Let's read our text again in
Luke chapter 12, verse 10. And whosoever shall speak a word
against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But unto him
that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. I've entitled this message, The
Sin That Shall Not Be Forgiven. And I've got to make a couple
of statements by way of introduction for us to understand this. Most
religion, most that goes on under the name of Christianity, teaches
that Jesus Christ shed his blood for all men without exception.
and he paid for everybody's sin. But some of those people whose
sins he died for may wind up in hell anyway because they didn't
do what they needed to do to make his blood work for them.
May I say that you're left without a gospel in that message. There's no gospel in that message. You see, the only hope that I
have is that Christ died for my sins and actually made payment
for them, so they're paid for. And I'll never have to stand
before God responsible for my sins. That's the only hope I
have. It's actually the only hope I
want to. And I love the truth concerning Christ's effectual
redemption for his elect. You can't preach the gospel and
not preach that. If you preach a message where
Jesus Christ died to make salvation possible for all men, you're
left without a gospel. Now, I've heard it said that
the only sin that Christ did not die for is unbelief. If that's so, you and I will
not be saved. Did you know that? Because every
one of us have been guilty of this sin of unbelief. Now, if Christ died for you,
he died for all your sins. They've all been paid for and
you have been saved. You are saved and you will and
shall be saved. Christ's atonement is effectual. There is nobody that he died
for that has committed this sin that our Lord speaks of that
shall not be forgiven. But the Bible has quite a bit
to say about this sin. And I want us to understand what
the scripture actually teaches about this. I must admit, there's
several passages of scripture. When I was a young believer,
I used to dread them. I would dread reading Hebrews
10, 26, because when it said, if we sin willfully after we've
received the knowledge of the truth, there's no more sacrifice
for sins, I used to think, oh, scared me. And that passage in
Peter where It would better for them to have not known the way
of righteousness than to after they've known it to turn from
the holy commandment, but they're the dog that's returned to its
vomit. I used to read that passage of
scripture and it would scare me to death. And many other of
these passages of scripture that we're going to look at that I
used to fear as a young believer, I would read these things and
I would fear this thing of sinning against the Holy Spirit. But
if I'm a believer and if you're a believer, it's not possible. But the Lord warns us about it. And it's not something we should
just be indifferent about, but we should see what the scripture
says about it. And it's through these warnings that the Lord
preserves us from sinning against God the Holy Spirit. In 1 John
chapter 5 verse 16, John says, there is a sin and a death. There
is a sin unto death that will lead to perdition, and he says
don't pray for that one who commits it. Now, do I know infallibly
who has committed and who has not committed this sin? No, I
don't. I can't see what's going on in your heart, but I do know
this. I've seen people who've walked away from the gospel that
I don't have a heart to pray for. They seem to believe the truth,
they seem to receive the truth, and they've walked away for whatever
reason. And I do not have a heart to
pray for those people. Now, if you're a believer, you
have not and cannot commit this sin, and were kept from committing
it through these warnings. God said in Genesis 6, verse
3, my spirit will not always strive with men. You know, Ralph
Barnard preached the message one time entitled, When the Lights
Go Out on the Road to Hell. And there's a time when the lights
go out, you don't even know it. You know, someone that's committed
this sin, they're not aware of the fact that they've committed
this sin, but God turns off the lights and they are left to themselves
and they will never be brought to a saving knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's called reprobation. Now
turn with me to Romans chapter one. Let's see what the scripture
teaches about this. Verse 18, for the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold, and that word is literally, who hold down the
truth in unrighteousness. They don't like what they're
hearing and they hold it down. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it to them, for
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Now that's talking about everybody.
Everybody knows intuitively. that God is, and they know something
about his eternal power and Godhead. We're born with that understanding. Now we don't completely grasp
who God is, but we're born with some kind of intuition that God
is, and we know something about his being all-powerful. He created
the universe. Only omnipotence could create
the universe. Everyone is born with that knowledge,
but Listen to what they did, verse 21. Because that when they
knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful,
but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were
darkened, professing themselves to be wise. They became fools
and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image
made like the corruptible man, and to birds and forfeited beasts
and creeping things. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to
dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth
of God into a lie. What they did know, they changed
it because they didn't like it. And they worshipped and served
the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up to file affections, for even
their women did change their natural use into that which is
against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving
the natural use of the women burned in their lust one toward
another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving
in themselves that recompense of their error which was meat."
And now listen to this, and even as they did not like to retain
God in their knowledge, they saw the truth, they didn't
like it. It's not that they didn't see
it was the truth of the scriptures, but the implications of it, what
it would cost them if they went this direction. They saw the
truth of God, and they didn't like it, and they changed it. Now that has something to do,
we're going to look at quite a few other scriptures, but that has
something to do with the unpardonable sin. Turn to Proverbs chapter
1 for a moment. I want you to look at these scriptures.
Proverbs chapter 1. God says, because I've called,
verse 24, Proverbs 124. Because I've called and you refused.
I stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, but you said
it not all my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will
laugh at your calamity." This is God speaking, and look at
the way he speaks. He says, I will mock when your fear cometh. When
your fear cometh as a desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish comes upon you, then
shall they call upon me, but I'll not answer. They shall seek
me early, but they shall not find me, for they hated knowledge. and did not choose the fear of
the Lord. They would none of my counsel,
they despised all my reproof, therefore shall they eat of the
fruit of their way and be filled with their own devices. Proverbs
29 chapter 29 verse 1 says, he that being often reproved and
hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without
warning. I think of Pharaoh, what God
said regarding to Pharaoh. Now, Pharaoh was a man like you
and I, and God said regarding this man, even for this same
purpose have I raised you up. that I might show my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth." And you read the events of Pharaoh and how he kept hardening
his heart against the truth. And all God's got to do to let
me or you have a hard heart is remove himself, remove the restraints,
and we'll be just like Pharaoh. I think of that passage, turn
with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Verse 11, And for this cause
God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned, who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness. Now did God have any intention
of saving these people? You read that passage of Scripture and
you know he didn't. He sent them, God sent them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned.
That's what the Scripture says. Now why? Look back in verse 10. And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness, and then that perish, because they receive
not. What are those next two words?
The love of the truth. They saw the truth in the Scripture.
They wouldn't deny it. But they receive not the love
of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause,
God shall send them strong delusion. And what about those who could
not believe because God blinded them? Turn over to John chapter
12. John chapter 12. Beginning in verse 37. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, irrefutable evidence that only God could
do this. Though he did these many miracles
before them, yet they believed not on him, that the saying of
Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord,
who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe,
they lacked the ability to believe, because as Isaiah said, he hath
blinded their eyes. and harden their heart that they
should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart
and be converted and I should heal them. These things said
Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. It is a dangerous
thing to hear the gospel. Do you hear that? It's a dangerous
thing. to hear the gospel. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. This is the passage of scripture that I had referred to earlier. Verse 26, for if we sin willfully,
After that we've received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses. Of how much sore punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified, an unholy, a common thing, and have done
despite unto the Spirit of grace." Now, what is this willful sin?
Now, does that mean if I sin with my will and I decide to
do it, it's over for me? Well, if that's what it means,
it is over for me. It is over for you. Because every
sin you and I have ever committed, we did what we wanted to do.
We did what we did with our will. It wasn't like we were trapped
into it and just got tricked. No. That's not what willful,
that's not what he's referring to when he's talking about willful
sin. He says if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge
of the truth. Now in Hebrews chapter 10, he
tells exactly how a sinner is saved. By one offering. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Now there's the truth. The only
way you and I can be saved, to be perfected, is by that one
offering of the Lord Jesus Christ. That successful, effectual offering. When He said it is finished,
it's finished. Now, if I hear this message,
And I say, well, this will mess up my life. This will create
problems with my family. This will create problems with
my friends. I don't like what this is costing
me. If that is my reaction to this
message, therefore, I pull back. I move away from this. I'm not
going that direction. Well, that's it. That is the
sin against the Holy Spirit. To see the truth and because
of what it will cost you personally, you pull back from it. Look what
he said in this same chapter in verse 38. Now the just shall
live by faith, but if any man draw back. And that word is a
nautical term. It means you let the sails down
so the wind doesn't blow them quite so strong. You don't go
quite so fast. That's all you do is you draw
back. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them
which draw back into perdition, but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. Turn to 2 Peter 2. Verse 20, for if after they have
escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein
and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning,
for it had been better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness than after they've known it to turn from the holy
commandment delivered unto them. Do you know the way of righteousness?
The way of righteousness is His righteousness as my only righteousness
before God. Do you know the way of righteousness?
What would be better for you to never know this than to hear
it and say, this will cost me too much. I don't like what this
will cost me. I'm going another direction. And what does that
mean? It's happening to them according
to the true proverb, the dog has turned to his own vomit again
and the pig that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Now
in Mark's account of what I read from Luke chapter 11, it's where
they attributed what Christ did to the devil. In light of what
he did, irrefutable evidence that he did only what God could
do. In malice they said, this is
the work of Satan. He by Beelzebub casts out demons. Matthew's account gives more
detail, and I want us to finish here. You know, I remember one time
somebody that came to church here for several months, they had
me over and lent over to eat, and I remember they talked about
what they were hearing. And him and his wife, and his
wife said she just didn't believe this. And he said, I see that
this is what the scripture is teaching. And he said, I'm at
a crossroads in my life right now. And you know, I never saw
him again. I never saw him again. Matthew chapter 12. When one is confronted, when
God confronts someone with his truth, and they say, that'll
create too much problem for me. I'm not going that direction.
And maybe even through malice attributed to what they're hearing,
well that's satanic. That's when it's over. Now beginning
in Matthew chapter 12, Verse 22. Then was brought unto him one
possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch
that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people
were amazed and said, Is not this the son of David? Only the
son of David could do something like this. They were convinced. He did what only God could do.
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow, this,
notice the word fellow is in italics, this doesn't even deserve
a name, this nobody, this nothing, this, what would we even call
him? This fellow does not cast out devils, but
by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their
thoughts. And he shows the absolute ridiculousness
of what they were saying. And he said unto them, every
kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. And
every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if
Satan cast out Satan, he's divided against himself. How shall his
kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out
devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they
shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the
Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into
a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind
the strong man, and then he'll spoil his house? He that's not
with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth
abroad. There's no middle ground. There's
no non-affiliation. I'm either for him or I'm against
him. There's no middle ground. Now
he says in verse 31, this is his response to all this, Verse
31. Wherefore, I say unto you, all
manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. Now aren't
you thankful it says that? I'm so thankful for the forgiveness
of sins because I'm a sinner. I need my sins to be forgiven.
I need them to be washed out. I need them to be purged away. I need to be clean before God. I need my sins forgiven. And
the Lord gives us this glorious assurance all manner of sin shall
be forgiven. He blots them out. He takes them
away. He purges them away. He separates
them as far from us as the east is from the west and he forgives
us. Now this is something I say all
the time and I like saying it. I'm going to continue to say
it all the time. Salvation doesn't end with the forgiveness of sins.
Now, hear me real carefully here. It's not like you do this and
this and this and then you'll have the forgiveness of sins.
No, sir. Salvation begins with the complete blotting out and
forgiveness of sins. And the forgiveness of sins is
not God's response to you doing anything. It's God's response
to His Son. Be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. Salvation begins with the complete
forgiveness of sins. That's how my experience of grace
began. Wasn't me doing anything, then God forgiving me of my sins.
It's God putting my sins away. And then let me know he did it
through the preaching of the gospel. That's the way God forgives
sins. And I'm so thankful that all
manner of sins shall be forgiven to men. But look what he says
next in this verse. But the blasphemy against the
Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh
a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But
whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven
him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Now notice
the distinction. The Lord says, anybody who blasphemes
and sins, blasphemes the Son of Man, it's gonna be forgiven.
Now that's a terrible thing, isn't it? To blaspheme the Son
of Man, to blaspheme the Son of God, to blaspheme the Lord
Jesus Christ, that's a horrible thing. an evil thing, a wicked
thing. But the Lord says, it shall be
forgiven. But that one who blasphemes against
the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven. Not
in this world, neither in the world to come. Now, why does
the Lord make this distinction? Why is it that a sin against
the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can be
forgiven? If I blaspheme Him, it can be
forgiven. But if I blaspheme against the
Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven. If somebody blasphemes against
the Son of Man, you know the reason they do it? They don't
know who He is. Isn't that so? It's a sin of ignorance. Remember
the way the Lord prayed, Father forgive them, they know not what
they do. If they would have known who
he was. But the only way you can know who he is, is if God
the Holy Spirit makes him known. Now, you blaspheme against the
Son of Man, you don't even know who He is. But when God the Holy
Spirit, the only way you can ever know Jesus Christ, the only
way you can ever truly bow in your heart to Him, the only way
you can ever receive Him and love His truth, is as God the
Holy Spirit enables you to do that. And to blaspheme against
the Holy Spirit is to hear the truth revealed by God himself
and say, I'm not going that direction. That'll cost me too much. I'll
lose my job. I'll lose my place. I'll lose
my position in society. It'll cost me my friends, my
family. It'll cost me too much. I'm not going that direction.
And these people through malice attributed what the Lord Jesus
Christ said to the devil. These people were like the Pharisees
in John 12. What do we do? For this man doth many miracles.
If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and
the Romans shall come and take away both our place and our nation.
Why, we'll lose our jobs if we go in this direction. Verses 32 and 33 really ought
to be read together. Let's read them together. And
whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven
him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not
be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to
come. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good, or else make
the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt. For the tree is known
by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can
you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaketh." If the tree is good, Now what's that? When the Lord
gives a new heart, a heart that was not there before. You see,
if you believe, you can't just come up with the goods with faith.
You can't just up and decide to believe or start believing.
The only way you're ever going to believe the gospel, the only
way I'm ever going to believe the gospel, the only way you and
I will ever love Jesus Christ is if God gives me a new heart. A heart that was not there before. A new heart, God said, I'll give
you. This is the heart David cried
for when he said, create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew
a right spirit within me. If I have this new heart, the
words that come out of my mouth, they're going to be consistent
with the words of the gospel. If the tree is good, the fruit
will be good. The words will be consistent
with the gospel. Now, is he talking about your
life will be consistent with the gospel? Well, yeah, your
life and my life ought to be consistent with the gospel. I
ought to walk in a way that honors the Lord Jesus Christ. But here
he's talking about words, as we're going to see. You know,
somebody hears somebody say something that's totally contrary to the
gospel, and they say, well, I hope their heart's right, and they're
just messed up in their doctrine, that stuff coming out. No, out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Whatever's
in your heart, that's what comes out. If the tree is good, the
fruit will be good. The words will be good. There'll
be consistent words with the gospel. If the tree is evil,
the words will be evil. They'll be inconsistent with
the gospel. The tree is known by its fruit. He says in verse 34, Oh, generation
of vipers. By the way, the Lord talked to
people. Now I'm not going to get up in front of a group of
people and say, you bunch of snakes. I'm just not going to
do that, because I don't know what's in your heart. But he
does. And he could look at these people
and say, oh generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak
good things? For out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaketh. Verse 35, a good man, see he's
talking about what comes out. A good man out of the good treasure
of the heart bringeth forth good things. And an evil man out of
the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every
idle word that men shall speak. See he's talking about what we
say. Every idle word that men shall speak. they shall give
an account thereof in the day of judgment." Now, he's not talking
about talking about sports or talking about, you know, things
that are of no consequence. I mean, there's people that you're
around, all you have to talk about is idle things. What else
are you going to talk about? I mean, you can't talk about
the Lord. You can't talk about His grace. Excuse me. So all you talk about is With
me, it's sports. I'm a big sports fan. I love
to be around somebody that likes sports. I can talk all day about
that, about the Reds, about UK, something like that. But that's
not what he's referring to. He's talking about words contrary
to the gospel. Now look at verse 37. He says,
for by thy words thou shalt be justified. Have you heard what
he says? By the things that come out of
your mouth, by your very words, you'll be justified. And by your
words, by the things that you say that come out of your mouth,
you will be condemned. Now, think of that statement. By your words, you'll be justified. Now, justified is a very strong
word, isn't it? It means you're going to be without
sin. You're going to be not guilty.
You're going to stand before God utterly without sin, justified. It's the glorious truth of the
scriptures. God takes a sinful man and he justifies him. I hope
I never preach a message where I don't refer something to God's
great work of justification. That's what Christ did. He was
delivered for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification.
Now, five things in the Bible were said to be justified by.
Now remember what justification means. If I'm justified, I've
said this before, it's not just as if I've never sinned. That
won't do me and you any good. It's, I've never sinned. I stand
without guilt before God. I stand without sin before God.
I stand perfect. God looks at me and He sees nothing
but that which is holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.
Beloved, that's the gospel. Have God justify sinners. To
him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.
His faith is counted for righteousness, justification. I like what Martin
Luther said, a church stands or falls on what it believes
regarding justification. And I agree with that. If you
believe justification, you believe everything else. You're right
on justification, you're right on the whole gospel. You're wrong
on justification, you're wrong on everything else. This is how
important this is, this thing of justification. Now, first
of all, the Bible says in Romans chapter 3, verse 24, we're justified
by grace. You remember what grace is? To
unmerit a favor. It's God just up and looking
at you and saying, I'm willing your justification. That's grace. It's the act of
God. Justification isn't something
you accept. Well, I can't imagine a defendant
standing before the judge and the judge saying, well, it's
up to you. Do you want to be condemned or justified? Take
your pick. No, it's not like that at all. You're declared
by the judge to be justified. And that's what God does. He
justifies, justifies by His grace. And this ought to give everybody
in this room some hope. Maybe He'll justify me. If justification
really is by grace, if it's not by works, if it's by Him declaring
me to be justified because He can do that because He's God,
there's hope for everybody in here. Being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now secondly,
Romans 5 and 9 says we're justified by blood. You see, His precious blood.
Why did He die? My sin became His sin. He became guilty of my sin. And when God forsook Him, when
God killed Him, it was because He was guilty. It's because my
sin really was His sin. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree, and He was guilty. And God gave Him no mercy. I can't even get a hold of that.
God forsook him. God gave him no mercy. Justified
by his blood. You see, my sins were actually
paid for by his blood. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Thank God. And then we read in
the Bible of being justified by faith. being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's a good way to put it,
because that's the way God the Holy Spirit put it, justified
by faith. That's a good way to put it.
I don't want to try to correct the way God says something, but
forbid that I should ever do something like that. May God
deliver me from that. How God says things are right, but what
does it mean? Does it mean the act of faith
justifies you? No, it doesn't mean that. My
faith didn't die for my sins. My faith didn't keep the law
for me. Christ did. What it means is, what is the
evidence that God justified me? Faith. I believe the gospel. What is the evidence that Christ
died for me? Faith. I believe the gospel. What's
the evidence that I have a new heart? Faith. I believe the gospel. No one has the right to even
suspect that God has justified them unless they believe the
gospel. Justification is by faith. And then we read in James chapter
2, man's justified by works and not by faith only. Now people
struggle with that so much. Is he being, is he contradicting
what Paul says when he says we're justified by grace and by blood
and by faith and so on. What is this thing of being justified
by works? Well, your works will prove whether you really believe.
And the glorious example he gives is Abraham. God said, Abraham,
take your son, your only son, offer him up as a burnt offering
to me upon the mount, which I shall show thee. Now, he told Abraham
previously the Messiah is going to come through that boy. You
know what Abraham did? He went up on the mountain to
slay his son. And Hebrews tells us, believing
that God would raise him from the dead. He knew God had promised
the Messiah is coming through this boy. And he believed God
would raise him from the dead. Now, if he would have said, I
can't kill this boy, because then the Messiah couldn't come
through him. You know what that would mean?
That means he didn't believe God. That's all that means. He did not believe God. But he
believed God. He knew if I slay my son, God
will raise him from the dead and the Messiah will come through
him. His works proved he really believed
what he said he did. If he would have refused to slay
his son, all he would have proved was that he didn't really believe
that God's promise would come to pass. He thought he'd mess
it up. Oh, we don't believe anything like that, do we? God's will
must come to pass, and our works will prove that, just like Abraham's
did. And here we have this last phrase
in Matthew chapter 12, by your words you'll be justified, and
by your words you'll be condemned. You know, your words, the words
that come out of your mouth, that come from your heart, will
be these great words of justification by Christ. That's what's going
to come out of your mouth. And if words contrary to justification
by Christ come out of your mouth, You'll be condemned. You'll be
condemned by God himself. You see out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And what comes out in your word,
what in your heart? Do you believe Christ is your
complete justification before God? Do you believe justification
by grace? Do you believe justification
by blood? Do you believe justification by faith? Do you believe justification
by works? Then it'll come out in your speech.
It really will. And if it doesn't come out of
your speech, if something contrary comes out. It's because in your
heart you've rejected the way of justification by Christ, the
way of justification by grace. You may see the scripture teaches
it, and this is what the sin against the Holy Spirit is. You
see what the Bible teaches regarding how God saves sinners through
Christ, how he justifies them by grace, by blood, by faith,
by works, by words. You see that, but you see what
it will cost you. It'll create all kinds of trouble
for me, my family, my friends, my job. So I'm not going that
direction. Beloved, what would it profit
a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul? And what will a man give in exchange
for his soul? Now, like I said, Hearing the
gospel is a dangerous, dangerous thing. And if I hear the gospel,
and I see it's the truth of the scriptures, and I say, I'm not
going that direction because of what it will cost me, that is the sin against the Holy
Spirit. And may the Lord deliver us from
committing the sin against the Holy Spirit. And the Lord gives
us a lot of warnings regarding this. I've read quite a few of
them. But let me say this. If you're
worried about sinning against the Holy Spirit, if you're worried
about, I'm afraid I've committed it, you haven't. I can assure
you of that. You haven't. And God's people
will be preserved from this great sin. And here's why. The only
hope they have is in the gospel. You take that away, you take
away my only hope. You take away all my peace. You
take away all my joy. You take away the hope of the
gospel. And that's why they won't commit
this sin, because they find their salvation in the message of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Now may the Lord deliver us from
committing this sin.