I'm going to read a text tonight
from the book of Proverbs, chapter 1. I'm going to speak on the subject,
crossing the deadline. You heard it correctly, crossing
the deadline. That's what I'm preaching on
tonight. In Proverbs 1, verse 28. Then shall they call upon
me. Then shall they call upon me,
but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me." I don't know about Kentucky,
and I don't know about Florida, Brother Jay, but I can tell Jim
Sly how they used to conduct revival meetings in Alabama. They had the two-week meeting
every August, and the preacher would preach, and they'd try
to get all the sinners saved. And then on the last night, he'd
preach what? Last train to heaven. Every revival
meeting. Last train to heaven. And he'd
quote a poem. Invariably, nearly every preacher
would quote this poem. There is a time I know not when,
there's a place I know not where, Every man crosses a line to salvation
or despair. And they were endeavoring to
frighten people into religious decisions. And this went on every
year. And next year they'd go at it
again, and they'd have the last train leaving on the last Sunday
night of the meeting one more time. And another popular hymn,
they'd sing this one. There's a line that is drawn
by rejecting our Lord when the call of the Spirit is lost. As
you hurry along with the pleasure-mad throng, have you counted, have
you counted the cost? And then they sing another hymn,
Almost Persuaded. The last verse ends with almost,
but lost. What I'm doing is contending,
and I feel that I have the Word of God behind me in this matter. I contend that this type of preaching
and this type of reasoning is a mighty weak and sorry method
to use for the purpose of frightening people into decisions to seek
the Lord. I think it's a sorry and a weak
method. I don't think it's honoring to
Christ because men Men do not come to Christ because they're
forced to, they come to Christ because they want to. Men do
not come to Christ because they're afraid not to come, they come
because they can't live without him. To whom shall we go? Thy people shall be willing,
not forced or coerced, thy people shall be willing in the day of
thy power. Whosoever will, the scripture
says, let him take the water of life freely. If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine
heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Now I ask these questions. This is common reasoning. Suppose
you use this method. There's a time I know not when,
a place I know not where, that every man crosses a line to salvation
or despair. This may be your last night.
This may be the last train out. God may draw the line before
you tonight. If you use that type of reasoning
and that type of logic, and you get a man to make a profession
under that kind of pressure, I think it's like this. What
woman, or for that matter, man, but what woman would enjoy marriage
to a man who only married her because it was his last chance?
Now I wonder how many would find any happiness in a relationship
like that. The only reason I married you
was because it was the last shot I had at marriage. Or this, for
example, a man would be a most reluctant traveler. He'd be a
most reluctant traveler who caught a train only because he thought
it was the last one out of the station. Now he'd certainly,
he'd sit there and pout the whole trip. You mean there's a train
behind me? I could have got on it and I
got on this one? Or for example, what praise, what possible praise
could Jesus Christ receive from the lips of a man who unwillingly
left his idols because he thought he might not have another opportunity. And so he just got on while the
getting on was good. That's not so. It's just not
so. However, however, now let's be
careful. As I've said so many times, there's
a little truth in all error. There's a little truth in all
error or we wouldn't receive it. We wouldn't listen to it.
I don't care who the preacher is. Even Catholicism has some
truth in it. There's a little truth in every
error. One of our men said that rat poison is ninety-some-odd
percent good food, but it's that ten percent that kills the rat.
And so I say even in this type of thing, There is a line that
is drawn by rejecting our Lord. There is a time I know not when,
a place I know not where. I wouldn't say that every man,
but some men cross a line, cross a line, their deadlines taught
in God's Word. Now let me give you some examples.
First turn to John 12. Now turn over there with me.
And what I'm saying is this, if we're not careful, We listen
to something and we toss it off without giving it any thought.
But now, in John chapter 12, turn over there just a moment,
hold. There may be a time, there may
be a time, there may be a time in a person's life when he so
sins against the light of revelation, the light of revelation that
the light by God's sovereign will is removed. That's what
our Lord is saying here and actually becomes darkness. There may be
a time in a man's life that God gives him a certain amount of
light, a light of revelation. Common grace, call it common
grace. Don't refer to it as effectual grace or invincible grace or
irresistible grace, but just call it common grace. And we
know that every sinner is a recipient, Jay, of common grace. It rains
on the just and the unjust. The sun shines on the just and
the unjust. There's a light that lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. God has not left himself
without a witness. I could just cover you with scripture
along this line. And there may be a time when
even, call it what kind of light you want to, but it's from God,
the Father of light. And a man so sins against light,
that God will remove it. And in its place, darkness. Now
listen to John 12, 35. Then Jesus said to them, Yet
a little while is the light with you. Walk while you have the
light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness,
knowing not whither he goeth, While you have light, believe
in the light. While you have light, walk. While you have the light, twice
he says, while you have the light, walk in it, that you may be the
children of light. These things spake Jesus and
departed and did hide himself from them. One other scripture,
Matthew 6. In Matthew chapter 6, verse 22. Matthew 6, 22. There
may be a time. When a man who's been the recipient
of God-given light, in his rebellion and arrogance and pride and haughtiness
and marriage to tradition and custom, refuses to walk in that
light, then God will remove it. And he'll have darkness in the
place of that light. In Matthew 6, verse 22, the light
of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single,
the whole body shall be full of light. But if your eye be
evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness. And Barnard
used to say, this last line says, if all the light you've got is
darkness, how great is that darkness. If all the light you've got is
darkness, how great, great and how fatal and how final is that
darkness. All right, let's try another
one, turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. I said there may be a time
in a person's life when he so sins against the light, which
is from God, that that light will be removed. Now, 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 10. Now, here's the second thing
I'm saying is this. There may be a time in a person's life
when he refuses and rejects the truth of the gospel. I know men do not spiritually
understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but they mentally
understand them. When our Lord said to the Pharisees,
I and my Father are one, they knew what he said and refused
that. When he said, I've come in my Father's name, they knew
what he was saying, and they rejected it. He said, destroy
this temple and in three days I'll raise it up. He spake of
his body, and they rejected this. How can this man give us his
flesh and blood to eat? You see, they understood his
words. So look at 2 Thessalonians 2,
verse 10 and 11. He talks about with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause, while still alive, while still in the body, God
shall send them strong delusion. that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness." Now you take a fellow going along,
and this is talking about religious people here, this is not talking
about the rebel out yonder, this is talking about religious people
who are married to their custom, who are married to their tradition,
who are married to their religious form and ceremony, and they hear
the truth. For example, on our television
program or our radio program or some other preacher's that
preach the truth, and they hear this truth, and it doesn't fit
into their scheme of religious tradition or form or ceremony.
And it troubles them, and they hear it again, and it doesn't
fit, and they hear it again, and it doesn't fit. And they
refuse to hear it. And God will send them strong
delusions so that they will be no longer disturbed and no longer
uncomfortable, but completely at rest in this false profession. and completely at rest in this
false tradition. You hold a custom and tradition
and a false experience and a profession of religion that is not real
long enough, refusing the truth of God in Christ, and after a
while that truth will cease to bother you, cease to trouble
you, cease to disturb you, and you'll be totally comfortable
in this situation. And that's what he says here.
They believe a lie and be damned for believing that lie. And they
have pleasure in their unrighteousness. Pleasure in their self-righteousness,
which is unrighteousness. And that's true. That's what
he's saying there. And they come a time in a fellow's life when
he refuses to hear the truth. That's because they receive not
the love of the truth that they might be saved. But holding on
to this position and profession and claim of righteousness and
rejecting the warning and rejecting the call of God. And they just
become hardened in it and comfortable. And now Romans 1. Now this is
clear. I see this three times in the
scripture here. Romans chapter 1. There may be
a time in a person's life when he so sins in blasphemy, in the
lowest form of evil. A person so sins against God's
law and revelation that God will just turn him over to corruption,
turn him over to evil. I'm talking about sins like blasphemy
and homosexuality and the worship of the creature. In Romans chapter
1, we have the whole sorry picture of this mess, this sorry mess.
Verse 21, because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as
God. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations,
their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image made like the corruptible man, to birds and
four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them
up. God gave them up. This idolatry,
this worshiping the creature, it says just God gave them up.
to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God
into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than
the Creator. Then, verse 26, for this cause God gave them
up to vile affections, even their women did change the natural
use into that which is against nature, and men leaving the natural
use of the woman burned in their lust one toward another. Verse
28, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
He gave them over to a reprobate man to do those things which
are not convenient. You see that? And three times
in that one chapter it talks about these people had stooped
so low, lower than beasts, and God just let them go, just gave
them over. And they found, you say, well
don't their consciences bother them anymore? Not anymore. You
say, John, they're just giving over to it. You talk about how
can people do, like these gays marching and men and women doing
the things, how can they do that? Don't they have any consciences?
No sir, they really don't. If they become hardened in that
mess. And to them, it seems a way of
life. It seems a right way of life. To them, they have no understanding. God has turned them over to a
reprobate mind. That's it. He just let them go.
And this is what I'm talking about when I say that in this
sort of thing, and when we're talking about deadlines, when
we're talking about crossing a deadline, that there's some
truth to it. There's some truth to it. It's
quite evident from these scriptures that there is such a thing in
the scriptures as crossing a deadline set by God, and all men would
be wise to consider the possibility of tripling with truth. Tripling
with truth. lest they be heartened. And the
scripture says, being often reproved, we hearten our hearts, we shall
certainly be destroyed, and that without remedy. And my friend,
that doesn't just mean death and the grave and hell now. That
means destroyed. To be judicially blinded is the
same as being destroyed. If like the Jews of old, I'm
judicially blinded, and in reading Moses I cannot see Christ, then
I'm as good as destroyed. I'm as good as destroyed. To
be reprobated is just as good as to be destroyed. To be gospel-hardened,
to be set in my refuge of lies so firmly that I say I've got
an agreement with hell and an agreement with death and when
the judgment comes through it won't touch me, I'm as good as
destroyed if I'm gospel-hardened. If I'm not open to the sweet
voice of the Spirit and the warnings of God and the teaching of the
Word, I'm as good as destroyed. to be in a false refuge is the
same as being destroyed, like it says Esau, who sold his birthright. And you know, there's so many
people who don't understand, who don't understand the depths of that man's sin.
Most people, when they think of that birthright, they don't
think of anything in this world but an inheritance from his daddy. Well, he got that. He got that. There's no way that he wouldn't
get that. But what he turned his back on was a relationship
with God. The birthright, you see. Like
the father, Isaac, and you have the two sons. Well, the oldest
son would become the priest. of the family, he'd become the
priest of the whole, he'd become the one through whom God speaks,
to whom God speaks, through whom God leads, through whom God directs
the family. You see, you had Isaac, and then
Esau was supposed to take his place, Jake before God. And it wasn't a matter of riches.
Esau became rich. Esau became wealthy. Esau inherited
much from his father. But he didn't give a hoot for
that birthright. He didn't give a hoot for that
relationship with God. And when he changed his mind
and decided he wanted it, it was too late. He'd crossed her. He'd made up his mind. He had
trifled with God, he had trifled with holy things, he had trifled
with the relationship with God, and that was it. And he sought
it with tears. And God said no. That's a fact. He sought it with tears. That's
what Scripture said. And he sought repentance. Repentance
over what? Repentance because he lost his
money? He didn't lose any money. When Jacob tried to give him
money, he said, I don't need anything, boy. I'm richer than
you are. Let me pass along a little to you. But he rejected the birthright,
and he crossed the line. Now that's what I'm saying. There
are three areas now that I want us to consider briefly in regard
to this message. And this is common, this is what
I heard when I was a boy, and this is the three areas I want
to talk about tonight. But I lay this foundation for
you to think about. There may be a time, maybe I
say, can be, It has happened in the scripture. In a person's
life, when he sows sins against the light of revelation, revelation
through this word, God speaks, God speaks, the preacher speaks.
And his ears just get duller and duller and duller, and after
a while, God just takes her away. Now, the voice is still sounding
and the words are still being said, but you don't hear them.
And they don't have any impact and don't have any influence.
And in your dull and careless and indifferent and callous and
religious and lukewarm way, you go right on to hell just like
a man sleeping in a drunken stupor while a train runs over. And
there may be a time in a man's life when he rejects the truth
of the gospel so persistently. Or it may be in a person's life
that he sinks so low. And that's the reason I warn
young people in these around with these drugs and pot and
engaging in this sort of thing, you just be careful that you
don't give yourself over to reprobacy. And God lets you go then. It's
just a bad, serious thing, because he says that over there. Here
are three areas. Have you ever heard this blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost? unpardonable sin. And then the
other one you heard all your life, sinning away your day of
grace. And then the third one, the sin
unto death. Now like I say, these things
are all, everything that a fellow takes and uses usually has some
truth in it. Some truth in it. Just like what
I just said a moment ago about the time and know not when or
place, I know not where. Yes sir, some men have experienced
that, Esau did. And some men today are experiencing
this thing of God saying, like he said to the Pharisees, leave
them alone. Now leave them alone. That's
it. And they don't move out of their
religion, but they're seated in it. They're sealed in it.
They're sealed in their refuges of lives like a wounded miner
is sealed under a slate vault permanently. All right, let's
check the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm going to
help you here if you'll let me. Matthew 12. And I hope everybody
here tonight will have no more difficulty in interpreting this
portion of the Word. And this is not off the top of
my head now. I've sought the Lord's leadership and I've sought
some counsel from other men. And I think when I get through,
you're going to say, Pastor, like Jay prayed tonight, has
given us some light on this subject. Matthew 12, verse 31, are you
with me? 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,
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. And evangelists and preachers
have once again employed the tactic of fright and they've
given those verses this popular translation. And this is what
you heard all your life. Now listen to me. Say what you
will against the Lord Jesus. Say what you will against the
Father. Say what you will against the gospel, but be careful you
don't say anything against the Holy Ghost. Isn't that it, Charlie? That's what to say. That's it
right there. Well, you can say what you want
to against the Son of God. You can say what you want to
against the Father. You can act like a profane rebel against
the gospel, but don't you say anything about the Holy Ghost. Well, that ain't so. And I'll
show you that in a few minutes. Here's another interpretation.
And I hear this everywhere. Some fast-talking, money-grabbing,
covetous healer will come through town and somebody will say, I
just don't believe God's in that. Who don't say that? Don't say
that. Don't criticize anything that
goes under the name of religion. Don't criticize anything that
claims to be of the Holy Ghost, you might commit the unpardonable
sin. Got people shaking in their boots.
Not me. The Bible tells me to try the
spirits, whether they be of God. The Word of God tells me that
many false prophets have gone out into this world, and for
me to try their message and talk about the Holy Ghost all they
want to, I want to hear what they have to say about Christ.
I want to hear what they have to say about how sinners are
saved. And if they're not straight on how God saves sinners, they're
not straight on anything else, I guarantee you. And that will
make me feel one bit. Now let me help you with this.
I know what the Lord says, I just read it. And I know if you take
the popular translation, you can make that fit in there. But
now let's take, let's look at what was going on here. When
our Lord spake these words, now listen to me, think with me.
When our Lord spake these words, when he spake these words, all
manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, when he said
these words, who in his knew one thing about the Holy Spirit
as distinct from the Father and the Son. Who in his presence,
in that crowd to whom he was speaking, the Holy Ghost was
not yet given, Christ was not yet glorified. They didn't know
a thing about the Holy Ghost as distinct from the Father and
the Son. Not one thing. In fact, some
people over in Ephesus not long after that said, we never heard
so much if there be a Holy Ghost. You see, Christ is talking to
some people here who said some things, and he's saying that
to blaspheme the Holy Ghost is unpardonable in this world and
the world to come. But these people didn't even
know anything about the Holy Ghost. They couldn't intelligently
and willingly violate by blaspheming the Holy Spirit as opposed to
the Father and the Son, or distinct from the Father and the Son.
They didn't know anything about the Holy Spirit. It was long after
that that our Lord said, If I go away, I will send the Holy Spirit
unto you, and when he has come, he will convince the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So the answer to
this unpardonable sin which men can and do commit today, and
could and did commit then, is not a contrast between blasphemy
against one person of the Trinity as opposed to another person
of the Trinity. It's not so you can say what
you will against the Father and say what you will against the
Son, but don't say anything against the Holy Spirit. That's not the
unpardonable sin. That's not what he's talking
about that way. Now listen to him. Let's see what's happened.
Let's go back a few verses. In verse 22, there was brought
unto him one possessed with a devil. blind and dumb, and healed him,
insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. Now that's
what our Lord, let's just take a, see what's happened here,
as if we were standing there, witnesses of this. Here's a man
who was blind and dumb. And our Lord Jesus Christ, through
the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit was given to him without
measure. He was in human flesh. But he cast this demon out. So
that the man both spake and heard. Now watch this. Verse 23. And all the people said, they
were amazed, and they said, Is not this the Son of David? What
did they say? Is not this the Messiah? Is not
this the Christ? That's what they were saying.
Is not this the Christ? Is not this the Messiah? This
is what Nicodemus said. No man can do what you do except
God be with him. This is what our Lord said to
John the Baptist when John the Baptist sent those men over there
and said, Are you the Christ? Are you the Redeemer? Or do we
look for another? And Christ said, You go back
and tell John that the blind see, and the lame walk, and the
deaf hear, and the dumb speak, and the dead are raised. You
see that? He had revealed his Godhead. He had revealed his Messiahship. He had revealed through the power
of the Spirit to them that he was no ordinary man, that he
is the Son of God, that he is the Messiah. Turn to John chapter
6. Now here our Lord, and you see
when John the Baptist sent to him and said, Are you the Christ?
He said, You go back and tell him. The deaf speak, the deaf
hear, the dumb speak, the blind see. Alright, now watch this
in John 6. In John 5, he says in verse 31,
if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There's
another that bears witness of me. Verse 33, you sent unto John,
that's John the Baptist. All right, verse 36, I have greater
witness than that of John. For the works that the Father
hath given me to finish, they bear witness of me." You see
what he's saying? These works, these miracles,
bear witness of me. In verse 37, "...and the Father
himself which hath sent me hath borne witness." In verse 39,
"...search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify of
me." Our Lord has certain witnesses that tell us who He is. Who He
is! This is no ordinary son of Mary. This is no ordinary man. This
is the Christ! And these works, these mighty
works, are clear witnesses. They're the works of God. And
these people, when they saw this deaf man hear, dumb man speak,
blind man see, they said, is not this the Christ? All right,
look at verse Matthew 12 again, verse 30, verse 24. But when the Pharisees heard
it, they said, No, he's not the Christ. This fellow, this fellow
does not cast out devils but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. No, he's not God. No, he's not
the Messiah. No, he's not the Christ. He cast
out demons by the spirit of the devil. Now read on. And Jesus knew their thoughts.
And then he said, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought
to desolation. Every city or house divided against
itself cannot stand. If Satan cast out Satan, he's
divided against himself and so forth. 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 coming to you. You
see right here, here is a confrontation with who he is. proven by what
he did, who he is. And this is the thing they rejected.
And this is the thing they rebelled against. These men were not speaking
against Jesus, the man. That's the reason he said in
verse 32, Whosoever speaketh against the Son of Man. Well,
even his brothers had a lot to say about the Son of Man. Saul
of Tarsus had a lot to say about Jesus, the imposter, the Son
of Man. Brother, when Saul of Tarsus
saw who he was, he had nothing else to say against him. When
Saul of Tarsus, when Peter saw who he was, you see what I'm
saying? And these men had a clear revelation
of who he was. He's the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the Redeemer. They had a
clear revelation of his Godhead, of his deity. And that's what
they refused. And that's what they blasphemed.
And in the face of this clear revelation of his deity, they
call him a devil. They call him an imposter. And
Christ said, that won't be forgiven. That won't be forgiven. That's
the unpardonable sin. To refuse this witness of his
deity, of his glory, of his redemptive power, is unpardonable in this
world or in the world to come. Now then, we come to this present
day. You can't say what you want to against the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now back here in this day, whoso speaketh a word against the Son
of Man, against Jesus, they said the cartender, the wine-dipper,
the glutton man, say what you want to, in ignorance. Paul said, I did it ignorantly
and in unbelief. Say what you want to in ignorance
and unbelief. But when the Spirit of the Living
God gets your attention, when the Spirit of the Living God,
through plain revelation, through the revelation of the Word, the
revelation of the Gospel, the revelation of His power, says
this is not a carpenter, this is the Christ. This is not an
imposter, this is the Messiah. No man can do what you do except
God be with him. No man. And you say, no sir,
he's a devil. You just wipe out, as Jim said,
you're done. That's it. That's it. But it's
not blasphemy against one person of the Trinity as opposed to
another. The Father speaks to you through the Word. He said,
he that believeth not the record that God hath given concerning
his Son hath made God a liar. You won't get away with that
either. It's a revelation of his Son. William Tyndale says,
this is the unpardonable sin, a rejection of a revelation of
substitution. And that's it. And some poor ignorant fellow
down here who, he may say some things about the Holy Spirit,
he may say some things about Jesus Christ, he may say some
things about the God that's being preached in this day, but don't
tell him he's committed the unpardonable sin. And then I've heard others
say, well, if you're worried about it, you hadn't committed
it. Now this is all just a lot of fear tactics, Jay, is what
this is, fear tactics to get folks to do things. But brethren,
this is what it is. You read what has happened here.
Here the Lord Jesus Christ, they had said he's an imposter, he's
this, that, and the other, and all these things, and some of
the people thought so too, and here stood a man they'd known
all their lives, blind and deaf and dumb. And he saw and spoke
and heard, and they said, hey, hey, is not this the Messiah? Look, we've seen the power of
God. Look, he's done what no other man can do. He did what
God's Word said he would do. Is not this the son of David?
Nah. Nah, he's a devil. Uh-oh, you
won't get away with that. God spoke to you. That's it right
there. And you can improve on that now
at a later time, but that'll give you a start on that thing. and triumphing with truth in
regard to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see, this
is the office work of the Holy Spirit. Anyway, he shall not
speak of himself, he shall take the things of man. He shall glorify
me. So when you blaspheme the Holy
Spirit, it's got to be in reference to his revelation of Christ.
Got to be. See that? And not because some
preacher lays hand on a woman with cancer and says she's healed
and you say, I don't believe it. You've got a right not to
believe it until you see some evidence. You've got a right
to. Especially if he passes a washtub
around and takes up an offering. You've got a right to unbelieve
it. And you've got a right to run him out of town. You've got
a right to. And without being afraid of committing
the unpardonable sin. But now let me tell you something.
If some dear old country preacher who can't heal a warrant comes
and opens his Bible and says to you, in the fullness of time
God sent his Son, made of warmth, made in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and that they that are unrighteous might be righteous,
and he is the deity, he is their God of their God, he is our only
hope and substitute, he's our high priest. And you say, I won't
have that. That's when you better watch
out. That's the old boy that better watch out. That's the
one right there. Because he's got a hold of something.
He's got a hold of a revelation of the Holy Spirit that won't
be forgiven in this world or in the world to come. Alright,
sending away your day of grace. You've heard that so often. And
I read that scripture over there where it says they shall call
upon me and I shall not answer. Alright, there are many ways
in which God calls and warns the sons of Adam. There are many
ways. Let me just give you a few. Turn to Romans 1.20. There are
many ways that God speaks to men, and not just through preaching
the gospel. There are other ways that God...
I'm not saying there are other ways God saves men, I'm saying
there are other ways God warns men. In Romans 1, verse 20, God
speaks to men in nature. 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 they're without excuse. There's no man who has any mind
at all. It has an excuse for not believing
in God because of the things that are made. And then another
way, Romans 2, turn over a page, Romans 2, 14, there's conscience.
Verse 14 says, when the Gentiles, which do not have the law, the
Gentiles didn't have the Ten Commandments, If they do by nature
the things contained in the law, these having not the law are
law unto themselves. It shows the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, their
thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.
Who teaches that old black hottentot in the middle of Africa that
it's wrong to kill his neighbor? Who decided that? God decided that. and wrote it
on his heart. He never got the English law
and read it or the Hebrew law and read it. He knows it's wrong.
And because God wrote it on his heart. And then you can read
Amos the fourth chapter where it says, prepare to meet thy
God. Well, God says several ways, I've warned you people. I've
killed you young men with a sword, I've sent blasting and mildew
among you, I've sent pestilences, I've destroyed your crops when
it was so long to the harvest, and you won't repent, you won't
return, and you just get ready to meet God. So he speaks by
judgment, and then he speaks by the preaching of the word.
It says to his disciples, go into all the world and preach
the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
He that believeth not shall be damned. So God does speak to
sinners, warns them, calls them. And sinners can and do refuse
to hear you. That's right. Turn back to Proverbs
1 now. We're not, I've said this so
many times, we're not tin cans and dead logs and robots. We're responsible, accountable
human beings who are responsible to act on a warning. Act on a
warning. And to believe a truth. And it
says in verse 24, Proverbs 1, because I have called and you
refused. Because I have stretched out
my hand and you wouldn't regard it. Because you said it not my
counsel and would not of my reproof. I'll laugh at your calamity,
I'll mock when your fear comes. When your fear comes as a desolation
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind and distress and
anguish come upon you, you're going to call on me then, God
says, but I won't answer you. I want to answer you. Leave Ephraim alone. He's turned
to his idols. Leave him alone. I want you to
turn to this Matthew 15. I want you to look at this. The
Lord Jesus in Matthew 15 says here of the Pharisees in Matthew
15 verse 13. Verse 12, the disciples said
that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying.
Verse 13, And the Lord Jesus answered and said, Every plant
which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up,
leave them alone. Now it's come time to leave them
alone. And there's a time that, this
is what I'm saying, sending away your day of grace, call it what
you want to. I'm not saying a man can send
away effectual grace or irresistible grace or invincible grace. The
very adjectives themselves tell you he can't do that. But he
can send away common grace that may or could have led to effectual
grace change. Now, if the Word's the only way
I can be saved, I better not turn down the Word. You see what
I mean? If the Gospel's the only way
God saves sinners, then I better listen to the Gospel. If the
sunlight is the only way to make a plant grow, I'd better put
it in the sunlight. And if I take it out of the sunlight,
it'll never grow. And so here God speaks, and God
preaches, and God calls, and men will not listen and will
not hear. And God says, leave them alone. They send away their day of grace.
Just call it what you want to, but it's not... I'm not preaching
it in the light that God's trying to do anything. I'm simply saying
that these are responses, man's responses, and he'll be held
accountable for them. Yes, sir, he'll be held accountable.
What did Abraham say to the rich man in hell? Son, remember, thou
in thy lifetime had good things. You remember? He said that to
him. Remember it. Remember it. You had good, you had opportunities. You had this, you had that, you
had the other. Just remember it. All right, last of all, the
sin of the death. Turn to 1 John 5. 1 John chapter 5. See, I haven't got to preach
in private in a long time, so I'm making up for it, Jay. This
is my next week's sermon, too. I'll be in Western Salem. 1 John
5, verse 16. If any man see his brother sin
a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he'll give him
life for them that sin not unto death is a sin unto death. I
do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is
sin and is a sin not unto death. All our sins are deserving of
death, right? Wages of sin is death. Sin when
it's finished brings forth death. Any sin I've ever committed or
do commit or ever shall commit is worthy of death. Eternal death,
the judgment and wrath of God. We must be careful we don't catalog
sin. The average person reads this
and says, well, there's some sin that God's not too angry
with, and there's some sin God will butcher you for. No, sin
is sin. Sin is missing the mark. It doesn't
matter. If you've got a mark up there
to shoot at and you miss it an inch, you've missed it. If you
shoot all the way over the other wall, you've missed it. And they
just write down, he missed the mark. It doesn't matter how far
you miss it, Jay. And so we can't get away with
this thing of saying some sins are worse than others. Let me
tell you something. For some men, the sin of pride would be
worse than the sin of stealing. That's right. It's just you can't
catalog sin so that you've got one that God will send you to
hell for, and another He'll take you to heaven for if you just
take away your reward. Falling short of God's glory is deserving
of death. To offend, listen, to offend
in one point of the law is to be guilty of the whole law, right?
One point. But there is a sin. There is
a sin. If I can find out what it is.
And it's got to be consistent with the whole Scripture. There's
a sin that's not only to death, physical death, but it results
in eternal death. You're not to pray for it. And
this is the only sin I know that man's not to pray for. If my
brother, if my brother here shot a man and killed him, I'd pray
for him. If my brother here sold secrets to Russia, I'd pray for
him. I'd pray for him. If my brother here And name it,
I don't care what it is. I don't care what it is. If he
sits with Peter beside the fire and says, I don't know Jesus
Christ, I'd rather live than die, I'd still pray for you.
Because Peter was saved. David killed his best friend,
God saved him. You go on through the scripture,
oh, old Solomon even built some altars, didn't he, for his wives?
He's one of God's own. Now wait a minute. But there's
a sin I wouldn't pray for. You know what it did? When Adam sinned in the Garden
of Eden, he took some fig leaves and made him an apron and covered
his nakedness. And that's a picture of self-righteousness.
And God came along and slew an animal, shed its blood, and made
him a coat of skin, took away his fig leaf, and covered him
with that robe. That's the picture of Christ.
You know what I wouldn't pray for? If old Hap took that skin
off and picked that fig leaf up again. I'd say he's gone. You can't pray for that. He's
blasphemed the Lord Jesus Christ. He's walked under his feet the
blood of Christ. He's counted as nothing the righteousness
of the Son of God. It's to depart from Christ and
return to the works of the law. That's exactly what it is. Turn
to Galatians 5, let me show you. Galatians chapter 5, it's to
depart from the righteousness of Christ, from the grace of
Christ. Listen here in Galatians 5 verse
4. And Paul warned these, this is
what the whole book of Galatians is all about. They had the blood,
the righteousness of Christ, and he said, you're going back
to the beggarly elements? You're going back to circumcision,
you're going back to works, you're going back to ceremonies, you're
going back to Sabbath days, you're going back to your good deeds.
Why, he says in verse 4, Christ is become of no effect to you,
whosoever you are, that are justified by the law. You have fallen from
the grace of God. And he said, if I do that, or
an angel from heaven, let him be what? Let him be a curse.
Let's don't have a prayer meeting. Let's don't have no prayer meeting.
Let him be a curse. That's right. I marvel that you
so soon departed from the grace of Christ, grace of him that
called you into the gospel of Christ, to another gospel. Don't
pray for him. Let him be accursed, he said,
even if it's an angel from heaven. Let him be accursed. Hebrews
10.38. Let's look at this. Hebrews 10.38. Hebrews 10.38, now he says that
just shall live by faith, but any man draw back, and this whole
thing in the 10th chapter of Hebrews, look at verse 26, if
we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Well brother, let me ask
you something, how many of your sins are not willful? There ain't
very many of them are. So that means today you've sinned
willfully. This is not talking about You know better than to
say some of the things you said, and you know better than to think
some of the things you said. You know better than to do some
of the things you said. You're both seeing it, but he's
talking here about the whole 10th chapter, about there's one
sacrifice, one priest, one altar, one mercy seat, one atonement.
Don't go back to Moses. Don't go back to Moses. If you
go back to Moses, after you come to knowledge of truth, there's
no sacrifice, because those sacrifices have been done away with, and
if you reject Christ's sacrifice, you've got no sacrifice. You
see what he's saying there? You see, Moses' sacrifices were
types and pictures when they stood, and when God gave them
as a picture of him who would come. But when he comes, those
are done away with. He taketh away the first, and
he may establish the second. Now, if you leave this one to
go back there, you don't have any sacrifice. You see what I'm
saying? We don't have a choice of whether
to have Christ as our high priest or this Levitical priesthood. It ain't no more. And if you
reject Christ's sacrifice, you don't have any sacrifice. And
that's what this, don't pray for it. Don't pray. God took
the fig leaf from Adam and gave him the righteousness of the
lamb. The sin unto death is to take away the righteousness of
the lamb and pick up the fig leaf. And he says you don't pay
for that. Because God won't hear it. He won't hear it. Now you think
this is the thing that's the apple of God's eye. It's the
work of his Son. The person and work of his Son.
Don't trifle with it. And that every one of these things
And these dear brethren that haven't taken the time to study,
haven't taken the time to put scriptures together, haven't
had a revelation of the person of Christ, cannot see this blaspheming
the Holy Spirit as reference to who is this man. The Holy
Spirit says he's God. I say he's a devil. No sir. No sir. Sending away your day
of grace, what is it? A revelation of light, of truth,
of gospel. And we become entrenched in our
traditions, in our easy believism, in our old experience that stays
old, in our religious traditions, until God Almighty doesn't even
sound the note. We don't hear the note. It's
sound, but we don't hear it anymore. And that's sin unto death. To
whom shall we go? Now that's the words of life. I can't go back. I don't have
any place to go. Because God's already taken away
all that and established the second. Our Father, we want to
know Christ and the power of his resurrection. We want to
win Christ and be found in him. We want to forever be done with
all of these things that are types and pictures and symbols
and elements. And we want to rest in him and
trust in him and wait upon him. Wait for thy son from heaven.
Christ is our hope, life, refuge, our fullness, everything is in
him. And we want to be true to the
word. We want to preach it. We want you to use it for your
glory. to bring other sinners to a knowledge
of Christ. The Lord speaks to our hearts.
Let us not be taken away by the twisting, perverted words of
Satan and his messengers. Let us listen to the word. We
know this word testifies of Christ. This word reveals Christ. And
we believe that thou hast revealed to us who he is and what he did
and where he is now. and the glories of his redemption.
A minister to us according to thy will, for Christ's sake we
pray. Amen.