believing lies, stop sabotaging your life. Come back. The Holy Spirit is in you if you ask him in your heart.

Come back to Jesus. Recommit to living as you've been called, a prince or a princess, okay? Of the king. All right?

And let that Holy Spirit guide you into love, joy, and peace. All right. I'm going to pray pray pray on that. Heavenly Father, Lord, Lord, nothing is better and nothing is more important than that relationship with you, Lord.

And Lord, you do amazing things in our lives. You You move in our lives in amazing ways and we don't even recognize it half the time. We don't even see it. We have no idea all the spirits you're keeping from us, Lord.

All the things that you're doing to to get help us get through our days, Lord. And I just pray now that you be magnified, that your spirit pour out in this place, that you come in through the worship here, the spontaneous song, Lord. And that if someone doesn't know you, they come forward. If someone's been been backtracking some, I pray that they come forward boldly, Lord.

And I just pray that your hand be all over this place, that you be magnified and glorified, and that your Holy Spirit break out in this place. This is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.