July 29, 2024 • 38 mins
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Could Jesus be a lunatic, a liar, or truly the Son of God? Join us as we examine Mark 3:20, where the reactions of Jesus’ own family and the religious leaders to His teachings and miracles are laid bare. We delve into the skepticism and concern from those closest to Him, who feared He might be out of His mind, and the accusations from the scribes and Pharisees who believed He was in league with Beelzebub. Through these narratives, we reflect on the challenge of understanding Jesus' true identity, resonating with C.S. Lewis's famous trilemma.
Discover the powerful analogy Jesus employs to assert His dominion over Satan, comparing Himself to a stronger man who can plunder the strong man's house. We draw meaningful connections to Zacchaeus's life transformation and grapple with the weighty topic of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, deemed the unforgivable sin. Unpacking Jesus' profound warning, we aim to demystify this often anxiety-inducing subject while emphasizing the heart of His message: forgiveness and redemption.
In our closing segment, we emphasize the peril of spiritual drifting and the hardening of hearts, illustrated through the metaphor of a plane’s flight path. Reflecting on the cautionary tale of Demas, we underscore the importance of staying true to one’s faith and seeking God's guidance. We invite listeners to engage in self-reflection, ask for divine intervention, and express gratitude for God's unwavering love and guidance, concluding with a heartfelt prayer for alignment and grace.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
All right, mark, chapter 3, verse 20,.
No rush getting through thisgreat book of Mark, but we have
seen that Jesus has beendemonstrating who he was God in
flesh, the heart of the Father,and some to some extent believe
(00:36):
the disciples are followingJesus, but many we've found
already this early in the storymany disbelieve and they become
the opposition.
Today it's his family, jesus'own family, is disbelieving who
he was, a little skeptical of,their big brother Jesus, worried
(00:57):
he might be going off the deepend.
We get it.
It makes sense from theirperspective to feel that way.
There's also a growingopposition from the religious
leaders.
Nothing that surprises us, butwe see it pretty clearly here
today what's going on in theirhearts.
So everybody is determining whoJesus was and what they were
(01:19):
going to do with him, and ofcourse that is the truth.
All the way through historyEverybody has had to decide what
to do with Jesus and most of usI think, especially in our neck
of the woods here most of uswould determine well, he's a
(01:40):
good teacher.
That seems to be, you know, notwilling to say, oh, he was
crazy, or he was evil orsomething like that, but we
would say, oh well, he was agood teacher had some good
things to say.
Well, cs Lewis most of youprobably heard this quote before
he said that's not an optionJust to say that Jesus was a
good person, a good teacher?
(02:00):
not an option.
You got to be more aggressivethan that.
Let me just read this, becausethis is the point in the Bible
where we bring up CS Lewis andhis discussion of who Jesus was.
Check this out.
He says I am trying here toprevent anyone saying the really
foolish thing that people oftensay about Jesus.
(02:23):
I'm ready to accept Jesus as agreat moral teacher, but I don't
accept his claim to be God.
That is one thing we must notsay.
A man who is merely a man andhas said the sort of things that
Jesus said would not be a greatmoral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic onthe level of a man who says he
(02:44):
is a poached egg, that'sinteresting, or else he would be
the devil of hell.
You must make the choice Eitherthis man, jesus, was as and is
the son of God, or else a madmanor something worse.
So, putting it in front of ustoday and I think we see this
pretty clearly we have to decidewho Jesus was, and people were
(03:13):
deciding in their own world, theancient world, who he was.
His family were landing on thisidea that something was wrong
with Jesus.
He's kind of lost his mind.
Perhaps he's a lunatic.
He's a lunatic.
The religious leaders are atleast claiming that Jesus was of
the devil, that he was evil,and so we see these two options,
(03:36):
but they're really not goodoptions, we'll find really to
conclude that Jesus was in factwho he said he was God in flesh,
come to save us.
That's where we ought to land,but let's jump in and see where
they're at today in verse 20.
Then the multitude cametogether again so they could not
as much as eat bread.
(03:56):
But when his own people, that'sJesus' family, heard about this
, they went out to lay hold ofhim, for they said he is out of
his mind.
So here we see Jesus' family,and the first thing you can see
here is that Jesus did have afamily.
Right, we know Mary, his mother, but he also had brothers and
(04:20):
sisters.
We read later in Mark 6, 3, thathe had sisters.
So the whole family dynamic ofJesus growing up, picture that
To them he's big brother.
They haven't read all thesedifferent stories that we know
from the gospel account.
They just know him as part ofthe family.
(04:43):
And here he is teaching somepretty intense things.
He's doing some pretty intensemiracles and people are
following him to the point wherehe can't even be in a house
because it's packed out.
He can't even take time to eatbread because people are coming
to him and the family realizesthat things are falling apart.
(05:07):
They know how the religiousleaders feel about Jesus.
We've read that the religiousleaders went to the Herodians to
find a way to destroy Jesus.
They want to kill him.
They're going to accuse him ofblasphemy and it won't be the
first time, I'm sure here and itwas something that his family
(05:29):
knew could get Jesus killedright Blasphemy something that
the people would spontaneouslypick up stones and throw them at
you to kill you.
So his family sees him and theygo.
Things are snowballing here.
People want to kill you, jesus,and they determine he is
(05:50):
probably out of his mind Nowthat sounds pretty cruel to say
about your family out of theirmind but in this case they might
have been trying to save hislife honestly, because that was
one of the few things insanitywas one of the few things that
(06:12):
could get you out of gettingkilled in this situation.
Well, he's just crazy, crazyguy saying that he's God in the
flesh.
Crazy guy, please don't killhim in the flesh.
Crazy guy, please don't killhim.
And so perhaps his family iswell-meaning and they're trying
(06:32):
to save his life, maybe, but youcouldn't really say that he was
crazy.
He was very determined to saythe things that he did.
The works that he did.
They proved that what he wassaying was really true.
And yet they had to deal withthat.
Now we see they're not theworst of the crowd here In verse
(06:57):
22,.
And the scribes who came downfrom Jerusalem said well, he has
Baal's above and by the rulerof the demons he casts out
demons.
So here we see the scribesright, they're the Bible
scholars of the day.
They know the word backwardsand forward.
(07:20):
They explain the Bible.
They would be teaching theBible studies.
They explain the Bible.
They would be teaching theBible studies.
Parallel account in Matthew,chapter 12, says the Pharisees
were also here at this point.
Jesus has just cast a demon.
Once again, in Luke and Matthewwe read he's just cast a demon
(07:45):
out that had a guide, blind andmute.
So that's what's happened rightbefore this Cast a demon out.
Everybody's in awe.
The man who wasn't able tospeak is able to speak.
He wasn't able to see, he'sable to see.
And here the scribes and thePharisees we read.
They have their response.
We see here their response isvery negative.
(08:10):
We find out and we understandthat they've kind of had this
chip on their shoulder right,jesus doesn't do things their
way.
He doesn't respect theirreligious observance of fasting.
Remember they came and askedwell, how come our disciples and
John's disciples fast?
But you and your disciplesdon't.
(08:31):
Isn't it worth anything what wedo?
We fast?
Jesus didn't respect that inthe way that they had hoped.
He didn't respect theirtraditions of the Sabbath.
You'll remember their healing onthe Sabbath made them very mad
because their tradition saidhealing shouldn't be done on the
Sabbath.
It's work.
(08:51):
You're breaking our traditionsNow.
It wasn't what the Bible said.
The Bible didn't have any lawagainst healing people on the
Sabbath, but their traditionsaid that, their authority said
that and Jesus didn't respectthat, and so they wanted to kill
him.
It was their motivation.
But here we see their response.
(09:12):
It's their words.
Notice, as Jesus just cast outa demon.
They come down from Jerusalemand they say he has Beelzebub by
the ruler of the demons.
He casts out demons.
So Beelzebub not just the lyricfrom a Queen song, right?
Beelzebub was an idol, a godfrom a place called Ekron, and
(09:39):
he was known as the Lord of theFlies another work of literature
.
Lord of the.
Flies, the dung god, if you canimagine that.
A god who was Lord of the Fliesthere, the dung god, the ruler
of the demons.
They say.
Now you can kind of hear theirmocking in this.
(10:00):
Right, as Jesus is beingfollowed by many people, the
religious elite say, oh, he'sjust, he's doing this through
the dumb God, because we knowthere's a lot of dumb going on
here.
Right, and you can see thatthey're being disrespectful,
they're being harsh, and it'sjust their words.
(10:21):
They're saying this that hecasts out demons by the ruler of
the demons.
Right, and you can almost sensetheir laughing here.
He's not a good man, he doesn'tfollow our laws, he's working
with Satan's power.
That's how he can do all thesemiraculous things.
(10:42):
And certainly it's politicalname-calling, right, it's the
kind of stuff we experience alot in our day and age, right,
Just the instinctive.
Well, you know, for a convictedfelon, not bad.
Oh, for a crazy person.
You know, I did it.
You know they're justresponding.
(11:03):
Well, he's working by Satan thedumb guy.
Right, and their words are notargument but they're mockery,
they're trying to shut Jesusdown.
Now check it out.
We find that this is a dangerousthing to do.
What's going on in their heart?
Dangerous thing to do.
(11:24):
But Jesus in verse 23, takesthe time to explain a few things
to them, to warn them.
Now check it out.
That is amazingly graceful ofhim, isn't it, as these
religious leaders just want totrap Jesus, they want to mock
(11:45):
Jesus.
Jesus takes the time to explainwhere they've gone wrong.
That's a lot of compassion thatJesus would have for these guys
.
Notice what he says.
So he called them to himselfand said to them in parables I'm
going to tell you a story.
How can Satan cast out Satan?
(12:08):
If a kingdom is divided againstitself, that kingdom cannot
stand.
If a house is divided againstitself, that house cannot stand.
If Satan has risen up againsthimself and is divided, he
cannot stand but has his end.
So here Jesus explains somelogic to them.
(12:32):
Look, you're saying that I'mcasting out demons by the prince
of demons, that Satan iscasting out Satan.
You don't make any sense.
He says look at it logically.
Nobody fighting a war is goingto attack themselves like that.
You know.
Nobody, you know, in awrestling match is going to go
(12:54):
bang their head against the wall.
You know what I mean Knockyourself out.
Why would you do that?
Why would Satan try to fighthimself?
It's like split personalitiesgoing on here.
Jesus says that's just crazy.
Satan's not dumb, right, histactics are not silly.
He would not attack himself.
(13:17):
What you're saying doesn't makeany sense.
But notice some greatapplication here.
Notice verse 27.
No one can enter a strong man'shouse and plunder his goods
unless he first binds the strongman and then he will plunder
his house.
So Jesus paints another picturefor them a strong man, you know,
(13:42):
picture Arnold Schwarzeneggertype you know big muscly guy and
he says if you wanted to robthat guy, you would have to be
stronger than him.
That's kind of the point here.
He says so look at it, if I amessentially robbing Satan of his
(14:03):
captives, that's kind of whathe's saying here that Satan
holds people captive captive toso many things, you know,
captive to drugs, captive tolust, belongings, captive to
just the desire to simply beaccepted.
It just rules our life.
(14:24):
We can be captive to anything,right, and the devil is so good
at holding us captive, hostage,and we're paralyzed, we're in
chains, you know.
And Jesus here says look, ifSatan's got something that I
want, the only way that I cantake it from him now think about
(14:46):
this the only way that I cantake it from him is if I'm
stronger than he is.
So what's the truth here?
Jesus is stronger than thedevil.
That's the only reason why he'sbeen able to deliver these
people who were in bondage tothe devil is because I'm
stronger than these other demons.
(15:07):
And Jesus here is making themthink Satan wouldn't attack
himself.
That's ridiculous.
And if I'm going to takesomething from the devil, I'm
going to be stronger than him.
Jesus says.
And that's the truth.
That's a wonderful truth, evenat this point in the story, a
wonderful truth that Jesus isable and wants to deliver us
(15:31):
from our own captivity, is ableand wants to deliver us from our
own captivity, the things thatjust hold us down and make life
just impossible to live, for God.
Jesus came to deliver us fromthe power of darkness.
That's a wonderful truth tohold on to.
When we feel trapped by our ownsin, jesus is stronger, and I
(16:02):
just thought of this beautifulaccount in Luke, chapter 19.
It's Zacchaeus right.
Zacchaeus who this Zacchaeus,not that?
Zacchaeus was a wee little man,right, and you remember he was
a tax collector.
Nobody wanted to be around andhe climbed up in the tree to see
Jesus.
And Jesus, in a sense,delivered Zacchaeus just by
showing him love.
It was really pretty powerful,right?
(16:24):
Jesus made a difference inZacchaeus' life by coming to his
tree and saying Zacchaeus, I'mcoming to your house for dinner
tonight.
And that was how the story went.
And Zacchaeus was a changed man, right, because Jesus invited
himself over for dinner.
But check out the differencethat happens in Zacchaeus' life.
(16:45):
Just listen to this.
Zacchaeus stood and said toJesus Look, lord, I give half my
goods to the poor and if I'vetaken anything from anyone by
false accusation, I'll restoreit fourfold.
And Jesus said to him now,listen to this.
It's beautiful.
Today, salvation has come tothis house because he is also a
(17:05):
son of Abraham, for the son ofman has come to seek and to save
that which was lost.
Isn't that beautiful?
Jesus, talking to Zacchaeus,says this Zacchaeus is the
reason why I came, to seek andsave the things that are lost.
And a stronger man comes in,jesus, and he rescues us when
(17:32):
we're trapped.
That's what he does.
Now Jesus is explaining this tothe religious leaders.
He's in league with the dumbGod.
He's the ruler of the demons.
He's casting out by the rulerof the demons.
Jesus sets them straight.
But then he gives them awarning.
Now look directly at verse 28,because it's a big Bible verse
(17:59):
here, verse 28,.
He gives them the warning.
Assuredly, I say to you, allsins will be forgiven, the sons
of men, and whatever blasphemiesthey may utter.
So that's good to hold on to totoo.
All sin can be forgiven.
There is not a single sin thatcan't be forgiven in this world.
(18:23):
You know, I look at my lifesometimes and instinct is man.
But what?
I did you know where my mindwent, how evil I've been.
I get that Jesus loves me, butthat's pretty bad, right, and we
all have those things that welook at and go, yeah, but I
don't feel forgiven.
(18:43):
But in Jesus all sins can beforgiven, all blasphemies we'll
talk about that that they mayutter.
But and here's where it gets inour face verse 29.
But he who blasphemes againstthe Holy Spirit never has
forgiveness but is subject toeternal condemnation.
(19:08):
And this is a verse that haskept people up at night and it
probably should just a littlebit keep people up at night and
it probably should just a littlebit keep people up at night
from time to time.
But Jesus here gives a seriouswarning and he says but there is
one sin that will condemn youforever.
Eternal condemnation, hell.
(19:31):
Right, there is one sin.
It's a direct ticket to hell.
It seems that Jesus is sayinghere and in this one verse I've
seen disturb kids for a longtime, kids that you know, quote
unquote good kids, right, thereis such a thing, right, you know
(19:55):
.
Good people, all right, samething.
But what if I've committed thatone sin?
What if I blaspheme against theHoly Spirit?
I mean, I've said some prettybad things.
I've taken the Lord's name invain.
Is that blasphemy of the HolySpirit?
And it's kept a lot of peopleup over the years and probably
(20:19):
should.
And they ask well, am I lostforever?
Is there maybe no hope for me?
And Jesus here does say whoeverblasphemes the Holy Spirit
never has forgiveness.
But what is blasphemy, right?
We don't use that word.
It's kind of a high and loftyword.
Blasphemy, right?
(20:39):
What is blasphemy?
The word there means evilspeaking.
I've spoken evil before.
Is it me, you know?
Evil speaking To some degree,taking the Lord's name in vain,
that's evil speaking.
But it's more than that.
The religious leaders accusedJesus of blasphemy a couple
(21:02):
times, in the very end when hewas standing trial.
Matthew 26, verse 63,.
They say I put you under oathby the living God.
Tell us if you are the Christ,the Messiah, the Son of God.
And Jesus said to them it is asyou said.
Nevertheless, I say to youHereafter you will see the Son
(21:25):
of man sitting at the right handof the power and coming on the
clouds of heaven.
Then the high priest tore hisclothes, saying he has spoken
blasphemy.
What further need do we havewitness?
Look, you have heard hisblasphemy Right.
So Jesus, there, he says I'mthe Messiah, he proclaims to be
(21:45):
the Messiah, and he says you'regoing to see me judging the
world, you're going to see mecoming in power At that.
Because they don't believethat's true about Jesus, they
tear their clothes and they sayblasphemy.
You're saying things thataren't right.
You're claiming to be somebodythat you're not Blasphemy.
Another point Jesus in John,chapter 10, verse 30, he says a
(22:11):
pretty powerful thing there.
He says I and my father are one.
Now, not many people have intheir right minds have said me
and God, we're the same man andJesus says I and my father are
one.
Then the Jews took up stonesagain to stone him and Jesus
(22:32):
answered them many good worksI've shown you from my father.
Which of these works do youstone me?
The Jews answered him, sayingfor a good work.
We do not stone you, but forblasphemy, because you, being a
man, make yourself God.
Jesus, if he wasn't who he saidhe was, was taking Godhood upon
himself, saying I'm the same,me and the father are one.
(22:55):
Was taking godhood upon himselfsaying I'm the same, me and the
Father are one.
And rightfully, since theydidn't believe it, they took up
stones to stone him.
So we get a picture ofblasphemy here.
But what about Mark, chapter 3?
What is this all about?
What did they do?
Chapter 3, what is this allabout?
What did they do?
(23:15):
Well, the great thing is thatverse 30 tells us straight out
what was going on.
What was the blasphemy of theHoly Spirit?
Verse 30, it was because theysaid he has an unclean spirit.
So we're told here in Mark thatthe blasphemy that these
(23:38):
religious leaders had againstJesus was that they were taking
his good works and they weregiving credit to the devil.
They were saying well, he's notreally from God, he's in league
with the devil and it wasn'tbecause Jesus' feelings were
hurt, but it was because of whatit did to their heart.
They would never come to Jesus.
(23:59):
Now check this out.
They would never come to Jesusfor salvation because in their
minds Jesus was of the devil.
Why would they come to him?
So, never coming to Jesus, they?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
never came to salvation, because there was
only salvation in the name of.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Jesus.
So you see that the trajectoryof their life was off.
Trajectory Use this word acouple times today Trajectory
right, think about Lela's gonnabe getting on a plane in a few
hours here and they'll go up andI guess, depending on which
(24:39):
runway they go down, they mightstart off going north.
Well, if they just kept goingnorth and never turned another
direction, their trajectory wasnorth, the direction they were
going, they would end up inCanada, right, probably
something like that Michigan,canada, something straight north
.
They have to turn a little bit.
(24:59):
This is obvious.
Right, they'll have to startgoing west because that's where
California is west.
Well, trajectory, if yourtrajectory is off just a little
bit, you may end up west, butyou may end up in Oregon if
you're not careful.
Right, the trajectory which isreally hard to say.
(25:19):
Honestly, it makes a hugedifference in where we end up
and the trajectory last time ofthese guys, their life was going
the absolute wrong direction.
They were considering Jesus asin league with the devil.
(25:39):
They talked themselves into ithe's in league with the devil,
he's up the aisles above.
And they were going theabsolute wrong direction.
They would never come tosalvation.
So there's a warning here fromJesus that if you're going the
(26:03):
wrong direction, you'll neverend up at salvation, and that's
true.
Someone who never deals withwho Jesus is, who never accepts
the fact that Jesus, what he didon the cross for us, is the
only way to salvation and hopein this world, they'll never
(26:24):
come to that salvation.
That's a desperate place to be.
But what about us?
Could we blaspheme the HolySpirit today and find ourself
losing our salvation?
If you could lose yoursalvation, could we lose our
salvation?
Well, I'll say no, definitely.
(26:46):
You can't lose your salvationthe way you lose your car keys.
And I do it all the time rightand then we blame each other and
it goes around for a whileuntil I realized it was in my
other pocket.
But you can't lose yoursalvation like that, in my other
pocket.
But you can't lose yoursalvation like that.
But there are some interestingthings for us to consider very
quickly, right before we enjoylunch.
(27:07):
Let's turn to Hebrews, chaptertwo.
This is a turning time.
Turn to Hebrews, chapter two.
Hebrews, chapter two, verse 1.
A little bit of deep thoughtsbefore lunch.
(27:31):
Therefore, we must give themore earnest heed to the things
we have heard lest we drift away.
So the Hebrews that are beingwritten to here they had some
issues.
They were kind of finding theirway away from Jesus as the only
(27:52):
way they were starting to addtraditions back into the mix.
They were starting to add somegood works and stuff to
salvation.
And the author here says we gotto be careful lest we drift
away.
And this idea of drifting issomething that happens to me
(28:16):
often, right In my thoughts inlife, on the road, right.
Here's another one of thosethings that can start a
disagreement between me and mywife.
I tend to drift, you know, I'mjust inquisitive.
I'm always looking around,driving along, thinking, oh,
that would be a great photographof landscape.
(28:38):
You know, and I'm driving and,before you know it right, and my
wife will lovingly tap me onthe back, okay, you know, or
something like that.
Of course I'm okay, I was here,I was totally here you know,
and, and you know, a coupleminutes later I'm drifting the
other way.
(28:59):
I'm here, I'm here, I'm fine,you know.
But you know, we lose our waysometimes.
Right, we lose ourconcentration.
I do that often and you beginto drift and we get distracted.
Right, Paul had a friend namedDemas, impacted.
(29:23):
Right, Paul had a friend namedDemas.
And we read kind of some simplethings about this guy, Demas,
in Philippians chapter.
Oh, there's only one, notPhilippians Philemon, verse 24.
We read that Demas is a fellowlaborer.
We go, ah, Demas, fellowlaborer with Paul, that's
beautiful.
Fellow laborer with Paul,that's beautiful.
In Colossians 4, verse 14, Paulends his letter by saying Demas
(29:46):
says hi, by the way, Hi, Demas.
But then it all goes kind ofout of whack.
In 2 Timothy 4.10, Paul writesabout his friend Demas.
Demas has forsaken me, havingloved this present world.
And we look at this littlepicture into this life of Demas,
(30:09):
a fellow laborer.
He says hi, and then he's gone.
Right, it didn't just happenone day that he woke up and said
you know, what I'm sick of thisbeing with Paul thing.
I'm sick of this ministry thing,I'm sick of this Christianity
thing.
I'm done.
It was gradually over time.
He just kind of drifted awayuntil at one point he's forsaken
(30:34):
me, having loved this presentworld.
It's hard to see when somethinglike that happens gradually,
but we can drift, we know it.
Let's turn one more place here,chapter 3, hebrews, chapter 3,
since we're in Hebrews, rightStill there, hebrews, chapter 3,
(30:55):
verse 12.
Hebrews 3, 12.
Hebrews 3, 12.
A warning Beware, brethren,lest there be in any of you an
evil heart of unbelief departingfrom the living God, but exhort
(31:17):
one another daily, while it isstill called today, lest any of
you be hardened through thedeceitfulness of sin.
So another picture here is,along with drifting, is
hardening right, and for this Ithink right away of just any
kind of you know trail that youmight have ground that gets hard
(31:39):
.
We'll talk about it probablynext time in the parallel of the
sower.
Ground can be hard right as youwalk across the same path, you
knock the grass down.
Somebody else sees that andthey go that same direction.
They pack it down a littleharder until that path becomes
(31:59):
almost as hard as concrete,right Dirt.
You can do that, you know, justby walking over a trail for any
given amount of time, itbecomes hardened, it almost
becomes cemented, in a sense.
And here's what we're toldagain in verse 13, that we can
(32:19):
have, we can be hardened throughthe deceitfulness of sin.
So check it out.
Think of the long-term sin,choosing sin over righteousness.
Our hearts become hardened toit and we've all seen that.
Right, as you hear God sayingto you, what are you doing here?
(32:41):
Why are you doing this?
And your heart beats a littlefaster the conviction of the
Holy Spirit and you decide youknow what, though I'm going to
do it, I'm still doing it.
I'm going to go this way, andthen, over and over again, you
visit the same spot.
I mean, this is the way it getswhen the devil gets a foothold.
He'll find it over and overagain and, little by little, our
(33:03):
hearts get hardened towards ituntil it's like packed earth,
you know, hardened.
And we go now, the things I'mdoing I don't even want to do,
and here I am.
It doesn't even really bother meanymore.
I don't even feel that tug ofconviction and it really is that
(33:25):
hardening of heart.
So we're warned in these kindsof things, the little decisions
check it out.
It's not just the big decisionsthat make a difference in our
life.
It's not just those one momentthings where we say you know
what I don't believe in God?
Well, never mind, it's thedaily, lifelong things.
(33:49):
I tell often I'll be done herein a second, but I tell often
about my first ministry in aconvalescent home.
It has always stuck with me.
Convalescent home here, I thinkthey call it maybe an old folks
home, I'm not really sure, butyou get the picture.
And I remember, after a study,asking one guy, old guy,
probably in his 90s and Iremember asking what about you?
(34:14):
You're here, do you believe inJesus?
Have you given your life to him?
What's going on?
And he says, and he gave methis look, it kind of gave me
this look of I'm not ready forthat right now and I always
thought you're not ready forthat.
You know you're.
You're in a convalescent home.
(34:36):
You're 90 something years old,you're almost a hundred.
What do you got a party goingon later.
What are you waiting for?
But check it out.
I venture that for decadesthat's been his answer.
What do you think about Jesus?
I'm not ready for that rightnow.
And the constant, repetitivething of just saying no, it
(35:00):
became who he was Now.
All this put together, this, Ithink, is the danger.
This is the danger of where thereligious leaders were at oh,
that's the devil.
Oh, that miracle, that's thedevil.
Oh, no, beelzebub.
Right over there, and over andover again, they rejected what
(35:22):
God was doing in their heart,the conviction of the Holy
Spirit, of sin and righteousnessand judgment to come, and they
said no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Until, at one point, it wasjust who they were.
Now, the cool thing is, untilyou're gone, as long as you have
(35:43):
breath, there's always a chancefor a new beginning.
Until you die, there's a chanceto change, and it's surprising
when that happens.
But here's the danger that Ithink we're being warned about
Don't harden your heart, don'tdrift away.
But here's the danger that Ithink we're being warned about
(36:03):
Don't harden your heart, don'tdrift away, don't blaspheme the
Holy Spirit when he comes to usand says hey, that thing that
you're doing not okay.
You know, you weren't made forthat.
You know it doesn't glorify Godand you find yourself in a place
where you just kind of lookaround all at once and you say
(36:29):
how in the world did I get here?
Not where I wanted to be.
Maybe If you feel that you'rein a good spot, right, well, as
long as there's breath, there'san opportunity to change.
There's an opportunity to turnfrom our sin and turn to God.
There's an opportunity to turnfrom our sin and turn to God.
There's an opportunity to turnaway from our own righteousness
and turn to his righteousness.
And God is so, so good to warnus, just like he did with these
(36:52):
religious leaders.
Honestly, if I were Jesus, along time ago I would have said
you know what, go where you'regoing.
You know, you just don't worryabout it.
And yet he says beware, don'tblaspheme the Holy Spirit, don't
harden your hearts.
And he's always so good to usto do the same.
(37:14):
As we look around and we justgo.
You know where am I at?
Have I hardened my heart just alittle bit?
God, softened my heart?
Have I drifted off course justa little bit?
God, get me going the rightdirection.
Am I hardening my heart to whatyour spirit is saying, god?
I want to hear what your spiritis saying.
God, help me today.
So, god, thank you for thesegood warnings and God, thank you
(37:39):
for loving us so much that youcame to seek and save the lost.
We're all lost in our own way.
God, thank you for loving us.
I just pray that we take thesewords personally today.
Whatever point we're at in lifewhether it's just a little bit
(38:00):
of drift, or we're wonderingwhere in the point we're at in
life, whether it's just a littlebit of drift or we're wondering
where in the world we're at Godthat we would just make that
turn by your grace and turn backto you.
God, thank you that that's whatyou want, that those that come
to you would by no means turnaway.
God, work these things in ourlives, even today.
(38:23):
Thank you for being so good tous.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
All right, mark, chapter 3, verse 20,.
No rush getting through thisgreat book of Mark, but we have
seen that Jesus has beendemonstrating who he was God in
flesh, the heart of the Father,and some to some extent believe
(00:36):
the disciples are followingJesus, but many we've found
already this early in the storymany disbelieve and they become
the opposition.
Today it's his family, jesus'own family, is disbelieving who
he was, a little skeptical of,their big brother Jesus, worried
(00:57):
he might be going off the deepend.
We get it.
It makes sense from theirperspective to feel that way.
There's also a growingopposition from the religious
leaders.
Nothing that surprises us, butwe see it pretty clearly here
today what's going on in theirhearts.
So everybody is determining whoJesus was and what they were
(01:19):
going to do with him, and ofcourse that is the truth.
All the way through historyEverybody has had to decide what
to do with Jesus and most of usI think, especially in our neck
of the woods here most of uswould determine well, he's a
(01:40):
good teacher.
That seems to be, you know, notwilling to say, oh, he was
crazy, or he was evil orsomething like that, but we
would say, oh well, he was agood teacher had some good
things to say.
Well, cs Lewis most of youprobably heard this quote before
he said that's not an optionJust to say that Jesus was a
good person, a good teacher?
(02:00):
not an option.
You got to be more aggressivethan that.
Let me just read this, becausethis is the point in the Bible
where we bring up CS Lewis andhis discussion of who Jesus was.
Check this out.
He says I am trying here toprevent anyone saying the really
foolish thing that people oftensay about Jesus.
(02:23):
I'm ready to accept Jesus as agreat moral teacher, but I don't
accept his claim to be God.
That is one thing we must notsay.
A man who is merely a man andhas said the sort of things that
Jesus said would not be a greatmoral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic onthe level of a man who says he
(02:44):
is a poached egg, that'sinteresting, or else he would be
the devil of hell.
You must make the choice Eitherthis man, jesus, was as and is
the son of God, or else a madmanor something worse.
So, putting it in front of ustoday and I think we see this
pretty clearly we have to decidewho Jesus was, and people were
(03:13):
deciding in their own world, theancient world, who he was.
His family were landing on thisidea that something was wrong
with Jesus.
He's kind of lost his mind.
Perhaps he's a lunatic.
He's a lunatic.
The religious leaders are atleast claiming that Jesus was of
the devil, that he was evil,and so we see these two options,
(03:36):
but they're really not goodoptions, we'll find really to
conclude that Jesus was in factwho he said he was God in flesh,
come to save us.
That's where we ought to land,but let's jump in and see where
they're at today in verse 20.
Then the multitude cametogether again so they could not
as much as eat bread.
(03:56):
But when his own people, that'sJesus' family, heard about this
, they went out to lay hold ofhim, for they said he is out of
his mind.
So here we see Jesus' family,and the first thing you can see
here is that Jesus did have afamily.
Right, we know Mary, his mother, but he also had brothers and
(04:20):
sisters.
We read later in Mark 6, 3, thathe had sisters.
So the whole family dynamic ofJesus growing up, picture that
To them he's big brother.
They haven't read all thesedifferent stories that we know
from the gospel account.
They just know him as part ofthe family.
(04:43):
And here he is teaching somepretty intense things.
He's doing some pretty intensemiracles and people are
following him to the point wherehe can't even be in a house
because it's packed out.
He can't even take time to eatbread because people are coming
to him and the family realizesthat things are falling apart.
(05:07):
They know how the religiousleaders feel about Jesus.
We've read that the religiousleaders went to the Herodians to
find a way to destroy Jesus.
They want to kill him.
They're going to accuse him ofblasphemy and it won't be the
first time, I'm sure here and itwas something that his family
(05:29):
knew could get Jesus killedright Blasphemy something that
the people would spontaneouslypick up stones and throw them at
you to kill you.
So his family sees him and theygo.
Things are snowballing here.
People want to kill you, jesus,and they determine he is
(05:50):
probably out of his mind Nowthat sounds pretty cruel to say
about your family out of theirmind but in this case they might
have been trying to save hislife honestly, because that was
one of the few things insanitywas one of the few things that
(06:12):
could get you out of gettingkilled in this situation.
Well, he's just crazy, crazyguy saying that he's God in the
flesh.
Crazy guy, please don't killhim in the flesh.
Crazy guy, please don't killhim.
And so perhaps his family iswell-meaning and they're trying
(06:32):
to save his life, maybe, but youcouldn't really say that he was
crazy.
He was very determined to saythe things that he did.
The works that he did.
They proved that what he wassaying was really true.
And yet they had to deal withthat.
Now we see they're not theworst of the crowd here In verse
(06:57):
22,.
And the scribes who came downfrom Jerusalem said well, he has
Baal's above and by the rulerof the demons he casts out
demons.
So here we see the scribesright, they're the Bible
scholars of the day.
They know the word backwardsand forward.
(07:20):
They explain the Bible.
They would be teaching theBible studies.
They explain the Bible.
They would be teaching theBible studies.
Parallel account in Matthew,chapter 12, says the Pharisees
were also here at this point.
Jesus has just cast a demon.
Once again, in Luke and Matthewwe read he's just cast a demon
(07:45):
out that had a guide, blind andmute.
So that's what's happened rightbefore this Cast a demon out.
Everybody's in awe.
The man who wasn't able tospeak is able to speak.
He wasn't able to see, he'sable to see.
And here the scribes and thePharisees we read.
They have their response.
We see here their response isvery negative.
(08:10):
We find out and we understandthat they've kind of had this
chip on their shoulder right,jesus doesn't do things their
way.
He doesn't respect theirreligious observance of fasting.
Remember they came and askedwell, how come our disciples and
John's disciples fast?
But you and your disciplesdon't.
(08:31):
Isn't it worth anything what wedo?
We fast?
Jesus didn't respect that inthe way that they had hoped.
He didn't respect theirtraditions of the Sabbath.
You'll remember their healing onthe Sabbath made them very mad
because their tradition saidhealing shouldn't be done on the
Sabbath.
It's work.
(08:51):
You're breaking our traditionsNow.
It wasn't what the Bible said.
The Bible didn't have any lawagainst healing people on the
Sabbath, but their traditionsaid that, their authority said
that and Jesus didn't respectthat, and so they wanted to kill
him.
It was their motivation.
But here we see their response.
(09:12):
It's their words.
Notice, as Jesus just cast outa demon.
They come down from Jerusalemand they say he has Beelzebub by
the ruler of the demons.
He casts out demons.
So Beelzebub not just the lyricfrom a Queen song, right?
Beelzebub was an idol, a godfrom a place called Ekron, and
(09:39):
he was known as the Lord of theFlies another work of literature
.
Lord of the.
Flies, the dung god, if you canimagine that.
A god who was Lord of the Fliesthere, the dung god, the ruler
of the demons.
They say.
Now you can kind of hear theirmocking in this.
(10:00):
Right, as Jesus is beingfollowed by many people, the
religious elite say, oh, he'sjust, he's doing this through
the dumb God, because we knowthere's a lot of dumb going on
here.
Right, and you can see thatthey're being disrespectful,
they're being harsh, and it'sjust their words.
(10:21):
They're saying this that hecasts out demons by the ruler of
the demons.
Right, and you can almost sensetheir laughing here.
He's not a good man, he doesn'tfollow our laws, he's working
with Satan's power.
That's how he can do all thesemiraculous things.
(10:42):
And certainly it's politicalname-calling, right, it's the
kind of stuff we experience alot in our day and age, right,
Just the instinctive.
Well, you know, for a convictedfelon, not bad.
Oh, for a crazy person.
You know, I did it.
You know they're justresponding.
(11:03):
Well, he's working by Satan thedumb guy.
Right, and their words are notargument but they're mockery,
they're trying to shut Jesusdown.
Now check it out.
We find that this is a dangerousthing to do.
What's going on in their heart?
Dangerous thing to do.
(11:24):
But Jesus in verse 23, takesthe time to explain a few things
to them, to warn them.
Now check it out.
That is amazingly graceful ofhim, isn't it, as these
religious leaders just want totrap Jesus, they want to mock
(11:45):
Jesus.
Jesus takes the time to explainwhere they've gone wrong.
That's a lot of compassion thatJesus would have for these guys
.
Notice what he says.
So he called them to himselfand said to them in parables I'm
going to tell you a story.
How can Satan cast out Satan?
(12:08):
If a kingdom is divided againstitself, that kingdom cannot
stand.
If a house is divided againstitself, that house cannot stand.
If Satan has risen up againsthimself and is divided, he
cannot stand but has his end.
So here Jesus explains somelogic to them.
(12:32):
Look, you're saying that I'mcasting out demons by the prince
of demons, that Satan iscasting out Satan.
You don't make any sense.
He says look at it logically.
Nobody fighting a war is goingto attack themselves like that.
You know.
Nobody, you know, in awrestling match is going to go
(12:54):
bang their head against the wall.
You know what I mean Knockyourself out.
Why would you do that?
Why would Satan try to fighthimself?
It's like split personalitiesgoing on here.
Jesus says that's just crazy.
Satan's not dumb, right, histactics are not silly.
He would not attack himself.
(13:17):
What you're saying doesn't makeany sense.
But notice some greatapplication here.
Notice verse 27.
No one can enter a strong man'shouse and plunder his goods
unless he first binds the strongman and then he will plunder
his house.
So Jesus paints another picturefor them a strong man, you know,
(13:42):
picture Arnold Schwarzeneggertype you know big muscly guy and
he says if you wanted to robthat guy, you would have to be
stronger than him.
That's kind of the point here.
He says so look at it, if I amessentially robbing Satan of his
(14:03):
captives, that's kind of whathe's saying here that Satan
holds people captive captive toso many things, you know,
captive to drugs, captive tolust, belongings, captive to
just the desire to simply beaccepted.
It just rules our life.
(14:24):
We can be captive to anything,right, and the devil is so good
at holding us captive, hostage,and we're paralyzed, we're in
chains, you know.
And Jesus here says look, ifSatan's got something that I
want, the only way that I cantake it from him now think about
(14:46):
this the only way that I cantake it from him is if I'm
stronger than he is.
So what's the truth here?
Jesus is stronger than thedevil.
That's the only reason why he'sbeen able to deliver these
people who were in bondage tothe devil is because I'm
stronger than these other demons.
(15:07):
And Jesus here is making themthink Satan wouldn't attack
himself.
That's ridiculous.
And if I'm going to takesomething from the devil, I'm
going to be stronger than him.
Jesus says.
And that's the truth.
That's a wonderful truth, evenat this point in the story, a
wonderful truth that Jesus isable and wants to deliver us
(15:31):
from our own captivity, is ableand wants to deliver us from our
own captivity, the things thatjust hold us down and make life
just impossible to live, for God.
Jesus came to deliver us fromthe power of darkness.
That's a wonderful truth tohold on to.
When we feel trapped by our ownsin, jesus is stronger, and I
(16:02):
just thought of this beautifulaccount in Luke, chapter 19.
It's Zacchaeus right.
Zacchaeus who this Zacchaeus,not that?
Zacchaeus was a wee little man,right, and you remember he was
a tax collector.
Nobody wanted to be around andhe climbed up in the tree to see
Jesus.
And Jesus, in a sense,delivered Zacchaeus just by
showing him love.
It was really pretty powerful,right?
(16:24):
Jesus made a difference inZacchaeus' life by coming to his
tree and saying Zacchaeus, I'mcoming to your house for dinner
tonight.
And that was how the story went.
And Zacchaeus was a changed man, right, because Jesus invited
himself over for dinner.
But check out the differencethat happens in Zacchaeus' life.
(16:45):
Just listen to this.
Zacchaeus stood and said toJesus Look, lord, I give half my
goods to the poor and if I'vetaken anything from anyone by
false accusation, I'll restoreit fourfold.
And Jesus said to him now,listen to this.
It's beautiful.
Today, salvation has come tothis house because he is also a
(17:05):
son of Abraham, for the son ofman has come to seek and to save
that which was lost.
Isn't that beautiful?
Jesus, talking to Zacchaeus,says this Zacchaeus is the
reason why I came, to seek andsave the things that are lost.
And a stronger man comes in,jesus, and he rescues us when
(17:32):
we're trapped.
That's what he does.
Now Jesus is explaining this tothe religious leaders.
He's in league with the dumbGod.
He's the ruler of the demons.
He's casting out by the rulerof the demons.
Jesus sets them straight.
But then he gives them awarning.
Now look directly at verse 28,because it's a big Bible verse
(17:59):
here, verse 28,.
He gives them the warning.
Assuredly, I say to you, allsins will be forgiven, the sons
of men, and whatever blasphemiesthey may utter.
So that's good to hold on to totoo.
All sin can be forgiven.
There is not a single sin thatcan't be forgiven in this world.
(18:23):
You know, I look at my lifesometimes and instinct is man.
But what?
I did you know where my mindwent, how evil I've been.
I get that Jesus loves me, butthat's pretty bad, right, and we
all have those things that welook at and go, yeah, but I
don't feel forgiven.
(18:43):
But in Jesus all sins can beforgiven, all blasphemies we'll
talk about that that they mayutter.
But and here's where it gets inour face verse 29.
But he who blasphemes againstthe Holy Spirit never has
forgiveness but is subject toeternal condemnation.
(19:08):
And this is a verse that haskept people up at night and it
probably should just a littlebit keep people up at night and
it probably should just a littlebit keep people up at night
from time to time.
But Jesus here gives a seriouswarning and he says but there is
one sin that will condemn youforever.
Eternal condemnation, hell.
(19:31):
Right, there is one sin.
It's a direct ticket to hell.
It seems that Jesus is sayinghere and in this one verse I've
seen disturb kids for a longtime, kids that you know, quote
unquote good kids, right, thereis such a thing, right, you know
(19:55):
.
Good people, all right, samething.
But what if I've committed thatone sin?
What if I blaspheme against theHoly Spirit?
I mean, I've said some prettybad things.
I've taken the Lord's name invain.
Is that blasphemy of the HolySpirit?
And it's kept a lot of peopleup over the years and probably
(20:19):
should.
And they ask well, am I lostforever?
Is there maybe no hope for me?
And Jesus here does say whoeverblasphemes the Holy Spirit
never has forgiveness.
But what is blasphemy, right?
We don't use that word.
It's kind of a high and loftyword.
Blasphemy, right?
(20:39):
What is blasphemy?
The word there means evilspeaking.
I've spoken evil before.
Is it me, you know?
Evil speaking To some degree,taking the Lord's name in vain,
that's evil speaking.
But it's more than that.
The religious leaders accusedJesus of blasphemy a couple
(21:02):
times, in the very end when hewas standing trial.
Matthew 26, verse 63,.
They say I put you under oathby the living God.
Tell us if you are the Christ,the Messiah, the Son of God.
And Jesus said to them it is asyou said.
Nevertheless, I say to youHereafter you will see the Son
(21:25):
of man sitting at the right handof the power and coming on the
clouds of heaven.
Then the high priest tore hisclothes, saying he has spoken
blasphemy.
What further need do we havewitness?
Look, you have heard hisblasphemy Right.
So Jesus, there, he says I'mthe Messiah, he proclaims to be
(21:45):
the Messiah, and he says you'regoing to see me judging the
world, you're going to see mecoming in power At that.
Because they don't believethat's true about Jesus, they
tear their clothes and they sayblasphemy.
You're saying things thataren't right.
You're claiming to be somebodythat you're not Blasphemy.
Another point Jesus in John,chapter 10, verse 30, he says a
(22:11):
pretty powerful thing there.
He says I and my father are one.
Now, not many people have intheir right minds have said me
and God, we're the same man andJesus says I and my father are
one.
Then the Jews took up stonesagain to stone him and Jesus
(22:32):
answered them many good worksI've shown you from my father.
Which of these works do youstone me?
The Jews answered him, sayingfor a good work.
We do not stone you, but forblasphemy, because you, being a
man, make yourself God.
Jesus, if he wasn't who he saidhe was, was taking Godhood upon
himself, saying I'm the same,me and the father are one.
(22:55):
Was taking godhood upon himselfsaying I'm the same, me and the
Father are one.
And rightfully, since theydidn't believe it, they took up
stones to stone him.
So we get a picture ofblasphemy here.
But what about Mark, chapter 3?
What is this all about?
What did they do?
Chapter 3, what is this allabout?
What did they do?
(23:15):
Well, the great thing is thatverse 30 tells us straight out
what was going on.
What was the blasphemy of theHoly Spirit?
Verse 30, it was because theysaid he has an unclean spirit.
So we're told here in Mark thatthe blasphemy that these
(23:38):
religious leaders had againstJesus was that they were taking
his good works and they weregiving credit to the devil.
They were saying well, he's notreally from God, he's in league
with the devil and it wasn'tbecause Jesus' feelings were
hurt, but it was because of whatit did to their heart.
They would never come to Jesus.
(23:59):
Now check this out.
They would never come to Jesusfor salvation because in their
minds Jesus was of the devil.
Why would they come to him?
So, never coming to Jesus, they?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
never came to salvation, because there was
only salvation in the name of.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Jesus.
So you see that the trajectoryof their life was off.
Trajectory Use this word acouple times today Trajectory
right, think about Lela's gonnabe getting on a plane in a few
hours here and they'll go up andI guess, depending on which
(24:39):
runway they go down, they mightstart off going north.
Well, if they just kept goingnorth and never turned another
direction, their trajectory wasnorth, the direction they were
going, they would end up inCanada, right, probably
something like that Michigan,canada, something straight north
.
They have to turn a little bit.
(24:59):
This is obvious.
Right, they'll have to startgoing west because that's where
California is west.
Well, trajectory, if yourtrajectory is off just a little
bit, you may end up west, butyou may end up in Oregon if
you're not careful.
Right, the trajectory which isreally hard to say.
(25:19):
Honestly, it makes a hugedifference in where we end up
and the trajectory last time ofthese guys, their life was going
the absolute wrong direction.
They were considering Jesus asin league with the devil.
(25:39):
They talked themselves into ithe's in league with the devil,
he's up the aisles above.
And they were going theabsolute wrong direction.
They would never come tosalvation.
So there's a warning here fromJesus that if you're going the
(26:03):
wrong direction, you'll neverend up at salvation, and that's
true.
Someone who never deals withwho Jesus is, who never accepts
the fact that Jesus, what he didon the cross for us, is the
only way to salvation and hopein this world, they'll never
(26:24):
come to that salvation.
That's a desperate place to be.
But what about us?
Could we blaspheme the HolySpirit today and find ourself
losing our salvation?
If you could lose yoursalvation, could we lose our
salvation?
Well, I'll say no, definitely.
(26:46):
You can't lose your salvationthe way you lose your car keys.
And I do it all the time rightand then we blame each other and
it goes around for a whileuntil I realized it was in my
other pocket.
But you can't lose yoursalvation like that, in my other
pocket.
But you can't lose yoursalvation like that.
But there are some interestingthings for us to consider very
quickly, right before we enjoylunch.
(27:07):
Let's turn to Hebrews, chaptertwo.
This is a turning time.
Turn to Hebrews, chapter two.
Hebrews, chapter two, verse 1.
A little bit of deep thoughtsbefore lunch.
(27:31):
Therefore, we must give themore earnest heed to the things
we have heard lest we drift away.
So the Hebrews that are beingwritten to here they had some
issues.
They were kind of finding theirway away from Jesus as the only
(27:52):
way they were starting to addtraditions back into the mix.
They were starting to add somegood works and stuff to
salvation.
And the author here says we gotto be careful lest we drift
away.
And this idea of drifting issomething that happens to me
(28:16):
often, right In my thoughts inlife, on the road, right.
Here's another one of thosethings that can start a
disagreement between me and mywife.
I tend to drift, you know, I'mjust inquisitive.
I'm always looking around,driving along, thinking, oh,
that would be a great photographof landscape.
(28:38):
You know, and I'm driving and,before you know it right, and my
wife will lovingly tap me onthe back, okay, you know, or
something like that.
Of course I'm okay, I was here,I was totally here you know,
and, and you know, a coupleminutes later I'm drifting the
other way.
(28:59):
I'm here, I'm here, I'm fine,you know.
But you know, we lose our waysometimes.
Right, we lose ourconcentration.
I do that often and you beginto drift and we get distracted.
Right, Paul had a friend namedDemas, impacted.
(29:23):
Right, Paul had a friend namedDemas.
And we read kind of some simplethings about this guy, Demas,
in Philippians chapter.
Oh, there's only one, notPhilippians Philemon, verse 24.
We read that Demas is a fellowlaborer.
We go, ah, Demas, fellowlaborer with Paul, that's
beautiful.
Fellow laborer with Paul,that's beautiful.
In Colossians 4, verse 14, Paulends his letter by saying Demas
(29:46):
says hi, by the way, Hi, Demas.
But then it all goes kind ofout of whack.
In 2 Timothy 4.10, Paul writesabout his friend Demas.
Demas has forsaken me, havingloved this present world.
And we look at this littlepicture into this life of Demas,
(30:09):
a fellow laborer.
He says hi, and then he's gone.
Right, it didn't just happenone day that he woke up and said
you know, what I'm sick of thisbeing with Paul thing.
I'm sick of this ministry thing,I'm sick of this Christianity
thing.
I'm done.
It was gradually over time.
He just kind of drifted awayuntil at one point he's forsaken
(30:34):
me, having loved this presentworld.
It's hard to see when somethinglike that happens gradually,
but we can drift, we know it.
Let's turn one more place here,chapter 3, hebrews, chapter 3,
since we're in Hebrews, rightStill there, hebrews, chapter 3,
(30:55):
verse 12.
Hebrews 3, 12.
Hebrews 3, 12.
A warning Beware, brethren,lest there be in any of you an
evil heart of unbelief departingfrom the living God, but exhort
(31:17):
one another daily, while it isstill called today, lest any of
you be hardened through thedeceitfulness of sin.
So another picture here is,along with drifting, is
hardening right, and for this Ithink right away of just any
kind of you know trail that youmight have ground that gets hard
(31:39):
.
We'll talk about it probablynext time in the parallel of the
sower.
Ground can be hard right as youwalk across the same path, you
knock the grass down.
Somebody else sees that andthey go that same direction.
They pack it down a littleharder until that path becomes
(31:59):
almost as hard as concrete,right Dirt.
You can do that, you know, justby walking over a trail for any
given amount of time, itbecomes hardened, it almost
becomes cemented, in a sense.
And here's what we're toldagain in verse 13, that we can
(32:19):
have, we can be hardened throughthe deceitfulness of sin.
So check it out.
Think of the long-term sin,choosing sin over righteousness.
Our hearts become hardened toit and we've all seen that.
Right, as you hear God sayingto you, what are you doing here?
(32:41):
Why are you doing this?
And your heart beats a littlefaster the conviction of the
Holy Spirit and you decide youknow what, though I'm going to
do it, I'm still doing it.
I'm going to go this way, andthen, over and over again, you
visit the same spot.
I mean, this is the way it getswhen the devil gets a foothold.
He'll find it over and overagain and, little by little, our
(33:03):
hearts get hardened towards ituntil it's like packed earth,
you know, hardened.
And we go now, the things I'mdoing I don't even want to do,
and here I am.
It doesn't even really bother meanymore.
I don't even feel that tug ofconviction and it really is that
(33:25):
hardening of heart.
So we're warned in these kindsof things, the little decisions
check it out.
It's not just the big decisionsthat make a difference in our
life.
It's not just those one momentthings where we say you know
what I don't believe in God?
Well, never mind, it's thedaily, lifelong things.
(33:49):
I tell often I'll be done herein a second, but I tell often
about my first ministry in aconvalescent home.
It has always stuck with me.
Convalescent home here, I thinkthey call it maybe an old folks
home, I'm not really sure, butyou get the picture.
And I remember, after a study,asking one guy, old guy,
probably in his 90s and Iremember asking what about you?
(34:14):
You're here, do you believe inJesus?
Have you given your life to him?
What's going on?
And he says, and he gave methis look, it kind of gave me
this look of I'm not ready forthat right now and I always
thought you're not ready forthat.
You know you're.
You're in a convalescent home.
(34:36):
You're 90 something years old,you're almost a hundred.
What do you got a party goingon later.
What are you waiting for?
But check it out.
I venture that for decadesthat's been his answer.
What do you think about Jesus?
I'm not ready for that rightnow.
And the constant, repetitivething of just saying no, it
(35:00):
became who he was Now.
All this put together, this, Ithink, is the danger.
This is the danger of where thereligious leaders were at oh,
that's the devil.
Oh, that miracle, that's thedevil.
Oh, no, beelzebub.
Right over there, and over andover again, they rejected what
(35:22):
God was doing in their heart,the conviction of the Holy
Spirit, of sin and righteousnessand judgment to come, and they
said no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Until, at one point, it wasjust who they were.
Now, the cool thing is, untilyou're gone, as long as you have
(35:43):
breath, there's always a chancefor a new beginning.
Until you die, there's a chanceto change, and it's surprising
when that happens.
But here's the danger that Ithink we're being warned about
Don't harden your heart, don'tdrift away.
But here's the danger that Ithink we're being warned about
(36:03):
Don't harden your heart, don'tdrift away, don't blaspheme the
Holy Spirit when he comes to usand says hey, that thing that
you're doing not okay.
You know, you weren't made forthat.
You know it doesn't glorify Godand you find yourself in a place
where you just kind of lookaround all at once and you say
(36:29):
how in the world did I get here?
Not where I wanted to be.
Maybe If you feel that you'rein a good spot, right, well, as
long as there's breath, there'san opportunity to change.
There's an opportunity to turnfrom our sin and turn to God.
There's an opportunity to turnfrom our sin and turn to God.
There's an opportunity to turnaway from our own righteousness
and turn to his righteousness.
And God is so, so good to warnus, just like he did with these
(36:52):
religious leaders.
Honestly, if I were Jesus, along time ago I would have said
you know what, go where you'regoing.
You know, you just don't worryabout it.
And yet he says beware, don'tblaspheme the Holy Spirit, don't
harden your hearts.
And he's always so good to usto do the same.
(37:14):
As we look around and we justgo.
You know where am I at?
Have I hardened my heart just alittle bit?
God, softened my heart?
Have I drifted off course justa little bit?
God, get me going the rightdirection.
Am I hardening my heart to whatyour spirit is saying, god?
I want to hear what your spiritis saying.
God, help me today.
So, god, thank you for thesegood warnings and God, thank you
(37:39):
for loving us so much that youcame to seek and save the lost.
We're all lost in our own way.
God, thank you for loving us.
I just pray that we take thesewords personally today.
Whatever point we're at in lifewhether it's just a little bit
(38:00):
of drift, or we're wonderingwhere in the point we're at in
life, whether it's just a littlebit of drift or we're wondering
where in the world we're at Godthat we would just make that
turn by your grace and turn backto you.
God, thank you that that's whatyou want, that those that come
to you would by no means turnaway.
God, work these things in ourlives, even today.
(38:23):
Thank you for being so good tous.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
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