The Gospel of Luke 12:1-12 Beware the leaven

Good morning. We're going to go into this passage, Luke 1-12. First, a couple of things to bring to your attention. We'll get more details and sign-up sheets, but the electives that we're going to be offering for next year, 1 Corinthians, taught by Roger, Bob, and Randy. The Principle of Position by Mike Courtney and J.D., and then How to Study the Bible, which will be expanded to one year. So it's, I'm calling it How to Study the Bible III, since it's a different version than before, by myself, Craig Case, and Jeremy. So anyway, we'll get more info to you, but just so you kind of keep those in mind and be thinking about that.

One other thing is I asked you a few weeks ago to pray for Glenn Sandy getting his U.S. visa and he's going to pick it up tomorrow in Kampala. So the Lord answered prayer there. It was quite a bit of work. since they apparently just routinely turn those down, and we were like astounded that Hassan got a visa without any trouble at all. In this case, we had to go through quite a bit of work, but eventually have it. So we'll find out the timing of that, depending on when they give him the visa for, and keep you posted.

So back into Luke 12, 1 through 12. And in this, we want to see what's straight ahead here in this passage. Who and what to be aware of. That will be one interesting topic. Who to fear and not fear. And then the unforgivable sin. Yes, we're going to address it. And I think there may be a little bit of a surprise in that. I was. Next, the Holy Spirit inspired speech.

And one of the things that we observe is that in Luke, as in all four of the Gospels, parts of the last half of each of the Gospels is giving these disciples, who are soon to be apostles, with the exception of Judas, getting these disciples ready for the ministry as Church Age Apostles. That's something that's very interesting as you look. It's the last half roughly of each of the Gospels and we're stepping into it here kind of for the first time in what is chapter 12 at the end of it is kind of the midpoint by chapter count in the Gospel of Luke so it's about the last half roughly Jesus starts in getting them ready to be church-age apostles even though they don't understand a lot yet. One of the things we mentioned previously is the disciples were constantly learning as apostles and they had aha moments for decades things that they didn't realize okay so here's Luke 12 1 under these circumstances after so many thousands of people gathered together that they were stepping on one another he began saying his disciples first of all beware of the leaven of the pharisees which is hypocrisy Okay, one thing that's very interesting as I read this I was fascinated At this point in time, dr. Luke tells us that thousands of people are gathered. Okay, they are packed in together stepping on one another and as Dr. Luke puts it. Now, here is what is amazing.

Instead of trying to address the crowd with all those thousands of people gathered, you'd think, here's my opportunity, right? Lots of people. Where does Jesus put his attention? He turns to his disciples and uses it as a teaching time for his disciples instead of just responding to the numbers of people present.

Isn't that amazing? So that's very interesting. The Lord knows what's the best spiritual opportunity. And this, it was not the numbers of people that was providing the best spiritual opportunity. With thousands of people gathered around, He talks to who? His disciples. He talks to His disciples because He sees the best spiritual opportunity.

I think that's something for us to consider as we're seeing things. It isn't automatically the numbers. But to be looking at, Lord, what is the best spiritual opportunity you put in front of me here? It may not be the obvious one. But looking for the spiritual opportunity and pursuing that, and what spiritual opportunity is the Lord put in front of us?

So, he says, caution, beware of those Pharisees. Beware of the Pharisees. So Jesus says beware to his disciples about the Pharisees also in Matthew and in Mark and in Luke. So all three of these so-called synoptic Gospels have this beware of the Pharisees. Interesting, the common theme, even though they're directed to different groups of people. So, and when you examine side by side the different times and places, he apparently said this not just in different Gospels, but at different times as well. So it was apparently something that he said multiple times to them. Watch out for those Pharisees, beware.

As we pointed out last Sunday, Luke 20.46, which that will take us a while to get there. I hope Jesus comes before then, but anyway, Jesus also warned about the scribes, that is, the lawyers, as we saw in a previous study here. And so, cautions about the scribes, cautions about the Pharisees, cautions about the Sadducees also included, and even a caution about Herod Antipas.

This is the one who had John the Baptist's head. He said, be careful about that guy, right? So, oh my leavens, right? Leaven, of course, is another name for yeast which causes the bread to rise. And it looks like he's breathing. Anyway, in most cases in the Bible, leaven stands for an evil influence as it does here.

So the Israelites were not to have leaven anywhere in their land. I mean, completely, certainly out of the houses, but anywhere in their borders during the seven day long feast of unleavened bread. It symbolizes, typically, and it does in this case, an evil influence. An evil influence. And so that comes out of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. You have those all telling them, do not have any of this leaven as you're having this Feast of Unleavened Bread.

So a little goes a long way, as you can probably tell. Very big influence here. So the reason that the leaven is such a good picture of evil and hypocrisy is a small amount is required just to raise a whole loaf. About seven grams, about the weight of a quarter, is all it takes to have the whole loaf go crazy. I've heard stories of people, aside from that little thing with Lucy. I've heard stories of people, you know, putting the bread into rice and then leaving the house and coming back to, you know, it's all over the table or it's coming, you know, out the front of the stove or that sort of thing. So anyway, mixed in, the entire loaf is impacted by one small amount.

And that's the reason that Jesus selected this word picture about the Pharisees. The motive behind the Pharisees mixed and erratic attention to the law was selfish. Now he said mixed and erratic. It was mixed because sometimes you have one group of Pharisees teaching one thing and another group of Pharisees teaching another. And not entirely, but a lot of it was the Hillel and Shammai dichotomy that we talked about last week, where there were over 300, I think 316 at least, different areas of disagreement among them. So you have that, and then erratic attention, where they'd pay real close attention, I got a tithe even of my garden herbs, mint and dill and all that sort of thing, and then figuring out some way I can completely sidestep the law.

It was okay, for example, if I swore an oath, and swore by Jerusalem, and swore by heaven, and swore by earth, it was okay to lie. It's okay to lie. You're not held responsible if you swear by those three things. As a matter of fact, if you want to have it be really impressive, you can list all three.

And the person, unless they understand all the little ins and outs, does not realize that they're being lied to. But, you've got to make sure you tithe of all the little garden herbs. So they were erratic and mixed. But their motive was selfish. I know all the little details of the law, and you don't. My knowledge of the law is better than your knowledge of the law. So the selfish motive for holding to the Pharisees version of the law of Moses tainted everything.

Now can you see a motive? Oh, there goes a motive. No, you don't see the motive, but Jesus did. And that's why he warned these disciples. Now, a warning was needed. In reading the four Gospels, you know, you could get the idea that everybody knew how bad the Pharisees were, but that's not really the case.

Most Jews looked upon the Pharisees as the heroes. These guys are really great. They're doing it right. Most Jews thought that was, you know, a good thing that the Pharisees were doing. And so that's why Jesus had to warn them. Beware of those guys. Everybody else thinks they're the hero. Don't you do that.

So he repeatedly warned them about the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes. So of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Essenes, those are the three primary religious groups in Israel. Each of those groups was not necessarily all homogeneous and the same.

But of those groups, the Pharisees actually believed in their doctrine closer to Jesus and what he taught than the other groups. And so, just as we were talking in the elective right before here about discernment, he was wanting them to have discernment about these Pharisees.

Yes, they believe in the entire Old Testament, as opposed to the Sadducees. Yes, the Pharisees believe in a Messiah. The Pharisees, in fact, believe in miracles, where the Sadducees did not. The Pharisees believe in a resurrection, so Jesus would agree with all those things, right?

Problem. It was the areas where they disagreed substantially that was the problem, and the Pharisees were quite certain that when the Messiah came, that the Messiah would be very, very happy with them, right? Which is one of the reasons that the Pharisees were very, very sure that Jesus was not the Messiah because he was not happy with them.

Right? Okay. So a warning was needed. A warning was needed. He wanted to make sure that these disciples didn't get sucked in like the rest of the culture. Like all the rest of the Jews who looked up to the scribes and the Pharisees. Oh, these guys are doing it right. They get all the honorable greetings in the marketplace and as you go by Everybody's bowing to them. He says, beware, watch out.

So it's time for another farm story. OK. On the farm, we not only tried to raise things, but we also tried living off the land. And there was a plant here, sometimes called the Indian soap plant or the wavy leaf soap plant or variations on that theme.

Now, it was a handy plant to identify because it had a bulb that had multiple uses. First of all, the bulb itself had a soapy consistency. And that soapy consistency, you could use it for soap, And the Indians, it's illegal to do this now, but the Indians used to take the bulb and break it up and throw it in ponds and in slow moving streams because it would bring the fish all up. And then they'd just go pick the fish up instead of having to fish. And so it was used for that. If you boil off the soapy stuff, what's left is kind of like a potato and can be eaten. So anyway, we would find these.

Sometimes they'd be growing in an area, a number of them together. And so we would find these, but we wanted to look for this particular pattern in the stem that came up, in these little flowers, because there's another plant that looks very much like it. that you don't want to pull up, and you don't want to eat it, and you don't want to use it for soap, because it's toxic.

And so it's discernment. Discernment. Distinguishing between the two. This is very good, and this is terrible. And discernment is the key point here. And that's the thing that Jesus was trying to get across. What these Pharisees have is toxic. Don't mistake it for the real thing. Don't mistake it for the real thing.

So discernment is very important in a great many things but it's also becoming rather rare. It's becoming more rare in our culture for people to be discerning. Increasingly people can't tell the difference between truth and falsehood and right and wrong. And the culture is headed that way and it's all the more important for us to be discerning as to what is right and wrong, and to know where people are headed.

So between the world, the flesh, and the devil, there are a lot of spiritual and moral fakes out there, just like that plant had something that looked very similar to it. The difference is huge. Most people are getting taken in by the fakes and the blurred spectrum in morals and spirituality. Oh, I'm spiritual, right? And by that, they mean something quite different than what we do, right?

Nancy had an encounter in the grocery store recently that kind of blew her mind. A married man asking an engaged woman out on a date. And Nancy challenged the guy, Oh, oh, you know, I'm faithful to my wife. I buy her $1,500 sheets. You know, So there's a lot of people out there that just don't get it. And increasingly, that's getting to be the environment out there. Here's Luke 12, 2 and 3.

But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops. One of the things, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees will ultimately become more evident. The contrast between the message of Christ and his apostles with that of the Pharisees will become clear. And that's something, those who go through the book of Acts, you actually see that. The Pharisees, by the way, were the ones who spread out their Pharisee gospel out into the rest of the Gentile world.

The Sadducees did not have missionaries. The Essenes did not have missionaries. The Herodians did not have missionaries. The Pharisees sent missionaries all over the place. And so when you see groups of Jews in other places, as Paul, for example, encounters, those are Pharisees. They're of the Pharisee party. Just before this, a Pharisee invited Jesus for a meal, but then there was intense verbal opposition followed that event.

This would soon lead to Christ's death about six months after this time and persecution of believers by the Jews later on. Persecution tends to or tries to keep the gospel from being spread. In the end, the gospel comes out in the open in spite of the active suppression of the truth.

You know, what's amazing is it became capital punishment in the Roman Empire later to have copies of the Scriptures. To have copies of the Scriptures. And yet, in spite of that suppression, where it's capital punishment, it's death penalty if you're caught with the Scriptures. In spite of that suppression, we have thousands and thousands of handwritten copies. And it's amazing. What is said in the dark comes to the light, what is said in secret, actually literally that whispered is spoken in the ear, will come out for everyone to hear as if shouted.

Here for instance, here's Capernaum at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. Shouted from the housetops, of course you don't see any housetops here, that's what the archaeological reconstruction brings it to. But here would be an artist's construction, so the idea is you get on top of the houses and then you can holler and yell. As we saw over there, a lot of times the little walkways between the houses were really tiny and you'd have a bunch of rocks there. So get on the housetops and yes, you can yell and be heard across town.

Here's Luke 12 for I say to you my friends do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more That they can do In the Apostles Day persecution did not suppress the truth God can give can even change a Pharisee from being one who aggressively fights the gospel to one who spreads the gospel Changing Saul into Paul, right?

Even in our times, in June it was announced that an ISIS fighter who had killed many Christians was given a Bible by a Christian just before he killed the man. The man said, you're going to shoot me and kill me, but I give you this Bible. That former ISIS fighter is now a believer.

Isn't that cool? Isn't that cool? So even in spite of the persecution, the gospel gets spread. I'm hoping that this guy actually has the ability to come around then and give the gospel to others. Isn't that amazing? This is like Paul, right? Paul said he voted for death every chance he got. Is death an option? Yep, let's do that. He voted for death every chance he got and then he turned around and spread the gospel even upon threat of death.

James, the brother of John, was the only apostle whose death is actually recorded in Scripture. That's Acts chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. All the deaths of the apostles, other than James, are recorded outside of Scripture. Except for that one of James. So far as we have any record, John was the only one of the apostles who died a natural death. The records we have outside of Scripture of the others are in varying degrees of reliability. Some of them are even conflicted. But all of them say that John was the only one who died a natural death. The persecution, even to the point of death, did not suppress the message. Did not suppress the message. It still went out. It still went out.

A modern example, my friend Dick Hillis, he went home to be with the Lord in 2005. He was a missionary to China when the Red Chinese were taking over. The Red Chinese wanted Dick to tell him all the names of the Christians and where they lived so that they could take them out. Dick wouldn't do that. They knew he was a Christian missionary. But Dick would not do that.

And so the lieutenant, it was a lieutenant from the Red Chinese, took his pistol out, held it to his head and threatened to take him out. And Dick said, that's all you can do. The guy took his pistol, put it back in his holster because he realized he wasn't going to force anything out of Dick, even threat of death. Nah, that's all you can do.

And that's really the same message here in this verse too, isn't it? Here's Luke 12, 5. But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear the one who, after he is killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Fear him. Fear God. At first you might read this and say, well, that sounds like Satan. No, it's not. This verse isn't a direct threat to the disciples per se, because obviously in their case it's not a matter of they're going to go to hell.

It simply recognizes that God is sovereign over all the actions of men, even intense persecutors, even what ISIS is doing to Christians over in the Middle East. God is sovereign over that. God is sovereign over that. And these words of Christ also put matters into the right perspective.

People are inclined to view this life as if that's all there is, when this life, in fact, is short compared to eternity. We're going to be around here for some decades, sometimes more, sometimes less. Eternity is a long, long, long time compared to that. So this is really a getting ready in the deciding kind of place.

We have in our era aggressive atheists becoming quite aggressive in their words, even legal attack on Christians. And some of them might even surprise you in some of the pictures I've got up here. But aggressive atheists, yes, and I could put more. And so some of them are writing books. Some of them are outspoken in other ways. Some of them are doing debates. Some of them won't debate just because they don't want to give Christians the respect of a debate.

They're adamant that God does not exist. Therefore, the words like Jesus said in Luke 12 5 are just wrong. They think Christians are foolish to have the perspective that they do. Now, God doesn't believe in atheists, however. And Christ is telling us the right perspective. It's actually the only viewpoint that makes logical sense, is the Christian viewpoint, right?

Here, for example, is Christopher Hitchens, who now knows the truth. Because between cigarettes and alcohol, it was a race to see which one killed him first. So he died. about four years ago and Situation with him, you know if he is right and I'm just saying that hypothetically because I don't believe he is if he's right Then I won't really have lost anything By believing what I believe right? However, if I'm right He has just made an eternally terrible mistake, right? I So in terms of the risks and the trade-offs, this is not something you want to mess with. And aggressive atheists are really on the wrong side of logic from that standpoint, and the wrong side of risk.

Here's Luke 12, 6 and 7. Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet none of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows. The coin Jesus referred to is a Roman Asarius. It's the very smallest Roman coin, about the same size as a widow's mite. There's a widow's mite, about the same size. And this is one of those more commonly used in Jewish practice. Those two small coins would buy five sparrows in the marketplace. It's the very smallest, dinkiest coin. would buy five sparrows in the marketplace. There's not a lot of meat on sparrows, which is one reason why they would be that cheap.

But God knows and cares about them. He knows about them. God is not overlooking and ignorant of them. God knows about every detail of our lives. He is not overwhelmed by keeping track of the finest detail. But aside from keeping track of all the physical and spiritual details, God cares for each one of us greatly.

If you look at Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, personally, and gave himself for me, personally.

Sometimes we can get in our Christian thinking that God just loves masses of people, but He doesn't have time for you, and that's one of the reasons for having this song. He's always got time for you, and to consider that, a very important thing. Do we realize how much He loves us? Do we realize how much He cares? Ephesians chapters 1 and 2 speak to our position in Christ. It also consistently declares God's immense love for each one of us in the body of Christ, using words like, He chose us in Him, according to the kind intention of His will. His great love with which He loved us, in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

You know, one of the things I think of the Apostle Paul writing to the believers in Ephesus, and you know those people had all been raised in the pagan traditions of all these multiple gods and the Pantheon and all that. Everything he wrote about God's actions and God's character was completely the opposite of the pagan gods. The pagan gods were dishonest. The head deity would hide himself with the clouds so that he could go commit adultery against his wife and then take the cloud away afterwards. The pagan gods never blessed or loved anybody. Never blessed or loved anybody and so he could write things about the unkind intention of His will, the great love with which He loved us, and be in great contrast with these pagan gods. The people who read this were astounded and amazed at the character of this God, because it wasn't like any of the other gods.

In kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Those are astounding, amazing words. God who loves me even to the point that he'll pay the price for me Wow There's something else to take a look at here this comes out of the book of Revelation and it underscores an important truth in the book of Revelation there are seven messages to the seven churches and And each one of them ends with a promise to overcomers. And as we show as we go through Revelation, an overcomer is one who believes. That's it.

To him I will give, to him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, which I won't talk about that at this point, and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it. White stones were given for various things in the culture of the time. It makes the most sense to have this be the invitation to the victor's banquet, especially because there's a name on it, right? So they give you a white stone. That was your pass to the victor's banquet. And by the way, second and third place didn't get anything, right? There's only first place. So you're getting this white stone, you're being invited to the victor's banquet, which makes sense because you're an overcomer, right? And a name written on it that no one knows but he who receives it.

It is a name unique between you and the Lord. You have a unique relationship with the Lord. You. So when you look at Galatians 2 20 who loved me and gave himself for me put your name there. Okay when you see this You know how Peter got called Peter and they also got called Cephas and you know how Jacob also got called, you know Israel and those kind of things You're gonna have a new name You and the Lord will uniquely know that name, because you and He will have that special a relationship. And this is something that's very important for believers to get. It's not a matter of saying, you know, hey God, I'm here, I got something I really need to ask you. You have God's undivided attention, because God is not a limited being like you and me. You have His undivided attention.

He's not distracted. At all. He's going to give you a new name. Just you and He will know that. And that's going to be a part of the undivided attention that He will give to just you. You have God's, and we're not waiting for it. We have it right now. You have God's undivided attention. He's not overwhelmed. He's not distracted. He's not dividing up Himself among all the different believers out there. You have His undivided attention all the time. Here's Christ.

This would be an example. Here's Christ on the cross getting ready to die for our sins. He had just been in the garden and just the weight of what was about to happen. taking our sins upon himself, you'd have thought, boy, he's a little distracted, right? We might have been overwhelmed, as well as not being qualified to die for anybody's sins, but Jesus was not overwhelmed and He was not unqualified. He said to the thief on the cross next to Him, by the way, did this thief deserve anything?

Nah. Truly I, Jesus, say to you, thief, today you shall be with me in paradise. You. Just you. He's not overwhelmed. He's not so distracted. He can't pay attention to you individually. You have God's undivided attention all the time. All the time. He cares about you individually.

Here's Luke 12, 8 and 9. For I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess Him also before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. This son of man phrase comes out of Daniel 7 13 and 14 in the Old Testament. It doesn't occur anywhere else.

I Kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming and he came up to the ancient of days This is God the Father right and he was presented before him and to him was given dominion glory and a kingdom That all the people's nations and men of every language.

So that's Gentiles, right? This is his title, King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentile nations, might serve him and his dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. All the other empires, and by the way the emperors would use that title, King of Kings, right? All the other empires crumbled, fell apart. His will not.

Now, is confessing or denying, is that how we gain or lose salvation? A very important question to ask. Because if you're telling them, hey, you guys better toe the line here, you're going to lose it all together. Confession or denial is not the basis for salvation. Why? What is? Faith. Salvation is always by faith. Or else Peter's salvation would have been lost, right? Did Peter deny Christ?

Yep. Did he do it more than once? Yep. So it's not the basis for salvation. Confession or denial does matter when it comes to present fellowship and eternal reward. That's the key. Present fellowship and eternal reward. That's what's at issue, not, whoops, you lost it.

Judas did confess Christ to the point that nobody suspected him of being a traitor. But he wasn't saved and couldn't be rewarded. So confession or denial is not the basis of salvation. Salvation is always by faith. It's not what you do. The apostles did, in fact, confess before men. For believers, this is about judgment for reward. And there'll be some things which are eternally rewardable and some which will not be.

As 1 Corinthians 3.10-15 lays it out here, there's gold, silver, and precious stones, things that are rewardable and lasting. And then there's wood, hay, and stubble, things that get burned away. And so there are things that are rewardable. There are things that are not.

And one of the ways that we clarify that, there's this song, Only One Life will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last is the song. And we correct the one word in there. Only what's done by Christ will last. I don't do anything for Him. That's not my assignment. What's done by Christ through me, that will last and nothing else.

The apostles confessed before men until their last breath, every one of them. All of the apostles except for John gave their lives for the testimony about him. They did. They came to understand what Jesus said in these words. They came to understand and they were faithful to their confession all the way to the last breath. Before the angels of God is an expression that also implies the Father as well. That's clear in Matthew 10, 32. Here's Luke 12, 10 and 12.

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense and what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." Okay, so what does he mean in this passage, especially about blaspheming the Holy Spirit and not being forgiven that?

Well, I was fascinated as I studied this one out. It turns out that there are five standard interpretations. that people put in their commentaries about what it means to commit that unforgivable sin. Looking at it very carefully, I think they're all wrong. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit in each of the Gospels is the sin that cannot be forgiven, and so what is that? One point to keep in mind as we interpret this passage is Jesus has been and is saying things that were to prepare the disciples for the time after he was gone. So the context is we're going to get you ready for the time after I'm gone, right?

And the Holy Spirit had then been given as the start of the church dispensation, the church age. So that's recorded in Acts chapter 2. So he's getting him ready for that time. What Jesus says in, for example, John 14, 15, and 16, three whole chapters there, is getting him ready for the time after he's gone. I'm going to leave, and then the Holy Spirit, the Helper, is going to come. And it's good that I leave because then he'll come and that'll be a good thing, right?

And he'll come and he'll have these kinds of ministries with unbelievers and he'll have these kinds of ministries with believers, right? And so it's looking ahead to that time. So let's take a look at Matthew 12. I have 24 through 32 so you get the whole context.

I won't read it all because the first part there is just simply to say that Jesus had cast out a demon from a man and the Pharisees attributed that casting out the demon to Jesus casting out the demon by means of essentially a Beelzebul is a derogatory term Lord of the Flies or God of the Dung derogatory term for Satan And so Jesus, knowing their thoughts then, turns around and refutes what they're thinking. And we saw a similar kind of thing in the Gospel of Luke as we were going through that.

But in verse 31, he says, Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. So you can blaspheme Christ and that will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Hmm. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man it should be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven him either in this age or the age to come.

Now one interpretation that was out there was that this blaspheming the Holy Spirit was a unique thing that could only happen during Jesus' time of ministry. Some of your Bibles may even have notes to that effect, and you'll find that in the commentaries. I don't believe that's the case, and look at the last verse. Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

This age is Galatians 1.4, this present evil age. The Jews talked about the present age, the present evil age, and the age to come. The present evil age comes from the time that Adam sinned into the time at the end of the tribulation period. That's the present evil age to the Jews, right? The age to come is the Messiah's reign. When the Messiah comes, that's the age to come. And that's the phraseology that Paul uses in Ephesians 121.

So what this means is, whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, can't be just during Jesus' time of ministry, which is only a few years long, But rather, this principle applies from the time Adam sinned until the end of this present heavens and earth. And people will be blaspheming the Holy Spirit, or at least they could blaspheme the Holy Spirit all the way to the end of the Millennial Kingdom. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit being unforgivable is a principle which is applied from the time Adam sinned to the end of this present heavens and earth. It's a time from the time Adam sinned it was possible and was done and it will continue to be even after Christ comes back. And it is possible now. It may look like different things at different times. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit can include chronic and persistent resistance to the Holy Spirit by unbelievers versus temporary resistance. Temporary resistance is different.

Here is the Apostle Paul writing in 1 Timothy chapter 1, starting in verse 12, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service even though I was formerly a blasphemer. and a persecutor, they persecuted the church to death, and a violent aggressor, that's hubris. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.

So here's Luke 12, 10 and 12, and the last part of it there, he talks about, you know, when you come before the synagogues and rulers and authorities. So he's definitely talking about this time after he's gone, right? Do not worry about what you're to speak in your defense and what you're to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. They will not only write inspired books, they will also speak inspired speech. See that? So here are examples of resisting the Holy Spirit. Stephen speaking with Saul and Paul present, who eventually became a believer.

In Acts 7.51, Stephen says, You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised and heart unears are always resisting the Holy Spirit. You are doing just as your fathers did. Who killed the prophets? And you're about to kill me.

Here's Paul speaking in Acts 13.45 when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming. Here's in Acts 18, 5 and 6. When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the Word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. And when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook off his garments and said to them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles. So we're not apostles. We're not called to that. That's not our assignment.

However, they did tell the truth. They faced some very severe, intense opposition, ending for most of them in martyrdom, all except for John. Though we don't have the same calling and giftedness, there may be an increase in resistance and intolerance for those who believe. And if so, God knows it. In 2010, it was presented to the Supreme Court that churches do not have the right to choose their own pastors. Yeah, the government does. How about that?

Here's Colossians 1.24. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions." Lacking in Christ's afflictions? What? How could it possibly be lacking?

What does that mean? I mean, didn't Christ pay it all? Didn't He say it's all paid? Well, yes, he did. So how could there possibly be anything lacking? Well, the answer to that is we're Christ's body. We're Christ's body. And instead of the perspective that he's sitting up there and he's just having a grand old time up in heaven and I'm down here suffering. Instead, we get the perspective that he takes it personally.

Paul Saul as he was on the road to Damascus Acts chapter 9 verses 3 through 6 as he was traveling it happened that he was approaching Damascus this is Paul Saul and Suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him Saul Saul Which saying a name twice, you know that you're in trouble, right?

Why are you persecuting me? Okay, and he said who are you Lord? I? And he said, I am, and if you know the significance of this, this is a go-a-me, okay? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city and it will be told you what you must do.

How does Christ see the persecution? He takes it personally, okay? It is not a matter of, here's Christ and he's up in heaven and here's all these believers down here having a horrible time. And he's just partying it up. He says, no, I take it personally.

And the sufferings of Christ, the affliction of Christ, will not be done until the day of the rapture. When the believers are taken up, the last of the church has all gone up from the time of the apostles up until the time when the rapture takes place, and I hope it's today. All the believers suffering are filling up, completing the afflictions of Christ, because He takes it personally. If persecution is coming for us, and it could be, I talked to two Christians within the last month over in Europe who are really concerned about the way things are headed there. And they're thinking persecution might be coming for them. And serious persecution, not just, you know, having a hard time.

Might be coming. And? Could be coming here. If it does, Christ takes it personally. And He cares. Just like He confronted Saul, who became the Apostle Paul. Why are you persecuting me? And by the way, that's something of the same message that the ISIS fighter was getting.

Really amazing. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this passage. We see you're giving guidance to these apostles, the ones who have established the church. You're giving them the insight and understanding. And we thank you for what you've laid out in your word. Thank you for the clarity that is there. We thank you for your great care and love for us. And thank you, Lord, that you give each one of us your undivided attention. We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.