The NXR Podcast - September 07, 2025


THE SERMON - The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

Topics
dominion over Satan blaspheming the Holy Spirit blasphemy of the Holy Spirit no faith
Hosted by
Joel Webbon Harrison Smith Antonio Griffith Dale Partridge Wewsley Todd Calvin Robinson
Mentioned
Adam Matthew Jesus Christ John Bunyan Poseidon Mark Luke
THE FRIDAY SPECIAL - We’re Sorry Christian Nationalism Is Happening To You THE LIVESTREAM - White Parents Need To Have “The Talk” With Their Kids

Episode Stats


Length

48 minutes

Words per minute

132.5

Word count

6,485

Sentence count

214

Harmful content

Toxicity

12

sentences flagged

Hate speech

28

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this sermon, Pastor Ken continues our series through the Gospel According to Matthew. Today's sermon focuses on the power of God's compassion and power in healing the blind and mute man who was both a victim of demonic oppression and a slave to Satan.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
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00:00:27 Amen. Please join me in standing for the reading of God's words.
00:00:30 This Lord's Day we continue our series through the gospel according to Matthew.
00:00:34 I'm regularly using that phrasing, the gospel according to Matthew, because it's not Matthew's gospel, it's the gospel of God.
00:00:41 So we have one gospel, not for the gospel of Jesus Christ, but according to four human authors inspired by the one Holy Spirit.
00:00:49 So we have the gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, and according to John.
00:00:56 John. All four of the gospel narratives agree with one another, and yet each of them is distinct
00:01:03 and helpful for us, the people of God. So we're going through the gospel according to Matthew.
00:01:08 Today's text is Matthew chapter 12, verses 22 through 37. It's a longer text, and so this is
00:01:15 going to be a two-part sermon for the sake of time, but I'll read the entirety of our text
00:01:21 today. When I finish reading the text, I would appreciate very much if you would respond by
00:01:25 saying thanks be to god one final time our text for today is the gospel according to matthew
00:01:31 chapter 12 verses 22 through 37 the bible says this then a demon oppressed man who was blind
00:01:38 and mute was brought to him and he healed him so that the man spoke and saw and all the people
00:01:46 were amazed and said can this be the son of david but when the pharisees heard it they said it is
00:01:54 only by Beelzebul the prince of demons that this man cast out demons knowing their thoughts he
00:02:01 said to them every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and no city or house divided against
00:02:09 itself will stand and if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself how then will his
00:02:17 kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?
00:02:26 Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, 0.90
00:02:34 then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder
00:02:41 his goods, unless he first binds the strong man, then indeed he may plunder his house.
00:02:48 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
00:02:55 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy
00:03:03 against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
00:03:06 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven.
00:03:11 But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven,
00:03:17 either in this age or the age to come.
00:03:20 Either make the tree good and its fruit good,
00:03:23 or make the tree bad and its fruit bad.
00:03:27 For the tree is known by its fruit, you brood of vipers.
00:03:32 How can you speak good when you are evil?
00:03:35 for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks the good person out of his good treasure
00:03:41 brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil i tell you
00:03:49 on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak for by your
00:03:56 words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned this is the word of the lord
00:04:02 All right, please be seated. The sign of the kingdom, Christ's dominion over Satan. The sign
00:04:12 of the kingdom, Christ's dominion over Satan. Focusing our attention now on verse 29 and verse
00:04:20 30 of our text. I'll read them once more so they're fresh in our minds. The Bible says this,
00:04:27 Jesus speaking.
00:04:29 Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man?
00:04:36 Then indeed he may plunder his house.
00:04:39 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
00:04:45 In your notes, I've written the following.
00:04:48 The passage opens with a marvelous display of divine power.
00:04:52 Our Lord heals a man who is not just inflicted by a physical condition, but a physical condition that is clearly caused by a demon.
00:05:03 Our Lord heals this man oppressed by a demon who was both blind and mute.
00:05:11 In this act, we are to see not merely Christ's compassion, but his dominion over Satan.
00:05:18 Christ, as the stronger man, is binding the strong one, Satan, and plundering his house.
00:05:29 Jesus has taken back dominion from Satan.
00:05:34 The story of earthly dominion throughout the scripture is actually quite simple.
00:05:40 God set up Adam as viceroy in the garden over all the earthly cosmos.
00:05:45 Not just the Garden of Eden, but ultimately it was given to him, his task, his mission, that the garden would be expanded and extend and eventually cover all the earth.
00:05:58 Even in a pre-lapsarian world, lapse meaning sin.
00:06:03 So before sin entered the world, before Genesis 3, there were still wilderness places in the world.
00:06:10 And we know this because the Bible tells us so.
00:06:13 We know that Adam was created not in the garden, but he was actually formed by God from the dust, the dust of the ground in a wilderness and then placed by God in the garden.
00:06:24 And then secondly, Eve was formed not from the dust, but from Adam, from a bone in his side.
00:06:32 And so we know that before sin entered the world, we had these wilderness, barren, empty places.
00:06:39 Now, sin had not yet entered the world, and so these places are not evil, per se.
00:06:43 They're not wicked, but they're still in emptiness.
00:06:46 The world was not completely cultivated.
00:06:49 That was a job, a work, a task assigned to Adam, our father,
00:06:55 that he was to fulfill by the strength and grace that God provided.
00:07:00 And so to him was given by God dominion over the earth.
00:07:04 He was to be fruitful with his wife and multiply.
00:07:09 But also he was assigned the task of working and keeping the ground.
00:07:15 Working and keeping.
00:07:17 Keeping, that is, defending, protecting.
00:07:22 Working, that is, cultivating in such a way that the natural implication of that task,
00:07:29 if it were to be fulfilled, would be not only that the garden was verdant.
00:07:33 Not only that the garden was filled with life, but if it was worked, the garden, the ground, it would expand.
00:07:40 And these wilderness, barren places in the world would eventually be cultivated as well.
00:07:46 And so you could say that in a sense, it was man's dominion and his task, his mission assigned by God,
00:07:53 that all the earth would eventually become a garden place.
00:07:57 and all the earth through being fruitful and multiplying this garden earth encompassing
00:08:03 garden would also be filled and populated by image bearing people who were worshipers of the
00:08:11 triune god this was the eschaton that was assigned to adam and in order to fulfill it god gave him
00:08:19 dominion dominion over what his wife yes but more than just that the ground yes but more than just
00:08:27 that even the birds of the air and the fish of the sea and the beast of the field adam was granted
00:08:33 by god authority and dominion over every single aspect of the earthly creation all of it and one
00:08:43 of the ways that he displays and exercises his authority is in granting names to all the pieces
00:08:50 of creation. That's actually, biblically speaking, a sign of authority. The one who has the power,
00:08:58 the authority to name, is the one who is in authority over that which or whom which is being
00:09:05 named. Adam names each of the creatures. I think that we can implicitly assume that he probably
00:09:13 also named certain plants and vegetation, but Adam also names his wife. It's not God that assigns
00:09:23 this name to her, but God assigns a name to Adam, and then Adam gives a name to Eve, who is the
00:09:31 mother of all living. So the story of dominion in the Bible is quite simple. God, who has sovereign
00:09:39 authority, uncontested over everything, not just the earthly cosmos and creation, but heavenly as
00:09:47 well. God, who has this authority, sets up over earth a viceroy and grants him a human dominion
00:09:57 and authority over the earth adam then by his sin he forfeits that dominion and by forfeiting that
00:10:06 dominion he grants it to satan and this is why later in the scripture satan is referenced as
00:10:13 the prince of the air not heavenly spiritual air in the 17th dimension but the air the cosmos
00:10:24 in this earthly plane that satan is the prince of the air this is why satan when tempting jesus
00:10:33 in the wilderness after his baptism in his earthly ministry christ is in led by the holy spirit so
00:10:41 it's not an accident into the wilderness a wilderness that should have been cultivated by
00:10:46 adam in his dominion but that was forfeited to satan and satan likes wilderness he wants the
00:10:53 whole world to be taken over by death and doom and destruction. And so the spirit leads Christ
00:11:00 into the wilderness where he's tempted by Satan. And one of these three temptations is that Satan
00:11:05 promises Jesus that he will give to him the kingdoms of the earth. And this, it's important
00:11:12 that we understand that although Satan is a murderer from the beginning and a liar, when he 0.91
00:11:17 lies, he speaks his native tongue. This particular offer that he makes to Christ is not a false or
00:11:25 empty gesture. This is a valid offer. When Satan offers to Christ the kingdoms of the world, he is
00:11:32 offering to Christ something that at that moment Satan actually possessed. He actually had authority
00:11:38 over earthly kingdoms because that authority was given to Adam, dominion, and Adam by his sin,
00:11:45 he forfeited that dominion to satan think of even in the book of daniel when finally an angel arrives
00:11:54 but this angel had been delayed and he gives a reason for his delay he says that he was held up
00:12:03 in battle against the prince of persia now this is not a reference to a human political prince
00:12:11 but actually a spiritual fallen angel demonic entity that had power over the human authority
00:12:21 in persia when the bible speaks of princes and principalities it's speaking of not just human
00:12:30 princes but particularly demonic spiritual fallen angels with power earthly power princes
00:12:38 and principalities is speaking of earthly regions right like provinces in canada or states in
00:12:48 these united states so there are principalities earthly regions and set up over these principalities
00:12:55 are princes not speaking of the human political ruler but rather the spiritual entity dark
00:13:04 demonic fallen angel entity that satan having received dominion since it was forfeited by adam
00:13:12 and his sin he then delegated dominion to many of his followers fallen angels over the whole earth
00:13:19 i believe personally i'm often made fun of for this but you know what i'm having fun and the
00:13:27 people who make fun of me are miserable so it's okay i believe that greek mythology
00:13:31 nailed it. I think they're weird. I think that they missed some of the details, probably a lot 0.96
00:13:38 of the details, but the idea that there would be certain lowercase g gods and that these gods are
00:13:44 assigned to specific regions. Poseidon, god of the sea. Well, I don't know. In Adam sinning and
00:13:53 forfeiting dominion to Satan and Satan having fallen angels underneath his command, could he
00:13:58 have assigned the sea to one of these fallen angels and given him power over the sea to use
00:14:04 the sea as a particular avenue or mechanism in order to do as much harm and destruction to God's
00:14:12 image-bearing creatures mankind as possible of course not only is it plausible I actually think
00:14:19 that that's the most faithful reading of biblical text and the sea throughout scripture often
00:14:25 represents another wilderness a watery wilderness but it's a place of emptiness and death and the
00:14:33 sea represents death that's one of the reasons why since we're on the topic the book of revelation
00:14:38 when it speaks of our final eternal heavenly abode there is no sea why have you ever thought of that
00:14:46 there's no sea in heaven well because the sea is an untamed place that represents waste and death
00:14:54 right the sea is not fresh water that is used as nourishment right it's salt water
00:15:01 it's it's a place that yes it's teeming with life in a sense god fills the sea with creatures
00:15:08 and we you know eat fish there's a purpose to the sea but it is in spiritual terms viewed as an
00:15:16 empty dead place we even have quite literally in our world one particular sea that's called
00:15:23 the dead sea because it's so filled with salt that nothing can live in it and in heaven there
00:15:31 will be no sea because all of heaven will team with life and only life and death will be no more
00:15:37 so adam is given dominion adam sends forfeits dominion to satan satan delegates dominion to
00:15:44 different princes over different principalities we know that there was one such prince over the
00:15:51 principality of persia this is all real and then satan makes a valid offer with nefarious intent
00:15:59 there's the lie there's the deceit but the valid the offer itself is in fact valid when he tempts
00:16:06 jesus in the wilderness and one of those particular out of the three temptations being i will give you
00:16:11 the kingdoms of the earth if you will bow down and worship me satan can make this offer because
00:16:17 the kingdoms of the earth at that time actually were his. Now, of course, this is where the
00:16:24 evangelical pietists would insert their peanut gallery opinion and say, but Jesus says no,
00:16:31 because Jesus' kingdom is not of this world, and he's not interested in politics.
00:16:38 No, Jesus says no, because it's idolatry to bow down and worship Satan. He says no to Satan
00:16:45 and his offer, not because he's not interested in the kingdoms of the world, but he is not
00:16:50 interested in the means by which Satan is offering them, namely idolatry. In essence,
00:16:59 Jesus, his response to Satan could be described such as this. I will not worship you in order to
00:17:07 be given the kingdoms of this earth, but I will defeat you and take the kingdoms of this earth.
00:17:15 He didn't want Satan to give him the kingdoms because he intended on taking these earthly kingdoms, and he has.
00:17:23 Colossians speaks of demonic spiritual entities being held up to open shame
00:17:33 because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. 0.99
00:17:37 And all their weaponry, or we could at least say in specificity, all their lethal weaponry,
00:17:45 has been stripped away from them so that these demonic entities that once ruled the world
00:17:52 have been put to open shame and they have been rendered toothless. They have been rendered
00:17:59 impotent. And what is the lethal weaponry? Satan can still push and prod and tempt and even to
00:18:09 varying degrees for those especially who don't belong to christ he can oppress even now in this
00:18:15 gospel age in the church age since the finished work of jesus but what he cannot do not for god's
00:18:24 elect not for the christian is use any lethal weapon against them because satan only had at
00:18:32 his disposal even in his heyday one lethal weapon do you know what that lethal weapon was
00:18:39 it was the accusation of your unforgiven sin that's the only thing that he possessed against
00:18:50 you the only leverage the only advantage that satan had against you that was truly in the
00:19:00 eternal sense not just earthly but the eternal sense truly lethal meaning your eternal death
00:19:09 your eternal destruction that's the only thing he had was the record of all your wrongs that had not
00:19:18 been forgiven but because of Christ's death and resurrection that lethal weapon was stripped
00:19:28 by christ out of the hands of satan and all his minions were held to open shame and the bible
00:19:35 teaches this so god having authority gives dominion to adam adam having sinned forfeits
00:19:42 it to satan satan having been mocked and humiliated and defeated by christ has now had his dominion
00:19:51 over the earth stripped by christ back to jesus and we as christ ambassadors having union with
00:19:59 christ by the spirit through faith have been set up as christ minions his ambassadors
00:20:06 and the cultural mandate all the way back from the beginning in genesis 1 and 2
00:20:13 has been restored for the christian to be fruitful and multiply multiply both in the
00:20:19 literal sense with children and marriage but also in a spiritual sense with doing the work of an
00:20:24 evangelist and the great commission and making disciples of nations and also cultivating the
00:20:30 earth and making it into a garden city now where do we stand today because all of this is glorious
00:20:39 and hopeful and encouraging and comforting and consoling and you on the lord's day as we gather
00:20:46 on the market day of the soul as we ascend the delectable hills as the church the excellent
00:20:53 ones and all the earth gathering together for the ordinary means of grace word and sacrament
00:20:58 we need to be encouraged but we also need to not be naive innocent as doves but as wise
00:21:09 and shrewd as serpents so christ is victorious and his people the church will be victorious
00:21:18 christ will not win in the bottom of the ninth despite a weak and losing church but christ who
00:21:28 is head of the church will win it's his victory it's his doing but the question is how and i
00:21:34 believe the bible teaches that christ will win not despite a weak and losing church but christ
00:21:40 will win through his body on earth that is the church christ will win through the church
00:21:46 i will build my church grow expand advance my church and the gates of hades the gates of hell
00:21:57 will not prevail against it now notice that that term gates is a defensive term
00:22:05 it is not the church that is up against the ropes receiving blow after blow from the battering rams
00:22:14 of hell but being held together and sustained by christ so that we make it to the final bell
00:22:21 when Christ tags us out and tags himself in to finally defeat the devil. That's not the biblical
00:22:28 language. No, the language of the Bible is that hell is on the ropes and that the church is the 0.99
00:22:35 battering ram of Christ and that hell will not be able to withstand blow after blow after blow
00:22:42 throughout this gospel church age, that Christ will win progressively, gradually, tangibly
00:22:49 through his church not despite the church i believe that you've heard me preach that now
00:22:58 for years and my opinion has not changed on the matter that said if you think we're winning right 0.97
00:23:06 now you're an idiot we have to be able to hold both truths intention the great post-millennial hope 0.99
00:23:17 yes and amen the church getting its butt kicked currently yes and amen 1.00
00:23:24 so whether you're pre-millennial i'd encourage you not to be dispensational but
00:23:31 a historic pre-millennialism or an all-millennialism or post-millennialism
00:23:36 this is what you need to hold in tension especially for you know the hashtag that
00:23:42 post-mill guys in the room god bless you i'm one of you but this is what you need to understand
00:23:47 even if post-millennialism is true as the biblical eschatology and i personally you
00:23:54 know my opinion i think it is that does not mean that it's just this steady guaranteed incline
00:24:01 without any dips along the way we are in a heck of a dip right now i would argue
00:24:11 a three to five hundred year long dip,
00:24:14 particularly in the West.
00:24:20 We are murdering, just our nation alone,
00:24:24 a million babies in their mother's womb annually.
00:24:30 Satan is having a field day.
00:24:33 And he is the strong man, back to our text.
00:24:37 This is what Jesus is speaking of.
00:24:38 they say, you're doing this by Beelzebul, a name for the devil. You are casting out demons by the
00:24:46 power of demons, by the power of the king of demons, Satan himself. And Jesus says, that's,
00:24:52 that's dumb. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Satan doesn't cast out Satan. No. 0.99
00:25:01 no but then jesus goes further and says but there is a strong man who did have and at this time as
00:25:12 jesus is speaking who does have at that moment an earthly authority and dominion he is the strong
00:25:20 man of the house and the house that jesus is referencing was the earth it was satan's house
00:25:28 God made the house and he gave the house to Adam and Adam handed the keys over to Satan
00:25:35 it was Satan's house he took it fair and square but Jesus says that the house at that moment
00:25:44 Satan's house would be plundered but before it be plundered at first needed to be invaded
00:25:52 and the strong man the leader of that house needed to be bound and this is what christ has done
00:26:01 he has bound satan and then his people you and i are now plundering the house but the fact that
00:26:12 satan is bound does not mean that he is yet completely destroyed he is bound and there's
00:26:21 a sense in which he knows his time is short and that his doom is certain but a bound man is not
00:26:27 the same as a dead man satan has yet to be cast into the lake of fire his final resting place
00:26:35 and even though he is bound he is still able to push to prod to tempt to oppress to confuse
00:26:43 to cause chaos and for a few hundred years now after receiving the blessing of christendom that
00:26:52 god has granted to the west we have forfeited much of those blessings and satan has grown
00:27:00 in strength and power in our age in our lifetime
00:27:06 think about this satan is a creature not the creator he's not omniscient nor is he omnipresent
00:27:15 he is not like god he's not everywhere all at once he's finite but the fact that he is a creature
00:27:21 and finite does not make him our peer satan is a creature who has lived for thousands of years
00:27:29 acquiring knowledge skills tools and wisdom not the wisdom that comes from god but
00:27:41 a satanic and earthly wisdom satan is not your peer satan is a thousand times smarter than you
00:27:49 stronger than you even with his hands tied behind his back you are no match
00:27:57 We are talking about a formidable enemy. 0.88
00:28:02 And he hates you.
00:28:05 And he hates this world.
00:28:08 And right now, his team is racking up points on the scoreboard.
00:28:15 And have been doing so for a few centuries.
00:28:20 Not just decades.
00:28:23 I believe that Christ has bound him.
00:28:25 And I believe that Christ's victory, not despite the church, but through the church, is certain.
00:28:32 What is not certain or promised to us in Scripture, even if you are post-millennial,
00:28:38 is that we would have tangible progressive victory today.
00:28:43 It is not promised to us that in our lifetime, if Christ tarries,
00:28:49 it is not promised that in these next few decades,
00:28:52 throughout the course of our life
00:28:54 or the lives of our children
00:28:55 that Satan's spree
00:28:59 that he's been on for quite a while now,
00:29:03 racking up point after point after point,
00:29:06 it is not guaranteed to us
00:29:08 that this scoring spree of Satan
00:29:11 would stop any time soon.
00:29:15 And so the people of God must be hopeful,
00:29:18 must be confident,
00:29:20 not in ourselves, but in Christ,
00:29:22 but also must be watchful, must be vigilant, must be wise, and not naive.
00:29:31 So Christ bound the strong man.
00:29:35 He has taken back dominion in the ultimate sense.
00:29:39 The final doom of Satan is certain.
00:29:43 But the tangible, earthly, progressive, and gradual dominion of Christ through his people,
00:29:49 the church is still very much in progress and currently under threat.
00:29:57 Going on in your notes, I've written,
00:29:59 Yet even this, this miracle of Jesus casting out demons
00:30:07 and supernaturally healing a man who was both blind and mute,
00:30:13 even this miraculous instance, especially this,
00:30:18 the Pharisees, enemies of Christ, a tribute to the work of Beelzebul, the devil. 0.62
00:30:28 Even when confronted with divine mercy, the corrupt heart turns truth into blasphemy. 0.88
00:30:36 Let me read that again.
00:30:37 Even when confronted with divine mercy, and not just mercy, but as we saw earlier,
00:30:45 This is not merely the mercy and compassion of Christ, but the power and strength and dominion of Christ over the devil.
00:30:54 And yet, when it comes to the corrupt heart, even divine mercy and divine power will be turned and twisted into blasphemy.
00:31:07 That's what sin does.
00:31:10 The enemies of God will call good evil and evil good.
00:31:18 They'll call truth blasphemy, mercy cruelty, and power weakness.
00:31:28 This is not mere ignorance on the part of the Pharisees, but rather we must see it as willful rebellion.
00:31:36 They're not ignorant.
00:31:37 they know what has just occurred they know that this is a supernatural miracle of god
00:31:45 not only exercising or or rather conveying communicating power over the physical but
00:31:54 dominion over the spiritual that jesus has both the power to heal the physical affliction and
00:32:03 exercise the spiritual demonic entity. They're not ignorant of this, but rather it is willful
00:32:12 rebellion. They could not deny that this is a miracle. If they could have, they would have.
00:32:22 Surely, just from a logical standpoint, you can see that if there were any way that the Pharisees,
00:32:29 as enemies of christ could have twisted the narrative to say oh it was just a coincidence
00:32:34 or this man was healed by some kind of medical means they would have said that they would have
00:32:42 said anything to take away and rob christ of a glory and certainly to rob him of any potential
00:32:50 status in the eyes of the people as the son of god but this instance is so miraculous so on
00:32:59 the nose so undeniable so clear that they can't say well it was a natural occurrence not a miracle
00:33:08 no they have to acknowledge that this is a divine supernatural miraculous event and so their only
00:33:15 option to still attempt to discredit Christ is to say yes a miracle but performed by the devil
00:33:23 we cannot deny that this is proof of supernatural power but whose supernatural power not gods
00:33:35 but satan and that's the narrative that they choose
00:33:40 the last point for today and then we'll focus on the second half of the text
00:33:46 lord willing next week the sign of the reprobate blasphemy of the holy spirit
00:33:54 So first we've seen the sign of the kingdom,
00:33:57 Christ's dominion over Satan. 0.88
00:33:58 Now the sign of the damned. 0.75
00:34:01 The sign of the reprobate. 1.00
00:34:03 Not just the unbeliever, 1.00
00:34:06 who one day, by God's grace,
00:34:08 would be converted and saved and regenerated
00:34:11 by the work of the Holy Spirit.
00:34:13 But no, what Jesus is about to reference
00:34:15 is a category of people,
00:34:17 namely the reprobate, who will never be saved. 0.83
00:34:21 The non-elect. 0.68
00:34:24 When the Bible speaks of evangelism and conversion, it is not goats being transformed into sheep, but rather it is lost sheep being found. 0.52
00:34:38 That's what conversion is.
00:34:39 When Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice, he's not saying that exclusively Christians hear my voice.
00:34:46 He's saying all who are elect sheep will hear my voice.
00:34:50 some of them having not yet become Christians, but still sheep will hear my voice come and be found.
00:35:00 Salvation is not goats going into sheep. Salvation is lost sheep being found sheep.
00:35:07 But there is, biblically speaking, a category outside of sheep altogether. It is the category
00:35:14 of goats goats are not just non-christians because a sheep can be a non-christian for a time until it
00:35:20 is found but a goat is a non-christian who will always be a non-christian a goat is a non-christian
00:35:27 who will never be converted who will never be saved who will never be regenerated a goat is 0.95
00:35:33 someone who hates christ and will only ever hate christ the reprobate the non-elect the damned 0.54
00:35:43 and one sign of a goat the reprobate is the blasphemy of the holy spirit let's look at the 0.73
00:35:53 words of jesus now verse 31 of our text says this therefore i tell you every sin and blasphemy will
00:36:00 be forgiven people in this context jesus referencing blasphemy against himself the son
00:36:08 But the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
00:36:16 Blaspheming the Son could be a lost sheep that one day will be found.
00:36:23 Blaspheming the Spirit is not a lost sheep that one day will be found,
00:36:30 but a goat who will never, ever change.
00:36:34 and in the end, in Christ's final return,
00:36:39 he will separate the sheep from the goats
00:36:41 at his right and left hand
00:36:43 and say to the goats, depart from me, 0.89
00:36:47 you workers of iniquity. 0.88
00:36:51 This is who is in reference
00:36:53 in the mind of Christ at this point in our text.
00:36:58 The goat, the reprobate, the non-elect.
00:37:01 in your notes i've written this christ now warns of the unpardonable the unforgivable sin
00:37:10 namely the blasphemy against the holy spirit this is not every doubt hear me
00:37:18 or you will struggle with assurance of salvation as i personally have
00:37:23 but when i learned things like this from the word of god
00:37:28 the lord used it to provide for my heart a great assurance and i want you to possess that assurance
00:37:36 as well this is not this sin unforgivable sin that is the blasphemy against the holy spirit
00:37:45 it is not every doubt or blasphemous word but rather a specific and settled rejection
00:37:53 of god's truth especially when it has been made known through the spirit's clear testimony
00:38:02 when a man with full knowledge calls the spirit's work demonic he reveals a heart
00:38:11 that is not only hostile to god but irreversibly seared
00:38:16 now as a personal encouragement to you i've written this let us take this not as a point
00:38:26 of speculative terror not incessant never-ending introspection puritans hardest hit right
00:38:38 i like the puritans in this regard do not be like the puritans
00:38:43 this concept of the blasphemy of the holy spirit should not be something that you constantly
00:38:53 navel gaze for the rest of your life holding a daisy sitting on a hillside god loves me he loves
00:39:02 me not. He loves me. He loves me not. I did blaspheme the spirit. Maybe I didn't blaspheme
00:39:08 the spirit. I did blaspheme, but maybe I didn't. Don't do that. No, this warning, and it is a strong
00:39:16 warning, but it is not meant to be a point of speculative terror, but as a sober warning.
00:39:25 here's the determining factor have i committed this sin here's a good sign a good way to tell
00:39:33 if we are grieved by this sin and even the potential of committing it and fear that we
00:39:41 ourselves have committed this sin that very grief is an evidence that we have not for the heart
00:39:48 that has sinned in such a manner is no longer tender if you are one who has blasphemed
00:39:56 the holy spirit committed this sin as a way in the manner that christ references it
00:40:03 in our text today you would not be here
00:40:07 the the blasphemers of the holy spirit don't go to church well they don't go to our church
00:40:16 they go to synagogues 1.00
00:40:22 they go to mosques
00:40:25 they go to some protestant churches
00:40:29 and some catholic churches
00:40:31 but they don't go to churches that preach the bible
00:40:36 those who truly have committed this sin
00:40:40 an unpardonable sin of blaspheming the holy spirit
00:40:43 you're talking about someone
00:40:45 who has clear undeniable knowledge of the spirit's testimony to the divinity of christ
00:40:55 and yet it cannot be waved away in speculation as some kind of natural occurrence they have to do
00:41:05 just as the pharisees did and attribute this miraculous testimony by the spirit to the
00:41:11 divinity and deity of christ and they have to blaspheme it and somehow twist it into the work
00:41:18 of satan himself now one of the reoccurring themes and we'll end with this that we've seen throughout
00:41:26 the gospel according to matthew is this principle that i've espoused with great grace comes great
00:41:33 responsibility with great grace comes great responsibility remember the woes that jesus
00:41:40 pronounced on certain jewish towns and he says if the miracles that he performed in these towns in
00:41:47 israel had been performed in sodom or gomorrah they would have repented long ago and then he says
00:41:55 that the torment and punishment for these jewish towns that rejected such grapes that it would be 0.75
00:42:02 a greater punishment for them on the final day than it would be for sodom and gomorrah why 0.95
00:42:08 because their sin was greater than sodom and gomorrah perhaps perhaps not but what we know
00:42:15 for sure is that they sinned in the face of a greater degree of revelation than sodom and 0.52
00:42:22 gomorrah these jewish towns it may not have been the degree of their sin being greater than the 0.94
00:42:29 degree of the sin of sodom and gomorrah but what was greater in the case of these jewish towns 0.69
00:42:35 was the degree of revelation and grace having been given to them from God 0.95
00:42:42 that they continued to sin in spite of.
00:42:46 These people saw Jesus walking in their streets in the flesh.
00:42:53 These people were eyewitnesses to the miraculous power of Jesus.
00:42:59 These people didn't just listen to a sermon online.
00:43:02 They heard the Sermon on the Mount.
00:43:05 They heard the preaching of Christ.
00:43:08 They witnessed him multiplying food for the 5,000.
00:43:12 They witnessed him casting out demons, healing the blind, the mute, the lame, and even raising the dead.
00:43:19 And with all that, their heart was only hardened.
00:43:25 And this is likened unto the sin of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
00:43:32 this is not someone who occasionally doubts no this is someone who great grace has been given to
00:43:40 someone who in the face of supernatural holy spirit wrought revelation that jesus is the messiah
00:43:50 still doubles down in their rejection of christ
00:43:55 so if you're asking the question have i blasphemed the holy spirit
00:44:02 the answer would be another question to arrive at the answer
00:44:09 have you received from the holy spirit conviction of sin
00:44:16 a revelation of christ and in the midst of that
00:44:21 attributed the Spirit's work
00:44:25 of bearing witness to the Son
00:44:27 as the work of the devil?
00:44:31 Have you received the Spirit's witness
00:44:33 and testimony in a supernatural way
00:44:36 to the deity of Christ
00:44:39 and then labeled that the work of Beelzebul? 0.72
00:44:43 Called that the work of Satan and demons?
00:44:47 Have you witnessed the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit to the degree that you cannot explain it away in natural means?
00:44:59 And therefore, because you still did not want to accredit the Spirit with glory, you labeled His work as a supernatural work, albeit, but the supernatural work of the devil.
00:45:13 and i can just about guarantee for every single person in the room unless of course you're a
00:45:21 journalist that the answer to that question is no you have not and if you had you would not be here 0.78
00:45:29 there are plenty of sinful christians and there are certainly plenty of sinful unbelievers
00:45:39 who are elect and one day will become Christians. 0.95
00:45:44 The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit describes none of them.
00:45:48 This is reserved as a descriptor 1.00
00:45:51 for not just Christians who still err and sin
00:45:56 or non-Christians who are elect and one day will be saved, 0.64
00:46:01 but for the goats, for the reprobate, for the non-elect. 0.79
00:46:10 And among them, there is no conviction.
00:46:14 There is no, not just little.
00:46:18 You and I, constantly, one of the things we have to repent of is not just our sin,
00:46:23 but the fact that we have too little grief over our sin.
00:46:27 And too little conviction for our sin.
00:46:30 And too slow to confess and repent of our sin.
00:46:34 Not so with the reprobate.
00:46:37 His problem is not too little grief.
00:46:39 or conviction for sin. His problem is he has no grief for sin. No conviction. No repentance.
00:46:49 Remember Romans chapter 3 as it describes such a person. There is no fear of God before his eyes.
00:46:58 It's not that his problem is too little and that he needs and requires more sanctification
00:47:03 to be further conformed into the image of the Son. His problem is not that he has little faith.
00:47:08 His problem is that he has no faith.
00:47:12 In John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, the second edition,
00:47:17 in their company on the way to the celestial city,
00:47:21 there is an individual who goes by the name Little Faith.
00:47:25 And there's a moment in the book where a few of the people in the company
00:47:30 are arguing or at least discussing with one another
00:47:34 whether or not little faith in the end will be able to complete the journey.
00:47:40 And one who is wiser among their company responds by saying,
00:47:45 Oh, of course, he'll make it.
00:47:48 For his name is little faith, not no faith.
00:47:53 The whole point of faith that Jesus tells us
00:47:59 is not that those who have faith that is the degree of a mountain
00:48:03 might be able occasionally to move a mustard seed.
00:48:08 It's the complete opposite.
00:48:11 The faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain.
00:48:16 Yes, we want to grow in faith.
00:48:18 Yes, we want to grow in repentance.
00:48:19 Yes, we want to grow in godly sorrow,
00:48:22 as 2 Corinthians speaks,
00:48:24 godly grief over our sin.
00:48:26 But if we have any faith at all,
00:48:28 if we have any grief at all,
00:48:30 any conviction at all,
00:48:32 then it is proof that we will grow
00:48:35 because he who began a good work in you
00:48:38 is faithful to bring it to completion
00:48:40 and for those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit
00:48:43 their problem is not little godliness
00:48:46 but no godliness at all
00:48:48 Father bless your word to your people
00:48:50 and we pray that through it
00:48:52 that we might bring you glory
00:48:54 we ask this in Jesus name
00:48:56 Amen