So Mark chapter 3, and we'll
begin reading at verse 22. And the scribes which came down
from Jerusalem said, He hath Belzebub, and by the prince of
the devils casteth he out devils. And he calleth them unto him,
and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against
itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against
itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against
himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man
can enter into a strongman's house and spoil his goods, except
he will first bind the strongman, and then he will spoil his house. Verily I say unto you, all sins
shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewithsoever
they shall blaspheme. He that shall blaspheme against
the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation,
because they said he hath an unclean spirit. Amen. May God bless to us this reading
from his word. This passage that we have before
us this evening speaks to us about the healing ministry of
the Lord Jesus Christ once again, and it speaks to us of the way
in which that ministry was received by those around about. And when
we think about the way in which Mark is teaching us in these
opening chapters of the Gospel of Mark, or as we've seen, the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is very clear that the structure
of Mark's presentation is to show us that the Lord's healing
ministry created great interest in the community and in the towns
and the villages where he preached. And indeed that ministry created
that interest and gathered that audience by design Generally,
that is the purpose of miracles in the Word of God. They bear
witness to the power of God and they attest the authority that
the miracle worker has when he brings that message, that he
bears the message of God, the message of the gospel, the revelation
of God, and whether that was in the Old Testament prophecies
or the New Testament apostolic ministry, the miracles were intended,
they were designed to show the authority of the miracle worker. The miracle in itself was not
an end in itself, but rather it generated an interest and
it gathered an audience so that the message could be conveyed,
the gospel could be preached, and the authority of the speaker
would be attested. And the divine source, obviously,
of that message was thereby revealed. In the case of the Lord Jesus
Christ, all of those things are true. and also there is, because
of the sheer quantity and the sheer magnitude of the miracles
that were performed, the evidence of divinity also, and we see
that both in the testimony of those who gathered, who seemed
sure that no mere man could perform the works that the Lord Jesus
Christ did. We saw that in the testimony
of Nicodemus, for example. We know that there was a teacher
sent from God because of the works that he did. And we remember
how the Lord silenced those devils who were sent out of those individuals
that they possessed, they invariably could testify of the true identity
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but were silenced from doing so. And so the miracles of the Lord
particularly his healing ministry perhaps, showed the kindness
of Christ, showed his concern for the people that he was ministering
to, and we may well say evidenced his love towards them as well. And it was self-evidently obvious
that this work of Christ, this healing ministry that he was
performing, the way in which he spoke, the way in which he
acted, the authority and bearing that he had was clearly the work
of God in his life. And it would be to the point
of perversity to think otherwise, to deny that this was the hand
of God, having observed the Lord Jesus Christ at work, would be
quite contrary to any normal way of thinking. And the Lord
Jesus Christ testified this point himself. For example, he says
in John chapter 5 and verse 36, I have greater witness than that
of John, speaking of John the Baptist, for the works which
the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do. are the same works that I do
bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." So this
was the Lord Jesus Christ attesting that the works that he did, the
miracles that he performed, the works that had been given him
to do by the Father, those works he did, and those works bear
witness of him, that the Father had sent him. And in John chapter
10 verse 32 we find that the Lord Jesus again speaking to
those who opposed him, said, many good works have I showed
you from my father. For which of those works do ye
stone me? And so again, it was so obvious,
it was so clear from the ministry of the Lord Jesus, both his works
and his words, that it was a divine work that was being performed
at this time. And in John chapter 14, verse
11, again the Saviour says to his own disciples, believe me
that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe
me for the very work's sake. There was no denying that God
the Father was involved and at work and manifesting himself
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here is a divine revelation. And those who watched Christ,
those who looked on, those who saw those miracles being performed,
they wondered, they were amazed, they were astounded. And so frequently
in the gospel accounts, we find words like amazement and astonishment
being used to describe the reaction of the crowds to the miracles
that the Lord Jesus Christ performed. There was wonder. He was wonderful
and people wondered at the things that they saw him doing. So much
so that it would take a certain willful obstinacy to see the
Lord Jesus Christ perform a miracle, to hear him speak, and yet fail
to acknowledge the glory of God in him. Who could possibly be
in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, see these works being
performed? Watch and observe the reaction
of the people around about him and fail to see the glory of
God manifested in that situation. Who could possibly do that? Well, let me introduce you to
the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day. And these were men
who were religious leaders in their age. They were people who
had a long tradition of scriptural awareness and teaching and ministry
and exposition. They read the prophets every
week. They knew the Old Testament scriptures. They studied the things that
Moses and David and Elijah and Jonah and Isaiah had to say. And yet here, when the God that
they espoused came amongst them, as he had promised that he would,
and that they ostensibly, in seeking the Messiah, in looking
forward to the revelation of the Anointed One amongst them,
from their Old Testament prophecies, anticipated, nevertheless failed
to see the true identity of the Lord Jesus Christ. These scribes
and Pharisees that we have presented to us in this little passage
this evening are said to be the Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees. And I suspect that that is put
in there by Mark to just show us that these were some of the
top teachers. These were some of the important
ones. Undoubtedly, if there were scribes
and Pharisees in the provinces, they would gravitate to Jerusalem,
perhaps if they had any particular wisdom, or if they were in any
way promoted, or if they could establish themselves as suitable
teachers and wise interpreters, then they would gravitate towards
Jerusalem. And the fact that here we are
in Galilee and that the Jerusalem scribes, and according to Matthew
the Pharisees were amongst them as well, that these Jerusalem
scribes and Pharisees had come to Galilee, they'd come up, sorry,
they'd come down. Jerusalem was higher than Galilee.
They'd come down from Jerusalem. These men were a long way from
home. And it seems perhaps that it
had been better if they had stayed at home. They were coming out
to the provinces in order to sit in judgment upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's probably quite likely that
they imagined that they might be able to expose Jesus as a
fraud, that they might be able in some way to rebuke the gullible
Galileans for being so readily taken in by
this charlatan, this so-called miracle worker, but whose miracles
were really just a fraud. They probably thought that they
might settle all the silly talk that there was back in Jerusalem,
that something major was afoot in Galilee because of the appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what these scribes and Pharisees
revealed to us is what we might call the pretentiousness of religion. Because the Lord Jesus Christ's
dealings with these men throughout his ministry and his dealings
with the formal religion invariably exposed the contempt that religious
people had for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I fear that there
is little has changed down through the centuries. And there is little
different today. The outcome of this particular
message that we have this evening. It shows that men can talk about
God and they can speculate and they can postulate and they can
imagine and they can endeavour to teach one another and delve
into the details of their religious organisation. But true personal
faith can nevertheless pass them by. And this is what we must
remember. Religion in and of itself will
never take an individual closer to Christ. And there is much
religion in the world. Indeed, we might well say that
there is more religion in the world today than ever there has
been. And people are committed and
dedicated to their religion. They're committed to their church.
They're identifying with it. They're living under its direction. They give their allegiance to
their ministers or their pastors or their teachers, and they live
their whole life following a particular religious way of acting. and they never enter into true
faith in Jesus Christ or that personal spiritual experience
of God in Christ. No religious structure, no denomination,
no idea or thought or conjecture
that emanates from the natural heart of man, no pattern of life,
no pedigree of history, no endorsement of ministerial or doctoral excellence
can ever substitute for Holy Spirit regeneration. divine conversion
or spiritual life in an individual. And it is that spiritual life
that we long for. It is that experience of God. through the Holy Spirit's dealings
with us in our soul. It is that relationship with
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is, to use Christ's own words
to Nicodemus, being born again, born from above. that we desire
in our hearts. If the Lord will bring us to
newness of life, if God the Holy Spirit will create in us a new
heart, then there is something real. Then there is something
true. Then there is something meaningful.
And everything else is just words. Everything else is just routine. And everything else is ultimately
just dead. Faith is nothing if it isn't
a real relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And hope for
heaven, hope for eternal life is baseless if it is founded
on nothing but fantasy. And men slap each other's backs
on the way to hell, telling one another that everything is all
right with their soul, that everything is fine with their life. I'm sure that any of us who have
attended funerals can attest that Invariably, the person who
has died, who is being remembered in that funeral service is spoken
of as if he's in heaven or she's in heaven, almost regardless
of the kind of life that they have lived. And people are given
this false sense of security by their religious structures,
by their religious formalism. Let us always be seeking a reality
of spiritual life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us endeavour
to deepen our relationship with Him. These Jerusalem scribes
and Pharisees, they are a picture of man-made religion. And the
reality is that it is accusing and it is dismissive of the true
Jesus Christ and true spiritual life. Look at the accusations
that these men hurled at the Lord Jesus Christ. They accused
him of demonism. And it's almost extraordinary
the degree to which religion will set itself up in opposition
to God. And they can use the language
of the Bible, they can use the formularies, they can use the
structures, the examples, the patterns of the Bible and of
religion, and yet at the heart of it, It is so contrary and
opposed to the things of Christ that these religious leaders,
these men steeped in Moses and the Old Testament scriptures,
these men who could quote Isaiah and Jeremiah and the Psalms off
by heart, could look into the face of God himself in the person
of Jesus Christ and call him the devil. Matthew. tells us that the occasion of
this dialogue between the Lord Jesus Christ and these scribes
and Pharisees was the healing of a blind and dumb man. And Matthew, in his parallel
passage, speaks of the miracle. Mark doesn't mention it, but
Matthew tells us the miracle that took place prior to this
conversation. Interestingly enough, the man
is described as being blind and dumb. He's not referred to at
all as being deaf. which is often a condition that
would go along with that inability to speak. But we are told that
it was a demonic condition. We are told that the man was
in this condition not because there was something physically
wrong with him, not because he had been born with a physical
impairment or disability, but because a devil had entered into
him. A devil had possessed him. And
that was a devil that caused blindness and dumbness to this
individual. And therefore, when the Lord
Jesus Christ healed that man, the healing was to exorcise that
devil, that demon, from the possessed man. And it was clear to all
who had observed these things that the Lord Jesus Christ had
power over the devils. He had cast this devil out. He
had rid this man's body of the devil that possessed it and thereby
had healed the man. And we're told in Matthew chapter
12 with respect to this miracle being performed, verse 23, that
all the people were amazed All the people that were there gathered
around the Lord Jesus Christ, I guess we assume by that, with
the exception of these scribes and Pharisees, the people said,
the ordinary people, the common people, they said, is not this
the son of David? You see, the ordinary people,
those who listened to these scribes and Pharisees week by week in
the synagogues and in the religious meeting houses, they too were
anticipating the Son of David coming. They too thought that
surely the time was soon. Surely this Messiah that had
been long promised would be amongst them. And who could perform works
like these if God were not with him? And so the people were amazed
and declared publicly, audibly, is not this the son of David?
Surely this is the promised Messiah. Now, While the actual miracle
is not mentioned in Mark, we do have immediately in this passage
the response of the scribes. And that response is to accuse
the Lord Jesus of casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub. When they saw that demon, that
devil, being dispossessed of that man's body, their reaction
was to declare, again publicly and to those people around about,
to support one another in their allegations and accusations of
the Lord, that this was a demonic act that the Lord Jesus Christ
had performed. accused the Lord of being the
devil. They accused the Lord of being
Beelzebub, the prince of the devil. Now that's a strong language
and it's interesting, this word Beelzebub, it's a word which
is used in the New Testament with respect to the prince of
devils or indeed Satan himself, the king of the devils. It is
probably a reference to an idolatrous god of a nation that the Jews
had known during the time of the Old Testament. There is a
suggestion that what it means is the lord of the flies or the
god who is a fly and it may have had reference to the Chaldean
god or indeed the gods of the Egyptians. It may have been something
that was brought out of Egypt, an awareness of the idolatrous
conduct of the Egyptians during the days of the children of Israel
being in servitude in that land. Whatever it was, they drew it
out of their Old Testament history and they called the Lord Jesus
Christ Beelzebub. And so here was the Christ who
had been foretold by all the prophets of the Old Testament.
having this name of the King of Demons, or of Satan himself,
an idolatrous God, laid upon his shoulders. These men were
attributing the divine power that was evidenced in the Lord
Jesus Christ, the merciful kindness that he showed to those who were
blind and dumb or whatever the particular illness or sickness
might be. They were attributing to the
message spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-honouring gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. that this was no more and no
less than the work of the king of devils. And these scribes
and Pharisees, these ignorant hypocrites, stood in the judgment
of God. They considered the evidence
of the power and they publicly declared that Christ was possessed
of an unclean spirit by which he worked the works that he performed. So this was a serious allegation
that these men were laying upon Christ. Here were the people
acknowledging that this surely must be the promised Messiah,
the son of David. And here were these false teachers,
not only contradicting them by saying no, but attributing the
power that the Lord Jesus Christ had and exhibited to Satan himself. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
uses the opportunity of the denial of these men to expose their
false thinking, the illogical opinions, as it were, that they
were expressing. He showed them that even naturally
speaking, using their own proverbs, using their own knowledge of
life and the world, that this was such a a foolish idea that
they were postulating, that what they were suggesting was sheer
ludicrous. And he uses three different arguments
to speak against these men and we can see these in the verses
that are before us. So look for example at verse
23 and here we can see the Lord's first response to these men for
these allegations that they were making. And he called them unto
him and said unto them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan? So he says to them, you say that
Satan is casting out Satan. Explain to me, if you will, how
does that work? How is it possible that Satan
can cast out Satan? And he goes on to say it is self-evident
from the world around about us. Verse 24, if a kingdom be divided
against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. Whether you're
talking about a nation, whether you're talking about a government,
whether you're talking about a political movement, whether
you're talking about families, whether you're talking even about
churches in our own days, any organisation that has infighting
in it. cannot stand. It will not stand. If it rises up against itself,
it divides itself and it cannot stand. If Satan rise up against
himself and be divided, he cannot stand but hath an end. Verse 26. And here we see the
wisdom with which the Lord Jesus Christ contradicted and confounded
these foes of his. And it's interesting just to
see how the Lord's words spoke with such self-evident truthfulness. It's also interesting to see
that the way in which the Lord presents this argument tells
us that he understands and acknowledges that Satan has a kingdom. over which he is king. That Satan is himself a tyrant
and must maintain a form of unity and common purpose among the
devils in order to maintain his rule. That's the assumption upon
which the Lord's argument is based here. And that's quite
interesting, I think, because what that tells us is that the
devil, in a sense, is no different from the organizations that we
see in the world around about us. That the devil, too, must
juggle the demands of leadership. The devil must manage his kingdom
in order to maintain his own rule over that kingdom and he
cannot be divided against himself or his kingdom will fail. And so the first argument that
the Lord uses against these people is it doesn't make sense what
you've just said, that in some way the devil is casting out
the devil, because no house that is divided against itself can
ever possibly stand. Rather, says the Lord, and here
he enters into the second part of his argument, rather if anyone
is going to cast out a devil, He must be more powerful than
that devil in order to cast him out. And he, in verse 27, goes
on to speak about the strength that he has as Lord of all in
order to overthrow and cast out the demons that possess these
men. He says in verse 27, no man can
enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he
will first bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house. Now this is a parable in the
sense that it is giving us a picture which conveys to us a spiritual
truth. And so we can take this parable
and we can, as it were, tease it out with spiritual applications. The Lord says simply, no man
can enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except
he will first bind the strong man and then he will spoil his
house. Who is he talking about? Well, he's talking about what
he has just done to this blind and dumb man. He has, as it were,
gone into Satan's house and spoiled his goods. He has gone into the
house of the strong man. And so it is Satan that is being
likened here to a strong man. And if a strong man keeps his
house, then his goods will be protected, his goods will be
defended, unless a stronger man is able to come into the house,
into the palace, into the kingdom, and overthrow and defeat the
strong man. And so Satan must be defeated
first in order for his goods to be spoiled. And so the Lord
Jesus Christ is setting himself up as that one who is greater
than Satan. And he is revealing to those
Pharisees and scribes, no doubt, but also to the common people
also who were in attendance and observing and listening to these
things, this dialogue, this contention between the Lord's accusers and
the Lord himself with his defence. And he is showing them, you are
accusing me of being Satan, but the evidence is that I am stronger
than Satan. Satan won't cast out Satan, for
a house will not be divided upon itself and stand, but rather
one who is stronger must enter the house, dispossess the strong
man, and lead captivity captive, to take, as it were, that which
is the possession of the strong man, and liberate it, and set
it free. And the Lord is saying to these
people, I am that stronger man. I am that one who is superior
to Satan. I am that one who can displace
and dethrone him. And the evidence of me doing
that is the liberty which has entered into this poor soul's
body and mind. And that's what Christ does.
That's what Christ does when he comes and liberates a sinner. That's what Christ does when
he regenerates a soul. That's what he does when he comes
with life-giving power into the heart of a lost soul. and makes a new creation. God
the Holy Spirit and the work of the triune God is engaged
in the salvation of a sinner, to overthrow the strong man,
to overthrow the power of Satan and to bring liberty to the captive
and to set his people free. The Lord Jesus Christ is saying
to these scribes and Pharisees and the people around about him
and to us also who read these words and hear these things declared,
behold, look at the evidence before your own eyes. Luke chapter 11, 21 has the same
message. And the Lord on that occasion
just twisted or used language slightly differently, but he
made the same point. He said, when a strong man armed
keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger
than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from
him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. I wonder if there was a slight
nod in the way in which the Lord was speaking to these men with
respect to Rome's dominion over the Jews and the people of Israel
at this time, because this is exactly what had happened to
Israel. The strong man had come and he
had entered in and taken control and rule over Israel. And these
scribes and Pharisees may well have been somewhat sheepish at
the way in which the people of Israel had been dominated now
by Rome. But do you see the spiritual
dimension of this also? Do you see that this is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ's victory on the cross? This is the Lord
testifying about what the gospel actually is? that this is how
the Lord Jesus Christ evidences His power every time a sinner
is saved, every time a soul is plucked from the fire, every
time the Lord Jesus Christ brings one of those who are in the enthrall
of Satan into a newness of life. It is seen when the Lord Jesus
Christ sets up his church in the world. It is seen when the
Lord Jesus Christ gathers his people to himself in the world. It is seen when the Lord Jesus
Christ broke the grip of death and rose again from the tomb. It is seen when he ascends into
heaven and reigns upon his throne in heaven. and it is seen as
he reigns in the hearts of his subjects, and it shall be seen
when he shall deliver his bride in all of her purity, in all
of her brilliance, in all of her righteousness, safe to his
father, and that great consummation of all eternity takes place. This is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ breaking the grip of Satan's power and releasing
that people that were under his dominion. And these two stories,
these two pictures, these proverbs and parables that the Lord Jesus
Christ uses, they build upon one another. Satan doesn't fight
Satan in this world. but the Lord Jesus Christ has
both fought and defeated the adversary of the elect. We're told in scripture that
we have an adversary, we have an accuser, we have the presence
of the devil who goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom
he may devour, but we have a champion. We have the Lord Jesus Christ
and we can go to Christ. We have a victor. We have the
evidence of the Lord Jesus Christ's superiority over Satan. And so
when we feel the temptations of the devil, when we feel the
weakness of our flesh, when we feel the anxieties rising within
our hearts at the temptations of the world around about us,
We know that we have one who is superior to all of these foes,
all of these demons, all of this devilish work of nature and of
the flesh that goes on in this world. We are a called out people
and we are called out to serve the living God and to follow
after the Lord Jesus Christ. So that we go following after
him. And when we feel the attacks
of the devil, we know that we have a place where we can hide. We have a shield, we have a defender,
we have a cleft in the rock in which we can hide. And when we
are tempted, and when we sin, and when we fall, we know that
that which accomplished the victory on the cross, the precious blood
of Jesus Christ, still avails for sinners like us, and therefore
we are consoled and comforted. We are encouraged and we are
blessed in this knowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ has fought
a battle on our behalf, has won a war for his people, and we
can go to him every time we need his help and his blessing. The third aspect of the Lord's message, his defense, his apology,
if you like, if I can use that word, against the accusation
of these scribes and Pharisees, is to turn their argument against
them. He has shown us how foolish and
ludicrous it is to imagine that Satan will fight against Satan
because any house that does that, any kingdom that does that will
soon be divided and defeated. He has shown us also that it
takes a stronger man than the strong man armed to enter into
his palace, to bind him up and suppress him and defeat him in
order to liberate those that were under his charge. And he
has shown us that he is the one who both is able and has accomplished
that great work of deliverance, that great work of redemption. For this is surely the redeeming
power of the blood of Jesus Christ, that blood that was shed in the
cross and that power that was exhibited in his defeat of death
and his bursting open of the grave. to show that he had domination
over Satan the strong man. But now having exposed the fallacy
of these scribes' arguments, he turns and accuses them, and
he gives us an account of the existence of what we now sometimes
call the unforgivable sin. So look with me at verse 28,
please, and verse 29, because here he is turning an accusation
back upon these men. Verily I say unto you, all sins
shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewithsoever
they shall blaspheme. But he that shall blaspheme against
the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation,
because they said he hath an unclean spirit. So Christ performed
these miracles through the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. But these
men said, no, no, no, that's not the Spirit of God at work.
That is the Spirit of Satan at work. And that, says the Lord
Jesus Christ, is an unforgivable sin. To go to the parallel passage
of this account in Mark, in verse 31 of chapter 12, we read this,
Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall
be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost
shall not be forgiven unto men. How careless men are with their
precious souls. Men and women will utter all
manner of blasphemy against God. By their words, by their works,
and by their desires, they show a complete disregard for their
eternal well-being. We must surely be amazed when
we see the extent and the degree to which men and women will labour
and exercise themselves to improve their lot in this life. And whether it's through education
or whether it's through the labour of their minds or their muscles,
they will endeavour to improve themselves in this world. Or
whether it's the care that they take to exercise their bodies,
to watch their figures, to look after their weight, or to take
care of their health and make sure that they have suitable
supplements and vitamins and proper nutrition, or to safeguard
themselves with their insurances and their Medicare and all that
can be done to keep themselves bodily fit and healthy. So we see the anxiety that is
generated when something unforeseen comes into our society. And men
and women will labour day and night often in order to secure
their physical, mental well-being, emotional well-being in this
world. But why is there so little interest
in spiritual wellbeing? And why are men and women so
careless with their souls? How merciful our God is, yet
to extend the day of grace to sinners like us. How merciful
is our God, to yet redeem by the blood of Jesus Christ, men
and women who are thoughtless and careless of their soul's
well-being, and who are blasphemers against God, and save them despite
their awful curses against him. And yet this verse is telling
us something. It is telling us that for all
men and women do and say and how they live against God the
Father and God the Son, there is a blasphemy against God the
Holy Spirit that is not to be forgiven. Not now in this world
or in eternity. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost
shall not be forgiven. Now we've already endeavoured
to make clear, and let me again repeat myself if I may, that
this is not a casual or, as it were, a simple ignorant or flippant
utterance that is being made by people. What we have before
us here is the purposeful opposition to the Holy Spirit, and it is
a blatant denial of the work and ministry of God the Holy
Spirit. And I'm going to remind you and
to point out to you this evening that so egregious is this sin
that not one of the elect can ever commit it. This sin evidences that there
is no pardon for it, there is no redemption sufficient for
it, there is no regeneration for the one who commits it, and
there is only the reprobation of that soul and the eternal
judgment of God against it. But the irony is that the very
presence of these verses in the Word of God, the very utterance
of the Lord Jesus Christ upon this subject has generated, I
am certain, a tremendous amount of anxiety amongst the sin-sensitive
child of God or children of God. I doubt that there is a true
child of God who has not feared at some point or another that
they have committed this unpardonable or unforgivable sin. And the
reason why that is such a prevalent thought in the minds of sin-sensitive
individuals is that Satan knows that verses like these from the
scripture, and remember, Satan knows the Bible better than the
rest of us. He was able to quote it to the
Lord Jesus Christ when he tempted the Lord Jesus Christ, so we
may well be assured that he will quote it when he tempts us also. We will not get away with any
temptation that the Lord Jesus Christ was not called to endure. Satan knows that these verses
are in scripture and he knows that he is able to exert leverage
against those who are sensitive to sin in their lives. So what the devil is able to
do then is that he is able to come and say to us, well, You're
not one of the Lord's people because you've committed this
sin and none of the Lord's people are able to commit this sin.
You cannot be born again because no child of God who has been
born again would ever commit a sin like this and you've committed
that. He comes and he tells us that
we are lost, that we are without hope in this world, that we are
not the elect children of God, but we are reprobate. And such is the force of the
argument that he brings, that all of us at one time or another
to a greater or lesser degree Read these verses and wonder
if perhaps we are guilty of the sin here spoken of and we have
fallen foul of its judgment. But this is important. Listen
to me on this point. No person who seeks forgiveness
for committing the unforgivable sin will fail to find it. Because no one who seeks forgiveness
for this sin has ever actually committed it. The very fact that
we fear that we have committed this sin is evidence that we
have not committed it. Because the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. And wisdom, spiritually speaking,
does not come to the natural man. The carnal man receiveth
not the things of the Lord. The natural man cannot experience
any spiritual insight or understanding, cannot have any fear that they
have committed this sin. But those whose sins are forgiven,
those who are sensitive to the commitment of sin in their own
lives, for whom sin is a grievous thing, they are the ones who
are most sensitive and subject to these temptations. The reprobate
do not care if they have committed this sin. They have not the fear
of God in them. They love their sins. They cherish
and feed off of their sins. Indeed, they feed their sins
and they endeavour to enlarge and engage with their sin to
the satisfaction of their lusts. But the elect of God, they loathe
their sin. They fear offending God. They
fear grieving the Holy Spirit. They desire pardon and forgiveness
more than anything else. They want to feel clean. The very first occurrence of
the word forgiveness in the King James Version of the Bible is
in Psalm 130 verse 4. And here's what it says. There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. Do you have the fear of the Lord
in you? Do you fear the judgment of God? Do you fear being left under
the wrath of God? Do you fear hearing those words
which say, depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I never
knew you. That fear is a spiritual enlightenment. There is forgiveness with God
that he might enter into our spiritual understanding and show
us that pardon which he alone can give. Psalm 25 verse 11 says,
For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it
is great. And we can go to that one whose
name is the Lord our righteousness. We can go to that one who takes
the name the Anointed One, who takes the name the Christ, that
one who is the Lord Jesus, our Savior. And we can say to him,
for thy name's sake, O Lord, Pardon mine iniquity, for it
is great. And Isaiah 55 verse 7 says, And
this is the God with whom we have to deal. This is the God
to whom we go. And we shall do well to remember
this, because when Satan comes and says to us, you've committed
the unforgivable sin, you've been guilty of the unpardonable
sin, there is no pardon for you. God says he will pardon us. He will abundantly pardon. He will have mercy upon us. And Satan says, you've gone too
far. You've crossed the line. You're
out there. Who will you believe? Are you
going to believe Satan, who is the father of lies and the great
deceiver? Or will you believe God? who
says that he delights in mercy and he will abundantly pardon
and forgive. John tells us, the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And it is upon that verse, it
is upon the blood of Christ, it is upon the ground of this
promise, that we have pardoning hope. We have the hope, the good
hope, the promise of God. We have the promise of pardon
from our God who is faithful. Upon his great faithfulness,
He who is faithful and just. We take confidence to approach
God's throne on the ground of His promises and the blood of
Jesus Christ. We confess our guilt. We acknowledge
our unworthiness. But we delight in Him who delights
to be merciful to sinners. We see that the Lord Jesus Christ,
in hanging on the cross, took upon Himself the sins of His
people. We see that in shedding His blood,
He cleansed their sins. And we confess that we have no
rights in and of ourselves. We have no entitlements before
the holiness of God. We have no claim upon Him. but the free grace of God in
Jesus Christ, who declares, I know thee by name, and thou hast found
grace in my sight. John chapter 6 verse 37 says,
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. and he that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Let us go to Christ. Let us go to him for forgiveness. Let us call upon God on the foundation
and by the merits of that precious blood. And let us know this,
that our God delights to be merciful to sinners who call upon his
name. And him that cometh unto me,
I will in no wise cast out. Amen. May God bless to us these
thoughts this evening.