 Hey man, so tonight we're going to speak on a subject that I don't think I've preached a whole sermon on maybe several years ago, but I wanted to bring it up in the last couple of weeks because I touched on a similar heresy a couple of weeks ago in our study in the book of John, but tonight I want to talk about a heresy or a story in the Bible that is used to attack eternal security. And it is this idea of this story that we see towards the end of Matthew chapter number 12 where Jesus has this encounter with the Pharisees. So what I want to talk about tonight is this story of the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. And I want to show you how some people will misapply this story and misapply what Jesus says here to attack eternal security. You'll find this out soul winning, particularly Pentecostals tend to bring this up a lot because what they don't believe that we do believe is eternal security and if you don't believe eternal security you are not saved because you believe in works-based salvation. So what people will say is since Jesus looked down at Matthew chapter 12 and look at verse number 31, so Jesus just, I mean kind of the story, we're going to go through it in detail tonight, but the story is that Jesus just cast out a demon and then of course the Pharisees are there and they claim that he used Satan to do so. The people are amazed and they say, well he cast out the demon using the power of Satan but look at verse 31 where Jesus replies and says, Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh the word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaking against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the world to come. So people will say, well, how could you say that you can't lose your salvation because if you blaspheme the Holy Ghost you're not going to be saved and he says in this world to come as well. So obviously that's a very bad statement that Jesus says there in verse number 32 that you're not going to receive forgiveness in this world or the world to come. You know that's pretty serious. He's basically saying you do that and you are done, period, right? So people will have this heresy where they attack eternal security. You'll ask people, you know, do you ever think you could lose your salvation? And you will literally find people that will say, well as long as I don't blaspheme the Holy Ghost. And so I want to preach through what happened in this story tonight, what it means, what it doesn't mean and then apply that to eternal security. Because remember if we're reading the Bible and we're interpreting something that makes other clear scriptures not make sense or contradicts them, it is us that is misinterpreting the Bible, not the Bible contradicting itself. Look down at Matthew chapter 12 and let's look at verse number 22. Let's start out in this story and just see what this encounter entails and then we'll apply it to this heresy of, you know, this idea that, yeah, I believe in eternal security. And by the way, anybody that says that to you, they don't believe in eternal security. They believe any, you know, many other things could make you lose your salvation. But we'll cover this one as well tonight. Look at verse 22. It says, And the people were amazed and said, is not this the son of David? So here the people were believing on Jesus because of the miracles that he did, saying, is this not the son of David? They're implying this is the Messiah. That's what the people are thinking because he's doing these great things. But look at verse 24. When the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. So were the Pharisees amazed? You know, were the Pharisees amazed like the people were amazed? They were not amazed. They were upset. They were mad. And they said he's doing this by the work of or the power of Satan. And then Jesus goes into this long explanation where in verse 25 he says, So there's a really interesting statement at the very beginning of that verse, where it says Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them. And I want to tell you why that's so important that it says it that way. Because it's not that the Pharisees were just saying that Jesus was using Satan. They actually believed it. And that's really key to this doctrine and to this story. They were thinking this. They believed that Jesus was using Satan in their hearts. Now we see the Pharisees and Jesus having these run-ins with the Pharisees. There were some leaders of the Jewish community, the Jewish, what do you call it, the synagogue that did get saved and did believe on Jesus. Nicodemus maybe being one of those. But they were really secretive about it because when the Bible is talking about Pharisees, the Pharisees and Jesus having all these run-ins with them, the mainstream religious Jewish religious leaders did not believe on Jesus. Okay, by not believing on Jesus it's not like they hated him and were fearing for their power. I mean, yes, that was part of it. But they literally did not believe that he was the Messiah. It's the same thing today. You know, it's the same thing today. The Jewish religion today, it's not that they're worried about losing clout to this person Jesus 2,000 years ago. They literally don't believe that he was the Messiah. That's it. They don't believe it. And that was the case here. These Pharisees, Jesus knew their thoughts. He knew what they were thinking, what they were believing, and they did not believe that he was the Messiah. And I'll prove that to you like beyond a shadow of a doubt here. But they literally believed that he was using Satan. They weren't just trying to slander him or anything. They literally believed it. Now it's interesting. Look at verse number 26. Jesus gives this long, you know, dissertation now on why it couldn't possibly be Satan that he was using. He says, if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself because he cast out a demon from this man. How shall then his kingdom stand? If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? He's talking about the disciples who are also Jews who are casting out demons. He says, therefore they shall be your judges. And of course the disciples are going to rule and reign with Jesus. But if I cast out devils by, look at this, by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is common to you. So if they would have believed that he was using the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, then they would have believed on Jesus. That's what Jesus says. Verse 29. Or actually let's skip verse 29 for now. But basically what Jesus is saying here, he's saying this accusation makes no sense. Because I literally cast out a demon and a Satan is not going to be against himself or his whole plan, his whole house would fall apart. The devil cannot be against himself is what Jesus is explaining to the Pharisees. And then he explains that in several different ways going forward through, turn to Luke chapter 11 through the rest of this chapter. But turn to Luke chapter 11 and let's focus in on verse number 29. So you're going to keep a place in Matthew chapter 12 and we're going to go to Luke chapter 11. So we're going to kind of dig into the Bible here a little bit, alright? So look at verse number 29 at Matthew chapter 12 verse 29 as you're turning to Luke chapter 11 where Jesus says this, now he says something a little bit different. He says, Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except first he bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house? So now Jesus brings up this analogy. He first says the devil can't be against himself, that makes no sense. A kingdom that's divided against itself will fall, everybody agrees with that. But then he gives this analogy of this house, somebody breaking into a house and it's saying you can't break into somebody's house. I can't break into brother Trevor's house because that's not going to go well. We all know that. But somebody can't break into someone's house unless they first bind the man that is protecting the house. They first bind the strongest person. And in order to bind the strongest person, guess what? You need to be stronger than that strongest person in that house, the strong man of the house, makes perfect sense, right? Look at Luke chapter 11 and verse 21. Kind of a parallel story here. Verse 21 puts it this way of Luke 11. It says when a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. So you got to keep this, remind yourself of this word goods. So verse 29 of Matthew 12 uses this word goods and then also 1121 uses this word goods. That this man is guarding his house, he's armed and his goods are in peace. But verse 22, when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, but takeeth from him all his armor wherein he trusted and divideeth his spoils. He that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. So he kind of gives away who's who in the story there in verse number 23. But let me just ask you this. Who's the strong man, whose house is it, where are the goods and who is spoiling the goods? These are the things that we need to figure out to understand what Jesus is teaching. I mean, can you imagine the Pharisees and even the disciples hearing these stories just like right over their head, right? Nobody's understanding what he's saying, but turn to Isaiah chapter 61. So who's taking the goods? Who's breaking into the house? Let's look at that first. Look at Isaiah chapter 61 in verse number 1. Isaiah 61 verse 1 is a messianic prophecy that Jesus himself repeats in Luke chapter 4 verse, I don't want to misquote the verse, it's in Luke chapter 4 where Jesus quotes messianic prophecies. And by the way, this is one of the things that you can figure out like a lot of messianic prophecies that would have been maybe difficult to figure out messianic prophecies if you were just reading the Old Testament by itself. But then when Jesus like in Luke chapter 4 like literally refers back to those verses, you know, in regards to himself, you're like, ah, messianic prophecy. That's Luke. That's Isaiah chapter 61 verse number 1. Look what the Bible says here. So Jesus applies this in Luke 4 to himself. It says, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim, here's another word for bind up, to gather, to gather up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. So it turns out that the spoils, the goods in this house are actually bound within the house. They're actually, you know, they need to be freed from the house. That's what we're learning in Isaiah chapter 61. But the earth is what? In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, who is the God, the ruler, as you know we looked at in Psalm 38 last week, who's the ruler of this world? Psalm chapter 2, not Psalm, 2 Corinthians 4 says that Satan is the God of this world. So the earth is Satan's house is what Jesus is saying in Luke chapter 11 and Matthew chapter 4. Satan is the strong man in the earth. And guess what? Thankfully, Jesus is stronger than Satan. Jesus is stronger than Satan and he's going to, through salvation, through the gospel, he is going to spoil Satan's house. This is what he is prophesying in Matthew chapter 12 and Luke chapter 11. And guess what? Jesus turned to Revelation chapter 18. So many of these things repeat themselves throughout the Bible and even in the end times. So Jesus busts into this house with the gospel, with his death, burial and resurrection, and all people have to do is just trust on that and they're saved and they're freed and the house is spoiled. He busts into this house and he binds Satan first. So he first has to bind Satan before he can spoil the goods in the house. But look at Revelation chapter 18 because this is not the first time or this is not the last time I should say that Jesus will bind Satan. Look at Revelation chapter 18 and look at verse number 10. The Bible says, standing afar off for the fear of her torment saying alas that great city Babylon, oh actually this is not in Revelation chapter 20, I'm sorry I had you turn to the wrong verse there. Look at Revelation 20 in verse number 2. Jesus will bind Satan again. In verse number 2 he says, he laid hold on the dragon, which we know is Satan, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years. So he binds Satan through the gospel, he frees us through the gospel, but he's going to bind him again before the millennial reign and he'll bind him for a thousand years before he lets him go for a little while and then throws him in the lake of fire. You're like, clearly Jesus is stronger than Satan, thank God, thank Jesus for that. But he's going to bind Satan, let's keep going with this, go back to Revelation 18 now, he's going to bind Satan and then he's going to steal or as Luke 11 and Matthew 12 says he's going to spoil his goods. What is that? What are the goods? I'm going to show you something really interesting in Revelation chapter 18 in verse number 10. The Bible says, talking about the destruction of Babylon here, talking about the end times destruction of Babylon, the Bible says in verse 10 it says, standing afar off for fear of her torment saying, alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come, and the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore. Now it's going to go into this great extensive list of merchandise or another word for that, goods. Look at verse number 12, the merchandise of gold, silver and precious stones, pearls and fine linen and purple and silk, scarlet and all fine wood and all manner of vessels, all of ivory, all manner of vessels of most precious wood, of brass and iron and marble, just more goods, all these nice things, things that you know what you'd probably find in a lot of American houses, actual houses, and cinnamon and odors and ointments, I mean isn't that, those are huge goods today, oh my goodness the candles, sorry, but I mean the odors and just the, the, the popery and all the different goods that we have, and I mean we're talking about a strong man binding Satan, Jesus binding Satan and spoiling his house and spoiling his goods. What we're talking about here is he stealing his candles, let's keep reading, and fine flour and wheat and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots and slaves and look at this, and souls of men. I think that's very interesting that the souls of men are put into that list of goods because that is the goods that Jesus will spoil when he binds Satan and busts into his house through the power of the gospel. So look, that is the goods that he is going to do. So the house is Satan's house, the earth, the strong man is Satan himself, Jesus is stronger than Satan, he binds Satan and he frees us through the power of his death, burial and resurrection, which we're about to celebrate here in a couple, three weeks. So that is what Jesus, I mean what a profound, you know, verse in the Bible, verse number 29, and you'd have to wonder if anyone at that time realized what he was actually saying. So that is what Jesus is talking about. So what is this idea, the question of the sermon tonight is what is this idea of the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost? Go back to Matthew chapter 23. What is happening here, what is the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost and how does that apply or does it apply to us today? So what do we know so far? Let's just kind of recap here because it's kind of a complicated set of verses when Jesus starts talking there. What we know so far is, as far as the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, what Jesus accuses the Pharisees of is, first of all, Jesus is there physically, he's there doing a miracle, he's using the Holy Ghost to cast out a demon, he's very clear about that, and then we also have the mainstream Jewish leaders, the Pharisees that are there, and Jesus has already identified, if you look at Matthew chapter 23 verse 13, so you have these Pharisees, Jesus has already at this point identified them as reprobate, as rejected, this mainstream group that is not believing him. Look at Matthew 23, let's not take my word for it, let's look down at the Bible verse number 13, look what Jesus says, he says, but woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for neither you go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. You say, not only are you not going to believe and go to heaven yourselves, but you're stopping other people from going to heaven. He says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye devour widows' houses, for a pretence make long prayer, therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. So much for all sin is equal. He says to them, because of what you are doing, because you are leading other people to not be saved, you're going to receive a greater damnation. What he's talking about is that he's literally saying, and this isn't the point of the sermon, he's literally saying that some people, look, everybody that doesn't believe is going to go to hell, but for some people it will be worse. And he's telling them that because you have caused other people to stumble and other people to not see the truth and not get saved, your damnation, your time, your eternity in hell, it's kind of hard to wrap your head around this one and I'm glad I don't have to, but he's saying your eternity is going to be worse in hell because you led people down this path. Go to John chapter 12. So these people are clearly not saved. I mean, it literally says multiple places in the Bible that they did not believe on Jesus like the people did. Look at John chapter 12 and verse 37. John chapter 12 and verse 37. The Bible says in John 12, 37, but though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. And this is why you just, the Bible will not, this will not make sense to you if you do not believe that it is possible to be rejected by God before you're dead. You can't make sense of this. He's doing all these miracles. I remember being a kid, I remember being a kid and reading about, because like one thing they did teach you in Sunday school was the miracles of Jesus. I mean, you just, you read about the miracles of Jesus and did all the coloring books and all these different things, just ad nauseam again and again and again. Certain stories in the Bible like, you know, Zacchaeus and, you know, Zacchaeus was a wee little man, all this stuff. And I mean, all these stories in the Bible of Jesus' miracles being the main section of those stories that they teach in Sunday school, like again and again and again, and I was always confused by this. How could they not believe? How could they not believe that Jesus was the Messiah? How is that possible after they saw all these miracles? But that's exactly what verse 37 just said. He done so many miracles before them. Yes, they interviewed the blind guy and they didn't see that one, but they saw many right before him, right in front of their faces. Yet they believed not on him. You say, why is that? Because something happened, that's why. Look at verse 38. That the saying of Psias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord who hath believed our report and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed. Therefore they, what? What does it say? It's referring to Isaiah chapter 44, just for the record. But I want to continue reading here that this was prophesied that this would happen to these Jewish leaders. It says, verse 39, therefore they did not believe. And it says, therefore they could not believe. It was not possible for them to believe. Meaning, it was too late for them. It was too late because as Isaiah said again, he, who is he now? Now you have to pay attention to who the he's and the eyes are in this verse. It says, he's going to explain why they couldn't believe. He says, he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. That he is God, the Lord, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted. And I, again, the Lord, so he and I are the same, should heal them. That's Isaiah 44, I think verse 18, is what that is talking about. And it's saying, look, they got to a point. Yeah, some of the Pharisees got saved and they were super secret about it. But this main section of Pharisees got to the point where Jesus is just like, I'm hardening your heart now. You're done. You cannot believe. You have reached the point where it's not possible for you to get saved. That's it. You're done. This makes no sense unless you believe the reprobate doctrine. And it's very clear in not just Romans 1, but throughout the entire Bible. All right, so I mean, you have to wonder. People don't believe the doctrine of Romans 1 and the reprobate doctrine that you can reach a point. If you're unsaved, you can reach a point where God says it's too late for you. What do people do with that? What do people do with Isaiah 44, 18? What do people do with John 12, 37 through 40? How do they make it? You can't make any sense out of it. It just shows you that if you're not able to make sense out of parts of the Bible, you're believing something wrong. Because if you believe the right doctrines, the entire Bible just fits together perfectly. And it makes sense. Look, it may not be what you want it to be, but it makes perfect sense. The whole Bible doesn't contradict. It fits together like a beautiful, miraculous puzzle. So what do we have? We have Jesus that did this great miracle. He cast out this demon using the power of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the Lord. And we have him surrounded by a bunch of reprobates. And he rebukes them. And I mean, they're literally, these reprobates are literally standing in front of Jesus, and they are insulting Jesus and the Holy Ghost to his face and in their hearts. So for people to use this as an argument against eternal security, go back to Matthew chapter 12. I mean, we could pretty much just end the sermon right here, because could a saved person do what I just told you? Is a saved person a reprobate? Let's pray. I mean, it's like, but you see how you could fall into false doctrine if you don't believe correct doctrine. So I mean, many people think that the reprobate doctrine is like just this subtle little, well, you know, whatever. You know, a lot of people will go to like an old IFB church and like, this is just my opinion. Okay? You take this for what it's worth. A lot of people go to an old IFB church, maybe they're in a good church and they moved away. I don't know why people would do that, but they do. And they moved away and they go to an old IFB church and they're like, well, we're trying to change the pastor on the pre-trib rapture and we think we can fix him. The pastor's like 78 years old. You know, I'm like, what's the matter with you? But I mean, pre-trib rapture, what does that even matter compared to the reprobate doctrine? Because if you don't believe the reprobate doctrine, you're going to have a bunch of perverts and weirdos and child molesters in your church. That's a pretty big deal. I mean, forget end times. That's a bigger deal to me as a parent, as a pastor. So you have to believe proper doctrine or literally people are in danger, literally the church is in danger, literally just everything just falls apart, but internal security falls apart too. But a saved person can clearly not be a reprobate and insult the Holy Spirit. So we could just pray at that point, but look at Jesus in verse number 25, one more time he says, Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. So look, a saved person can grieve the Holy Spirit. But a saved person, you know, a saved person can follow the flash and grieve the Holy Spirit that was in them. And a saved person can never do what these Pharisees did, end of story. So the first, I mean, the first rebuttal to this is that this situation could not even take place today. It's not even possible for this situation to take place. Jesus isn't here casting out demons. I mean, and look, even if it did, even if Jesus was here casting out demons, because he knew their thoughts and this is really the key right here. Because he knew their thoughts and he knew that they actually believed that he was using Satan, that is something that is simply not possible for a saved person to do. And this is why I wanted to preach this sermon, because a few weeks ago in John chapter 10, I believe it was, we talked about how it's another one that you'll see used is, well, you know, what if you stop believing? And a saved person can't stop believing. A saved person may say things and may do things and may, you know, quit the Christian life and may fight against their brothers and sisters in Christ. But you'll never, once you know the voice of the shepherd, you know it. That's it. And I preached the entire sermon on that. The exact same thing applies here. Once you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and you have trusted on that, you will never stop believing that. So no matter what you say, whatever stupid things that you do, you're never going to believe that Jesus, who is standing in front of you, that won't be standing in front of you on this earth, is casting out demons using the devil. I mean, if you're worried about that, you know, you probably need to come talk to me. But it's not possible, because the Pharisees, you know, you won't stop believing. You will never forget the voice of the shepherd. And that's why, again, not to preach that sermon again, that's why you should stay in the Christian life. You should stay here. You should stay in church. You should continue to grow and mature and learn and just push forward in your Christian life, because who in the world would want to live that haunted Christian life of always knowing the voice of the shepherd, always knowing what they're really supposed to be doing when you're doing none of it? I mean, that's a cursed Christian life right there. That's a disastrous Christian life. But you will not stop believing. You will never be able to get rid of that Holy Spirit that's inside of you sealing you. Because Satan is not as strong as Jesus. Guess what? Neither are you. So it's not possible for a Christian to do this, is really the answer. Somebody that's truly saved. All right? But if you're trusting that you need to, what people will do in the Pentecostal world is they'll define blaspheming the Holy Ghost as all these different works and all these things that they can or cannot do. And then they believe that if they don't do or don't do these things, it's just workspace salvation through and through. It's boring. It's such all the same thing. But turn to Revelation chapter 22. What's interesting about this is like, oh, if you stop believing or oh, if you blaspheme the Holy Ghost, these aren't the only things in the Bible that give these blanket statements like, if you do these things, you've lost your opportunity to be saved. I mean, it's not the only thing. I mean, look at Revelation chapter 22 in verse number 18 for another specific example. I mean, I always thought it was just great that God ends the Bible this way. If there's a way to end the Bible, this is how to end the Bible. Look at verse 18. It says, for I testify unto every man that here at the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And then let's get the other side of it too. Let's be complete. If any man shall take away from the words of this book, this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things that are written in this book. Well, so what if a saved believer goes and makes up his own Bible? Like, what if Thomas Jefferson was saved? I mean, what do you need to say to stuff like this? Well, the point is, find me a saved person that's going to go write their own Bible. It's never going to happen. I mean, Romans 1 is exactly the same thing as these two verses, by the way. Why does someone get rejected in Romans 1? It's the exact same methodology just put right on top of Revelation. Because what, they changed the truth of God into a lie. What do you do if you take the Bible and you're pulling words out of it? Why would you do that? I mean, you have the Bible and you're taking words out of it and then you're putting words into it? What are you doing? You're changing truth into something that's not true. What do you call something that's not true? A lie. So Romans 1 is exactly the way God ends the Bible. It's exactly the same thing. Revelation 13, here's another one. Somebody that takes the mark of the beast and worships the image. Whoa, what if a saved person does that? Well, no one's going to do that. No saved person is going to do that. That is the answer. That is the answer to these silly questions. Look, God is never going to give up on his own. That's the whole point of John 10, 28, 29, 30, is that God, he never gives up on his own family. He may punish you and chastise you. And you may be a worthless Christian for the vast majority or even your whole life, but God, once you are saved, he will hang on to you no matter what. It's just this idea of this blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is just a stupid thing invented by false prophets to make themselves sound smart. That's really what it comes down to. You had Jesus casting out devils using the Holy Spirit and you had a bunch of reprobates that were surrounding him. Reprobate meaning the fact that they became reprobate means that they did not believe on Jesus. They did not believe on him. So this is not a situation that can be even in any logical way applied to someone who is saved. Even if you want to take a loose interpretation of it, it's just like no saved person can stop believing. And that is easily provable from simple, clear doctrine in the Bible. So it makes no sense. It's false interpretation. But this just shows you that, again, it just shows you that just a little bit of Bible knowledge is enough to disprove the vast majority of false doctrine out there, just a little bit of Bible knowledge. So it doesn't take a lot to read your Bible, to understand these things. And even when you run into people on the street who are giving flyers out that say, on Easter, we celebrate the memorial of Jesus' death, you're like, what are you talking about? If you've even been in Sunday school in your life, even in a church that doesn't even have the right gospel, you know something's wrong with that. The point is you don't have to know much Bible. But we should know a lot of Bible. But you don't have to know much to disprove most of these things. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.