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(Luke 12:8-12)
May 31, 2015
Intro (Read Lu 12:8-12). Bob Hope hosted many Academy Awards. In
1953 he opened by saying, This is the first time the Academy Awards have
been on television. Youll see the faces of the winners and youll see the
faces of the losers -- congratulating the winners. In other words, tonight
youre gonna see some real Academy Award acting. We all wear masks,
dont we? Often we believe our own lies. Thats a major issue with hypocrisy.
In our text, as Jesus leaves a Pharisees lunch, He turns to His own followers
and challenges them to avoid hypocrisy. In this passage, Jesus gives a
Warning Against Hypocrisy in vv. 1-3. Then He gives Ways to Avoid
Hypocrisy in vv. 4-12. Every member of the Trinity plays a role.
I.
Confess Christ
And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man
also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me
before men will be denied before the angels of God. This is not the meek
and mild Jesus we hear so much about. This is the Jesus who pulls no punches
letting us know when He reigns some people He will acknowledge before the
whole universe as His others He will deny. But Hes the key.
The word acknowledge is elsewhere translated confess like Rom 10:9,
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It describes a publicly
acknowledged commitment. It means to declare publicly for Jesus, to confess
Him, to acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior. This is the outward expression
of a truly changed heart. It tells us two things about saving faith and
authentic life. 1) It confesses Christ - and 2) it confesses Him conspicuously.
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Genuine believers embrace Jesus in this life. Rev 3:5, The one who conquers
will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of
the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his
angels. We may think were fine because we know and affirm the facts
privately but if we are ashamed of Jesus, we have not been made a new
creation and given a new heart. We are fooling only ourselves. Paul says in II
Tim 2:12, if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also
will deny us. The acid test of faith an open, public declaration for Christ,
starting with baptism, which often meant death in the early church. To deny
Christ is to deny reality; it is hypocrisy. There are no secret agent believers.
Imagine getting married only to overhear your spouse at a class reunion deny
to an old flame that they even know you. Youd be devastated but youd
know their true heart, wouldnt you? And so our public confession or denial
of Jesus reveals who we really are in relation to Him.
An old Methodist circuit rider, Daniel Curry, made a campfire on the NE
prairie one night and fell asleep. He dreamed he had died and gone to heaven
where an angel asked his reason for being there. He said, Im here to claim
the mansion Jesus promised me long ago. But the angel wouldnt let him in,
so Curry pleaded to see God. Arriving at Gods throne he was dumbstruck by
the blaze of glory that greeted him, like 1,000 suns. He fell prostrate before
the God. A stern voice cried out, Who are you and what do you seek? Curry
tried, but was too terrified to speak. But suddenly a scarred hand pulled him to
his feet. Father, this is Daniel Curry. He confessed me before men, and I
now confess him before you. Whatever sins he has committed whatever
stains his record, charge them all to me. Put them on my account. This can
be all of your future; it all depends on what you do with Jesus now.
III.
none of those. David was certainly forgiven of both murder and adultery. So
what is the unpardonable sin? How does one blaspheme the Holy Spirit?
To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to firmly, finally and fully reject the Holy
Spirits clear, unimpeachable evidence of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ,
and further to attribute that work to Satan to mock it. It is to harden your
heart against full light to the point of no return. Weve seen how Pharaoh did
that in the face of multiple display of Gods power and glory.
Both Matthew and Mark place this comment by Jesus in the context of a
blasphemous accusation. Check Mt 12. Jesus has healed a demonized blind
and mute man. The crowd marvels at His power. Mt 12:24: But when the
Pharisees heard it, they said, It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
that this man casts out demons. The Pharisees have reached a watershed
point in their opposition to Jesus. Originally they thought him a nuisance they
could soon silence. But every ill-fated effort had failed. It should have long
ago dawned on them that truth was on His side. For a few, like Nicodemus
and Joseph of Arimathea, it had. But most intensified their opposition. They
could not deny Jesus compassion; it was everywhere. They could not trap
Him verbally; He destroyed them every time. And they never even attempted
to deny His miracles, so obvious were they. You can deny them from 2,000
years distance, but not a single person tried to do so during Jesus lifetime.
So they did they only thing left to them. They claimed He was empowered by
Satan. It was an act of spiritual suicide. With more direct revelation of God
than anyone in history, these men chose to claim it was all from Satan. They
didnt just reject Jesus, which one might do and still repent later. No, their
rejection had reached the point of attributing every work of the HS thru Jesus
to Satan a lifetime choice. They had crossed the Rubicon and were
confirmed in their unbelief, having sinned against more light than anyone in
history. So Jesus, after showing the insanity of their position, concluded by
saying in Mt 12:31, Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be
forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
Many people worry that they have committed the unpardonable sin. I assure
you, people who have are not worried about it. It is not a question of severity.
Mt 12:31, Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven
people. The worst sin ever committed was killing Jesus who prayed on that
occasion, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Lu 23:34).
Neither is it the number of sins someone may have committed. God assures us
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in Jas 5:20 for any repentant, God will cover a multitude of sins. Neither is
the species of sin an issue. I Jn 1:9: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The issue
is the persistent suppression of Gods revelation to the point of no return.
Like Judas when he sinned against more light than any person in history to
betray Jesus. Hed reached the point of no return. An unpardonable sin.
It is likely that modern examples include people who have sat under the
teaching of Gods Word for years, only to finally throw it all over. A former
minister, John W. Loftus, has been called the Crown prince of atheists these
days. Why? Because he has 3 degrees in theology, including study under the
prominent apologist, William Lane Craig, pastored for 14 years, then suddenly
left the ministry and declared himself an atheist. Hes founded a blog called
Debunking Christianity. He published a book: Why I Became an Atheist. He
found the church unloving. He also attacks the Bible on multiple fronts. One
example: he claims it advocates child sacrifice using Gods instruction to
Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, which God stopped, of course. And Exod 22:29,
The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me which, of course, was not
advocating child sacrifice but was speaking of service. Loftus never mentions
God provided an alternative whereby the people could pay a tax to support the
Levites as substitute for giving their firstborn to His service.
What is seldom mentioned is that Loftus committed adultery and was
ostracized when he was unrepentant. He later divorced and married another
woman, who happened to be an atheist. It was not for intellectual reasons
that he originally left the faith, but for moral ones. His blog includes
multiple cartoon videos mocking Bible stories and presenting the biblical God
as a buffoon. Blaspheming the HS. Has he committed the unpardonable sin?
Only God can or should judge that. I hope not. But I fear for him because
this is what it would look like. To denounce the Spirits work in such blatant
terms is willful denial of the witness to Himself God has put in every heart. In
the words of Rom 1:18, it is to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. God
gives such people up, to the lusts of their hearts (24), to dishonorable
passions (26) and to a debased mind (28). (Ref John 16:8-11 to talk about
the threefold role of the Spirit in our world).
The unpardonable sin is committed when we have denied God the Father
by denying God the Son, who reveals the Father, and denouncing God the
Spirit who reveals the Son. At that point, youve denied the whole Trinity,
and there is nowhere left to go.
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