Now I'd like for you to take
your Bibles and open them to Matthew chapter 12. I'd like to establish two or
three things at the beginning of this message. The first of which is salvation,
redemption, the forgiveness of sin, is of the Lord. it is God that justifies from
beginning to end, from God's eternal purpose and eternal plan,
back before the foundations of this world, until the whole body
of Christ shall be perfectly conformed to the divine image
of his Son, salvation is of the Lord." Charles Spurgeon preached
a sermon in 1861 on the subject, salvation is of the Lord. He
took his text from the second chapter of the book of Jonah,
in which Jonah said, salvation is of the Lord. And Spurgeon
had five points in that message. He said, salvation is of the
Lord in its planning. God plans salvation. God Almighty
purposed and planned to redeem a people. And then salvation
is of the Lord in its execution. It pleased the Father to bruise
Him. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. Christ Jesus came down here to
do the will of the Father. He said, the words that I speak
are not my words, they're the words of Him that sent me. The
works that I do are not my works, they're the works of him who
sent me. And Peter on Pentecost told the people who had crucified
Christ, you've carried out what God determined before to be done. Salvation is wholly and completely
of the Lord in its execution. And salvation is of the Lord
in its application. The Apostle Paul, describing
his own conversion, said, God who separated me from my mother's
was pleased to reveal his Son in me." It is God who reveals
Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts
men of sin. It is the Spirit who draws men
to faith. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals
Christ. And then salvation of the Lord
in its sustaining power. None of us are kept by our own
righteousness and our own merit and our own efforts. We are kept
by the power of God. through faith, ready to be revealed
at the last time. And God who has begun a good
work in you, Paul said in Philippians, will complete that work. He will
finish that work. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. It is God that worketh in you,
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And then salvation
is of the Lord in its fulfillment, in its completion. When we stand
before the throne of God without blame, holy, faultless, perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ, it will be to the praise of his
glory. It's all of the Lord. From beginning
to end, Phrygian once said, if one sheep of Christ could fall
away, my poor feeble soul would fall a thousand times a day. Salvation's of the Lord. Secondly,
let me say this. Salvation is because of Christ. It's not because of what I have
done, it's not because of what I'm doing, it's not because of
what I shall do. Salvation is of the Lord and
it's because of who Christ is. He is the Son of Man, he is the
Son of God. He is perfect man and perfect
God. He is the God-man. Because of
who he is, he can redeem a multitude. Because of who he is, he can
satisfy God's justice. Because of who he is, he can
honor and exalt God's law. And because of what he did, Christ
bore our sin in his body on the tree. Jesus Christ, who had no
sin, was made sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Who he is? The God-man. What
he did? Obeyed the law, tempted and cried
in every point, yet without sin, died under our transgressions
and iniquities. By his stripes we are healed. Why he did it? He did it in order
that God Almighty might be just and justified. Through Christ
God is able to save any son of Adam. Through Christ there is
no power that can stay his hand or prevent his mercy from being
expressed and being revealed in any heart. Salvation is of
the Lord. God is able to conquer any human
being. God is able to save any son of
Adam. God is able to bring a man to
Christ at an early age or at a late age. So this sermon is
not a sermon on what God can't do. This is a message on what
God will not do. That's what I'm dealing with
tonight. I'm not talking about what God can't do. God can't
lie. God can't sin. Almighty God cannot
fail. But God can do what he sets out
to do. There's no power. He said, none
can stay my hand. or saying to me, What doest thou?
I am the Lord. I declare the end from the beginning. I form the light. I create darkness. I kill. I make alive. I, the
Lord, do these things. Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Look unto
me, and be ye saved, for I am God, and there is none else."
So what I'm talking about tonight is not what God can't do, but
what God won't do. And I'll give you a couple examples
of this in Matthew 13. In Matthew 13, 58. Now listen
to this. In Matthew 13, 58, the Lord Jesus
Christ said to the people in verse 57, a prophet is not without
honor save in his own country. And he did not many mighty works
there because of their unbelief. Could he have done many mighty
works? Of course, he did many mighty
works in other places. Could he have done many mighty
works here? He certainly could. But it said
he wouldn't do them. Not he couldn't do them, he wouldn't
do them. Now here's another illustration
in Matthew 27. There are some things that the
Lord will not do. in Matthew 27, reading verse
42. Listen to this, Matthew 27, verse
42. And they cried, mocking him,
and said, verse 42, He saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross, and we'll believe him. Could he have come down from
the cross? He could have come down from that cross just as
easily as he spoke and stilled the waves of the raging sea. He could have come down from
that cross just as easily as he spoke outside the tomb of
Latticewood and said to a dead man, Come forth. He could have
stepped down from that cross just as easily as he stood there
before the blind man and said, I command you to see. And that man saw. Christ Jesus
was not held to the cross by human weakness. Christ was held
to the cross by our sins. He did not come down from the
cross because he would not come down from the cross. He came
down here to redeem us, and he redeemed us completely. So my
message tonight is not on the subject what Christ can't do,
what God can't do, but rather what God won't do. Now, first
of all, let's look at Matthew 12. We hear a lot of talk about
the unpardonable sin, and it's recorded in Matthew 12, verse
31. And before I read this, let me
ask and answer two questions. Can men today commit the unpardonable
sin? They certainly can. Do men today
commit the unpardonable sin? They certainly do. And there's
a good possibility that somebody right here in this service tonight
will commit the unpardonable sin. Christ called it unpardonable. In Matthew 12, verse 30. Now listen to me. Matthew 12,
verse 30. Christ said, He that's not with
me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth
abroad. 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," and note that very carefully, 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 I know a lot of people use
this scripture to warn you against speaking against any kind of
religious movement. Somebody comes along and says
they've been baptized with the Holy Ghost, and they cut up and
throw songbooks and make all kind of strange dances and strange
claims, and somebody says, well, don't speak against it. You might
be speaking against the Holy Ghost, and that's the unpardonable
sin. That's not so. That's not so. What is this unpardonable
sin? When our Lord always spoke in
language that men could understand, always, and probably not a single
person here present when our Lord said this. When our Lord
said, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but
the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto
men, probably not a single person present understood by the Holy
a separate person in the Godhead as distinct from the first and
second person. Now, we know when we talk about
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we know because
of the completion of the divine revelation what the preacher
is talking about. But do you remember in the book
of Acts when the people said, ìWe have not so much as heard
whether there be a Holy And the possibility is, and I
say dead certainty, and I use possibility to leave a little
room, not to be too dogmatic, but there's a possibility, and
I believe dead certainty, that nobody standing here knew or
suspected or even thought that the Holy Ghost was a separate
person from the first person, the Father, and the second person,
the Son, in the Holy Trinity. Therefore, in interpreting these
words of our Lord, we must not begin with the Trinity. We must
not begin with the Trinity and see a contrast between blaspheming
the Son and blaspheming the Holy Ghost. That is not what he's
talking about here. I'm certain of it as I'm standing
here. Now, the contrast here, here's the contrast and here's
the key in verse 32. 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 against the Spirit of God, against the revelation of the
mind of God and the Spirit of God. It shall not be forgiven
him." And here's what we're talking about. A man made blaspheme the
Son of Man, Jesus Christ. He came down here to the earth.
He had an earthly birth. He was born of Mary. His foster
father was Joseph. He was brought up in a carpenter
shop. And many people, Saul of Tarsus for one, many people spoke
against him. In their ignorance, they thought
him a mere man. And they reproached him for his
education. They said, You haven't even been
to school. Do you teach us?" They reproached
him for his youth. They said, You're not even 50
years old. Have you seen Abraham? They reproached him for his family.
They said, Well, we know his mother and father and his brothers. They reproached him for his freedom
with publicans and sinners. They said, He's the friend of
publicans and sinners. They mocked him. They talked
about him. They ridiculed him. They found fault with all of
these habits of his. They spoke evil against him.
They spoke about his treatment of the Sabbath day and their
Jewish laws. They spoke evil of him and denied
that he was the Messiah. And Saul of Tarsus was one of
these, but he was later brought to repentance and he was later
brought to faith. So Christ, what he's saying here,
is that you may speak against me as a man. You may speak against
me as being born in Bethlehem and raised in a carpentry shop
in Nazareth. You may speak against me as associating
with publicans and sinners. You may have every doubt that
I'm the Messiah, but the blasphemy here that will
not be forgiven is blasphemy against God as God working on
this earth. This is the unpardonable sin.
Now look back at verse 22. Then was brought to him one possessed
with a devil, blind and dumb, and Christ healed him. Christ
healed him. in so much that the blind man
and the dumb both spake and saw, and all the people were amazed,
and they said, Is not this the Son of David? Is not this the Son of David?"
The same thing Nicodemus said when he came to him that night
and said to him, We know you're a teacher come from God. No man
could do the miracles you do except God be with him. These
men were face to face with Jesus Christ, not as a Nazarene, not
as a Bethlehemite, not as an associate with publicans and
sinners, not as one who associated with certain disciples and did
not come to the synagogue and did not keep the Sabbath day.
They were face-to-face here with Jesus Christ acting as God. Jesus Christ acting under the
power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ revealing himself
as the Savior, as the Messiah, in undeniable miracles. And they
denied it. And these Pharisees, through
their pride and their envy and their malice, refused to recognize
certain signs from God. They refused to recognize the
Messiah, and they attributed his marvelous works to the devil. And Christ said, all manner of
sin shall be forgiven men. But heart opposition, and that's
what blasphemy is, turn to Acts chapter 7. In the 7th chapter
of Acts, verse 51, this is what blasphemy is. Blasphemy is the
state of the heart. Blasphemy is a condition of the
will. Blasphemy is born of the heart.
It's not just saying some words, it's an attitude born in the
heart. That's what blasphemy is. In
Acts chapter 7, verse 51. The apostle says, ye stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You deny what you hear,
you deny what you see, because of your pride and because of
your envy and because of your malice and because of your tradition
and because being bound by your You deny what your ears hear,
and you do resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye. And so all manner of sin and
blasphemy. And these men didn't see his
glory, and they didn't see his power. But when they saw it,
Christ said they had no covering for their sin. It became blasphemy
then. When they saw him brought up
in Nazareth and they denied his Godhead, that'll be forgiven.
When they saw him associating with publicans and sinners and
denied his Godhead, that'll be forgiven. When they saw him walking
the streets and preaching and so forth, that'll be forgiven.
But when they saw undeniable signs given by God acting as
God right before their eyes, And their hearts were so steeled
against it, Christ said, that won't be forgiven. William Tyndale,
the great Bible translator, said, the sin against the Holy Ghost
is despising the light of the gospel. It's despising the light
of the gospel of substitution. Where that abideth, there's no
remedy. Turn to John chapter 9. Let me
show you something here. in John 9, chapter 39. And Jesus said, John 9, 39, For
judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not
might see. And that they which see, they
boast that they see. They've got the answers. They've
got the religious custom and tradition. They've got their
theology. They don't need divine revelation.
They don't need to be divinely taught. They know all the answers.
I came that they would see or claim to see might be made blind.
And some of the religious leaders which were with him heard these
words and they said, Are we blind also? And Jesus said, if you
were blind, if it were a sincere, honest condition, you see what
he's saying? If you were blind, if it were
a sincere, honest condition, you really didn't see and you
didn't understand, it'd be a different story. You'd have no sin. But now you say, we see. We've
got the answers. We don't need you. Therefore
your sin remains. And that's the unpardonable sin.
Christ said you can blaspheme or you can speak against the
Son of Man as such. But when the Son of Man reveals
Himself as the Son of God, when in clear revelation He makes
known His power, His Godhead, His saving benefits, and you
speak against it and harden your heart against it, there's no
remedy. It won't be forgiving you in
this world nor in the world to come. Now, you can say what you
want to about sweet little Jesus, boy, that's one thing. But when
you come to confront and when you come to deal with and when
you come to do business with and when you come toe-to-toe
and face-to-face with the Lord of Glory, revealed by the Holy
Spirit in his saving character, and you turn your back, you've
committed the unpardonable sin. That's what it is. Now turn to Proverbs chapter
1, and we have other people who talk about sending away the day
of grace. Have you been confronted with
the Lord of glory? Have you been confronted with
Christ in his saving power, in his saving character? Have you
seen the Son of God acting as the Messiah, as the Christ? Pilate did. Pilate did. Felix did. Paul came
to Felix and stood before him and reasoned of righteousness
and judgment and things to come. And Felix actually trembled.
He was confronted with the claims of Christ. He wasn't confronted
with a man, he was confronted with the claims of Christ. And
he sent Paul away and he died in his sin. He never had another
sermon preached to him. He committed the unpardonable
sin. He was confronted with Christ in his saving character. Woe
unto the man who is ever confronted with the saving power and the
saving character of Jesus Christ, woe unto that man if he does
not bow and kiss the Son at that very moment. And then secondly,
in Proverbs 1, God says in verse 28, Then shall they call upon
me, and I will not answer. Now then, back in verse 24, God
says, I call, I call. How does God call men? Well,
first of all, he calls them by providence. He calls them by
judgment. We see, we drive along the highway
and we see these signs, prepare to meet God. Well, that's taken
from Amos chapter 4, verse 12, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. Well, God had said some things
before he said that. And really, this was a sentence
of judgment. God had cut these people off.
They had crossed the deadline. They had sinned away the day
of grace. Grace was over and judgment was
immediately before them. Prepare to meet thy God. When
God says that to you, that's the end. That's it. That's not
a very good evangelical phrase, prepare to meet thy God. That's
it. Mercy is over. Grace is finished. Judgment is
there. And in Amos chapter 4, God says
to these people, I've sent famine among you, and you didn't return
to me. I've withholden the rain from
you when there was just three months to the harvest, and you
didn't return to me. I've sent pestilence among you
after the manner of Egypt. I've slain your young men with
a sword, and yet you haven't returned them to me. I've overthrown
some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You didn't
return to me. Now prepare to meet God. There's no more grace. There's
no more providence. It's judgment now. That's the
deadline. God says, I've called you, and
you didn't answer. I've called you. I stretched
out my hand, and you didn't regard it. Now then, the whirlwind's
coming, and you're going to cry, and I'm not going to answer you.
You're going to seek me. You're not going to find me.
There's another way that God calls men. Turn to Romans 1.
In Romans 1, verse 19, God calls men by nature. That's right. David said, the heavens declare
the glory of God, the firmament showeth his handiwork. God is
understood, in a sense, by the things that are made. Only a
fool will deny that there is a God. That's what the Bible
says, the fool hath said there is no God. Because, Romans 119,
because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for
God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of this world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even God's eternal power and
Godhead, so that they are without excuse. That's light. God has given us the light of
providence, he's given us the light of judgment, he's given
us the light of conscience, he's given us the light of nature.
Let's look at conscience a minute. Romans 2, verse 14. Here's another way God calls
men. In Romans 2, verse 14, the scripture says, "...when the
Gentiles," which do not have the law, that is, the Ten Commandments,
When they do, by nature, the things contained in the law,
and I've talked to missionaries who've come back from the foreign
fields, and they've gone to tribes that have never seen a Bible.
that have never seen a preacher, and yet those people know it's
wrong to kill, they know it's wrong to steal, they know it's
wrong to commit adultery, they know it's wrong to lie. Where'd
they find that out? And here they are, these hot-and-tots
in the heart of the deepest jungles of Africa, offering sacrifices
for sin. Where'd they find that out? Where'd
they learn about sin? Where'd they learn about spirit?
Where'd they learn about law? Where'd they learn about commandments?
Listen, I'll tell you. These, having not the law, are
a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written
in their hearts." What is conscience? It's a light that lighteth every
man that cometh into the world. Their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts accusing or excusing one another. Men can and do refuse the light. God says, I've called, you refused. I've stretched out my hand, and
you didn't regard it. All right, now then, God closes
the door. You say, Preacher, do you have
some examples in the Scripture of God closing the door? I surely
have. Turn to Jeremiah 11. Here are
some people who were alive, but who were dead. They were alive,
but they were as good as in hell. Let's look at chapter 7, verse
16 first. God is talking to the prophet
Jeremiah here, and in Jeremiah 7, verse 16, God says, Therefore
pray not thou for this people. Don't pray for them. Don't you
lift up your cry, don't you lift up your prayer for them. Do not
make intercession to me, I will not hear you. Don't pray for
them. He says that three times in the
book of Jeremiah, chapter 11. Go over there, verse 7. God says
of the people in Jeremiah 11, verse 14, look at it. Therefore
God says, Do not pray for these people. Do not lift up a cry,
do not lift up a prayer for them. That's the God of the Bible.
I will not hear them in the time that they crowned to me in their
trouble. I won't hear you. It's too late. God said in Hosea 4.17, Ephraim,
leave him alone. He's gone to his idols. Turn
to Matthew 15, verse 14. The disciples were talking about
the religious leaders of their day, and they told the Lord,
they said, when you said that about evil coming from the heart,
evil not being in outward things but in the attitude of the heart,
They said the Pharisees were offended, and Christ said in
verse 14, Matthew 15, leave them alone. Now you stop and think about
that a little while. When the Lord says, leave a man alone,
he's in bad shape. Don't preach to him, don't rebuke
him, don't pray for him, just leave him alone. And then if
you turn to Romans 1, verse 24, now here are these people who
would not retain God in their knowledge. God showed them through
nature, God showed them through conscience, God showed them through
providence, his power, his Godhead, his character. But they turned
to homosexuality and perversion and the worship of the creature
and four-footed beasts, and the scripture says in Romans 1, 24,
God gave them up. God gave them up to uncleanness
through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own
bodies. God just gave them up. In verse
26, for this cause, God gave them up. In verse 28, and even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, they
didn't want to think on God. They didn't want to worship God,
they didn't want to have anything to do with God, so God gave them
over to a reprobate mind. Let them go. God closed the door. And here's the tough thing. When
the light, the only light a man's got, is darkness, how great is
that darkness? They can be religious and still
be given up. For in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse
10, listen to this, it says, "...with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. For this
cause, God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe
a lie. Or they'll believe something.
Everybody's got to believe something. Every man's got to have a refuge.
Every man's got to have a God. So God will send these rejecters
of the truth who would not love nor receive the truth. He'll
send them strong delusions, and they'll believe a lie. that they
all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure
in unrighteousness." Deadlines? A man can sin against the light
and that light be removed? You better bet your bottom dollar
that's so. It's all the way through God's
word. To trifle with holy things to travel with the gospel, to
travel with an encounter with Jesus Christ, to travel with
a true warning and a true message is dangerous. God will give us
grace and God will give us mercy and God will give us light, but
how long he will turn that light on is something else. When a
man keeps sinning against the light and rebelling against the
light and refusing the light, God said, all right, I'll let
you walk in darkness, and how great is that darkness. And then in 1 John chapter 5,
here's the third deadline, there's the unpardonable sin. That's
an encounter with Jesus Christ as the Savior, the Messiah, God
acting as God, revealing himself in his redeeming character. And
a man said, I don't want him. And sending away your day of
grace is for God to call us to repentance, and us refuse to
repent, and God to call us to faith, and we refuse to believe,
over and over and over again. And finally God turns out the
light and says, leave him alone. In 1 John 5, verse 16, the scripture
says, If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death. He shall ask, and he shall give
him life for them that sin not unto death. Now then, if any
man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, pray
for forgiveness. God will give it. All our sins
are deserving of death, aren't they? The wages of sin is death,
that's what the scripture says. But our sins are laid on Christ,
and Christ died for our sins, and God has put them away. If
we confess our sins, any of all of them. He is faithful and just
to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The Scripture says, The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us from all sin. Peter sat by that fire and denied
that he even knew Christ, but he was forgiven for that sin.
Go on through the Bible and you find faithful, godly men and
women who have sinned, and yet God has forgiven, and God has
cleansed, and God has pardoned, and God has taken them into his
bosom. All manner of sin, Christ said,
and blasphemy shall be forgiven. But there is a sin unto death. There is a sin unto death. And
this sin unto death, look at the last line, there is sin unto
death. I do not say that you shall pray
for it." There is sin under death, and it's not only deserving of
death, but it's going to get death. It's the sin under death. It's certain. Death is certain.
And this is not physical death, this is eternal death, the scripture
is talking about. There is a sin under eternal
death. Death for the child of God is
a privilege. Paul said we need to die again.
If God takes my life tonight, that's the best thing God can
do for me. Not the best thing God can do for my family, but
the best thing God can do for me. So this sin unto death here
is not talking about lying down and dying in the flesh, it's
talking about dying eternally. And you know what it is? It is a willful denial of the
gospel, of free grace, of redeeming of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
and a return to the beggarly elements of Judaism and works. That's exactly what it is. Let
me show you some examples of that. Turn to 2 Peter 2. This
is the unforgivable, unpardonable offense. This is a sin that ends
in death. In 2 Peter 2, 2 Peter 2, verse 21. It had been better for them not
to have known the way of righteousness, not to have heard the gospel,
not to have ever been exposed to it. It had been better for
them never to have heard that Christ died for sinners, that
salvation is of the Lord. It had been better for them never
to have heard of it than after they had known it. to turn from
the holy commandment from the gospel delivered unto them. That
is it. It happened unto them, according
to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again,
his own filthy rags, his own fig leaf apron, his own filthy
righteousness. He has turned away from the righteousness
of Christ to his own. He has turned away from the salvation
of Christ to his own merits and his own holiness. and the sow
has returned to her wallowing in the mire." Turn to Hebrews
10. That's what Paul is talking about in Hebrews 10.26. He says,
"...if we sin willfully." Now, brethren, don't be so deceived
as to think that you don't sin willfully. Now don't hand me
that. Just about everything we do that's
wrong, we do it deliberately and willfully. We know it. But
God's not going to send a man to hell for that. That's not
what he's talking about here. He's talking about turning from
the gospel of grace, turning from the gospel of substitution,
turning from the gospel of Christ back to my own righteousness
and back to the beggarly elements of work. If we sin willfully
after we receive the knowledge of Christ and the knowledge of
the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a
certain fearful look in far of judgment. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Now, he that despises
Christ's gospel," that's what he's talking about, "'of how
much sore punishment do you suppose he will be thought worthy who
trods under his foot, the Son of God?' Here's a man who's come
to some knowledge of salvation by grace, some knowledge of salvation
by Christ, some knowledge of the bleeding Lamb of God by whose
stripes we're healed, by whose wounds we're cleansed. And he
turns his face away from that and goes back and sews on his
fig leaf. And he begins to try to make
himself acceptable to God through his deeds and through his tithes
and through his fasting and through his religion. and through his
good works. And God says, you've trodden
under your foot the Son of God, there's no hope for you. Hebrews
6 says the same thing. Turn over to Hebrews 6, chapter
6 of Hebrews, verse 4. It is impossible. For those who are once enlightened
and have tasted of the heavenly gift and made partakers of the
Holy and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of
the world are come, if they fall away." Fall away from what? Fall
away from grace. Fall away from salvation by grace. Fall away to what? Fall away
to their own righteousness, human works, the beggarly elements. They go back to that, and God
says it's impossible to renew them to repentance. They've crucified
the Son of God afresh! And they put Jesus Christ to
open shame. Who needs your sacrifice, Jesus
Christ? We've got our own. Who needs
your righteousness? We've got our own. Who needs your help? We'll take
care of it by ourselves. Turn to Galatians chapter 5.
Galatians chapter 5. That's what he's talking about
right here now. Verse 3. Galatians 5, verse 3. I testify
again to every man that is circumcised, that is for salvation. He's gone
back to the beggarly element. He's trying to find acceptance
with God by that token of Judaism, by his own deeds and by his Sabbath-keeping
and by his so-called good work. That man is a debtor to do the
whole law in every jot and tittle, in thought and imagination and
attitude and motive and all things. And Christ has become of no effect
to that man. Whosoever of you that are justified
by the law, you have fallen from grace." And our Lord says, don't
pray for him, he's committed the sin unto death. He departed
from the grace of God to the beggarly element. He departed
from the blood of Christ. If I see my brother fall into
sin, temptation, I'm going to pray for him. God's going to
forgive him, because God is plenteous in mercy. If I see my brother
offend, if he offends me, I'm told to forgive him seventy times
seven. It doesn't matter what he does.
It doesn't matter what he says but one thing. If he departs
from the grace of Christ and goes to boasting and bragging
about his own righteousness and his own good deeds, I've got
to let him go, because he's fallen from grace. And God said, don't
pray for that. You're not going to shame my
son. You're not going to put him to open shame. You're not
going to crucify him afresh. You're not going to trot under
your foot the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the unpardonable
sin. Our Father, bless the Word. We thank Thee for Thy Word. We
thank Thee for Christ our Lord. Oh, what would we do without
Christ? Where would we be without the Savior? Every moment of every
day we feel his everlasting arms of love about us. We feel the
solid foundation of His grace under us. We feel His robe of
righteousness covering us. We feel the ability and the boldness
to come into Thy presence, not in our own strength, but in Christ,
our Redeemer. O God, keep us in the faith of
Christ Jesus. Keep us in Thy grace and in Thy
mercy. Never let us see anything good
about ourselves. But let us always see all things
in Christ. In his name we pray and for his
glory. Amen.