30 they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat of
the fruit of their own ways, and be filled with their own devices."
He's saying you did this to yourself.
If you are a reprobate, you did it to yourself.
Jesus Christ died for you, he loved you, he offers you everything, but if you just keep
on rejecting him, eventually it becomes too late.
Now let's flip over to the book of Matthew.
Now a lot of people, they struggle with this doctrine and they have an attitude that says
it's never too late for anybody, you know, just until the last breath you can be saved.
And that's what a lot of people out there teach and believe, that it's just, it's never
too late until your last, but here's what's so funny about that, even by saying until
your last breath, you know what they're admitting?
There comes a time when it's too late, because they say until your last breath.
So everyone acknowledges that there comes a time when it's too late.
Even the hallmark crowd that just says, you know, as long as your heart's beating, there's
still hope, there's still a chance.
You know what?
Even they're acknowledging that when your heart stops beating, it's over at that point.
But guess what?
The Bible teaches that for some people, it can be over before their heart stops beating.
It can be over before they breathe their last breath, where a person can get to a point
where they can no longer be saved.
A person can get to a point where it's impossible to reach them.
You say, "How can that be?"
Folks, it shouldn't surprise us, because we know that when they die without Christ, it's
too late.
So why would it shock you that someone could push God so much and reject Him so much that
they could just get to that point a little bit early?
It shouldn't be hard to believe at all.
And it's in all four gospels, very clearly.
Go if you would to Matthew chapter 12, let's see the book of Matthew.
Matthew chapter 12, here's what Jesus said, starting in verse 31, "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 speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, watch this, neither in the world to come."
The Bible is describing a situation.
And here's the thing, even people who scoff at the reprobate doctrine, even people who
would quote unquote disagree with that position, they would all agree that, well, if someone
blasphemes the Holy Ghost, it's too late for them.
Well, that's all this doctrine is.
That's all it's saying is that there can come a situation where a person has done something
to the point or gotten to a point where they can no longer be saved.
And the Bible says, look, all kinds of sins are going to be forgiven to people, all manner
of sin and blasphemy.
I mean, there are going to be people who are forgiven of murder and adultery and drunkenness
and foreign occasion.
I mean, look, all kinds of sins are going to be forgiven to men.
And thank God for that.
Because without that, a lot of people wouldn't be going to heaven.
We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And thank God he'll forgive all that sin.
But he says, there's a situation, there's a group that cannot be saved.
Because he says, the people who have blasphemed against the Holy Ghost, he said, it shall
not be forgiven them, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
That's a pretty clear scripture, isn't it?
Go through it to Mark chapter three.
It's pretty clear when he says, hey, you can get forgiven of all manner of sins, but you
cannot be forgiven of blaspheming the Holy Ghost.
And it's not going to happen in this world.
And you say, well, you know, maybe in the next life.
Nope, there is no next life.
It's appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment.
And you're not going to be forgiven in this life, and you're not going to be forgiven
in the world to come either.
He says in Mark chapter three, verse number 28, "Verily I say unto you, all sins shall
be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies, wherewith soever they shall blaspheme.
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger
of eternal damnation."
And he explains what they did when they blasphemed the Holy Ghost, because they said he hath
an unclean spirit.
So when they accused Jesus of casting out devils by the prince of the devils and having
an unclean spirit, at that point they had crossed a line where they had blasphemed the
Holy Ghost, and Jesus said, "You will never be forgiven.
You are doomed.
You cannot be saved."
Go through it to John chapter 12.
John chapter 12, and we'll see the Bible talk about this same group of people who rejected
the Lord Jesus Christ to a point where it became too late for them.
And as you can see, this is a pretty clear doctrine in the Bible.
I thought Proverbs 1 was pretty clear, warning about people that could refuse God too many
times and then he won't be found of them anymore.
They can't find him.
They seek him and they can't find him.
Remember this morning, by the way, in Genesis chapter 9 when they sought the door?
They wearied themselves to find the door, but they were too blind to find the door?
Well guess who the door is in that story?
Jesus.
Jesus said, "I'm the door.
If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved."
And so yeah, they are blind and can't find the door.
Hmm.
Wonder what that means.
Go, if you would, to John chapter 12, and we'll see another scripture to support this.
It's in Luke as well, but for sake of time, we saw it in Matthew and Mark.
But jump down, if you would, to verse 37 of John chapter 12, "But though he had done so
many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the saying of Isaiah 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?'
For they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again, 'He hath blinded their eyes.'
Now stop and tell me, who's the "he" there?
It's God, obviously.
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their
eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him.
So stop for a moment here.
We have a group of people where God has blinded their eyes, God has hardened their heart,
but if you're there in verse 40, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand
with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
These people have been blinded by God.
Their heart is hardened by God so that they won't believe, and it says in verse number
39, "Therefore they could not believe."
Why couldn't they believe?
Why could they not believe?
Because God blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, and it may seem like I'm kind
of belaboring this point, but so many people don't get this, so I want to just really hammer
it because so many people resist this truth, but it's a biblical truth that God can get
so fed up with someone that he can actually blind them, harden their heart, and then they
can't believe.